(S04E10) I suppose one of the drawbacks of a suspenseful show like Medium doing a two parter is that while waiting a week for the second part, most viewers will have come close to figuring out what's going on. In this case, I wasn't too concerned with figuring out why Suzie Keener's roommate wasn't dead until I was stuck in traffic today and started thinking about reviewing the show tonight. Moreover, the previews made it pretty clear that Joanna was the mastermind of the entire abduction.

Luckily, this was all made clear in the first fifteen minutes of the show. What followed was my favorite kind of episode. The kind where we, the audience, know exactly what happened, and we get to watch the hero snare the guilty party. It was like watching a pretty version of Columbo.

I was just at the supermarket and saw the headline in one of the gossip mags that Suzanne Pleshette was on her death bed, and now I hear that Pleshette has died of cancer at the age of 70.

TV fans will remember Pleshette from her role as Emily Hartley, wife of psychologist Bob Hartley on CBS' The Bob Newhart in the 70s. She reprised the role in the classic final episode of Newhart. Pleshette appeared in several other TV shows as well, including a role as Mark Feuerstein's mom on Good Morning Miami and James Garner's love interest on 8 Simple Rules, as well as guest spots on Columbo, Will & Grace, The Name of the Game, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Invaders, It Takes A Thief, The Fugitive, Wild, Wild West, and several others.

On the big screen, she appeared in The Birds, The Shaggy D.A., The Lion King II, The Power, Support Your Local Gunfighter, and many films.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Ronnie Burns: He was the son of George Burns and Gracie Allen and played himself on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The George Burns Show. He also appeared in other TV shows, including The Honeymooners, Playhouse 90, The Jack Benny Show, and Happy. He died of cancer at age 72 in Pacific Palisades, CA.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Chef Tell (Paul Erhardt): He was better known to TV viewers as Chef Tell, who cooked on several shows over the years, including his PBS series In The Kitchen With Chef Tell, Regis & Kathie Lee, Evening Magazine, and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. According to some, the "Swedish Chef" character on The Muppet Show was based on Erhardt. He died of heart failure at age 63.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Pete Wilson: He was a veteran, award-winning news anchor and talk show host for California TV station KGO-TV. Over the years he also worked for KRON-TV and KTXL-TV. He died in Palo Alto from a heart attack during surgery. He was 62.

• At 7:55pm, Lifetime Movie Network has Destination: Infestation, which is Snakes On A Plane, only with ants (I'm not kidding).
• At 8, NBC has the Live Earth Concert (starts at 7 on CNBC).
• FOX has a new Cops at 8.
• Also at 8: HBO has The Devil Wears Prada.
• At 9, FOX has a new America's Most Wanted.
• Cartoon Network has four new episodes of Naruto starting at 9.
• IFC has Beyond The Sea at 9, followed by High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story.
• At 10, ESPN has Arena Football.
• Biography has Columbo: Murder, A Self-Portrait at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, FOX has the Dodge Avenger 500 NASCAR race.
• At 8, ABC has the NBA Playoffs, the Suns vs. the Spurs.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 8.
• Emeril travels back to his hometown of Fall River, MA on Food Network at 8.
• At 8:30, there's a new Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo on Cartoon Network, then new eps of Naruto, One Piece, and Mar.
• At 9, TLC has a new The Real Deal, then two new episodes of My First Home.
• BBC America has a new Robin Hood at 9.
• At 10, CBS has a new 48 Hours Mystery.
• The History Channel has a new episode of The States at 10.
• Pretty good Columbo on Biography Channel at 10, from 1994, with William Shatner as the killer.
• At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with Molly Shannon and Linkin Park.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Season 3
• Columbo - Mystery Movie Collection 1989
• The Drew Carey Show - Season 1
• Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy - Season 2
• Flipper - Season 1
• Ironside - Season 1
• Kidnapped - Complete Series
• Morel Orel - Vol. 1
• NCIS - Season 3
• The Odd Couple - Season 1
• Planet Earth - The Complete Collection
• WKRP in Cincinnati - Season 1

Ah, the police detective genre. It's one of the staples of a network's TV lineup. We all have our favorites, whether the characters are in blue uniforms or suits. Here are my Top 5 (and just so we're clear, I'm talking about police detectives, not private eyes or amateur investigators. I'll have that list tomorrow!)

1. Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk): No contest, really. Sure, there are some other great cops and detectives, but not many with the sheer Sherlock Holmes-like smarts as Lt. Columbo. He walked around sorta lost and bumbling, with a constantly lit cigar, a rumpled raincoat, and hair that made it look like he just woke up. But he was no fool, which all the murderers found out a little bit too late.

You don't know the name, but you know his work. He was the voice Ernie the Elf in the Keebler commercials and guest starred on...well, just about every single TV show produced since the early 1950s, it seems.

A partial list: The Waltons, Quincy, M.E., Stingray, Flamingo Road, Little House on the Prairie, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Riptide, Falcon Crest, Knot's Landing, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Dallas, Barnaby Jones, Gunsmoke, Columbo, Bonanza, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Name of the Game, The Wild, Wild West, H.R. Pufnstuf, The Big Valley, Star Trek, Batman, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Maverick, The Bob Newhart Show, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

He was known for his voice work, and you could hear him in such shows as The Flintstones, Jem, The Smurfs, Spider-Man, and The Transformers. He also kept me up nights as a kid when he did the voice of that damn devil doll in the Trilogy of Terror movie in the 70s.

Edmiston died on February 15 in L.A. of cancer.

• The Adventures of Superman - Seasons 5 and 6
• The Bugs Bunny/Loony Tunes Hour - Golden Collection, Vol. 4
• CSI - Season 6
• Columbo - Seasons 6 and 7
• DuckTales - Vol. 2
• Family Guy - Vol. 4
• Friends - Complete Series
• Get Smart - Complete Series
• Home Improvement - Season 5
• Homicide - Complete Series
• Lois & Clark - Season 4
• NCIS - Season 2
• Northern Exposure - Season 5
• Quantum Leap - Season 5
• Reba - Season 4
• Six Feet Under - Complete Series
• That Girl - Season 2
• Third Rock From The Sun - Season 6