Original Air Date: May 15, 1997
Directed by: Vincent McEveety
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this episode!
Synopsis: Cathleen (Shera Danese) and her lover Patrick (David Rasche) plan to frame her husband for murder in order to get his money.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Patrick goes to the home of Howard Seltzer (Raye Birk), a man who is involved in a nasty lawsuit against Cathleen’s husband. After murdering Seltzer, Patrick uses a handheld vacuum to gather fur and dirt from the carpet. We then see that Seltzer owned a beautiful silver tabby Persian cat.
The cat watches with confusion as Patrick cuts the end of a cigar and leaves it in an ashtray as further evidence. The cat looks around the fallen body of Seltzer with only passing interest.
Patrick intentionally sets off the panic alarm when he leaves. Officer Will (Will Nye) replies to the call and when he opens the front door the cat runs out.
Columbo (Peter Falk) is interested in the cat and tells Officer Will to keep an eye out for him. Cathleen manages to rub the cat hair and dirt onto her husband’s suit while dancing at a wedding after the murder, and this becomes evidence against him. But the cigar butt goes missing and Patrick returns to Seltzer’s house to look for it. Columbo shows up and is thrilled to find out that Officer Will has caught the cat.
Columbo takes a carton of milk and a can of either sardines or cat food out of a bag, explaining that he was worried about the cat and who was going to feed him. Officer Will has put the cat down and it has disappeared. The three men start calling, “Here kitty kitty!”
A moment later Patrick notices the cat pawing at a closed door. Columbo guesses that the cat lost his favorite toy.
After Patrick opens the door, the cat runs through and then starts sniffing at something on the ground. Columbo thinks it is catnip at first, but it turns out to be the missing cigar tip. The cat is not seen again after this.
Final Mewsings: If cats could act as witnesses, murders would get solved much faster.
Many thanks to Aaron Shuster for letting us know about the cat in this episode!
Relevant Links:
To discuss this show and other cats in movies and on television, join us on Facebook and Twitter.