Lee J. Cobb said no. So did a few other people. Finally Bing Crosby was offered the part and turned it down. Too time consuming, too much like work and it would definitely interfere with his golf game. So Universal was down to their 7th choice to play the unprepossessing, overly polite, apparently not-too-bright police lieutenant in their upcoming Movie of the Week. Luckily for the studio they made the offer and Peter Falk accepted and thus was born a television icon.The vehicle was called'Diagnosis: Murder’ written by Dick Levinson and Bill Link and based on their stage play. When Falk signed to play Lt. Columbo, he made it clear that he had no interest in doing a weekly series and all references to a possible series were excised from the contract. Neither Universal nor NBC was worried. If the show proved popular, they would shove a lot of money in Peter Falk’s direction. Such a ploy had never failed before. It was foolproof. Well, not exactly because Falk was no fool and when he said No series! he meant no series. Joe Bernardi was targeted to get Falk to change his mind but it was useless. Peter Falk was, and always had been, his own man and he was adamant. One movie, no series. Meanwhile the publisher of a scandal magazine, Nathan Haller, is about to reveal that at one time Falk was a card carrying member of the Communist Party (untrue). When Joe bullies Haller into backing down, Haller turns his sights on Joe’s wife Bunny. Threats are publicly hurled and days later Haller falls to his death from the roof of the Universal Studios Tower and Joe is accused of murder. Between fending off pressure from the studio and eluding the cops, a week in Joe’s life has turned into a 24 hour a day nightmare. How much worse can things get? Read on.