My sources say that a limited hangout, for the crimes of MKULTRA, is being considered for Peter Falk. I am pro-Columbo and take no pleasure in reporting this.
A 🧵 on the susness of Peter Falk and the limited hangout that was several episodes of Columbo.
A 🧵 on the susness of Peter Falk and the limited hangout that was several episodes of Columbo.
The most important fact when you’re talking about Peter Falk is that he had applied to work for the CIA. Officially he was rejected, but several other alleged assets, such as Tucker Carlson, were also officially rejected from the CIA.
Falk is also a graduate of The New School in New York which was a participant in MKULTRA projects, albeit, at least officially, not a part of any of the experiments on behavioral conditioning.
In addition to his CIA application and his time at The New School, Falk signed up to fight in Israel against Egypt and was in Tito’s Yugoslavia. He then returned to New York to get the degree that he likely thought would have prepared him for the CIA.
I’m going to fast forward because his life between college and the start of Columbo isn’t very relevant here, but you may be asking “What exactly could Falk have been doing with intelligence connections in Hollywood?” The answer: monitoring true crime to incorporate in a show.
Falk was frequently at the Manson Family trials (see this pic of him watching Terry Melcher enter the courtroom) and mentions attending the Profumo Affair trial while he was in Britain.
Manson said that he had another reason for attending the trial claiming that he and Falk had sex. At least on of Falk’s friends from his theater days claimed that Falk had corroborated the story. However, to me this is even more suspicious. Ty to @mordekye_allen for the pics!
Before going into the show itself we should establish Falk’s role in creating the series itself. The writing team credits Falk for the creation of all of Columbo’s quirks and, in addition, there have long been rumors of Falk taking part as an uncredited writer.
One of the first unusual episodes is A Candidate for Crime where a political candidate kills his campaign manager because he is being blackmailed. Blackmail is a reoccurring theme in Columbo.
Double Exposure also features a blackmailer and this time the blackmailer is a subliminal advertising researcher.
Perhaps the most paranoid episode, however, is A Deadly State of Mind which features a killer hypnotherapist who eventually convinces the only witness to commit suicide via hypnotism.
There is actually a second episode about mind control, however, the mind control itself happens to be used on dogs. One more thing, lieutenant, why did you use the word programmed to describe training a dog? Were ya talkin’ about something else?
Columbo also has some weird shit with gifted programs at a military think tank (🚨) and military boy’s schools (🚨) with Mind Over Mayhem and By Dawn’s Early Light taking place at each one respectively.
Along those same lines, there was also an episode where Johnny Cash played a gospel singer who was grooming underaged fans/performers and kills his wife in order to get away from her scrutiny of his actions.
Like Falk, Columbo is also directly involved with the CIA in one episode. In Identity Crisis he is tasked with solving the murder of a “former” CIA operative and goes against an opponent well versed in secrets.
CIA operatives aren’t the only fascists that Columbo goes up against. In Now You See Him… Columbo solves the murder of a magician’s business partner who threatens to expose him after he discovers that the magician is an SS officer in hiding.
Columbo’s unusual murder cases aren’t limited to just the TV show. There were a series of novelizations based on the show. Two are themed after the Kennedy Assassination and the Tate killings, but have little focus on the actual cases presenting them as mostly solved.
I suggest that the showplayed a role in both normalizing certain ideas, such as sus boarding schools, while associating other ideas wholly with fiction, such as the hypnosis murderer. Whether Falk played an active role up for that is up for debate, but his background glows.
If you look at these episode summaries you’ll notice that I cut out the explanations for how Columbo catches the murderers. That’s because despite all of these oddities Columbo is a fantastic show that I highly suggest you check out for yourself.
One of the things I’d like to do to further my research on Columbo and Falk is to secure a copy of the Mike Douglas Show. I’ve found a copy, but the owner wants $150. If you want to support my ability to spend money on research check out my Twitch.
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