Publish or Perish
- Episode aired Jan 18, 1974
- TV-PG
- 1h 13m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
A publisher hires a bomb enthusiast to murder a bestselling author of detective novels. Lt. Columbo is on the case.A publisher hires a bomb enthusiast to murder a bestselling author of detective novels. Lt. Columbo is on the case.A publisher hires a bomb enthusiast to murder a bestselling author of detective novels. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
John Davis Chandler
- Eddie Kane
- (as John Chandler)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaColumbo questions Eileen and Neal in Chasen's Restaurant and provides horrified amusement to everyone by ordering chili. Chasen's, which closed in 1995, was renowned for its chili.
- GoofsWhen Columbo opens up Eddie Kane's address book to look at Greenleaf's number, the closeup is the same one as the earlier shot when Greenleaf did the same thing, including Greenleaf's latex gloved finger.
- Quotes
Restaurant Manager: Your check, Lt.
Lieutenant Columbo: Six dollars! Excuse me, err... no I think there's a mistake, I had the chilli and the iced tea.
Restaurant Manager: Oh.
[makes alterations on check]
Lieutenant Columbo: Six seventy-five?
Restaurant Manager: I forgot to add the iced tea.
- ConnectionsReferences Columbo: Candidate for Crime (1973)
Featured review
"Publish or Perish" (1974)
PLOT: A publisher of popular pap novels (Jack Cassidy) indirectly murders an author who is fleeing his corral (Mickey Spillane) via a hireling killer, a Vietnam vet and bomb expert (John Davis Chandler). The slaying is set-up as a frame of the publisher, but he has an airtight alibi, which is too good to be true for Columbo.
COMMENTARY: This is a decent episode and the second of three featuring Cassidy as the antagonist, but it's the least of these. The problem is that the murder plot is a little too puzzling and the denouement is weak. No matter how you slice it, the publisher (Cassidy) didn't need to get a new key for the victim's office. But it's nice to see Mariette Hartley; she'll return for "Try and Catch me" (1977).
GRADE: B-/C+
COMMENTARY: This is a decent episode and the second of three featuring Cassidy as the antagonist, but it's the least of these. The problem is that the murder plot is a little too puzzling and the denouement is weak. No matter how you slice it, the publisher (Cassidy) didn't need to get a new key for the victim's office. But it's nice to see Mariette Hartley; she'll return for "Try and Catch me" (1977).
GRADE: B-/C+
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- Wuchakk
- Apr 5, 2019
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