After decades of detecting, you'd think Columbo would run out of mysteries for its trench-coated gumshoe to solve. Not so! Tonight, ABC airs Columbo Likes the Nightlife — airing 8 pm/ET — about a raver kid's suspicious suicide. While out promoting the TV movie, Peter Falk told reporters the Alphabet net "had what I think is a terrific idea. . . that Columbo enter the world of the rave. And I get a good reaction just on the title! Everybody chuckles. They laugh right away."

Ask Falk what a rave is, though, and the 75-year-old acting vet adopts a bemused expression. "It is a nightclub that only exists for one night," he grinned. "It's just interesting that you would have a nightclub that's only there for one night, and then it vanishes. Then it's gone... You know, until I actually experienced one and went to one, I couldn't have a reaction to it. I guess if you get some happy juice in here, you're going to have a good time!

"I'll tell you one thing, though," he added, laughing. "That's a hell of a thing seeing this detective in this pink [feather] boa! I look forward to watching that."

So do we! But don't worry, the cigar-puffing, charmingly off-kilter police lieutenant still wears his same old, crumpled raincoat. Well, not exactly. "Actually," Falk revealed, "this is not the original coat. [That] was retired in around '91. It put in about 30 years of service, and it was time to put it to rest. It really got very frail."