Fade in to Murder

Fade in to Murder

From The Shabby Detective: Yet Another Columbo Podcast by Weirding Way Media

August 18, 2025 · 47 min · Season 6 · Episode 1

About this episode

The episode discusses the Columbo episode 'Fade in to Murder' featuring William Shatner as a villain.

The sixth season of Columbo kicks off with “Fade in to Murder,” and we’re right there with it. Yes, we had to scrap our planned chat on Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky (Mike just couldn’t stomach it), but that means we get to dive straight into William Shatner swaggering his way through one of the great villain roles of the NBC years. Chris can’t help but heap praise on Shatner’s performance as ego-fueled actor Ward Fowler, while Mike wrestles with the episode’s meta conceit, its TV-within-TV layers, and Peter Falk’s always-dependable rumpled brilliance. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-shabby-detective-yet-another-columbo-podcast--5084441/support .

People in this episode

Hosts: Chris, Mike

Topics covered

  • Columbo
  • TV reviews
  • William Shatner
  • meta narrative
  • actor roles

Keywords

  • Columbo
  • Fade in to Murder
  • William Shatner
  • Peter Falk
  • TV reviews

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Mikey and Nicky, Fade in to Murder

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