Columbo
Butterfly in Shades of Grey
TV Flash files “Butterfly in Shades of Grey” as the first listed hour of season 1994 — Columbo (1971–2003) on NBC, season 1994, episode 1, aired 1994-01-10, 120 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S1994E01: listed hour 63 of 69 in the Columbo guide, first listed hour of season 1994. It aired 1994-01-10 (120 min). The listed hour before it is “It's All in the Game” (S1993E01). Next is “Undercover” (S1994E02).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
L.A. radio moderator Fielding Chase kills Gerry Winters, a member of his staff who tried to help Chase's daughter Victoria (also a staff member) to leave her father and become a novelist in New York. Chase presents a fine alibi: Winters was shot dead while speaking to him on the phone, even the shooting was recorded on his answering machine. Everything seems perfect, but will Lt. Columbo really believe this story?
Viewer FAQ
Where does Butterfly in Shades of Grey sit in the Columbo guide?
S1994E01 is listed hour 63 of 69 — first listed hour of season 1994, season 1994 episode 1.
When did Columbo S1994E01 air?
Butterfly in Shades of Grey aired 1994-01-10 and is listed at 120 minutes.
Where should I start?
Prescription: Murder for the 1968 trap, then Murder by the Book for the weekly form. If you only have one night, take Any Old Port in a Storm.
In the series
Why this series still plays
For the manners: an inverted mystery that spoils the killer on purpose, then lets Peter Falk talk a guest star to pieces. Prestige anthology in a raincoat — ego as the puzzle, courtesy as the trap.
The opening is a murder you are allowed to watch. That is the thesis, not a twist. Richard Levinson and William Link built Columbo as an inverted detective story: the killer's competence is the first act, Peter Falk's rumple is the second, and the third is a trap made of manners. If you came for a whodunit, the series has already spoiled itself on purpose. The pleasure is structural. How does a man in a raincoat talk a movie star into a mistake. The cut is the polite question that is not polite.
Filed against
- Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo
Peter Falk’s rumpled Columbo inverted the mystery — howdunit trap, one more thing, guest killers as prestige toys. Levinson and Link spoiled the murderer on purpose, then let a raincoat talk a movie star into a mistake. On TV Flash he is…