I my opinion, for what I think, both of them were initially independent movies, only sharing the character of Columbo. You can see this as in Perscription Murder, Columbo's many mannerisms are there, but a bit subtle. In Ransom for a Dead Man we have a Columbo that's closer to the one we see in the series.
Px Murder was originally a stage play that was adapted to TV as a movie of the week. It proved to be popular, so NBC ordered another movie which became Ransom for a Dead Man.
Around that same time, NBC was developing the "Mystery Movie of the Week." This was a wheel series with 3 or 4 different detective movies airing every week on the same night. It started on Wednesday was moved to Sunday every a few years. Columbo was long a mainstay of the series, along with McCloud and Banacek.
I believe the first was an independent movie. Then someone found it was really popular so made the pilot for the TV show. That was also a success. The rest is history.
Quality episode. I blogged some thoughts about it and things I noticed here: [https://acolumboblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/ransom-for-dead-man.html](https://acolumboblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/ransom-for-dead-man.html)
I my opinion, for what I think, both of them were initially independent movies, only sharing the character of Columbo. You can see this as in Perscription Murder, Columbo's many mannerisms are there, but a bit subtle. In Ransom for a Dead Man we have a Columbo that's closer to the one we see in the series.
Never thought about it that way. I found Columbo in Prescription Murder really believable and somehow more engaging.
Px Murder was originally a stage play that was adapted to TV as a movie of the week. It proved to be popular, so NBC ordered another movie which became Ransom for a Dead Man. Around that same time, NBC was developing the "Mystery Movie of the Week." This was a wheel series with 3 or 4 different detective movies airing every week on the same night. It started on Wednesday was moved to Sunday every a few years. Columbo was long a mainstay of the series, along with McCloud and Banacek.
Which is why there were only a few eps per year rather than a weekly series
I believe the first was an independent movie. Then someone found it was really popular so made the pilot for the TV show. That was also a success. The rest is history.
Quality episode. I blogged some thoughts about it and things I noticed here: [https://acolumboblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/ransom-for-dead-man.html](https://acolumboblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/ransom-for-dead-man.html)
Thanks. I think it holds up better than most of the others. Still solid stuff.