Columbo (season 8)

Columbo (season 8)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	4
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	February 6, 1989 – May 1, 1989

This is a list of episodes from the eighth season of Columbo, nearly 11 years after the seventh season's end.

Broadcast history

The season originally aired Mondays at 9:00-11:00 pm (EST) as part of The ABC Mystery Movie. Before this, all first-run Columbo episodes had appeared on NBC.

DVD release

The season was released on DVD by Universal Home Video.

Episodes

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Runtime	Original air date
46	1	"Columbo Goes to the Guillotine"	Leo Penn	William Read Woodfield	89 minutes	February 6, 1989
Elliott Blake (Anthony Andrews) is a "psychic" who is trying to convince the government to give him a lucrative contract based on his ESP abilities. He conspires with an old colleague, Max Dyson (Anthony Zerbe), a magician, to verify his prowess, but settles an old score with Dyson by tricking him into being decapitated by his own guillotine. Columbo has to solve the crime before the government whisks Blake beyond his reach, changing his identity. Karen Austin plays Dr. Paula Hall, Elliott Blake's research partner and lover. This is one of two Columbo episodes that feature magicians, the other being Now You See Him..., in which the magician was the murderer. It is also unusual in that Columbo himself discovers the murder victim, rather than appearing later after other officers have started working on the crime scene. This was the first episode broadcast on the ABC network and was shown under the umbrella of The ABC Mystery Movie.[1]
47	2	"Murder, Smoke and Shadows"	James Frawley	Richard Alan Simmons	91 minutes	February 27, 1989
Boy genius Hollywood director Alex Brady (Fisher Stevens), prior to becoming a success, made a 16mm movie in which a young woman, Jenny Fisher, was killed in a motorcycle accident. Brady and his cameraman conspired to pretend that the woman never made it to the filming, leading the official investigation to conclude that it was an accidental death. Jenny's brother Leonard Fisher (Jeff Perry) shows up in Brady's office with a copy of a film that was left to him by Brady's recently deceased cameraman. Leonard vows to use the film to destroy Brady, who kills him, using one of his studio movie sets. Molly Hagan co-stars as Alex Brady's girlfriend, Ruth Jernigan.
48	3	"Sex and the Married Detective"	James Frawley	Jerry Ludwig	90 minutes	April 3, 1989
Sex therapist Dr. Joan Allenby (Lindsay Crouse) hosts a popular call-in radio show and has authored a best-selling self-help manual, The Courtesan Complex. She is also involved both professionally and personally with her business partner David Kincaid (Stephen Macht). That is, until late one night when Dr. Allenby makes an unexpected after-hours trip to her office and catches David in flagrante delicto with her assistant Cindy Galt (Julia Montgomery) in the therapy room. Dr. Allenby is incensed, and decides to kill David. To do so, she takes a page right out of her own book. She first disguises herself as a sexually aggressive, high-class prostitute named "Lisa," wearing a black wig and sexy black clothing, that she stashes in the women's bathroom of a fundraiser she's attending. During the fundraiser, she sneaks to the bathroom to change into her disguise. She then sneaks out in the disguise and goes over to a nearby bar where she's arranged for David to meet with her. Making sure to be seen, she tricks David into taking them both back to her clinic. Once there, she shoots him, then makes it look like the mystery "lady in black" committed the crime.
49	4	"Grand Deceptions"	Sam Wanamaker	Sy Salkowitz	89 minutes	May 1, 1989
Colonel Frank Brailie (Robert Foxworth) is running a paramilitary mercenary school owned by General Jack Padget (Stephen Elliott). Brailie is also having an affair with Padget's wife Jenny (Janet Eilber). Brailie is siphoning money from Padget's foundation into what he calls "The Special Projects Fund", which is secretly used to finance illegal dealings. The suspicious General asks an employee, Sgt. Major Lester Keegan (Andy Romano) to look into the matter. Keegan finds the evidence but decides to blackmail Brailie instead of reporting his findings. During a training exercise, also the night of the General's birthday party, Brailie sneaks into the merecenary camp, wearing a ski mask, and stabs Keegan, then puts the body on a landmine that is detonated. He sneaks back to the General's estate and makes it look like he was assembling a diorama of the Battle of Gettysburg at the time.

References

1. "ABC MYSTERY MOVIE, THE: COLUMBO: COLUMBO GOES TO THE GUILLOTINE (TV)". The Paley Center For Media. Retrieved 10 September 2013.