Note – this article is speculative, albeit based on factual reporting. Please don’t take it as the gospel truth (but remember where you read it first should it prove accurate!)
The upcoming drama series Poker Face, created by Rian Johnson and starring Natasha Lyonne, is promising to be one show Columbo fans should keep an eye on given that it could be the closest thing we’ll ever get to a reboot.
Although precise details of the nature of Poker Face are hazy, there are multiple reasons to believe it could provide a satisfyingly Columbo-esque viewing experience – not least because Johnson and Lyonne are both such unabashed fans of the Lieutenant. Johnson (director of Looper and Star Wars: The Last Jedi) even almost contributed to this blog’s ‘Top 100 Columbo scenes‘ countdown of 2020 but ultimately couldn’t quite squeeze it in – a fact I rue to this day.
Johnson’s acclaimed 2019 murder mystery movie Knives Out was a little more madcap and action-oriented than your average Columbo, but it featured some unmistakable nods to the series – notably an eccentric and razor-sharp detective (Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc) heading up the sort of all-star cast 70s Columbo delivered in spades.
Blanc noticing a tiny, missable clue early on that channelled his deductive reasoning towards solving the case could also have been a straight lift from many a classic Columbo. If you’ve never seen the film (which will have at least two sequels – the first to be released in late 2022), I highly recommend it.
Speaking about what inspired his approach to Knives Out, Johnson was only too happy to credit the role Columbo played. “I did take a page out of Columbo… very early on in the game I wanted to relieve the audience of the burden of ‘can we figure this out?‘”, he said, referencing how the key suspect’s involvement in the death of a family patriarch is clearly shown in the film. “It’s kind of like what Columbo does in terms of revealing the killer at the beginning of the episode and the tension is how is the detective going to catch the killer.”
Enjoy! I’ve got a copy of that too. Each game takes a looooooooooooong time, rather like being grilled by Columbo I imagine. Shame the creators couldn’t get Peter’s image rights!
— Lieutenant Columbo (@columbophile) December 18, 2020
Johnson has very publicly declared his love for Columbo – and of the simple joy of revelling in Peter Falk’s performances – many times on Twitter (his profile has a header image of the Lieutenant at time of writing). His admission, then, that Poker Face will be a “character-driven, case-of-the-week” style mystery of the sort he grew up watching only heightens the possibility that it will have at least some parallels to Columbo.
Like Johnson, Natasha Lyonne regularly shows her appreciation of Columbo on her social channels – even jokingly challenging Mark Ruffalo (who for years has been seen as the heir apparent to the Columbo crown) to a fight in 2020 to determine which of them should be cast as the Lieutenant should a reboot ever come about.
I’ll fight Ruffalo for it if I have to. Me and you, after class, Warriors style for Columbo. @MarkRuffalo Seems like the only reasonable way to settle this hypothetical. https://t.co/rooiodGjUQ
— natasha lyonne (@nlyonne) April 2, 2020
Lyonne’s love of the show was even more overtly communicated to the world this year during Season 2 of her hit Netflix drama Russian Doll, which featured her walking past the Columbo statue in Budapest in one episode, and in the next suggesting Steven Spielberg’s most important piece of filmmaking was not Schindler’s List, but Murder by the Book, which he directed in 1971. A drawling New Yorker like Peter Falk, Lyonne also has an unconventional manner about her that would make her an excellent fit to play a Columbo-like character.
Were it up to Johnson and Lyonne alone, I have little doubt the two would have teamed up already in an official Columbo reboot. However, given that the rights to the series are known to be tied up and look likely to be so for some time, Poker Face could be the next best thing. Set in New York’s Hudson Valley district, and eschewing today’s TV trend of series-spanning story arcs, Poker Face will deliver 10 stand-alone murder mysteries with Lyonne as the as-yet unnamed lead investigator.
The high-calibre of confirmed guest stars also portends well for the series, with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist, Chapelwaite), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper, Inception, 3rd Rock From the Sun), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order, Traffic) amongst the actors cast alongside Lyonne.
Poker Face is in pre-production and is expected to be broadcast on Peacock in late 2022. Lest we forget, Peacock is the streaming service owned and operated by NBCUniversal – the company that owns and maintains the distribution rights for Columbo. Coincidence? Not likely…
Just one more thing…
While I have your attention, you may be interested to learn that a never-before-released photograph of Peter Falk, which was used used as a study for the portrait of Columbo from 1989’s Murder, A Self Portrait, is available to buy as a print.
The photo has been in the archives of Jaroslav Gebr, the long-time Head of Scenic Arts at Universal Studios, since 1989. Now, a limited edition run of 100 authenticated, signed and numbered prints have been put on the market – and I’m delighted to say that one is winging its way to me as we speak!
For full details of the print, visit the Gebr Art website. Enquiries to Renee Gebr via email.
As a final aside, here’s wishing regular blog commentator (and occasional contributor) Glenn Stewart a swift recovery from heart bypass surgery this week! His surgeon, renowned specialist Dr Larry Bayfield, says Glenn’s prognosis is excellent – as long as he cuts down on the cigars and chilli. In all seriousness, Glenn is a much-valued member of the Columbophile community, so we hope he’ll be back posting very soon.
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First, many thanks to CP and the well-wishes who have provided positive support during my recent crisis (and now ongoing recovery). The Columbophile community is indeed a caring community!
The best Columbo villains have a hubris, the overweening self-confidence that makes them think they’re smarter than everyone else. Indeed, nasty surgeon Dr. Mayfield is a perfect example (No pesky nurses were whacked with a tire iron during my hospital stay). I thought myself too smart, too. I ignored the mild tension across my shoulders and arm and the fatigue, continuing to go on about my business for several days. I am fortunate that did not turn into much worse news – I was officially an idiot. Please pay attention to your body signals, and don’t be an idiot like me.
On the real column topic, I firmly believe that the world needs a new Columbo (Rich’s NYC prequel idea would be terrific). But the locked-up rights to the character puts this in danger. Think of the continual updates on Sherlock Holmes. New actors are engaged, new plots are concocted, new technologies are applied. In this way, new generations of Sherlock Holmes fans have been allowed to spawn and spread the legacy. Without regeneration of the character, years from now Peter Falk-as-Columbo will be trapped in amber, adored by a certain generation of fans (myself included), but in perpetual stasis without fresh interpretations.
Without a Columbo reboot, we at least need a jump-start to the overall legacy of the Thinking Detective, a legacy that I fear is in decline, or at least in remission. “Poker Face” sounds very promising in this regard. But please, don’t let it be another in the recent cable wave of “sad detectives”. It’s not enough for these cops and gumshoes to investigate particularly horrific murders (children are often the victims), but they have to wrestle with their own personal demons, as if this is a rite of passage to solving the crime and cleansing themselves in the process. I don’t need a tragic detective backstory. Just give me clues, character, killer and Gotcha. The toughest personal demon that Columbo had to confront was enduring Dog’s expulsion from canine class.
Insightful post, Mr. Stewart, and very glad to hear all is well.
Interesting! I don’t have any subscription services like Peacock, but I’ll keep an eye out for reviews / clips of this series. Best wishes to Glenn as well.
Great post and i really would love to see a re boot of columbo but i like to remember columbo for the real episodes that were made by the real peter falk which is what i thought this site was about i love the seventies episodes paticulary johhny cash ruth gordon robert culp jack casidy
i could go on but i ll say it respecpectfully i appreciciate all the new posts and i bear in mind al positivityvbut i stil think cp is behind in episodereviews particulary a bird in the hand which is not adisaster and surely better than no time to dieb
I want to say for the record any rudeness to The great CP is misdirected because 1 columbo is not shown livev i australia but as far as o knowvCP owns a columbo box setb
But in contrast columbo is aired every sunday regardless often a bird in the hand here pops up every nowvand then
I dont own a columbo box set but 5 usa show plenty90s episodes but never no time to die
Dear Glenn, stay strong and get well soon!
Best wishes to Glenn for a good and healthy recovery!
Dr Larry Bayfield or Dr Barry Mayfield!!! 😉
It can’t have been Barry, because he had a large, certainly real, moustache and goatee.
The greatest ever columbo the bye bye sky highiq murder is on tomorow on 5USA
Natasha Lyonne rocks! I will definitely look out for Poker Face! Thanks for the information.
I also find it fascinating that “Poker Face” and “Peter Falk” bear quite a bit in common, from the initials, to the pattern, to the number of letters in each. A coincidence? Probably. But still rather fun to notice!
Well noticed! Maybe it isn’t a coincidence?
My very best wishes to our dear and valued commentator, Glenn Stewart!
Hopefully no dissolving sutures were involved!
I know I’m like a pesky fly on this site but my heart still goes out to fellow Columbo fans so here’s wishing Glenn all the best!
Thank you for this update! I can barely wait.
Thank you for this information, I will be sure to check out poker face on Peacock.
Best wishes to Glenn on his recovery. That is an intense surgery, my thoughts are with you Glenn!
Thanks for the heads-up, CP. Although I live just south of where Poker Face is filming (in the Fishkill-Newburgh area from April to October), your post is the first I heard of it.
According to IMDb, the first episode is: “A tech billionaire gathers his childhood friends to his Miami estate, what turns into a high stakes game of poker.” Accordingly, in March, the Hudson Valley Film Commission put out a casting notice for anyone with “any experience as a REAL Casino Dealer (Poker, Blackjack).” (The HVFC also solicited Hudson Valley locals who might wish to appear as background actors.)
Even if the documented Columbophilic bent of both Johnson and Lyonne never materializes in Poker Face, their obvious respect for quality in a “character-driven, case-of-the-week style mystery” is a very good sign.
Oh, just one more thing — all our best to Glenn for a speedy recovery.
I watched a bit of Knives Out – and I’m afraid Daniel Craig’s contorted and affected performance and accent was really too much to bear. (On screen eccentricity is easier said than done.) With Peter Falk’s early Columbos, you got the feeling the mild eccentricity was an extension of the actor’s own studious character.
I completely agree Mark. Overall I thought the movie knives out was terrific, but Daniel Craig‘s accent was wretched and almost unwatchable.
I found his accent at the beginning awful, but after about 10 minutes I got past that and really loved the film. It seemed like something Agatha Christie would write.