The Cosby Mysteries
One Day at a Time
Wednesday 19 October 1994 on NBC

Guy agrees to help an ex-con accused of murdering a district attorney. His investigation rubs the police the wrong way, especially when he discovers that the victim might have been more sinner than saint.

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  external: Playbill News - Columbo On Tour... Aug 27, 2007 (Score: 32)
  

In 2007, William Link's original play "Columbo Takes The Rap" began preparations for an American tour in advance of a Broadway premiere in 2008. (edit) In the Columbo episode "Murder By the Book," the mystery writing team of Franklin and Ferris is a reference to Richard Levinson and William Link. In fact, when preparing to play a scene as mystery writer-turned-murderer Ken Franklin, Jack Cassidy would ask aloud to anyone within earshot, "Who am I playing in this scene, Levinson or Link?" (edit) In 2007, William Link was interviewed on the bonus featurettes for the Season 5 and 6 DVD releases of Murder, She Wrote. (edit) William Link served as supervising executive producer of The ABC Mystery Movie in the late 1980s. This series aired the initial new episodes of Columbo as well as the short-lived B.L. Stryker and Gideon Oliver. (edit) William Link has been a frequent contributor to many mystery magazines including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. (edit)

William Link: We produce for two reasons. One is to protect the material. And the second is that we've discovered that producing is an extension of writing. The day before they're going to shoot it you walk on a set designed for a character you've written. You say to the art director, "The man we've written would not have these paintings. He would not have that dreadful objet d'art sitting there. It's much too cluttered for a guy of his sensibilities. So clean out the set." We created that person as a character. We're also interested in how it's extended. (edit) William Link: The best things come to you--they fall into your hand or you see a human life situation like That Certain Summer and you say that would make a good drama. It's hard to begin by saying "Let's do a social drama." These things just occur to you. (edit) William Link: (from a New York Times interview about his writing) My father was a textile worker in Philadelphia; I have no idea why I have a mind like this. I once had a perfect way of getting rid of my wife, and I checked it out with the Los Angeles coroner. He said: "That will work. But if she dies, you're going to be my first suspect." I've never used it in a story. I might use it yet. It involved a garbage disposal. (edit) William Link: (Remembering his late writing partner, Richard Levinson) We weren't collaborators. We were brothers. (edit) William Link: Eventually if the business retires us - and you don't retire from this industry, it retires you - Dick has told me about a novel he would like to write, and maybe I'd try my hand at some short stories or a novel. But if a collaboration has worked for 38 years, why rock the boat? In this medium, which is such a pressure cooker, it helps to have two people against them. When the executives tell us that we're wrong, we can always agree with each other. (edit)

Guest Star
The Cosby Mysteries One Day at a Time Ben Sapelsky	The Cosby Mysteries The Cosby Mysteries (Part 1) Ben Sapelsky

Writer
Adventures in Paradise Show Me a Hero	Alfred Hitchcock Presents Services Rendered
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Profit Sharing Plan	Black Saddle The Deal
Burke's Law Who Killed Merlin the Great?	Burke's Law Who Killed Everybody?

Other
Columbo Double Shock Story	Columbo The Most Dangerous Match Story
Columbo Étude in Black Story	Columbo Ransom for a Dead Man Story
Columbo Murder by the Book n/a	Columbo Dagger of the Mind Story