"the problem was Romania had run out of episodes of Columbo"
April 20, 2023 5:47 AM Subscribe
In 2021 a video featuring Peter Falk talking about the time he stopped a revolt in Romania went viral. This led Romanian YouTuber Radu Pericol Tiganas to do research, finding evidence which seemingly confirmed large parts of the story, recounting it in a Romanian-language video. Slate's Willa Paskin became interested, and found out that it was all a bit more complicated than it first appeared, laying out her findings in a pair of episodes of the Decoder Ring podcast which together are about the length of a single episode of Columbo.
Of course, immediately after making a comment complaining about unedited inaccuracies, I notice a typo in the title of this thread.
posted by Kattullus at 5:54 AM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 5:54 AM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
laying out her findings in a pair of episodes of the Decoder Ring podcast which together are about the length of a single episode of Columbo
...okay, but are they AS GOOD?
posted by bigendian at 6:12 AM on April 20, 2023
...okay, but are they AS GOOD?
posted by bigendian at 6:12 AM on April 20, 2023
I've known the basic legend for years, and it's in Falk's autobiography - looking forward to watching these! Thanks!
posted by brainwane at 6:41 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by brainwane at 6:41 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
laying out her findings in a pair of episodes of the Decoder Ring podcast which together are about the length of a single episode of Columbo
...okay, but are they AS GOOD?
And most of all, did she have to ask just one last question to clarify something after everyone thought they had got away with their crime?
posted by NoMich at 6:49 AM on April 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
...okay, but are they AS GOOD?
And most of all, did she have to ask just one last question to clarify something after everyone thought they had got away with their crime?
posted by NoMich at 6:49 AM on April 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
Can someone tl:dr? Did Columbo really save Romania or not?
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:44 AM on April 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:44 AM on April 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
Like in an episode of Columbo, you learn the truth, pretty much, at the very beginning, but you don’t understand the why and what for until you’ve gone through the whole thing.
posted by Kattullus at 8:12 AM on April 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 8:12 AM on April 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
So what you're telling me is that The In-Laws was a documentary.
posted by adamrice at 8:55 AM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by adamrice at 8:55 AM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Falk said he tried to join the CIA but they rejected him because he was too left wing.
This sounds like a tall tale, but it’s the truth, as far as anyone can tell.
posted by Kattullus at 9:11 AM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
This sounds like a tall tale, but it’s the truth, as far as anyone can tell.
posted by Kattullus at 9:11 AM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
My wife and I listened to the Decoder Ring episodes -- they're *amazing*! <3 Willa Paskin.
posted by shavenwarthog at 2:15 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by shavenwarthog at 2:15 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
What I loved most about Poker Face was its embrace of the Columbo format, right down to the high-profile guest stars playing the criminals and the comforting title font.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:27 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:27 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
The second episode features bits of an interview with Irina Nistor, whose real life story is AMAZING.
Nistor was the legendary Romanian woman who served as both Romanian television's government-sanctioned translator of English, but also the single voice dubbing all voices on the vast majority of bootlegged American films brought into Romania. There is a delightful documentary called Chuck Norris vs. Communism, chronicling how the one illegal activity the Communist government generally overlooked was bootlegging of American movies, only for a generation raised on Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone kicking commie ass eventually rose up and overthrew said government.
The film is not entirely online right now, but a shortened version of it edited for PBS's Independent Lens is available on Internet Archive and there is scarcely a more entertaining way to spend 55 minutes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:46 AM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nistor was the legendary Romanian woman who served as both Romanian television's government-sanctioned translator of English, but also the single voice dubbing all voices on the vast majority of bootlegged American films brought into Romania. There is a delightful documentary called Chuck Norris vs. Communism, chronicling how the one illegal activity the Communist government generally overlooked was bootlegging of American movies, only for a generation raised on Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone kicking commie ass eventually rose up and overthrew said government.
The film is not entirely online right now, but a shortened version of it edited for PBS's Independent Lens is available on Internet Archive and there is scarcely a more entertaining way to spend 55 minutes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:46 AM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Fixed episode/episodes typo in post!
posted by taz (staff) at 1:26 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:26 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
And here I was thinking that his most important influence was when he spoke to angels while filming a holocaust film next to the Berlin Wall...
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 12:28 AM on April 24, 2023
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 12:28 AM on April 24, 2023
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posted by Kattullus at 5:49 AM on April 20, 2023