Just One More Thing: Suitable For Framing

Notes and screenshots for Suitable For Framing: Originally broadcast on November 17 1971, starring Ross Martin as an ungrateful art critic, Kim Hunter as his patsy, a cast of grerat character actors including Vic Tayback, Sandra Gould, Don Ameche, and Mary Wickes, also a nude lady and, of course, Peter Falk as Columbo.

"A wealthy art collector is murdered, and all signs point to a robbery gone wrong. But the nephew's alibi is a little too convenient, and Columbo pulls a fast one to ferret out the killer."

-IMDB Summary

"In “Suitable For Framing,” Ross Martin is an art critic who kills his uncle in an elaborate plot to gain control of the old man’s valuable art collection. Jon did not like this. Returning guest Manning Krull and RJ did. It is sometimes odd and Don Ameche’s voice is like smooth, smooth velvet. Anyway, this edition of the podcast reveals both Jon and RJ’s depressing origins for knowing about all of this pop culture junk! Fun!"

-RJ's episode summary

Listen to the original podcast episode here:

Episode 20: A Blue Horse with guest Manning Krull

Suitable for Framing 
Season 1, Episode 4

Director: Hy Averback

Writer: Jackson Gillis

When I first found Columbo on Netflix a year or two ago and started chain-watching it, I ended up skipping this episode after about twenty minutes. I genuinely couldn’t stand any more. Went back and watched it later and really didn’t enjoy it. When our guest Manning Krull picked it for the podcast, I tried watching it twice more - which I usually do, just to be prepared to discuss it - and got through about one and one-quarter viewings. I just can’t do it.

Which is insane, because if you rattle off the individual pieces of the episode, I should love it: Ross Martin, Vic Tayback, Don Ameche, Mary Wickes, Jackson GIllis, and a setting in the art scene. Absolutely everything was in place, but I winced my way through it.

The clash of acting styles was a big issue for me - Ameche was doing his very formal classic film style, Falk was exceptionally natural, and everyone else was terribly sitcommy - things I enjoy in their right place, but they clashed for me. I mentioned in the podcast that the daffy aunt could have been a Bewitched character and that the scene in Tayback’s studio with the nude model could have been seamlessly inserted into an episode of Car 54 Where Are You.

Keep in mind, when I say that, that I LOVE sitcoms, too, they’re a classic American artform and I admire and adore the really great ones, AND YET the presence of a sitcom-like structure in this episode is utterly galling to me. Manning and RJ warmed me to the episode just a little, by the end of the podcast, but it remains one of my least favorite. Oh well, good thing there’s another 70 or so to choose from …

Next episode: Lady In Waiting