History Recap / ColumboS10E02

* BleachedUnderpants: InUniverse, Wade Anders has a secret past in porn. When Budd Clarke tries to blackmail him with this info, Wade kills him.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Actually {{subverted}} in this episode. The fatal dose of nicotine sulfate, administered by Wade Anders to Budd Clarke by inserting a few drops into one of his Victory King cigarettes, probably would kill a man as fast as was shown in the episode. Wade may have added a little more poison than necessary in order to guarantee that it would work.
* AssholeVictim: {{Inverted}} in the sense that while Bud is rightfully salty over being defamed by Wade and resorts to blackmail, his situation can be sympathized with. Wade is a somewhat of a narcissist himself and was willing to smear Bud to secure his career with ''Crime Alert!'' This helps viewers cheer on Columbo's efforts to bring him to justice.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Wade Anders -- a crime show host -- will probably become a huge story on ''Crime Alert!'' after Columbo connects them to the murder of Bud Clarke.
* BlackmailBackfire: Bud attempts to use Wade's old porno as blackmail material. Wade just feigns agreeing to meet Bud so he can plant poisoned cigarettes for Bud to smoke right away.

* ComplexityAddiction: Wade really goes overboard with his murder plot. He goes to a lot of trouble crafting a fake video recording for an alibi, when he could have just exited his office by a rear window. And he does his whole thing with the fake cigarettes, when he could have just flushed the tainted ones down the toilet and called 911 after he was sure Bud was dead.

* PreMortemOneLiner: A perimortem one liner. As Bud is choking out due to the poison, Wade snarks, "I told you those things were gonna kill you."
* PostMortemOneLiner:...which is followed by one of these. As Wade is wrapping up and leaves, he mockingly says "News at 11" to Wade's corpse.

* SecondFaceSmoke

* TakeAThirdOption: Bud gives Wade two choices: quit ''Crime Alert!'' quietly, or be forced out through a scandal. Wade goes with murder instead.

But of course he didn't know about Lt. Columbo of the LAPD, who wonders why there are no nicotine stains on the filters of the cigarettes in the ashtray, or why there are no fingerprints on the back side of the paper Bud supposedly printed out.

** Bud starts to light up a cigarette in Wade's dressing room. Wade the non-smoker says, "Bud, I would rather you not smoke in here." Bud proceeds to light up and blow the smoke in Wade's face.

Life is good except for one little problem, in the person of Bud Clarke (Wade Haskell), a newscaster and rival of Wade's at the network. Bud was thought to be the first choice for ''Crime Alert!'' and he wanted the job very badly, but Wade spread a lot of stories about Bud's drinking habit and aced him out of the job. A bitter Bud has found a really good piece of dirt on Wade: a pornographic film that a young Wade starred in years ago, with an underaged female co-star.

Bud demands Wade quit ''Crime Alert!'', or Bud will make the tape public and Wade will lose his job in a scandal. Wade has a different idea. Bud is a chain smoker, so Wade takes a pack of Bud's brand of cigarettes and laces them with concentrated nicotine sulfate, a very deadly poison. While the two of them are having a secret meeting to arrange the terms of Wade's departure, the poison takes effect and kills Bud. Wade switches out the tainted cigarettes for some untainted ones, erases the incriminating story on Bud's computer, and leaves unseen.

* GPSEvidence: Columbo's car is scratched by Budd Clarke's dog when he arrives at the scene for the first time. He proves Wade Anders is lying when he says he has never been to the house upon discovering identical claw marks on Anders' car.

** Bud starts to light up a cigarette in Wade's dressing room. Wade the non-smoker says "Bud, I would rather you not smoke in here." Bud proceeds to light up and blow the smoke in Wade's face.

* TaintedTobacco: Anders uses Clark's addiction to cigarettes to poison him by adding concentrated nicotine sulfate drops, which kill almost instantly, to his cigarettes.

* AlliterativeName: '''Ba'''rbara ''Ba'''ylor, the woman depicted in the ''Crime Alert'' reenactment at the beginning of the episode.

* TakeAThirdOption: Bud gives Wade two choices: quit ''Crime Alert!'' quietly, or be forced out through a scandal. Wade goes with murder instead.

** The porno Wade appeared in long ago, ''Holly Does Houston'', is a goof on famous 1978 porno ''Film/DebbieDoesDallas''.

[[caption-width-right:350:Wade Anders will soon be a villain on his own show!]]

* {{Blackmail}}: Bud attempts to use Wade's old porno as blackmail material. It does not work.

* AssholeVictim: {{Inverted}} in the sense that while Bud is rightfully salty over being defamed by Wade and resorts to blackmail, his situation can be sympathized with. Wade is a somewhat of a narcissist himself and was willing to smear Bud to secure his career with Crime Alert. This helps viewers cheer on Columbo's efforts to bring him to justice.

* ChekhovsGun:

* TaintedTobacco: Columbo sets out to prove that television host Wade Anders is guilty of murdering his long-time rival, Budd Clark. Anders uses Clark's addiction to cigarettes to poison him by adding concentrated nicotine sulfate drops, which kill almost instantly, to his cigarettes.

* AssholeVictim: {{Inverted}} in the sense that while Bud is rightfully salty over being defamed by Wade and resorts to blackmail, his situation isn't completely unsympathetic. Wade is a somewhat of a narcissist himself and was willing to smear Bud to secure his career with Crime Alert. This helps viewers cheer on Columbo's efforts to bring him to justice.

* AssholeVictim: {{Inverted}} in the sense that while Bud is rightfully salty over being defamed by Wade and resorts to blackmail, his situation isn't completely unsympathetic. Wade is a somewhat of a narcissist himself and was willing to smear Bud to secure his career with Crime Alert.

* AssholeVictim: {{Inverted}} in the sense that while Bud is rightfully salty over being defamed by Wade and resorts to blackmail, his situation isn't unsympathetic. It helps that Wade is a somewhat of a narcissist himself and was willing to smear Bud to begin with to secure his career with Crime Alert.

Life is good except for one little problem, in the person of Bud Clark (Wade Haskell), a newscaster and rival of Wade's at the network. Bud was thought to be the first choice for ''Crime Alert!'' and he wanted the job very badly, but Wade spread a lot of stories about Bud's drinking habit and aced him out of the job. A bitter Bud has found a really good piece of dirt on Wade: a pornographic film that a young Wade starred in years ago, with an underaged female co-star.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Columbo's confused driving makes a return in this episode when he has a head-on parking lot collision with Wade's car due to both having PlayedForLaughs confusion over right-of-way. This one seems so completely avoidable that it seems like Columbo is playing with the IdiotBall here.

Life is good except for one little problem, in the person of Bud Clark, a newscaster and rival of Wade's at the network. Bud was thought to be the first choice for ''Crime Alert!'' and he wanted the job very badly, but Wade spread a lot of stories about Bud's drinking habit and aced him out of the job. A bitter Bud has found a really good piece of dirt on Wade: a pornographic film that a young Wade starred in years ago, with an underaged female co-star.

Bud demands Wade quit ''Crime Alert!'', or Bud will make the tape public and Wade will lose his job in a scandal. Wade has a different idea. Bud is a chain smoker, so Wade takes a pack of Bud's favorite brand of cigarettes and laces them with concentrated nicotine sulfate, a very deadly poison. While the two of them are having a secret meeting to arrange the terms of Wade's departure, the poison takes effect and kills Bud. Wade switches out the tainted cigarettes for some untainted ones, erases the incriminating story on Bud's computer, and leaves unseen.

* ComplexityAddiction: Wade really goes overboard with his murder plot. He goes to a lot of trouble crafting a fake video recording, when he could have just exited his office by a rear window. And he does his whole thing with the fake cigarettes, when he could have just flushed the tainted ones down the toilet and called 911 after he was sure Bud was dead.

* PreMortemOneLiner: A perimortem one liner. As Bud is choking out due to the poison, Wade snarks, "I told you those would kill you."
* ProsceniumReveal: The opening scene has a hot young babe and her studly lover murdering her husband for the insurance money. A shot of a TV monitor then reveals that this is a scene from true crime show ''Crime Alert!''.

** Bud starts to light up a cigarette in Wade's dressing room. Wade the non-smoker says "I would really rather you not smoke in here." Bud proceeds to light up and blow the smoke in Wade's face.

* TakeAThirdOption: Bud says Wade has two choices: quit ''Crime Alert!'' quietly, or suffer an embarrassing scandal. Wade goes with murder instead.

Life is good except for one little problem, in the person of Bud Clark, the news anchor for a Los Angeles television station. Bud was thought to be the first choice for ''Crime Alert!'' and he wanted the job very badly, but Wade spread a lot of stories about Bud's drinking habit and aced him out of the job. A bitter Bud has found a really good piece of dirt on Wade: a pornographic film that a young Wade starred in years ago, with an underaged female co-star.

Bud demands Wade quit ''Crime Alert!'', or Bud will make the tape public and Wade will lose his job in a scandal. Wade has a different idea. Bud is a chain smoker, so Wade takes a pack of Bud's favorite brand of cigarettes and laces them with concentrated nicotine sulfate, a very deadly poison. While the two of them are having a talk, Bud spasms and dies. Wade switches out the tainted cigarettes for some untainted ones, erases the incriminating story on Bud's computer, and leaves unseen.

Air Date: February 20, 1991

* MistakenForPervert: Columbo is embarrassed when he goes to the porno store to get a copy of Wade's movie, and is greeted by some pervy dude in an identical wrinkled raincoat who assumes that the lieutenant is a customer too.