Frank Wiltse

Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.

"Pay Per View" begins with our hero, Harold, as he pulls into a motel parking lot in the middle of the night. He's a middle aged no one in the insurance game, just left his wife of more than a decade, and he isn't sure what to do next. Through the next day and a half, we follow Harold trying on a couple of different selves for a while on his way to his new life as a single man. Harold's not quite on the train yet, but he's in the station.