A legendary actor in the television industry, nay, the entertainment industry has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Peter Falk's daughter, Catherine, filed for conservatorship of her father's affairs. She claims the actor's condition has gotten so bad that he "requires full-time custodial care for his health and safety."

So far the family hasn't released an official statement confirming the daughter's claims and nothing has been confirmed or denied on the actor's official website. Either way, everyone here at TV Squad wishes him and his family all the best.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels a little sad after reading that bit of news. This hits a little close to home for two reasons. One, my grandmother passed away from Alzheimer's just last year. Anyone who has ever had to witness the horror of that disease slowly crumple the cognitive abilities of a loved one can empathize with the pain the Falk family must be going through. And two, I've been watching Columbo since my eyes first started working.

Falk was always just naturally funny, whether he was playing a character or just playing himself. Take a look at this cameo appearance he made on The Larry Sanders Show. Some of the language is NSFW, so listen to it at home. Besides, why are you wasting the company's time anyway?

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The Columbo mysteries just grew on me. When I first saw him on television, I immediately recognized him as the Professor's helper in Blake Edwards' The Great Race. He had the funniest lines and mannerisms in that movie and could always get a laugh out of me. He had a funny Brooklyn sounding voice and an "aw, shucks" sense of humor was something just about anyone young or old could appreciate.

As I got older and more into mysteries and murder stories, the cases themselves drew me into the show. Lt. Columbo didn't just solve the cases. He drove his suspects mad with aggravation, always barging in at the most inopportune times and always ending his questions with that mind-grating "Just one more thing". If TV came with a heat sensitive view, the suspects' faces would slowly fade from a happy, healthy orange to Bobby Knight red.

Then just as Columbo outs them as the killer -- some of whom would even try to kill Columbo -- he outsmarts them again as if he knew it would happen. The killer finally breaks down. Not only do they admit to what they have done, but they are so impressed by the way they outed them that they actually congratulate him on a job well done. Not even Gil Grissom's CSI team with their DNA centrifuges and $22,000 microscopes can pull off a caper like that.