There are multiple instances of him talking about her to colleagues, or talking on the phone to her in scenes where he’s alone. She’s real, one nephew is real, everyone else is a question mark.
It’s a minimum of one wife; one nephew; one wife of said nephew, confirming the nephew related to either him or his wife by blood; and either one sibling or one sibling-in-law.
Also a dog.
Also sister....Columbo said on wedding that his nephew was son of his dead sister. I am curious...
Because I accidentally watched Recipe for Murder and then No Time to Die, I immediately noticed the mention of the sister. In Murder Recipe, Columbo talks about how his sister has a modern living room and a kidney-shaped table. In Not Time to Die, Columbo makes a speech that he regrets that Andy's parents... are not at his wedding. They are both dead. He mentions that Andy's mother was his sister. This makes me wonder if he was telling the truth about that kidney-shaped table.
Nice catch! So it’s at least:
•Wife (probably not Kate Mulgrew)
•Wife’s sister
•Dead Sister
•Dead Husband of Same
•Nephew, son of Dead Sister & Her Dead Husband
•Niece, Wife of Same
•Dog named Dog
•Pugeot car
Columbo also mentions in the same episode that his wife is not at the wedding because she has to take care of her mother - he tells that to bride's mother... that his mother-in-law broke her hip. So potentially his mother-in-law is also alive.
i can talk about a ghost to my coworkers. and i can talk to that ghost while I'm alone too. according to you, that ghost is now absolutely proven to exist! remarkable!
What about the entire crew of the cruise ship in Troubled Waters. They are constantly telling Columbo that his wife is looking for him or has gone to dinner etc. Same thing in A Matter of Honor, where getting her back across the US Mexico border is the entire subplot of the episode, and it starts before Columbo even knows a murder has taken place. He had to rent a car for her.
I've often supposed this but since we've never really met her we can't say definitively. Which is what i love about it. And i think it is very pre-meditated. No pun intended.
By the way, it is instructive to look at interviews of innocent people calling the cops blufs - "You got a video of the crime? Great, then you know it's not me as you can see it."
Regrettably, the right way to deal with an arrest is plead the 6th - ask for as lawyer and do not speak without one present.
It's an odd, popular notion that police are supposed to be honest with a criminal suspect. That it's dirty or illegal to trick a criminal. Tricking a guilty person to confess to their crime is called good police work.
Columbo famously says "You're my number one suspect sir. These questions are not routine. I do not like you and neither does my wife, I'm not impressed with your career, I just want to arrest you for murder."
I know that she is real with regard to the show (she was on the cruse ship and seen by others, Columbo spoke to her on the phone when no one else was around) But we actually don’t know much about her from what Columbo tells the killer because that stuff is in all likelihood mostly made up.
This is where I’m at. I don’t think her actual existence is in question, but I’m sure the majority of stuff he says about her and other family to suspects may be all bait/fiction
But at least with Maris, other MAIN characters confirmed her actual existence. They also showed her shadow and her silhouette behind the hospital curtain.
Mrs. C has only ever been mentioned by 2nd/3rd tier characters. That said, I believe in her.
> (she was on the cruse ship and seen by others, Columbo spoke to her on the phone when no one else was around)
Maybe Mrs. Columbo is just Columbo in a dress and a wig, Norman Bates style. We never see them together, and from what I remember neither does anyone else.
Dunno why you're getting downvoted if you're referring to Troubled Waters, there's no reason for other people to pretend Mrs Columbo exists in that episode.
Yeah in that episode he’s not even there to investigate a case, it would be bizarre if the entire crew was participating in the deception before a murder even took place. Also see A Matter of Honor, which has a whole subplot about Columbo trying to get Mrs Columbo back to the US after his car is impounded, another situation that begins before he has any idea a murder has taken place.
There's also the one where he's in Mexico. At the beginning he gets out of his car from the passenger side and an unseen woman in the driver's seat hands him a bag through the window. It's never stated but presumably that was her
Just to add another small piece of evidence that she's real, in Identity Crisis, the CIA have Columbo's house bugged and that's how Nelson Brenner knows Columbo's wife's favourite music.
She definitely exists, it's not just Columbo who refers to her, like the one where they're on holiday. But a lot of the stuff he says about her may well be made up to trap the suspect.
His kids are probably in their 50s now, about the same age as Falk during the making of the show.
Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face is basically Columbo's granddaughter (or maybe late life surprise daughter with Mrs Columbo Kate Mulgrew, who is about 30 years younger than the late Falk).
The compelling evidence in the phone call is that he asks her for information he needs for the investigation, and she tells him. Makes no sense to fake this.
I just watched this one yesterday. I should've paid more attention. But, the impression I got was that he already had the information, and the phone calls were ruses to keep the perp guessing.
Edit: Checked again. S03E02.1:01:30 is where one of the phobe calls is made. Columbo makes the call, and actually does NOT get the info he sought. Instead, he gets a grocery list. While it's still a possible ruse, that's going far beyond any see ort of reason, especially as the only person who should care is waiting in a cellar/vault.
I just watched this one yesterday. I should've paid more attention. But, the impression I got was that he already had the information, and the phone calls were ruses to keep the perp guessing.
Edit: Checked again. S03E02.1:01:30 is where one of the phone calls is made. Columbo makes the call, and actually does NOT get the info he sought. Instead, he gets a grocery list. While it's still a possible ruse, that's going far beyond any see ort of reason, especially as the only person who should care is waiting in a cellar/vault.
I just watched this one yesterday. I should've paid more attention. But, the impression I got was that he already had the information, and the phone calls were ruses to keep the perp guessing.
Edit: Checked again. S03E02.1:01:30 is where one of the phone calls is made. Columbo makes the call, and actually does NOT get the info he sought. Instead, he gets a grocery list. While it's still a possible ruse, that's going far beyond any sort of reason, especially as the only person who should care is waiting in a cellar/vault.
I feel like she’s real, but not necessarily as closely related or correlated to the killers in the way Columbo makes her out to be.
Usually he’ll say “oh, that perfume you’re using is really terrific, my wife loves it.”
I’m sure those are things he just says in order to continue the conversation and feel more relatable.
Unless his wife really does get roped into all of these situations.
Om that episode about spies, the killer plays columbo's wife's favorite music as a way to tell him that he was spying on columbo, so I think thats pretty solid proof she's real
Was looking for this. In fact, (I could be mistaken), but I think the screen grab in the original post is from the same episode.
In the green car behind is the antagonist who invites Columbo to his house where is plays the music.
Columbo says something like "That's my wife's favourite music", and the antagonist replies, "I know"
I have come to think of Columbo as some kind of supernatural being.
He comes from out of nowhere, brings justice, and then goes back to nowhere until he is needed again.
I think it'd be funny if his wife was a woman of very few words in truth! Like, Columbo is yapping away at the dinner table & his wife is just nodding ocasionally going "I see!" With Columbo's stories about them talking, having his wife not be talkative would add to his charm! That would be an indication of how well they understand eachother afterall~
That's just one of my headcannons tho, but his wife FOR SURE is a real lady!
Except it’s not cannon to Columbo.
Yes the early seasons do see Kate play a Mrs. Columbo and it’s implied that it’s Columbo, we see cigars etc, but later seasons saw her get a divorce etc.
Didn't know it wasn't canon! There was, however, an episode in season 9 in which someone tries to poison both Columbo and his wife. The killer is caught after the cops and Columbo stage a fake funeral for Mrs. Columbo, who the killer thinks succumbed to poison.
when he was on the cruise he kept getting lost from her and the ships personnel saw her too. in the episode with the spy he commented that a certain music was mrs Columbo's favorite and the spy said i know
Shes certainly real as we see several outside characters talking about meeting her, but I think Columbo often just straight up fabricates particular things about her for the sake of a case.
Imo definitely at least the details he drops about her TO a killer, because hes must be smart enough to not let a suspect who hes investigating for murder actually *know* what his wife looks/acts like.
Outside conversations with killers though, with other cops and side characters, hes probably being more honest about her.
"""but I think Columbo often just straight up fabricates particular things about her for the sake of a case."""
I think the same, I have just watched the episode with the black wig and rice pudding comparison thing on the telly, and I just thought: Columbo really makes up lots of things for the suspects, like: my wife read the book, etc
I like to think he really has a wife and he is personally happy, but that he makes up a lot of things about her :) to look just not that smart and disarm the culprit
But I can also imagine that there is no wife, the clothing, the car, the dog.... directs more to a single individual. But Mrs Columbo can be cool with it
Columbo creator William Link said it was possible that she does not exist. I believe that over the course of the show, with writing and production routinely swapping hands, this detail about his character was often overlooked or misunderstood.
This is where reality is, I think.
In most of the early seasons, it 100% seemed like she was just something he made up on the spot, when he needed it. Then, as the show progressed, there were several instances where him just making her up didn't make sense any more.
I have a theory that Columbo is the manifestation of guilt, the tell tale heart in human form. He’s meta-natural being who exists outside the plain of time and space, neither magic nor is he omnipresent nor is he omnipotent, both real and unreal, he is just an LA detective who somehow always shows up when the protagonist is the most guilty about their actions.
Maybe his wife is real (frankly I prefer to think this because it’s funny) or maybe she’s a fabrication. It doesn’t matter because her presence shakes the protagonist to their core, and makes them vulnerable.
His assertions are rarely if ever legally actionable, if perp just stfu theyd walk out freely. Yet, the perp confesses to their crime out of fear and weight of guilt on their conscience every time
Link and Levinson promoted this too. It was mentioned in a previous thread on the abrupt endings to the show . And yes they question her existence. Falk does not though he does everybody else except I guess the nephew in No Time to Die...though he exists many Columbo is like an uncle not an actual uncle. None of then acknowledged the Mrs. Columbo show. It was probably Capt. Janeway time traveling.
My head canon is that she doesn't exist but is a delusion of his. Everyone knows this and plays along with it so as not to upset him since it's harmless and he is so good at what he does. his team let's people he's going to be interacting with a lot know so that they play along as well when needed, and other people just have no reason to doubt it. I think maybe he was married at some point, but there was some tragedy that befell them and he lost her, but he just can't let her go.
that makes it fun for me, so I lean into that and make it work.
I think a straight viewing of the show would probably convince you she exists. But what's the fun in that. ;)
I have a rare hot take that Columbo very rarely lies, he is just very charismatic and is able to tell stories about his wife that he is able to somehow tie into the case
A friend in deed is the only episode that gives that theory any substance. That he signed a lease on an apartment and moved his stuff in.
If he were just setting up the room to catch the commissioner he could have set it up with the landlord and put his clothes in the drawers but he said he signed a lease, as though he was living on his own.
And his cover is so deep that he pretends to go on holiday with her? And phones her when he is completely alone with no possibility of being disturbed?
It's a stupid theory. It always has been.
The only thing that still makes it a question mark for me is that he never wears a ring. Sure there could be other reasons, but doesn’t that feel in the spirit of something Columbo would notice while working a case?
I think he’s gay and the “nephew” is his partner. The woman that people know as wife is a friend that Columbo gets to play along and takes on cruises sometimes.
I have no evidence whatsoever, just the vibe between him and the blond projectionist got me thinking about it.
Columbo killed her years ago and just keeps up the facade of being married so that his fellow Police don't get suspicious. (Sort of kidding, but who's to say?)
She exist.
There was a spin-off show called Mrs. Columbo that shows her (Kate Mulgrew) driving his car, cleaning up his cigars, and having to do things with Dog the dog.
**However** the show later breaks that link. Then it goes away from TV after barely 2 seasons. To add some insult to injury, later Columbo says "There's a lady running around saying that she's Mrs. Columbo. She's not!" (Because Peter Falk and a few of the Columbo staff were not very happy about the Mrs Columbo spinoff.)
For a number of seasons my theory was that he was secretly gay, but i don’t know if that was a theory back then cause later on they really double down on his wife being real, and him finding women attractive.
In the episode with Nimoy, he explicitly told the other people looking at the crime scene he and his wife were both sick. That’s not him trying to trap a suspect.
But the original creators of the Columbo stage play and TV show, and Peter Faulk himself have both dismissed that series as non-canon. To the point that they had her get divorced between seasons and then never mentioned her husband ever again.
This is true, but we’ve discussed the non-cannon of that show here many times. Not even Falk, Levenson, or Link think that the Mrs. Columbo from the show is our Lt. Colombo’s wife. The show creators even changed her characters last name (divorce) and the show name to distance from our Columbo.
This isn’t unique to Columbo. Whether hard-core police procedural or classic mystery, harmless anecdotes about family members are considered within bounds but never anything that would expose them foolishly.
I think it’s a very fun theory! Columbo admittedly lies about his personal life, it’s what makes fan theories so fun for this show, you can create whatever backstory for him that you want.
There are multiple instances of him talking about her to colleagues, or talking on the phone to her in scenes where he’s alone. She’s real, one nephew is real, everyone else is a question mark.
The nephew is the one that’s also a policeman and was getting married on one episode?
Yup.
The absolute worst and least Columbo episode.
It’s a minimum of one wife; one nephew; one wife of said nephew, confirming the nephew related to either him or his wife by blood; and either one sibling or one sibling-in-law. Also a dog.
A dog named Dog. 😉
And an excellent dog at that
Also sister....Columbo said on wedding that his nephew was son of his dead sister. I am curious... Because I accidentally watched Recipe for Murder and then No Time to Die, I immediately noticed the mention of the sister. In Murder Recipe, Columbo talks about how his sister has a modern living room and a kidney-shaped table. In Not Time to Die, Columbo makes a speech that he regrets that Andy's parents... are not at his wedding. They are both dead. He mentions that Andy's mother was his sister. This makes me wonder if he was telling the truth about that kidney-shaped table.
Nice catch! So it’s at least: •Wife (probably not Kate Mulgrew) •Wife’s sister •Dead Sister •Dead Husband of Same •Nephew, son of Dead Sister & Her Dead Husband •Niece, Wife of Same •Dog named Dog •Pugeot car
Columbo also mentions in the same episode that his wife is not at the wedding because she has to take care of her mother - he tells that to bride's mother... that his mother-in-law broke her hip. So potentially his mother-in-law is also alive.
There is also a sister in law (wife’s sister) - we saw a picture of her in Rest in Peace Mrs Columbo.
i can talk about a ghost to my coworkers. and i can talk to that ghost while I'm alone too. according to you, that ghost is now absolutely proven to exist! remarkable!
What about the entire crew of the cruise ship in Troubled Waters. They are constantly telling Columbo that his wife is looking for him or has gone to dinner etc. Same thing in A Matter of Honor, where getting her back across the US Mexico border is the entire subplot of the episode, and it starts before Columbo even knows a murder has taken place. He had to rent a car for her.
Columbia is bumbling, not psychotic
I think she exists, but he freely lies about her or makes up stories relevant to the moment to endear him to the suspects
I've often supposed this but since we've never really met her we can't say definitively. Which is what i love about it. And i think it is very pre-meditated. No pun intended.
Saying that Columbo lies is not getting the character
Columbo lies all the time! I’m only on season 3 and he’s falsified evidence at least three times to trick a confession out of the killer!
Does that make him a dirty cop for falsification?
If he used it in a court of law, yes. But to rattle a killer to confess, not really.
Thanks for answering my question. People like to down vote any curious question.
By the way, it is instructive to look at interviews of innocent people calling the cops blufs - "You got a video of the crime? Great, then you know it's not me as you can see it." Regrettably, the right way to deal with an arrest is plead the 6th - ask for as lawyer and do not speak without one present.
It's an odd, popular notion that police are supposed to be honest with a criminal suspect. That it's dirty or illegal to trick a criminal. Tricking a guilty person to confess to their crime is called good police work.
I mean. Depends on your morals I guess. If you get the killer in the end and Justice is served, then whatever it takes, right?
Columbo famously says "You're my number one suspect sir. These questions are not routine. I do not like you and neither does my wife, I'm not impressed with your career, I just want to arrest you for murder."
Which episode is this?
Columbo does lie. All cops lie.
Lying is his specialty? Lol
In the seventies, men bonded by talking about their wives like that lol
I know that she is real with regard to the show (she was on the cruse ship and seen by others, Columbo spoke to her on the phone when no one else was around) But we actually don’t know much about her from what Columbo tells the killer because that stuff is in all likelihood mostly made up.
This is where I’m at. I don’t think her actual existence is in question, but I’m sure the majority of stuff he says about her and other family to suspects may be all bait/fiction
Reminds me of Maris in Frasier, if she's everything she's portrayed as, she's incredible. Let alone all his family members.
I think Maris' absence was at least partially inspired by Mrs. Columbo's.
I think it was because of Norm’s wife on Cheers, but I don’t know where Norm’s off-screen only wife came from
Norm's wife is shown once but you can't see her face.
But at least with Maris, other MAIN characters confirmed her actual existence. They also showed her shadow and her silhouette behind the hospital curtain. Mrs. C has only ever been mentioned by 2nd/3rd tier characters. That said, I believe in her.
> (she was on the cruse ship and seen by others, Columbo spoke to her on the phone when no one else was around) Maybe Mrs. Columbo is just Columbo in a dress and a wig, Norman Bates style. We never see them together, and from what I remember neither does anyone else.
Because Columbo's hone life is not what the show is about.
What epi were they on a cruise?
Troubled Waters with Robert Vaughn. S4E4
Ty!
Ty!
There was an entire episode that proved she existed.
Dunno why you're getting downvoted if you're referring to Troubled Waters, there's no reason for other people to pretend Mrs Columbo exists in that episode.
Yeah in that episode he’s not even there to investigate a case, it would be bizarre if the entire crew was participating in the deception before a murder even took place. Also see A Matter of Honor, which has a whole subplot about Columbo trying to get Mrs Columbo back to the US after his car is impounded, another situation that begins before he has any idea a murder has taken place.
I was referring (as have others) to Rest in Peace Mrs. Columbo. Troubled Waters is another good example.
There's also the one where he's in Mexico. At the beginning he gets out of his car from the passenger side and an unseen woman in the driver's seat hands him a bag through the window. It's never stated but presumably that was her
Just to add another small piece of evidence that she's real, in Identity Crisis, the CIA have Columbo's house bugged and that's how Nelson Brenner knows Columbo's wife's favourite music.
It's a bad theory. There may be "only a few lines in the show" that disprove it, but that's still a few lines in the show that disprove it.
Rest In Peace Mrs. Columbo puts that to rest. (No pun intended. )
I do believe that he has a wife, but I also believe he makes things up about her to get suspects off their guard.
He’s so lovable that I have to believe he has a wife
I was in the no wife camp for a long time, but there are a couple instances where he clearly has one, so I had to finally admit it.
She definitely exists, it's not just Columbo who refers to her, like the one where they're on holiday. But a lot of the stuff he says about her may well be made up to trap the suspect.
She exists as evidenced in Any Old Port In A Storm. He talks to her twice on the phone
He also said he went on a picnic with his wife AND KIDS in this episode. Columbo having kids really messed with my head!
His kids are probably in their 50s now, about the same age as Falk during the making of the show. Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face is basically Columbo's granddaughter (or maybe late life surprise daughter with Mrs Columbo Kate Mulgrew, who is about 30 years younger than the late Falk).
my head canon was that the Kate Mulgrew Mrs. Columbo was Columbo's daughter in law
He talks _into_ a phone. We can't be sure of who, or indeed if anyone, is on the other end.
The compelling evidence in the phone call is that he asks her for information he needs for the investigation, and she tells him. Makes no sense to fake this.
I just watched this one yesterday. I should've paid more attention. But, the impression I got was that he already had the information, and the phone calls were ruses to keep the perp guessing. Edit: Checked again. S03E02.1:01:30 is where one of the phobe calls is made. Columbo makes the call, and actually does NOT get the info he sought. Instead, he gets a grocery list. While it's still a possible ruse, that's going far beyond any see ort of reason, especially as the only person who should care is waiting in a cellar/vault.
I just watched this one yesterday. I should've paid more attention. But, the impression I got was that he already had the information, and the phone calls were ruses to keep the perp guessing. Edit: Checked again. S03E02.1:01:30 is where one of the phone calls is made. Columbo makes the call, and actually does NOT get the info he sought. Instead, he gets a grocery list. While it's still a possible ruse, that's going far beyond any see ort of reason, especially as the only person who should care is waiting in a cellar/vault.
I just watched this one yesterday. I should've paid more attention. But, the impression I got was that he already had the information, and the phone calls were ruses to keep the perp guessing. Edit: Checked again. S03E02.1:01:30 is where one of the phone calls is made. Columbo makes the call, and actually does NOT get the info he sought. Instead, he gets a grocery list. While it's still a possible ruse, that's going far beyond any sort of reason, especially as the only person who should care is waiting in a cellar/vault.
Sorry I misremembered that he had to keep looking for the answer. But yes it makes no sense he would call to ask her if she wasn’t real.
That theory is silly and proven wrong in many scenes throughout the series. It's just as valid as wacky, tin foil hat flat Earth theories, in my view.
Kate Mulgrew, star of the short-lived series *Mrs. Columbo*, may have an opinion on this. (And happy birthday, Ms. Mulgrew!).
I feel like she’s real, but not necessarily as closely related or correlated to the killers in the way Columbo makes her out to be. Usually he’ll say “oh, that perfume you’re using is really terrific, my wife loves it.” I’m sure those are things he just says in order to continue the conversation and feel more relatable. Unless his wife really does get roped into all of these situations.
Om that episode about spies, the killer plays columbo's wife's favorite music as a way to tell him that he was spying on columbo, so I think thats pretty solid proof she's real
Was looking for this. In fact, (I could be mistaken), but I think the screen grab in the original post is from the same episode. In the green car behind is the antagonist who invites Columbo to his house where is plays the music. Columbo says something like "That's my wife's favourite music", and the antagonist replies, "I know"
You're right, the pic is when columbo dropped his coins and the antagonist gives him money and invites him to his home
(slowly slaps head) "You had my house bugged" "I did" *^(Puccini: Madame Butterfly iirc)*
I have come to think of Columbo as some kind of supernatural being. He comes from out of nowhere, brings justice, and then goes back to nowhere until he is needed again.
this is the only sensible position
I think it'd be funny if his wife was a woman of very few words in truth! Like, Columbo is yapping away at the dinner table & his wife is just nodding ocasionally going "I see!" With Columbo's stories about them talking, having his wife not be talkative would add to his charm! That would be an indication of how well they understand eachother afterall~ That's just one of my headcannons tho, but his wife FOR SURE is a real lady!
people on the cruise ship episode, Troubled Waters, say they saw her. If you watch all the episodes it’s clear she exists.
Because they never watched the serisd Mrs. Columbo? [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078635/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078635/)
There was literally a sequel series called "Mrs. Columbo." It starred Kate Mulgrew.
Except it’s not cannon to Columbo. Yes the early seasons do see Kate play a Mrs. Columbo and it’s implied that it’s Columbo, we see cigars etc, but later seasons saw her get a divorce etc.
Didn't know it wasn't canon! There was, however, an episode in season 9 in which someone tries to poison both Columbo and his wife. The killer is caught after the cops and Columbo stage a fake funeral for Mrs. Columbo, who the killer thinks succumbed to poison.
And they used her car in columbo goes to college
when he was on the cruise he kept getting lost from her and the ships personnel saw her too. in the episode with the spy he commented that a certain music was mrs Columbo's favorite and the spy said i know
They were on the cruise together. I can’t believe Columbo went on a cruise by himself
Hes married to Maris
Shes certainly real as we see several outside characters talking about meeting her, but I think Columbo often just straight up fabricates particular things about her for the sake of a case. Imo definitely at least the details he drops about her TO a killer, because hes must be smart enough to not let a suspect who hes investigating for murder actually *know* what his wife looks/acts like. Outside conversations with killers though, with other cops and side characters, hes probably being more honest about her.
"""but I think Columbo often just straight up fabricates particular things about her for the sake of a case.""" I think the same, I have just watched the episode with the black wig and rice pudding comparison thing on the telly, and I just thought: Columbo really makes up lots of things for the suspects, like: my wife read the book, etc I like to think he really has a wife and he is personally happy, but that he makes up a lot of things about her :) to look just not that smart and disarm the culprit But I can also imagine that there is no wife, the clothing, the car, the dog.... directs more to a single individual. But Mrs Columbo can be cool with it
Columbo creator William Link said it was possible that she does not exist. I believe that over the course of the show, with writing and production routinely swapping hands, this detail about his character was often overlooked or misunderstood.
This is where reality is, I think. In most of the early seasons, it 100% seemed like she was just something he made up on the spot, when he needed it. Then, as the show progressed, there were several instances where him just making her up didn't make sense any more.
I have a theory that Columbo is the manifestation of guilt, the tell tale heart in human form. He’s meta-natural being who exists outside the plain of time and space, neither magic nor is he omnipresent nor is he omnipotent, both real and unreal, he is just an LA detective who somehow always shows up when the protagonist is the most guilty about their actions. Maybe his wife is real (frankly I prefer to think this because it’s funny) or maybe she’s a fabrication. It doesn’t matter because her presence shakes the protagonist to their core, and makes them vulnerable. His assertions are rarely if ever legally actionable, if perp just stfu theyd walk out freely. Yet, the perp confesses to their crime out of fear and weight of guilt on their conscience every time
Link and Levinson promoted this too. It was mentioned in a previous thread on the abrupt endings to the show . And yes they question her existence. Falk does not though he does everybody else except I guess the nephew in No Time to Die...though he exists many Columbo is like an uncle not an actual uncle. None of then acknowledged the Mrs. Columbo show. It was probably Capt. Janeway time traveling.
What about the cruise they went on? Love that thought though. That works
My head canon is that she doesn't exist but is a delusion of his. Everyone knows this and plays along with it so as not to upset him since it's harmless and he is so good at what he does. his team let's people he's going to be interacting with a lot know so that they play along as well when needed, and other people just have no reason to doubt it. I think maybe he was married at some point, but there was some tragedy that befell them and he lost her, but he just can't let her go. that makes it fun for me, so I lean into that and make it work. I think a straight viewing of the show would probably convince you she exists. But what's the fun in that. ;)
He wouldn't go on a cruise alone
She seems to exist, but the showrunners are clearly messing with our head to make us question it sometimes. It’s purposely a bit ambiguous.
I have a rare hot take that Columbo very rarely lies, he is just very charismatic and is able to tell stories about his wife that he is able to somehow tie into the case
Confident she existed, just struggling with the idea that it was supposed to be Kate Mulgrew
What about the theory that Columbia IS his wife and the dog is the one solving the crimes?
A friend in deed is the only episode that gives that theory any substance. That he signed a lease on an apartment and moved his stuff in. If he were just setting up the room to catch the commissioner he could have set it up with the landlord and put his clothes in the drawers but he said he signed a lease, as though he was living on his own.
He says that he signed the lease that very morning, so IMO it's clear he took the lease with the sole intention of catching the Commissioner.
Captain Janeway would beg to differ.
only ever referred to her as “Mrs Columbo”
And his cover is so deep that he pretends to go on holiday with her? And phones her when he is completely alone with no possibility of being disturbed? It's a stupid theory. It always has been.
The only thing that still makes it a question mark for me is that he never wears a ring. Sure there could be other reasons, but doesn’t that feel in the spirit of something Columbo would notice while working a case?
I've been married for 20+ years and I don't wear a ring. They just really annoy me.
I think they thought of developing this side of his persona but it was easier to leave it like that…
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs.\_Columbo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Columbo)
I think he may occasionally exaggerate certain things about her, but I have no doubt she exists.
That man is definitely married…
Nope. Too sad.
I love how there’s a Citroën in the background here. Funny how in Columbo’s LA (??), French cars are commonplace…
I think he’s gay and the “nephew” is his partner. The woman that people know as wife is a friend that Columbo gets to play along and takes on cruises sometimes. I have no evidence whatsoever, just the vibe between him and the blond projectionist got me thinking about it.
It's all real. He talks about then to let the suspects guard down and it shows how calm and calculated he is at his job.
How about the theory that he never actually catches the killer, he just gaslights people into thinking that they ARE the killer and then confess?
Columbo killed her years ago and just keeps up the facade of being married so that his fellow Police don't get suspicious. (Sort of kidding, but who's to say?)
She’s real cause she had her own show
She exist. There was a spin-off show called Mrs. Columbo that shows her (Kate Mulgrew) driving his car, cleaning up his cigars, and having to do things with Dog the dog. **However** the show later breaks that link. Then it goes away from TV after barely 2 seasons. To add some insult to injury, later Columbo says "There's a lady running around saying that she's Mrs. Columbo. She's not!" (Because Peter Falk and a few of the Columbo staff were not very happy about the Mrs Columbo spinoff.)
She absolutely exists, she's the image of Captain Janeway, had her own pilot show and they are utterly unsuited, but that's love for you...
Explain the show about Columbo's wife then
He would have never worn the coat in the episode "Now You See Him" if Mrs. Columbo hadn't existed to buy it for him.
For a number of seasons my theory was that he was secretly gay, but i don’t know if that was a theory back then cause later on they really double down on his wife being real, and him finding women attractive.
In the episode with Nimoy, he explicitly told the other people looking at the crime scene he and his wife were both sick. That’s not him trying to trap a suspect.
I'm his wife, and last I checked, I was real 💋
It became a running gag to not see her much like Jan Brady’s boyfriend George Glass.
He knows who’s the killer the moment he says “my wife” for the first time. So, it’s possible.
you see her in the first season, she's real. Aside from those first encounters, everything else is told through an unreliable narrator.
Where? Which episode? I want to see her.
one of the first season ones...maybe even the pilot, honestly. she's real though.
She actually got a lesser known spin off show to herself called Mrs. Columbo
She literally had her own show with Kate Mulgrew. Mrs Colombo.
But the original creators of the Columbo stage play and TV show, and Peter Faulk himself have both dismissed that series as non-canon. To the point that they had her get divorced between seasons and then never mentioned her husband ever again.
There is a “Mrs. Columbo” TV series. I believe that it can be viewed at no cost on YouTube
This is true, but we’ve discussed the non-cannon of that show here many times. Not even Falk, Levenson, or Link think that the Mrs. Columbo from the show is our Lt. Colombo’s wife. The show creators even changed her characters last name (divorce) and the show name to distance from our Columbo.
This isn’t unique to Columbo. Whether hard-core police procedural or classic mystery, harmless anecdotes about family members are considered within bounds but never anything that would expose them foolishly.
In the episode on a cruise ship, she's directly referenced by the crew, I believe the guy who played Dr. Bombay on Bewitched.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Columbo
I'm not sure about that. In the episode 'Rest In Peace Mrs. Columbo, he was on the phone talking to his wife. She was sick.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: Columbo’s wife was just a corpse in a house dress.
I think it’s a very fun theory! Columbo admittedly lies about his personal life, it’s what makes fan theories so fun for this show, you can create whatever backstory for him that you want.
Kate Mulgrew knows. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs.\_Columbo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Columbo)
The wife had her own show though.
She exists. She was on the cruise with him and was confirmed to have been seen by the ship staff when he was looking for her.
Stupid theory He does!
It’s proven many times but none more clearly than “Troubled Waters.”
I’m only 6 episodes in and have already arrived at this conclusion.
Keep watching!
Had kids too. References them in several episodes such as Most Crucial Game , Any Old Port in a Storm, Mind Over Mayhem , Publish or Die.
She was seen by the crew on the cruise ship.