Retro Television Review 1.37 “The Comeback”

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Decoy, which aired in Syndication in 1957 and 1958. The show can be viewed on Tubi!

This week, Peter Falk guest stars!

Episode 1.37 “The Comeback”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on June 23rd, 1958)

When a fire breaks out at the race track, someone steals two rolls of blank tickets. The police think that the syndicate is planning on printing up counterfeit tickets that they can use to make a killing at the track. Casey quickly figures out that track clerk Fred Dana (Peter Falk) was in the perfect position to steal the tickets during the fire.

Because Fred already saw (and flirted with) Casey at the police station, Casey can’t do her usual undercover shtick. Instead, when she later approaches Fred, she tells him that she’s looking to make some extra money and she’s willing to help Fred and his bosses get away with their crime. Fred introduces Casey to his boss and then that boss introduces Casey to another boss and soon, Casey is working her way to the top.

However, Fred is worried that Casey is getting in over her head and starts warning her that she shouldn’t get involved. When Fred figures out that Casey is just pretending to be crooked, he doesn’t betray her. Instead, he betrays the Syndicate and helps to save Casey’s life.

Why?

Fred says that Casey has “class.”

Casey looks at the camera and tells the viewers that Fred is the one with class.

Awwww!

So, this was a typical Casey-Gets-In-Over-Head storyline. We’re only two episodes away from Decoy’s finale and it’s hard not to feel that, as the series progressed, the writers made Casey less-and-less competent. She’s gone from being a smart, streetwise cop to someone whose cover is continually getting blown. This time, it’s Peter Falk who steps up to save not only Casey but also this entire episode. Falk was 30 when he appeared on Decoy but he already looked several years older. He gives an intelligent and sensitive performance here, one that almost feels like it could come from an alternative universe where Columbo became a low-level mob associate instead of a detective. His scenes with Garland are especially interesting to watch. It wasn’t unusual for Decoy to feature men hitting on Casey. But this is the only episode (at least so far) where there was a genuine romantic chemistry.

Indeed, Fred had class.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.36 “Blind Date”

Posted on June 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey goes undercover …. again!

Episode 1.36 “Blind Date”

(Dir by Stuart Rosenberg, originally aired on June 16th, 1958)

When Gladys (Mary Finney) and her niece Millie (Irene Dailey) are involved in a car accident, the police discover that they are transporting a large amount of stolen money. Millie, who has been transporting drugs, had a meeting with a money launderer to exchange the money for clean bills. Casey goes undercover, pretending to be Millie when she and Gladys meet with the launderer. However, when Millie’s boyfriend (Elliott Sullivan) shows up, the entire operation falls apart. Can Casey convince Millie’s boyfriend to turn on the criminals?

This is yet another episode where Casey’s carefully constructed cover is destroyed by something that the police should have been prepared for. Not only is Casey pretending to be a real person (which increases the risk that she’ll run into someone who actually knows the person that Casey is pretending to be) but she’s also accompanied by the increasingly hysterical Gladys. Usually, Casey is at least convincing when she goes undercover. This time, she comes across as way to calm and collected to be believable as someone committing her first crime.

To be honest, after 36 of these episodes, I’m amazed that Casey has survived for as long as she has. The New York police department seems to be truly incompetent.

Despite all of that, this was a good episode. There was plenty of on-location New York footage and Beverly Garland did a good job of portraying Casey’s growing realization that 1) she was in over her head and 2) it was a mistake to bring Aunt Gladys along. Lou Polan was also well-cast as the avuncular but still menacing money launderer. He may have been a criminal but he was also very proud of his boat. Who can blame him?

This episode ended up on vaguely upbeat note, one that really didn’t feel as it had been earned. Decoy was always at its best when it was downbeat and realistic. New York was a tough city, even back in 1958.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.35 “Tin Pan Payoff”

Posted on June 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey goes undercover!

Episode 1.35 “Tin Pan Payoff”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on June 9th, 1958)

After songwriter Chick Williams is found murdered in his apartment, the only clue that the police have going for them is a vinyl record spinning on Chick’s record player. (Welcome to 1958!) The singer on the record is Sally Masters (Ellen Parker), a local nightclub performer. The police figure out that it’s a “demo record.” Sally is the number one suspect so Casey goes undercover as a music agent and discovers just how cutthroat the business can be.

This episode was a whodunit. It turns out that Chick cheated and betrayed a lot of people in his life. It seems like the entire city of New York has a motive but, since this is Decoy, Casey quickly narrows it down to four suspects. Casey going undercover as a music agent was actually more interesting than the mystery itself, if just because Casey got to dress up and hang out in one of those wonderfully atmospheric New York nightclubs. She also learned about how DJs like Jerry Lynch (Lee Bergere) can make someone a star and also how even successful songwriters like Chick Williams occasionally employed “a ghost writer.” Watching Decoy, it’s hard not to feel that the best thing about Casey’s job is that she has an unlimited wardrobe and she gets to investigate every single facet of New York society.

Like a lot of the later Decoy episodes that I’ve seen, this episode isn’t quite as gritty as the earlier episodes. There’s less emphasis on Casey as a tough cop and more on Beverly Garland looking glamorous undercover. That said, Casey still gets the job done and takes a few minutes to speak directly to the audience. One thing I appreciate about Casey is that she doesn’t let her own feelings get in the way of doing her job. At a time when women were often portrayed being too flighty or emotional to be trusted in a position of authority, Casey always got results.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.34 “Shadow of Van Gogh”

Posted on June 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey investigates a case of art forgery!

Episode 1.34 “Shadow of Van Gogh”

(Dir by Michael Gordon, originally aired on June 2nd, 1958)

Casey investigates art forgery!

Someone has produced and sold a forged recreation of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Casey’s investigation leads her to Jack Wilson (Ray Reinhardt), a struggling artist who is obsessed with Van Gogh. Apparently, Jack once even pretended to cut off his ear. Casey discovers that Wilson did paint the forgery but that he was manipulated by a crooked art dealer named Cors1 (Edgar Stehli). When Casey confronts Corsi, he threatens to shoot her. Casey responds by threatening to take a dagger to the real Starry Night. And then Wilson shows up and grabs Corsi’s gun. With Corsi off to jail, Casey looks at the camera and encourages everyone to go to their local museum and see a real Van Gogh.

Oh, how I wanted to love this episode! I really did. I majored in Art History. I love Van Gogh. This episode should have been right up my alley. And there were some parts of the episode that I really did appreciate. During her investigation, Casey goes to Greenwich Village and we get some on-location footage of a 1950s art fair. We get to see some real-life beatniks! I enjoyed that.

Unfortunately, the rest of the episode doesn’t really live up to its promise. It’s not a particularly well-acted episode. Edgar Stehli plays Corsi as being obviously sinister from the start and Ray Reinhardt seems to be mildly channeling every single crazed artist cliche that has ever existed. If you’re going to make one of your characters a struggling artist obsessed with Van Gogh, you can either portray him as a realistic, undiscovered painter or you can go totally over-the-top and have him actually cut off his ear. This episode tries to go for the middle ground and, as such, it’s never as interesting as it should have been.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.33 “The Lieutenant Had A Son”

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Episode 1.33 “The Lieutenant Had A Son”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on May 26th, 1958)

After spending five years overseas, career soldier Lt. Larry Hayes (Leo Penn) returns to New York City. He wants to see the son that he’s never met and he’s not happy when he discovers that, in his absence, his wife (Loretta Leversee) has married another man (Will Kuluva). His wife goes to the police for protection but, once it becomes obvious that she committed bigamy, Casey has to try to sort out who is married to who and who Larry, Jr. (Robie Grant) belongs with.

This was an odd episode. Absolutely no one was sympathetic. I even got annoyed with Casey for getting involved with these people. Lt. Hayes was a self-righteous martinet. His wife was a flake who simply didn’t seem to understand why she wasn’t being given a pass on the whole bigamy thing. Five year-old Larry, Jr. was played by a child named Robie Grant. I was not surprised to discover that this was Grant’s only credit because he was beyond lousy in the role. I have never been more annoyed by a five year-old.

The most interesting thing about this episode is that Larry Hayes is played by Leo Penn, the father of Sean, Chris, and Michael Penn. Leo Penn gives a believable performance as Larry. It wasn’t his fault that the character wasn’t particularly likable.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.32 “Fiesta at Midnight”

Posted on May 21, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey is an accused man’s only advocate.

Episode 1.32 “Fiesta At Midnight”

(Dir by Michael Gordon, originally aired on May 19th, 1958)

Juan Ortega (Tomas Milian) comes to New York City from Puerto Rico and finds himself in jail, accused of robbery and assault. Ortega, who is still learning English, says that he was at a community dance when the crime happened and that there are two women who can provide him with an alibi. Unfortunately, one of them (Gloria Marlowe) is married and refuses to testify that she had been talking to another man. The other, a mysterious woman named Maria, cannot be found. Casey tries to help.

This was an okay episode. The episode calls out the NYPD for being too quick to assume that Ortega is guilty just because he speaks Spanish and he’s a newcomer to the neighborhood. That said, it bothered me that a translator was never provided for Ortega. Ortega was clearly not comfortable speaking English but he had to do so when talking to Casey because Casey didn’t know much Spanish. I get that this was probably all done to avoid having to ask the viewers to read subtitles but, in-universe, it felt strange. It was hard not to notice that, even in a precinct located in Spanish Harlem, there weren’t any Spanish cops.

This was an early role for Tomas Milian, who would go on to star in countless Spaghetti Westerns and who also played the corrupt general in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. Though there’s little of the cunning or wit that distinguished Milian’s later performances, he still makes Juan Ortega into a sympathetic figure.

As for the episode’s ending, Maria (Miriam Colon) is revealed to be a nun and she testifies that Juan was with her when the crime occurred. Casey tells us that Juan got his miracle.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.31 “Night Light”

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, someone is stealing jewelry!

Episode 1.31 “Night Light”

(Dir by Stuart Rosenberg, originally aired on April 12th, 1958)

Casey goes undercover as a woman who is looking to purchase a stolen ruby necklace. Her investigation leads to her to Nick Spandau (Martin Balsam), a career criminal who has recently been released from prison and who is currently working with the jeweler (Martin Wolfson) who cared for Nick’s young son (Pud Flanagan) while Nick was “away.” To Casey’s horror, she discovers that Nick is using his innocent son as an unwitting courier, sending him to Mexico with the stolen necklace.

As you can probably guess, this episode is a showcase for the great character actor Martin Balsam, who almost makes Nick likable until it becomes apparent that he’s willing to put his own son in danger in order to protect himself. When Nick’s son suddenly shows up at the jewelry store and announces that he couldn’t bring himself to board the plane without his father, Nick’s reaction is to wonder why his son couldn’t do the “one thing” that he was asked to do. He’s not a great father but, when Casey tells him that his son idolizes him and will follow in his criminal footsteps, Nick makes a show of telling his son off. It’s Nick’s way of making sure that the boy doesn’t grow up to be like him. Casey tells us, “He sure did love his son.” If you say so, Casey.

Overall, it’s not a bad episode. It opens with some nice establishing shots of New York City and, unlike other episodes where Casey is mostly a bystander, it remains compelling even when Garland isn’t on screen. Unfortunately, the acting is a bit weak from everyone not named Martin Balsam or Beverly Garland. However, Balsam and Garland are more than capable of carrying the story on their own.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.30 “The Gentle Gun-Man”

Posted on May 7, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode, Casey goes after a gun dealer.

Episode 1.30 “The Gentle Gun-Man”

(Dir by Michael Gordon, originally aired on May 5th, 1958)

After a man is shot dead while committing a liquor store robbery, Casey goes undercover as his widow. The police don’t just want the man’s accomplice. They want to know where the man got his specially-modified gun. The accomplice turns out to be a rather gentle deli owner named “Knish” Levin (Ludwig Donath). And the gun dealer turns out to be Mr. Johnson (James O”Rear), the same gun dealer who sold Casey her first gun. (This episode implies that members of the police force have to buy their own guns, which sounds a bit odd.) Needless to say, when Casey convinces Knish to introduce her to his dealer, Johnson immediately recognizes her.

This episode had a lot of New York location footage. The scene where Knish leads Casey to Johnson took us from Wallstreet to the waterfront. Indeed, the locations shots were the best thing about this episode. The acting in this episode was, by Decoy standards, subpar, with even the usually reliable Beverly Garland struggling to sell her lines. Unfortunately, this episode’s plot required Casey to make a lot of foolish mistakes, like going to see the gun dealer without proper backup. I liked the fact that Knish wasn’t portrayed as being a typical thug but otherwise, this episode just didn’t work.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.29 “Cry Revenge”

Posted on April 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey gets involved in a domestic drama.

Episode 1.29 “Cry Revenge”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on April 28th, 1958)

Mrs. Hart (Fran Carlon) has been getting threatening phone calls from criminal James Anderson (Lee Bergere), who is trying to keep Mrs. Hart from testifying against him in court. Casey is sent over to the Hart home to provide 24-hour protection. It’s there that she meets Norma (Zohra Lampert), Mrs. Hart’s club-footed daughter. Norma blames her mother for both her father’s death and her disability.

Norma stuns everyone when she announces that she has married Howard Farley (Lonny Chapman), one of Anderson’s criminal associates. Norma is getting back at her mother but what she doesn’t realize is that Howard only married her so that he and James could rob the family business!

Casey didn’t really get to do much in this episode, as she herself admitted at the end of the episode. (In her closing monologue, she tells us that she’ll always think of the Harts whenever she wonders what happens behind the curtains of a seemingly perfect home.) This episode is a bit of a soap opera, with Norma eventually discovering the truth about her alcoholic father and how he was responsible for her twisted foot.

Zohra Lampert, who previously appeared on this show as the victim of a heroin dealer, gives a good performance as Norma, playing her as being both vulnerable and vindictive. This episode eventually got a bit too overwrought for its own good but Lampert made the episode worth watching.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.28 “Ladies Man”

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Episode 1.28 “Ladies Man”

(Dir by Stuart Rosenberg, originally aired on April 21st, 1958)

A man named (Michael Tolan) approaches Pearl Dillard (Chris Kane) at a subway station and gives her a box that he claims is an x-ray camera. The man claims to be an insurance investigator and he says that he’s pursuing a woman (Lois Nettleton) who has stolen some diamonds. He says that he needs Pearl to take a picture of the woman. Because it’s an X-ray camera, it will reveal that she has the diamonds on her. While the woman waits for her train, Pearl points the box at her and pushes a button. However, it turns out that the box is not hiding a camera but a gun! Pearl shoots the woman in the back.

The woman is named Lois and the man was her husband, Mike. The police get a tip that Mike is hiding out at an upstate hunting lodge. Casey, who pretends to be a lost tourist, heads up to the lodge. Mike is indeed there. With Mike is his new girlfriend (Joan Harvey), who refuses to believe that Mike could have done anything wrong.

This episode was a bit more melodramatic than the typical episode of Decoy. I found it hard to believe that anyone would fall for Mike’s camera-box lie but I guess there are probably people out there who would be naive enough to believe him. (I might accept the box from Mike but I would throw it away the first chance I got.) Unfortunately, once Casey tracked Mike down, Michael Tolan’s performance was so over-the-top that it became difficult to take him or the episode seriously.

Decoy worked better as a low-key, melancholiac show. I usually love melodrama but this episode didn’t work for me.