PLOT: Ward Fowler is the famous television detective Luserne. The show is very successful and Fowler earns a big salary. However, the producer of the show Claire Daley has the power over his contract and he hates it. She had discovered Ward and made him the star he was. They had even had an affair years before. Claire lets him know that she has made him what he is and that she can destroy his career in an instant so he decides to kill her. He is sitting at home watching a baseball game with his friend Mark. He dissolves a sleeping pill into Mark's drink and waits until he is asleep. He then presses record on the video recorder. He goes down to a store where he knows Claire will be dressed in a ski mask. He knocks the owner of the store out and then kills Claire. He then returns to his house. He rouses Mark, who is still very sleepy and makes a reference to the game and also the time (Fowler has altered his watch). They watch the play and then Mark says he is feeling tired and goes to sleep again. Fowler then corrects his watch. Mark provides Fowler with his alibi, as he describes the play and the time on his watch. However, when Columbo interviews Mark next day his puzzled by the fact Mark says his watch is running on time, and he usually has it five minutes fast, so that he doesn't miss anything. He also says it is unlike him to get so sleepy. Columbo begins to suspect Fowler of the murder, particularly when he digs up information on Fowler's past. He is round at Fowler's house when he notices the video recorder. Video recorders were rare when this episode was made and Columbo is fascinated by it. Then he realises how Fowler got the alibi. Columbo finds that the ski mask had been taken from the props department at Fowler's television studios and that it has traces of actor's make up. Then Fowler plants the gun in the studio, making it look like Claire's husband Sid committed the crime. Columbo says there are no fingerprints on the gun, but Fowler forgot to dust the bullets. His fingerprints are all over them. Columbo has all the evidence he needs.
VERDICT: Claire Daley said that Ward Fowler hadn't the guts to kill her but she was proved wrong, though in many ways he is a rather weak villain. He doesn't seem to know whether he is Ward Fowler or Detective Luserne half the time. Columbo keeps asking him what Luserne would do and one begins to wonder if he is talking to Ward Fowler at all. The final clue shows the stupidity of Fowler in forgetting to clean the bullets. William Shatner's performance is OK, but his second outing as the villain in Butterfly in Shades of Grey is much better.
