Mysteries on TV: Columbo, Ironside, Kidnapped, and NCIS

It's a very mysterious week with 4 television series coming out on DVD:

Columbo, The Mystery Movie Collection, 1989, contains five made-for-television movies that were shown in 1989 over a decade after Columbo the series ended its run. Peter Falk returned to play the Los Angeles police detective.

The movies on this 3 disk set are: Columbo Goes to the Guillotine featuring Anthony Andrews; Murder, Smoke, and Shadows with Fisher Stevens; Sex and the Married Detective starring Lindsay Crouse; Grand Deceptions featuring Robert Foxworth; and Murder, a Self Portrait with Patrick Bauchau.

Ironside, Season 1, starred Raymond Burr as the San Francisco Chief of Detectives who survives an assassination attempt but is left paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair. Hired by the department as a special consultant, he and his team investigate crimes in association with the authorities.

Raymond Burr took on the role of Ironside just one year after Perry Mason ended its long television run.

The 1st season ran for 28 episodes during the 1967/1968 television season on NBC. The 8 disk DVD set also includes the pilot which aired in 1966.

Kidnapped, The Complete Series, starred Timothy Hutton and Dana Delaney as a wealthy and powerful New York couple whose teenage son has been kidnapped. The couple hire a former FBI agent turned "retrieval specialist" to work outside the law while keeping the family's secrets behind closed doors.

Kidnapped aired on NBC in September and October 2006 and was cancelled after just 5 episodes, the remaining being available at the time on the NBC.com website. All 13 episodes are included on this 3 disk DVD set and are shown in widescreen presentations.

[Mystery Books News Editor's comment: Somehow we missed this series when it came out last year, but we've already ordered our copy! It sounds like our kind of television.]

NCIS, Season 3, starred Mark Harmon as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents travel the globe to investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties. The season begins following the devastating loss of one of their special agents to a terrorist at the close of season 2. Further complicating matters for Gibbs is his former lover who is the new director of NCIS.

The 3rd season ran for 24 episodes during the 2005/2006 television season on CBS. The 6 disk DVD set includes all episodes presented in wide screen format.

Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD.

Return to Mystery Books News ...