Was Columbo really just married to the job?

[TMC]

In other words, Mrs. Columbo a useful fiction invented by the detective and the odd occasion that other characters claim to have seen her she was perhaps a paid escort to maintain the pretense?

[Rescueachihuahua]

Who in their right mind would marry him? His looks aside he's an air head. He is rude. He makes a mess and helps himself everywhere he goes. He sticks his hands in toilets and don't even wash his hands after. He's disgusting. Drops his nasty ashes is expensive homes like a pig. I could go on for hours. Makes himself at home and even had entered homes without knocking. Id have him arrested.

[ladyinleppard]

I would say so.. Who in their right mind would marry him?

[biffbronson]

Ask yourself, would Columbo bother to tell suspects and their family members details about his wife, if she didn't exist? Go to the trouble of detailing the likes and activities a fictional wife -- all from imagination? He's encountering these people on a very limited basis, he'll never see them again -- there won't be need for them to ever verify Columbo's marital status...!

There were lots of shows where the spouse or love interest was never seen. How many times did Phyllis talk about Lars on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, yet they produced a daughter. Barney Fife was in love with Juanita on TAGS, never seen. Several Cheers characters talked about their spouses often, but most never appeared on the show.

If you believe Columbo was a gay character, you'll have to come up with a little more evidence to be convincing. There are always plenty of people who are sloppy and continue to smoke. And many of them are married to smokers. And you may ask who would've married Peter Falk, but he wasn't the least handsome actor out there.

Where did you come up with this idea TMC? Are you trying to compensate for the shortage of LGBTQ characters on TV by taking old ones and retroactively assigning a non-straight status for them? Go for it, but come on, you'll have to come up with something more plausible when looking at a character who deals with strangers 95% of the time...!!

[Duster76]

There are actually two answers to this question. Peter Falk in an interview stated Mrs. Columbo in his mind was not an actual person but an investigative tool used to engage the suspect. However the series clearly establishes she does exist, in the episode Troubled Waters, Mrs. Columbo wins a cruise to Mexico in a raffle, although never seen Columbo would have no other reason to be aboard ship. There was no crime committed at the time he boarded the ship, the murder took place at sea.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by Rescueachihuahua

Who in their right mind would marry him? His looks aside he's an air head.

An airhead wouldn't come close to his level of brilliance solving cases.

[ladyinleppard]

He's married to a blow up doll !!��