Just One More Thing: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case

Notes and screenshots for The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case: Originally broadcast on May 22, 1977, starring Theodore Bikel as a murderer too clever for his own good, Sorrell Brooke as his ticklish victim, a vertiable army of character actors and guest stras including Kenneth Mars, Basil Hoffman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carol Jones as a massive pain in the ass, Kathleen King as our much-beloved self-help enthusiast Suzy and, of course, Peter Falk as Columbo.

"A high IQ Sigma Society member murders his business partner and fellow society member when he threatens to expose him as an embezzler, while engineering a seemingly foolproof alibi. Lt. Columbo outsmarts the genius."

-IMDB Summary

"From season six, it’s “The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case,” in which Columbo has to solve a murder committed at a club for some of the world’s foremost minds that isn’t Mensa. Comedian and podcaster Richard Massara (facebook.com/comedyrich) joins us from the UK to talk about the episode, as well as why the heck Columbo never left their TV sets over the years. Also- Jamie Lee Curtis? Quincy? Jon’s I.Q. at age 11?"

-RJ's episode summary

Listen to the original podcast episode here:

Episode 16: A Black Mass in San Francisco with our guest Richard Massarra.

The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case

Season 6, Episode #3

Director: Sam Wanamaker

Writers: Robert Malcolm Young

“Here I’ve been talking with the most intelligent people in the world, and I never even noticed! “

Both RJ and I walked away from our first viewing of this episode underwhelmed, but on a second (and third and now fourth) viewing, it’s increasing in our estimation. It’s now one of my favorites and, well, RJ likes it quite a bit at least.

As we do, we mentioned on the show where we think the episode was padded in order to meet the runtime, but looking back on it now I actually wonder if it was all that padded at all. The coin scene went on a bit, but the subsequent intelligence question was pushed through in a heartbeat, so I don’t know that they were padding so much as depicting Columbo torturing a genius by holding his attention so methodically.

We also didn’t get around to discussing the raft of character actors in this episode, which I thoroughly feel was a genuine waste of talent. Kenneth Mars alone would have made an amazing murderer in any episode. Just realized that, wish I’d said it during the episode.

Lastly, I think we can all agree that the title of this episode is bongoes and someone needs to answer for it.

“I’ve tried EST, Esalen, Primal Scream, Astral Projection, I’m OK-You’re OK, a Black Mass in San Fransisco and I’m STILL a Target!“ (Columbo - Bye Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case)

Over here at Just One More Thing, we’re very much into the idea of reviving Suzy for her own contemporary sitcom. Set in the early Seventies, a hapless young woman travels from her home in the Midwest to Southern California in the hopes of finding spiritual enlightenment among the era’s many absurd transcendental and self-help gurucracies. Speculatively casting Gillian Jacobs as Suzy. 

Next episode: Try and Catch Me