Columbo

DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season.

Columbo was an American crime fiction TV series created by Richard Levinson and William Link. It aired regularly from 1971 to 1978, and sporadically from 1989 to 2003. It starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Contents

1 History of the show

1.0.0.1 Bert Freed as Columbo
1.0.0.2 Thomas Mitchell as Columbo
1.0.0.3 Peter Falk as Columbo

2 Description
3 Guest contributions

History of the show

Bert Freed as Columbo

The character of Columbo first appeared in 1960 on the NBC anthology series The Chevy Mystery Show and was played by Bert Freed, a character actor with a thatchy grey mane of hair that resembles Falk's. The episode, titled "Enough Rope", was adapted by Levinson and Link from their short story "May I Come In". (Link's name was listed first in the billing for the writers at the beginning of the show.) Freed wore a rumpled suit and smoked a cigar, but played the part somewhat straighter than either of his two successors in the role, with few of the familiar mannerisms, although the character is recognizably Columbo and uses some of the same methods of misdirection on his prey. During the course of the show, the increasingly frightened murderer brings pressure from the district attorney's office to have Columbo taken off the case, but the detective fights back with his own contacts. There is one particularly visible mistake in the live telecast (aside from the usual constant boom microphone shadows), with a momentarily flustered Columbo introducing himself to a receptionist as "Dr. Columbo," whereupon she magically deduces that he's actually "Lt. Columbo" when she notifies her supervisor. Although Bert Freed received third billing, he wound up with almost as much screen time as the killer, once he appeared immediately after the first commercial, several minutes into the show (more or less exactly the same formula used in most of the later Falk shows). Unlike many live television shows, this one continues to exist and is available for viewing in the archives of the Museum of Television and Radio in New York and Los Angeles.

Thomas Mitchell as Columbo

The teleplay in turn was adapted into a stage play called Prescription: Murder with revered character actor Thomas Mitchell in the role; the 70-year-old Mitchell had previously played the drunken Doc in John Ford's Stagecoach (1939), for which he won an Academy Award, as well as Scarlett O'Hara's insane father in Gone With the Wind that same year, and also portrayed the absent-minded Uncle Billy in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946). The stage production starred two veterans of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre and Citizen Kane: Joseph Cotten as the murderer and Agnes Moorehead as the victim.

Up to this point the writers had regarded Columbo as only a supporting role, but with Mitchell playing the part, they soon found that he was deftly stealing attention away from the stars. Mitchell died while the play was touring in out-of-town tryouts; Columbo was his last role.

Peter Falk as Columbo

Finally, the play was made into a television movie for NBC in 1968. Mitchell had died, and the writers suggested Lee J. Cobb and Bing Crosby for the role, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down. Director Richard Irving convinced Levinson and Link that Falk, who wanted the role, could pull it off even though he was much younger than what the writers had in mind.

The TV-movie pitted Falk's Columbo against a murdering physician played by Gene Barry, who, of course, is uncovered, charged and arrested.

The popularity of the character prompted the creation of a regular series on NBC that premiered the fall of 1971 as part of the wheel series NBC Mystery Movie, initially on Wednesday night. Columbo was an immediate hit in the Nielsen ratings and Falk won an Emmy Award for his role in the first year of the series. In the second season it was moved, along with the other shows in the Mystery Movie rotation, to Sunday night and ran for a total seven seasons. After cancellation in 1978, it was revived in occasional made-for-television movies on ABC.

Description

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Falk's Columbo (inspired by the Crime and Punishment character, Porfiry Petrovich) was a shabby, apparently slow-witted police detective, although, as the criminals eventually learned, appearances can be deceiving. Columbo solved his cases by close attention to tiny inconsistencies in a suspect's story and by hounding the suspect until they confessed. Columbo's signature technique was to exit the scene of an interview, invariably stopping in the doorway to ask "just one more thing" of a suspect. The "one more thing" always brought to light the key inconsistency. In the 1970s, the character became an icon on American television.

The series is noted by TV critics and historians for the way it reversed the cliches of the standard whodunit story (TV Guide has referred to the basic plot structure as a "howcatchem", though it is more properly known as an inverted mystery). In a typical murder mystery, the identity of the murderer is not revealed until the climax of the story, and the hero uncovers clues pointing to the killer. In most episodes of Columbo, the audience sees the crime unfold at the beginning and knows exactly who did it. This allows the story to unfold more from the criminal's point of view, rather than that of Columbo himself; in fact, in some episodes, Columbo doesn't even appear until as late as 30 minutes into the story, the preceding time being taken up by depicting the often-complex nature of the crime. The real star of the story is the criminal, and the audience watches as he or she frantically tries to cover his tracks, being hounded by the persistent police lieutenant at every step, until the killer finally slips up and Columbo catches him. Columbo's manners are such that, at first, the killer feels safe and happily 'helps' Columbo with his investigation, giving alternative explanations for loose ends, but eventually the killer becomes irritated and finally nervous as he (occasionally she) finds that Columbo isn't as stupid as he seems. This predictability and the quirky mannerisms of Columbo are part of the attraction of the series. As the killer is nearly always wealthy compared to Columbo's apparently modest background and means, the show offers some expressions of class conflict, although in a few cases, such as that of Ruth Gordon's avenging mystery writer, the killer is more sympathetic than the victim. For all that, Columbo rarely displays anger toward these privileged murderers, and seems genuinely to like more than a few of them. The episodes are movie-length, between 70 and 100 minutes long, without commercials.

Peter Falk, who played Columbo, has a glass eye and it remained a mystery whether this glass eye "played the part of a real eye" (i.e., did the Columbo character have one or two eyes) for 25 years until 1997's Columbo: A Trace of Murder where upon asking a character to revisit the crime scene with him, he jokes “You know, three eyes are better than one.”

Guest contributions

Directors/writers

Steven Spielberg and Jonathan Demme both directed episodes of the show during its first run. Jonathan Latimer and Steven Bochco were once writers.

Ben Gazzara lensed a few episodes during the middle of the original series run during the 1970's.

Peter Falk himself directed the last episode of the 1st season, "Blueprint For Murder".

Nicholas Colasanto, who acted in Raging Bull and Cheers (as Coach), directed some episodes, including "Swan Song" with Johnny Cash. However, "Étude in Black", which is credited to Colasanto, was actually co-directed by its co-stars John Cassavetes and Peter Falk as a favor to their friend Colasanto. This has given rise to the false rumor that Cassavetes sometimes directed under the pseudonym Nicholas Colasanto.

Guest stars

Played murderers

Guest stars who played murderers included

Eddie Albert
Anne Baxter
Ed Begley, Jr.
Theodore Bikel
Ian Buchanan
Johnny Cash
John Cassavetes
Jack Cassidy (three times)
Susan Clark
Billy Connolly
Robert Conrad
Robert Culp (three times, sporting various moustaches!)
Tyne Daly
Faye Dunaway
Dick Van Dyke
Hector Elizondo
José Ferrer
Ruth Gordon
George Hamilton
Laurence Harvey
Lee Grant
Louis Jourdan
Richard Kiley
Martin Landau
Janet Leigh
Ida Lupino
Ross Martin
Roddy McDowall
Patrick McGoohan (four times)
Vera Miles
Ray Milland
Ricardo Montalban
Leonard Nimoy
Donald Pleasence
Clive Revill
William Shatner (twice)
Fisher Stevens
Rip Torn
Trish Van Devere
Robert Vaughn
George Wendt
Oskar Werner
Nicol Williamson

Played murdered victims

Famed murder victims include:

Miscellaneous guest stars (cameos)

Actors such as Katey Sagal (whose father Boris directed several episodes), Jamie Lee Curtis, Priscilla Barnes, Jeff Goldblum, Kim Cattrall, Walter Koenig, Pat Morita, and Valerie Harper had small roles or cameos in various episodes early in their careers.

Peter Falk's real-life wife, Shera Danese, appeared in six Columbo episodes in various roles. Other recurring actors include John Finnegan, Michael Lally, Vito Scotti, and Bruce Kirby (frequently as Sergeant Kramer). Sergeant Kramer, Sergeant Wilson (played by Bob Dishy in two episodes), and Dr. Benson (Columbo's dog's vet, played by Michael Fox in two episodes) were the only recurring characters aside from Columbo and his dog.

Spin-off

A spin-off TV series, Mrs. Columbo, starring Kate Mulgrew, was aired in 1979, but it received a dismal reception and was swiftly cancelled. It disappointed fans of the original movies because Mrs. Columbo is never seen (although there is no doubt that she actually exists - several characters on screen have met Mrs. Columbo over the years). Showing an actual Mrs. Columbo takes away the 'mystery'. Also, it had Mrs. Columbo as Detective Columbo's divorcée. Many Columbo episodes featured the detective speaking fondly about his wife and the fans found the possibility of divorce unthinkable. Eventually, it was established that the character of Kate Columbo was of no relation to the detective, thereby allowing the never-seen "Mrs. Columbo" to continue to play a part in the Peter Falk TV movies. The spin-off was renamed Kate Columbo, followed by Kate the Detective and finally Kate Loves a Mystery. The main character was likewise renamed "Kate Callahan", but the series lasted only thirteen episodes.

Certain obvious connections were made to Columbo, notably the beat-up car and pet dog in the opening sequence, as well as Kate's husband being an unnamed police lieutenant. However, Kate's physical appearance does not match up with certain descriptions Lt. Columbo provided. She was too young and too thin. Furthermore, in the episode Double Exposure, Lt. Columbo declared that his wife "had no head for crime" and that she "always picked the wrong guy as the murderer" whenever they watched a mystery movie.

The very idea of a show about Mrs. Columbo was opposed by series creators Levinson and Link, as well as Peter Falk. In an interview with Columbo Phile author Mark Dawidziak published prior to the 1989 Columbo revival, Richard Levinson joked, "If there was ever another Columbo, we were going to have him say, 'There's a woman running around pretending to be my wife. She's changing things. She's a young girl. I wish my wife was like that. She's an imposter.'"

Despite the opposition to the series by Columbo's creators, an episode of Mrs. Columbo was nonetheless included as a bonus feature on the Region 1 DVD releases of the third, fourth and fifth seasons.

First name?

Columbo's first name is never explicitly revealed in the series. When pressed, he would insist that it was "Lieutenant". Several sources cite the name "Philip Columbo", variously claiming that the name was either in the original script for Prescription: Murder or that it was visible on his police badge. Peugeot even ran an advertising campaign that mentioned "Lt. Philip Columbo" as the most famous driver of the Peugeot 403 convertible.

The name "Philip Columbo" was, in fact, invented by Fred L. Worth, author of The Trivia Encyclopedia, who planted the information in his book (and its sequels) in an attempt to catch out anyone who might try to violate his copyright. Worth's ploy was, however, only partially successful.

In 1984 he filed a $300 million lawsuit against the distributors of the board game Trivial Pursuit, claiming that they had sourced their questions from his books; even to the point of reproducing mis-prints and typographical errors. The ace up his sleeve was "Philip Columbo", which appeared in a game question, despite the name being an invention of Worth's.

Solved! The signature of Lt. Frank Columbo

Trivial Pursuit did not deny they sourced material from Worth's books (amongst others) and submitted that copying from a single source is plagiarism, but compiling information from several sources is called research. The judge agreed, ruling in favor of Trivial Pursuit and the case was thrown out of court.

The matter of Columbo's name was finally laid to rest by the release of the first series on DVD. In the episode Dead Weight where Columbo introduces himself to General Hollister, the audience is shown a close-up of his badge, complete with the signature of "Frank Columbo".

Biography of Lt. Columbo

The following details of Lt. Columbo's life have been gleaned from statements the character has made or observations of the characters behavior in the show (it should be kept in mind that he may have been lying about any or all of these to establish a rapport with the person he was speaking to, though some facts, like his marriage, have enough other support to establish them as definitely factual):

Columbo was born and raised in New York City in a neighborhood near Chinatown. The Columbo household included the future policeman's grandfather, parents, five brothers and a sister. His brother-in-law is a lawyer. His father wore glasses and did the cooking when his mother was in the hospital having another baby. His grandfather let him stomp the grapes when they made wine in the cellar. He is Italian on both sides.

Columbo's father, who never earned more than $5,000 a year, taught him how to play pool, an obsession that stuck with the future detective. His boyhood hero was Joe DiMaggio, and he also liked gangster pictures.

Hardly a model child, Columbo broke street lamps, played pinball and ran with a crowd of boys that enjoyed a good prank. The trick of putting a potato in a car exhaust — which doesn't break anything, but the car won't start — served well on one of his cases. He became a cop in part to make up for these juvenile pranks.

During high school, he dropped chemistry and took wood shop. While he dated a girl named Theresa in high school, he met his future wife. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, Columbo joined the New York police force and was assigned to the 12th precinct. He trained under Sergeant Gilhooley, a genial Irishman who tried to teach him the game of darts. He moved to Los Angeles in 1958.

Columbo is compulsive about little details. Little things keep him awake at night and he likes to bounce ideas off his wife. The Columbos have an unknown number of children and a basset hound named Dog. Columbo hates guns, claims to be a bad shot and almost never carries one. He prefers to drive his trademark, dirty 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible rather than an official LAPD car while on duty. He is prone to airsickness and seasickness and he can't swim--though he's been known to row a rowboat. He is squeamish and doesn't like hospitals or autopsies, or even looking at photographs of 'messy' murders.

He is not good with numbers. He likes cooking, limericks, Westerns, Italian opera, Strauss waltzes, golf (which he is very good at), classical music, bowling, and American football on television. He also plays the tuba. He is a self-proclaimed expert at tuning in TV sets. In 1972, he made $11,000 a year. He is extremely stingy and for his 25th wedding anniversary, rather than buying his wife silver he considered taking her camping. His parents and his grandfather are dead. His favorite food is chili with crackers ('It's the crackers that make the dish', he comments in "Ransom for a Dead Man"), which he eats at a greasy spoon owned by Barney, with whom he sometimes chews over a case. Columbo also loves coffee and drinks it black. Columbo rarely drinks alcohol but has been known to drink the occasional beer, glass of wine, or spirit, and isn't above sharing one last drink with someone he's about to put away. He also eats raisins and candy, which he has been known to carry in his pocket and offer round - especially at uncomfortable moments during one of his unassuming interrogations. He loves cigars (usually of the stubby, very smelly, 'Toscano' variety), which he smokes regularly (although more than once he gives up smoking during the series, only to restart in the next episode!). He speaks Italian (though he states he does not to the Italian mob in an episode where he is kidnapped by the mob) and a little Spanish. He is a whistler - in almost every episode you can hear him whistle the children's song "This Old Man". If he doesn't whistle it, it appears somewhere else, such as in the underscore.

List of episodes

Pilots

"Prescription: Murder" (2/20/68) [imdb]
*Gene Barry is Dr. Ray Flemming, a psychiatrist who murders his wife and uses an Actress/patient/lover to impersonate her to create an alibi.
"Ransom for a Dead Man" (3/1/71) [imdb]
*Lee Grant is Leslie Williams, a powerful egotistical lawyer who murders her husband to get at his money by making it look as if he has been kidnapped and then killed by the kidnappers. Her plot is undone by Columbo and the step-daughter who scheme to get the woman to reveal the ransom money.

First season (1971-1972, 7 episodes)

"Murder by the Book" (9/15/71) [imdb]
* Jack Cassidy is Ken Franklin, one-half of the "Mrs. Melville" Mystery writing team, who kills his partner, Jim Ferris (Martin Milner). Ferris wants to break up the team and write solo, but this would expose Franklin as the non-writing half of the "team". When a groupie witness tries to blackmail Franklin into a relationship, he finds he must kill her too. Steven Spielberg directed and Steven Bochco wrote this episode, which was voted by TV Guide as one of the top ten television episodes of all time.
"Death Lends a Hand" (10/6/71) [imdb]
*Robert Culp, is Brimmer, the head of a private detective agency. His agency is hired by Arthur Kennicut (Ray Milland), a powerful publishing magnate (modeled after William Randolph Hearst). Kennicut suspects his trophy wife's (Pat Crowley) extracurricular activities are less than honorable. Brimmer reports to his client that the wife has a "clean bill of health", and then attempts to blackmail the wife into revealing secrets about her husband. She refuses his offer and threatens to expose his plot to her husband, at which point Brimmer accidentally kills her in a fit of fury.
"Dead Weight" (10/27/71) [imdb]
*Eddie Albert is Major General Martin Hollister, a "Patton"-esque retired Marine Corps General who kills his partner in a defense embezzlement scheme. Suzanne Pleshette is the witness who first reports the crime and is then wooed by the General into doubting her own story.
"Suitable for Framing" (11/17/71) [imdb]
*Ross Martin is Dale Kingston, an art critic who murders his uncle and frames his aunt, all to obtain what is considered to be one of the most valuable art collections in the world. Kim Hunter guests as the aunt under suspicion. Don Ameche portrays the family lawyer.
"Lady in Waiting" (12/15/71) [imdb]
*Susan Clark is Beth Chadwick, the milquetoast younger sister of a domineering brother. Her determination for freedom leads her to murder him and assume control of both her own life and the family business. She arranges for it to look like an accident but is tripped up by her own fiancee. Leslie Nielsen portrays the suitor with the perfect memory. Steven Bochco chalks up another writer's credit.
"Short Fuse"(1/19/72)[imdb]
*Roddy McDowall is Roger Stanford, a chemist whose uncle (James Gregory) has taken over the business his parents built and his aunt (Ida Lupino) controls. When Uncle David proposes selling the business to a conglomerate in return for a seat on the board of directors, Roger decides to remove his uncle from office with a box of exploding cigars. William Windom guests as the next-in-line VP who must be removed by suspicion before Roger can move into the corner office.
"Blueprint for Murder" (2/9/72) [imdb]
*Patrick O'Neal is Elliot Markam, an architect with a vision for a city of the future and a penchant for classical music. Forrest Tucker is Bo Williamson, a super-rich country cowboy with a ton of money, a beautiful trophy wife, and a still close relationship with his first wife Goldie. Markam needs Bo dead in order to gain access to his money through the younger Mrs Williamson, yet he also needs Bo alive to prevent Bo's money from going into a trust. Therefore Markam must come up with a clever way to dispose of the body and make it look as if Bo is simply on extended overseas business trip. Peter Falk made his directorial debut with this episode.

DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete Second Season

Second season (1972-1973, 8 episodes)

"Étude in Black" (9/17/72) [imdb]
*John Cassavetes is Alex Benedict, the conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Alex is having an affair with Jennifer Welles (Anjanette Comer). When Jennifer insists on "outing" their relationship, the maestro devises a clever plan to murder her and make it look like a suicide. Blythe Danner guests as the jilted wife. Steven Bochco wrote this one too. Nicholas Colasanto (Coach on Cheers) directed the episode.
"The Greenhouse Jungle" (10/15/72) [imdb]
*Ray Milland is Jarvis Goodland, uncle of Tony Goodland (Bradford Dillman). Together they come up with a plan to break Tony's trust fund by staging a kidnapping. But Uncle Jarvis has an extra twist in mind; he kills his nephew once the ransom is paid. A careful swapping of guns with Tony's philandering wife casts suspicion in her direction. This episode marks the debut of Sgt. Wilson (Bob Dishy) as the normally solo Columbo's departmentally assigned "partner".
"The Most Crucial Game" (11/5/72) [imdb]
*Robert Culp returns to crime, this time as Paul Hanlon, general manager of Los Angeles Rockets, a pro football team. Dean Stockwell is the young, disinterested owner, who inherited the team but whose lack of ambition stands in Hanlon's ambition to create a major sports empire. Hanlon concocts a plan to kill the young owner in his home swimming pool during a football game that Hanlon is attending, thus creating a seemingly airtight alibi. Valerie Harper has a cameo appearance as pawn in Hanlon's plan.
"Dagger of the Mind" (11/26/72) [imdb]
*Richard Basehart is husband Nicholas Frame and Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore in Goldfinger) is wife Lillian Stanhope. Together, the two hatch a plan in which she sweet talks elderly Sir Roger Haversham into backing their theatre production with promises of romance. When he realizes he is being teased and will not be getting Pussy Galore, he confronts the couple and decides to cancel the show. A fight ensues and the old man is dead. The pair must cover up their accident by stuffing the gentleman in a trunk, taking him home to his estate, and staging an accident of a different sort. Columbo is visiting merry olde London and guesting with Scotland Yard Detective Chief Superintendent Durk, who stops by the estate to "investigate" the accident the two actors have staged. Naturally, Columbo sees things differently and the chase is on.
"Requiem for a Falling Star" (1/21/73) [imdb]
*Anne Baxter is Nora Chandler, an aging movie queen. Pippa Scott is her personal assistant Jean. Mel Ferrer is gossip reporter Jerry Parks, who has secret information about Ms. Chandler and is newly engaged to Jean. Jean and Jerry switch vehicles one night and Nora sets Jerry's garage afire just as his car pulls into it. Was it a case of mistaken identity or an attempt to stem the possible flow of confidential information? The truth is unraveled by Columbo as he digs into the case. Oscar winning costume designer Edith Head has a cameo as herself.
"A Stitch in Crime" (2/11/73) [imdb]
*Leonard Nimoy is Dr. Barry Mayfield. Will Geer (Grandpa Walton) is Dr. Edmund Hidemann. Together, the two have pioneered a major medical breakthrough which Mayfield wants to publish ASAP, while Hidemann wants to continue testing. When Dr. Hideman has a heart attack and needs an emergency bypass, Mayfield performs the surgery and plans to kill his partner by placing dissolving sutures in his heart. Their nurse discovers the plot and attempts to expose the suture situation before it dissolves into disaster. Mayfield has to kill her before she can expose him, so he stages a mugging and attempts to pin the murder on an ex-boyfriend drug addict. It doesn't take Columbo long to discover the true motive, but proving it takes a bit more sleight of hand.
"The Most Dangerous Match" (3/4/73) [imdb]
*Laurence Harvey is chess grandmaster Emmett Clayton. Jack Kruschen is Russian champion Tomlin Dudek. When Clayton loses an unofficial game to Dudek at a restaurant the night before their official match, he realizes that he must kill his rival to keep from losing the next day. So hard of hearing Clayton lures him to the basement and shoves him into the garbage grinder. But his hearing aid is broken and he doesn't realize that the grinder automatically shuts itself off when anything big falls into it. Dudek survives and now Clayton must poison his rival in the hospital before he regains consciousness. All the while, Columbo is investigating the accident...
"Double Shock" (3/25/73) [imdb]
*Martin Landau portrays twins Dexter and Norman Paris. When Uncle Clifford becomes engaged to Julie Newmar (Catwoman), the boys decide to get rid of their uncle before he can change his will. Dexter, a free-spending cooking show host, and Norman, a banker with a gambling habit, conspire to pass off the murder (by mixer-in-the-bathtub electrocution) as an accidental heart attack. Clifford's lawyer reveals that indeed a new will already exists and that he will be willing to "lose" all copies of it for a price. The one hitch is that the fiancee has a copy of it too, so the boys decide to kill the fiancee and frame the lawyer.

Third season (1973-1974, 8 episodes)

"Lovely But Lethal" (9/23/73)[imdb]
*Vera Miles is cosmetics queen Viveca Scott, whose company has developed a seemingly magic wrinkle remover. The formula has been stolen by chemist (Martin Sheen), who refuses to sell it back to her at any price. Ms. Scott then kills her ex-lover before he can sell it to her competition. When her rival's secretary reveals that she recognizes the young victim and suspects the motive for the murder, Vivica decides she must kill her too. Vincent Price is David Lang, the competing cosmetics king.
"Any Old Port in a Storm" (10/7/73) [imdb]
*Donald Pleasence is Adrian Carsini, owner of a small winery that specializes in unprofitable but prized wines. While Adrian inherited the winery, spendthrift playboy half-brother Rick got the land. Tired of Adrian's indulgences, Rick tells him that he has agreed to sell the land to the TV equivalent of the Gallo Brothers, mass producers of cheap, profitable wines. In a fit of anger at the news, Adrian clubs Rick over the head, ties him up, and leaves him to die in an airtight wine cellar, while Adrian jets off for a week in New York to accept an award and attend wine auctions. Upon his return, Adrian concocts a SCUBA diving accident to cover the crime. The unique way in which Columbo exposes the crime is perhaps one of the most enjoyable endings in the entire series.
"Candidate For Crime" (11/4/73) [imdb]
* Jackie Cooper is Senatorial candidate Nelson Hayward. His domineering campaign manager Harry Stone is getting in the way of his womanizing, so Hayward plots to remove him. He trades places with Stone and then kills him in Hayward's garage, thus making it seem to be a case of mistaken identity by assassins after Hayward.
"Double Exposure" (12/16/73) [imdb]
*Robert Culp returns in his third appearance as a murdering mastermind. He is Dr. Bart Keppel, who pioneered the infamous subliminal cuts. He uses this technique to kill a major client who is about to fire his company. When his projectionist discovers the cuts and then pieces together the plot, Keppel kills him as well. In an ironic twist of fate, Columbo turns the tables on his suspect. Stephen J. Cannell wrote this episode.
"Publish or Perish" (1/18/74) [imdb]
*Jack Cassidy returns in his second stint as a murderer. This time around, he is Riley Greenleaf, a publisher with author Alan Mallory under contract, but not for long. Mallory is portrayed by real-life author Mickey Spillane. When Mallory decides to leave Greenleaf for another publisher, Riley has no choice but to kill the goose that lays his golden eggs. He hires ex-con and avid homemade bomb enthusiast Eddie Kane, to do the actual job while Riley is off creating an alibi for himself. To cover his tracks, Riley must then kill Kane with one of his own bombs, making it look like an accident. But Columbo discovers the link between the two crimes and the plot blows up in Greenleaf's face.
"Mind Over Mayhem" (2/10/74) [imdb]
*José Ferrer is Dr. Marshall Cahill, head of a huge high tech Pentagon think tank. Cahill's son Neil plagiarizes a paper from a recently deceased scientist and passes it off as his own work. When a colleague threatens to expose Neil, Dad resorts to murder to protect his boy. Lew Ayres is the victim, and Jessica Walter portrays the victim's wife and the son's psychiatrist. Steven Bochco wrote this one too.
"Swan Song" (3/3/74) [imdb]
*Johnny Cash is Tommy Brown, gospel singing superstar. Ida Lupino is his wife Edna, head of the ministry seeking to build a new tabernacle. Since Edna caught Tommy cheating on her with an underage girl, she has been blackmailing Tommy into donating all of the proceeds from his concerts and records to the building fund. When Tommy decides he has had enough, he slips the girls drugged coffee to put them to sleep on their small private plane while flying into Los Angeles and then bails out with a homemade parachute. Edna's brother Luke Bill McKinney insists that the police handle the case as a homicide, while the FAA is ready to write it off to an unfortunate accident. In the course of the investigation, Columbo comes to realize that Tommy Brown is one of the most sympathetic murderers he has ever pursued. Nicholas Colasanto (Coach on Cheers) directed the episode.
"A Friend in Deed" (5/5/74) [imdb]
*Richard Kiley is police commissioner Mark Halperin. When neighbor Hugh Caldwell kills his wife in the heat of a fight, he seeks help from his friend. Halperin sees an opportunity to kill his own wife, an heiress who refuses to share her wealth. He helps Hugh cover up the first crime and forces Hugh to assist him a few nights later. They arrange it so that a cat burglar who has recently been active in their neighborhood is seen as the culprit. Columbo soon realizes what has actually happened and utilizes the burglar to help him catch the real perpetrators. Actor Ben Gazzara took his second turn behind the camera to direct this episode.

Fourth season (1974-1975, 6 episodes)

"An Exercise in Fatality" (9/15/74) [imdb]
*Robert Conrad is Milo Janus, a Jack LaLayne type exercise guru, who is squeezing his franchisees who operate his namesake gyms. When one of those owners threatens to expose Janis and open his operation to fraud and extortion investigations, Janis kills the man in his own gym. He then concocts a complicated plan to create the perfect alibi, and as Columbo eventually reveals, "You tried to create the perfect alibi, and it's your perfect alibi that's going to hang you."
"Negative Reaction" (10/6/74) [imdb]
*Dick Van Dyke is Paul Galesko, a professional photographer. In order to kill his domineering, nagging, wealthy wife, Galesko hires ex-con Alvin Deschler to take pictures of country property for him, while he stages a kidnapping of his wife. Galesko then kills his captive, and proceeds to meet uninformed Deschler at a staged ransom drop, where he proceeds to kill his unsuspecting dupe. He then shoots himself in the leg, plants the gun on Deschler, and reports that he killed the kidnapper. Columbo, as usual, doggedly digs at the details until he unravels the plot.
"By Dawn's Early Light" (10/27/74) [imdb]
*Patrick McGoohan is Col. Lyle C. Rumford, head of the all boys military style Haynes Academy. William Haynes is the head of the Board of Trustees who has decided that the answer to declining enrollment is to make the Academy a coed school. The Colonel's answer is to rig the school cannon to explode and finesse Mr. Haynes into firing the cannon on Founder's Day. He then tries to pin the "accident" on a cadet who had gun cleaning duty that week. His own obsessiveness proves his undoing as Columbo moves into the barracks and solves the case. Bruno Kirby, son of Columbo regular Bruce Kirby, plays a role as one of the academy students.
"Troubled Waters" (2/9/75) [imdb]
* Robert Vaughn is Hayden Danziger, an auto executive who is having an affair with the cruise's lounge singer. When she threatens to expose the affair to Mrs. Danziger, Hayden plots to stop her from "singing". Columbo happens to be on board, since his wife won the cruise in a church raffle. He is pressed into service by the ship's captain once the murder is discovered, much to Danzinger's bad luck.
"Playback" (3/2/75) [imdb]
*Oskar Werner is Harold Van Wick, an electronic-gadget obsessed man, who runs his mother-in-law's company. When she decides to remove him from his position, he retaliates by removing her instead. He uses his high-tech home security system to tape the murder, which he then plays back to the guards' monitor on a time delay, making it appear as if the murder occurred after he had left the house for a party. Columbo uses the same system to break his alibi. Gena Rowlands portrays Harold's wheelchair bound wife, who proves instrumental in convicting her husband.
"A Deadly State of Mind" (4/27/75) [imdb]
*George Hamilton is Dr. Mark Collier, a psychiatrist having an affair with patient Nadia Donner, portrayed by Lesley Ann Warren. When confronted by the cuckolded husband in their beach house, Collier kills Mr. Donner. He then concocts a cover story involving a home robbery gone astray. When Nadia's resolve begins to weaken, Collier uses hypnosis to trick her into diving into an imaginary swimming pool from her 14th story balcony. Ironically, the only witness to the original crime, a blind man walking past the house as Collier was leaving, proves to be his undoing.

Fifth season (1975-1976, 6 episodes)

"Forgotten Lady" (9/14/75) [imdb]
*Janet Leigh is Grace Wheeler, an aging ex-movie star, now married to a wealthy doctor. John Payne is Ned Diamond, her long time dance partner. The pair is fashioned after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. When Grace's husband refuses to finance her return to the spotlight, she kills him in his sleep, and tries to pass it off as a suicide. Columbo tap dances his way through her story, to quite a surprise and touching ending. This episode goes down as the only case wherein Columbo did not get his man.
"A Case of Immunity" (10/12/75) [imdb]
*Hector Elizondo is Hassan Salah, the chief diplomat of the Legation of Swahari, an Arab nation with a new young king. Hassan enlists Rachman Habib, played by Sal Mineo, to help him stage a robbery at the Legation; the real aim is to murder the head of security. Hassan pins the murder on the now absent Habib, who as part of the plan has gone into hiding. Columbo quickly unravels the truth, but finds himself stymied by the fact that Salah has diplomatic immunity and cannot be arrested. Another episode which provides a pleasant twist as a climax.
"Identity Crisis" (11/2/75) [imdb]
*Patrick McGoohan is back as the villain, this time as CIA operative Nelson Brenner, who is really a double agent. The Agency sends an operative, code named "Geronimo" (Leslie Nielsen) to cut a deal with Brenner's alter ego. Geronimo recognizes Brenner as a double agent from past and puts the squeeze on him. Brenner must kill Geronimo before he can reveal his secret. In the course of his investigation, Columbo finds himself blocked at every turn by a man accustomed to keeping secrets secret. But not even a visit from the Director of the Agency, portrayed by David White (Larry Tate from Bewitched), can deter the determined Lieutenant. McGoohan directed the episode as well as starring in it. Note: The name used by the Director of the Agency is "Phil Corrigan" -from the Secret Agent X-9 comic Strip?
"A Matter of Honor" (2/1/76) [imdb]
*Ricardo Montalban is Luis Montoya, perhaps the bravest matador in all of Mexico. Retired from bullfighting, he raises the bravest bulls in the world. His long time assistant and friend, Hector Rangel, sees a chink in Montoya's armor when they must face a bull that has gored Hector's son. Montoya realizes, that to protect his own reputation, he must kill his lifelong friend, which he does cleverly using the same bull and a small amount of tranquilizer as the murder weapon. Surely nobody would dare to question the word of Luis Montoya. Well, nobody that is except Columbo, who just happens to be in Tijuana for the weekend when the murder takes place. The local chief of police recognizes Columbo as the man who solved the mystery on the Cruise Ship the year before and enlists his help in solving this crime as well.
"Now You See Him..." (2/29/76) [imdb]
*Jack Cassidy returns for a third bout as a murderer. This time he is Santini, magician extraordinaire. It turns out however that he is also Stephan Mueller, formerly a Nazi SS prison guard. Jesse Jerome, owner of the Cabaret of Magic, the club where Santini is headlining, discovers the secret and blackmails Santini. If Santini refuses to pay, Jerome promises to turn him over to the Immigration Department. Santini conjures up a murder. A true magician, Santini commits the murder in the middle of his famed water tank escape act, thereby giving himself what he believes to be an airtight alibi. But then, Santini has never matched wits with Columbo before. Sgt. Wilson is back to lend a hand, and is actually instrumental in solving the case.
"Last Salute to the Commodore" (5/2/76) [imdb]
*Someone has killed the "Commodore", a retired ship builder who would rather sell his business than let his son-in-law continue to run it. It looks as though the deed was done by the son-in-law, played by Robert Vaughn, the cruise ship murderer from a prior Columbo episode. But when he turns up dead as well, the mystery deepens. This episode departs from the normal Columbo format in that we do not know whodunit until the end of the show. Sgt. Wilson is gone, presumably promoted after his pivotal role in capturing Santini, but Columbo has a new sidekick, Sgt. 'Mac' Albinsky.

Sixth season (1976-1977, 3 episodes)

"Fade in to Murder (10/10/76) [imdb]
*William Shatner portrays Ward Fowler, who portrays Det. Lucerne on a weekly TV show. Ward has a secret from his past. His producer and ex-paramour, Claire Daley knows it and has been blackmailing Ward for years. Now that he has finally made it big, he doesn't want to pay any more, but there is only one way to "convince" Claire to stop. He then steps in and out of character to assist Lt. Columbo with the investigation. "Hi, I'm not a detective, but I play one on TV ....." One of Columbo's most enjoyable cases. A young actress Shera Danese plays the part of the Daley's secretary. Peter Falk was so taken with the young lady that they started dating and married just a year later.
"Old Fashioned Murder" (11/28/76) [imdb]
*Joyce Van Patten is Ruth Lytton, Tim O'Conner is her older brother Edward. Celeste Holm is the older sister. Together they run the family business, the Lytton Museum. When Edward decides to sell the museum that Ruth has devoted her life to, she decides to remove her brother from the chain of command. She is assisted by an ex-con whom Ruth kills as soon as he has killed her brother. Her plan is to make it look like the two men killed each other in the middle of an attempted robbery, but Columbo sees through the plot and digs to the bottom of the case.
"The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case" (5/22/77) [imdb]
*Theodore Bikel is Oliver Brandt, a genius senior partner in an accountancy firm. Sorrel Brooke (Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazard) is his lifelong friend Bertie, partner and fellow genius. Samantha Eggar is his very beautiful, very expensive wife. To support her in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed, Oliver must embezzle from his clients. When Bertie discovers this and promises to blow the whistle, Oliver must "write off" his old friend. He chooses to do so right at the Sigma Society clubhouse. This is a club (modeled on MENSA) of the very brightest people in the area. With a house full of geniuses as witnesses, Columbo should have no trouble cracking the case. A very young Jamie Lee Curtis has a cameo role as a coffee shop waitress who sells Columbo his own donut.

Seventh season (1977-1978, 5 episodes)

"Try and Catch Me" (11/21/77) [imdb]
*Ruth Gordon is award winning mystery author Abigail Mitchell. Charles Frank is her nephew-in-law Edmund Galvin. Abigail is convinced that Edmund murdered his wife a year ago, and has apparently gotten away with it. So she decides to take matters into her own hands. She tricks Edmund into retrieving something from inside her airtight walk-in safe, which she then closes and locks before flying off to New York. Many minor errors leave her vulnerable. Mariette Hartley is Veronica, her trusted assistant, who becomes embroiled in the crime herself. Abagail says to Columbo, as he is arresting her, "Just think Lieutenant, if only you had been the one to investigate the death of my niece, then all this need never have happened."
"Murder Under Glass" (1/30/78) [imdb]
*Louis Jordan is Paul Gerard, a restaurant critic with a lucrative extortion scheme that falls apart when one of the restaurant owners decides he's through paying and convinces the others to rebel as well. To avoid exposure, the critic "cooks" up a way to murder the restauranteur and Columbo has to figure out how. Falk's now real-life wife Shera Danese is back as Gerard's loyal secretary/treasurer.
"Make Me a Perfect Murder" (2/28/78) [imdb]
*Trish Van Devere is Kay Freestone, a high-powered TV programmer with a talent for picking hits. Laurence Luckinbill is her lover and West Coast Network boss. When he is promoted to a high level position in New York, he gives Kay a Mercedes instead of his job. So before he can name his replacement, she executes a hostile takeover by "cancelling" him in his office. The pressure of leadership proves too much and her job and her alibi begin to crumble under the pressure.
"How to Dial a Murder" (4/15/78) [imdb]
*Nicol Williamson is Dr. Eric Mason, a mind-control seminar guru. Mason knows that his friend was having an affair with his recently-deceased wife. He decides to take control and extract his revenge via his two trained Doberman Pinschers, Laurel and Hardy, who maul the man to death in Mason's kitchen. Mason, an avid film buff, has a house full of priceless Hollywood memorabilia, which Columbo enjoys to the hilt as he wastes no time in unraveling Mason's story. Columbo tells him, "You know doctor, I'm very disappointed. For someone so smart, you made a lot of dumb mistakes." A young Kim Cattrall lives in Mason's guest house and discovers the body.
"The Conspirators" (5/13/78) [imdb]
*Clive Revill is Joe Devlin, famous Irish poet/author who is secretly a fund-raiser and gun-runner for the IRA. When his latest gun supplier tries to double-cross him, he kills the man before he can supply the goods. Now with Columbo hot on his trail, Devlin must find his guns and arrange their purchase and shipment out of the country. In order to prove his case, Columbo must also find the guns. Just when all seems lost, Columbo gets the final piece of the puzzle and moves in for the arrest. A fitting ending for what was considered to be the end of the series.

Beginning of the new Columbo Series

A major difference between the original Columbo series and the following episodes, which have come to be known as the new Columbo, is the famousness of the guest murderer-of-the-week. In the original series, in almost all cases the featured villain was quite well known in the acting world and easily recognizable to the public at large. In many, but not all, of the new episodes, the guest villain is relatively unknown to the public and not easily recognized by the audience.

Eighth season (1989, 4 episodes)

"Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" (2/6/89) [imdb]
*Anthony Andrews is Elliott Blake, a fake psychic who is trying to swindle the government into giving him a lucrative contract based on his ESP abilities. He conspires with an old colleague, Max Dyson (Anthony Zerbe) who is a magician known to expose frauds. After their trickery is successful the psychic takes his revenge on the magician by tricking him into his own guillotine. Columbo has to unravel all of the tricks of the trade before the government agency whisks the fake psychic beyond his reach.
"Murder, Smoke, and Shadows" (2/27/89) [imdb]
*Fisher Stevens is boy genius Hollywood director Alex Bradey, whose character bears an uncanny resemblance to an early Steven Spielberg, who directed an early Columbo himself. It turns out that Alex made a movie back home with a 8 mm camera in which a young woman was killed in a motorcycle accident. Alex and his cameraman conspired to pretend that the accident did not happen on their "set" and that they weren't present when it happened, causing the official investigation to conclude that it was an accidental death. When the cameraman dies, he leaves a copy of the 8 mm film to the young woman's brother, who then shows up in Alex's Hollywood office demanding an explanation. Alex, of course, stages another "accident" to befall his old friend that night on the set of his most recent movie.
"Sex and the Married Detective" (4/3/89) [imdb]
*Lindsay Crouse is Dr. Joan Allenby, a renowned sex therapist. When her flight is delayed, she returns to the office only to find her lover in bed with her assistant. As a "game", she invents the "lady in black", in which disguise she meets with her lover in public and leaves for a tryst. Then she kills him and naturally everyone begins looking for the mystery woman. Everyone, including Lt. Columbo.
"Grand Deceptions" (5/1/89) [imdb]
*Robert Foxworth is Col. Frank Brailie. He runs a paramilitary mercenary school owned by General Padget, whose wife just happens to be the Colonel's lover. It also seems that the Colonel is siphoning money into what he calls "The Special Projects Fund". The suspicious General asks a friend to look into the matter, but instead of reporting his findings, he decides to blackmail the Colonel into sharing the profit. Taking the offensive, the Colonel arranges for an unfortunate accident to befall his colleague, making it appear he died in a landmine explosion. Leave it to Columbo to unravel the mystery.

Ninth season (1989-1990, 6 episodes)

"Murder, a Self Portrait" (11/25/89) [imdb]
*Patrick Bauchau is temperamental artist Max Barsini. Max lives with his current wife Vanessa (Shera Danese), his current model/lover Julie, and they all live next door to Max's first wife Louise. Louise knows Max's darkest secret, that he killed his first agent, who was robbing him blind. She has faithfully kept the secret for years, but now that she is getting remarried to another man, Max is getting nervous. To ensure her continued silence, Max decides to silence her permanently. Turns out though, she has been having dreams which allude to the earlier murder. And she has been telling those dreams to her therapist. Columbo gets hold of the tapes of those dream sessions and begins to put together the pieces of the puzzle.
"Columbo Cries Wolf" (1/20/90) [imdb]
*Ian Buchanan is Sean Brantley, a Hugh Hefner type, who together with partner Diane Hunter (Deidre Hall) publishes Bachelor's World magazine. With circulation down and Hunter wanting to sell her 51% interest in the magazine, the pair concoct a publicity stunt sure to revive their sales. They stage a fight, then Diane disappears, leading to speculation that Sean has killed his partner. Columbo becomes convinced that foul play has indeed occurred and sets out to find the body, eventually digging up much of the estate. Only when it has turned into a full-blown media event does Diane resurface, saying she simply needed some "alone time". Now that sales have increased, so has the value of her share of the magazine. When she informs Sean that she still intends to sell out, Sean actually kills his partner and hides the body, believing that Columbo won't fall for the same trick twice. But Columbo has a trick or two up his sleeve too and the case is soon solved. An especially enjoyable episode given the background scenery of the Playboy like estate, where most of the episode is filmed.
"Agenda for Murder" (2/10/90) [imdb]
*Patrick McGoohan returns for a third go-round as a featured murdered. This time out he is high priced lawyer Oscar Finch, whose best friend is Congressman Mackey, and who just happens to be running for Vice President. Arthur Hill portrays the Governor who is now a Presidential candidate. Mobster Frank Staplin, facing an imminent indictment, calls Finch and asks for his help in squashing the indictment, reminding him of a favor Finch and Mackey performed earlier in their careers for Staplin. Would be a shame for that earlier incident to come to light, considering the current political situation of the two men, Staplin reasons. Naturally Finch resorts to murder and attempts to make it look like a suicide.
"Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo" (3/31/90) [imdb]
*Helen Shaver is Vivian Dimitri, wife of a con that Columbo sent to prison some years ago, but who recently died. Vivian now returns to Los Angeles, determined to extract her revenge on Columbo by first killing his wife, then killing the detective. But first she must kill her boss, who just happened to be her husband's partner in crime, but who skipped jail by ratting out his partner. Once Columbo begins investigating that murder, Vivian moves on to her next target. But as usual, Columbo is one step ahead of his suspect.
"Uneasy Lies the Crown" (4/28/90) [imdb]
*James Read is Dr. Wesley Corman, dentist to the stars. What he really wants is to be rid of his loveless wife. When the current Hollywood heartthrob, who happens to be a patient, has an affair with the dentist's wife, our dentist hatches a plan. He puts timed-release poison under the star's dental crown, timed to release as he is making love to the dentist's wife that evening, framing her for the murder. Columbo must unravel the plot and find the real murderer.
"Murder in Malibu" (5/14/90) [imdb]
*Andrew Stevens is playboy/tennis bum Wayne Jennings. Janet Margolin is author Theresa Goren who is twice Wayne's age but his fiancée nonetheless. Brenda Vaccaro is Theresa's sister Jess McCurdy, who absolutely abhors that her sister has fallen for such an obvious gold digger. After a night of drinking at Theresa's Malibu beach house, Jess finally convinces her sister to call off the wedding, but Theresa can't bring herself to disturb Wayne who is off playing tennis in Palm Springs. So Jess makes the call for her, imitating her sister and berating Wayne to no end. In what can only be described as one of the most confusing and contrived Columbo plots ever.... somehow Wayne decides to return to Malibu and kill his jilting lover. Further complications ensue, leaving a mess that could only be untangled by the industrious Columbo.

Tenth season (1990-1991, 3 episodes)

"Columbo Goes to College" (12/9/90) [imdb]
*Stephen Caffrey is Justin Rowe, and Gary Hershberger is Cooper Redman. They are two of the most spoiled college students to ever exist. When a professor catches them cheating for the umteenth time, he promises to expel them. So they concoct a foolproof plan to shoot the professor in the parking garage, via remote control, while they sit in class listening to Columbo deliver a guest lecture. The boys plant evidence making it appear that the professor was working on a mafia expose, thus attempting to throw suspicion off of themselves. Robert Culp returns, this time as Justin's powerful lawyer father, who pushes Columbo to arrest anyone other than his kid. When finally arrested and confronted with their guilt, the two state that the reason they resorted to murder was simply because they could do it.
"Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" (2/20/91) [imdb]
*George Hamilton is back, this time he as Wade Anders, host of crime show "Crime Alert", patterned after real-life show America's Most Wanted. When Budd Clarke, who was a rival to host the show, uncovers a porn video starring a young Anders, he threatens to release the video and take over the show. Anders kills his rival with a poison cigarette, using doctored surveillance videos to provide himself with an alibi. It really doesn't take Columbo long to piece together this one.
"Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star" (4/29/91) [imdb]
*Dabney Coleman is high priced lawyer Hugh Creighton. He has been living with rock star Marcy Edwards for years, but now he has had enough of her cheating heart. But she threatens him with a palimony suit and claims she will take half of all his wealth if he tries to end their relationship. So he resorts to murder. He drugs the champagne in the beach house, waits until she meets with her current lover there, and then while he is passed out cold (she doesn't drink), Hugh shows up and snaps Marcy's neck. When her lover awakens he thinks he has done the deed and flees the scene. Hugh enlists his associate (Shera Danese yet again)to help him concoct an airtight alibi. But Shera has other plans and blackmails Hugh into a full partnership in the firm in return for her silence. Poor Hugh has the worst luck with women. And now he's about to have the same luck with a certain Detective.

Eleventh season (1993-1994, 3 episodes)

"It's All in the Game" (10/31/93) [imdb]
*Faye Dunaway is Lauren Staton, a wealthy socialite. Claudia Christian is her globe trotting daughter. Both have the same boyfriend, an abusive, mean tempered, gold digging gigolo. He was romancing the daughter in Europe when he found out about the rich mother back in the states. So unbeknownst to either woman, he showed up in Los Angeles and began to romance Lauren. Now the women have begun to compare notes and realized what has happened, yet his tendency towards violence keeps them living in fear. So together they plan another way out. Once the deed is done, Lauren takes all the heat from Columbo in order to protect her daughter, even romancing the Lieutenant.
"Butterfly in Shades of Grey" (1/10/94) [imdb]
*William Shatner (in his second appearance in the series) is Fielding Chase, a conniving right wing radio host (Rush Limbaugh), who has an adopted daughter of whom he is very protective. When someone tries to help her escape from under his smothering wing, he kills the offending party, making it look like the deed was done by the gay man's ex-lover.
"Undercover" (5/2/94) [imdb]
*Ed Begley Jr. is Irving Krutch, a crooked insurance investigator. He enlists the help of Columbo to solve a series of murders that starts with two men, each of whom possesses a piece of a photograph. Some years back a group of men had committed a very large robbery and hidden the loot somewhere which can only be found by piecing together all of the pieces of the photograph. Columbo must go undercover to recover some of the pieces, solve some murders to get some others. Another Columbo that departs from the usual format and doesn't reveal the culprit until the end of the show.

TV specials

"Death Hits the Jackpot" (12/15/91) [imdb]
*Rip Torn is "Uncle Leon" Lamarr, a wealthy jeweler. Gary Kroeger is Freddy, his nephew, a flakey, almost divorced, photographer with a chimpanzee and winning lottery ticket. In order to hide the proceeds, to the tune of $30 million, from his soon-to-be ex-wife, Freddy enlists Uncle Leon's help. Uncle Leon will pretend that it is his lottery ticket and he will return the money to Freddy once the divorce is final. Little does Freddy know his uncle is having an affair with his wife. Uncle Leon seizes the opportunity to kill his young nephew so that he can keep the lottery winnings for himself.
"No Time to Die" (3/15/92) [imdb]
*A most unusual Columbo. Seems that Columbo is attending the wedding of his nephew, who is also a police officer. After the wedding, while her husband takes a shower, the bride disappears from the bridal suite. Once he realizes that it is not just a prank perpetrated by his buddies, he enlists Uncle Columbo's help in unraveling the case. Seems she has been kidnapped by a psycho who intends to kill her once he consummates their marriage. The race is on.
"A Bird in the Hand..." (11/22/92) [imdb]
*Tyne Daly is Delores, wife of sports magnate Big Fred (Steve Forrest). Greg Evigan (remember BJ and the Bear?) is their nephew, and chronic gambler Harold. When Harold is given a deadline (in every sense of the word) to pay up or else, he plants a bomb under Big Fred's Cadillac. Problem is Big Fred is killed by a hit and run driver while jogging that very morning. And the Cadillac explodes when the gardener tries to move it out of the way of the TV camera crews. Just when Columbo thinks he has the goods on Harold, Harold turns up dead. Played as yet another cliffhanger, this episode is a pleasant two hours.
"Strange Bedfellows" (5/8/95) [imdb]
*George Wendt is Graham McVeigh, owner of a Thoroughbred Ranch. When he feels the need to kill his brother, he does it in a way that frames a local mob bookie. Then he lures the bookie to his house, under the guise of making good on his brother's debt, and kills him as well, claiming self-defense. When the mob boss, Vincenzo Fortelli (Rod Steiger), starts to exert pressure on McVeigh, McVeigh turns to Columbo for protection. Soon his choice becomes life in prison, or just life. To solve the crime Columbo must work with the boss, thus the title of the episode. (Goof: In this episode Columbo seems not to be able to speak italian.)
"A Trace of Murder - 25th Anniversary Movie" (5/15/97) [imdb]
*Shera Danese is back, this time as Cathleen Calvert, one half of a murdering duo. She is married to Clifford Calvert, portrayed by Barry Corbin, a powerful businessman. She is also having an affair with Patrick Kinsley, a CSI portrayed by David Rasche. Together they plot to get rid of Clifford. But not by killing him. Instead the plot to kill a rival businessman with whom he is currently feuding. And they plan to pin the murder on Clifford. As long as he is alive and in prison, Cathleen has full access to all his money. If not for a chance encounter, they might have gotten away with it.
"Ashes to Ashes" (10/8/98) [imdb]
*Patrick McGoohan is back to claim the record as the most frequent guest murderer. In his fourth and final appearance he portrays Eric Prince, Mortician-to-the-stars, who has a few skeletons in his own closet. The case involves the disappearance of a Hollywood gossip reporter, played by Golden Girl Rue McClanahan. She had the goods on Mr. Prince, so he managed to make her disappear. Now Columbo must figure out howhedunit.
"Murder With Too Many Notes" (3/12/01) [imdb]
*Billy Connolly is Findlay Crawford, a Hollywood film composer and conductor, and mentor to a talented young composer who has been ghostwriting most of Crawford's work for the last few years. In fact the young man penned Crawford's entire last movie, which won an Oscar. Now the young man wants to venture out on his own. That would certainly ruin Crawford's career, as he seems to have no talent of his own. So he concocts the perfect murder, made to look like a suicide. But Columbo soon sees through the plot and has the case under wraps.
"Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (1/30/03) [imdb]
*Matthew Rhys is Justin Price, an LA rave promoter. His girlfriend was once married to the man who is backing Justin's new club. When the ex drops dead in the girls apartment, Justin helps her dispose of the body. When an investigative reporter pieces the crime together and threatens to blackmail Justin, well, the reporter will simply have to be dealt with. Columbo has to piece the puzzle together once again in what will prove to be the finale of the series.

Other appearances

Falk appeared as Columbo in a faux episode of Alias produced for a 2003 TV special celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC. Featuring most of the regular cast of the spy series, the skit began with Jack Bristow preparing agents Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn for a mission, and informing them that they will have a new partner - Detective Columbo. Columbo proceeds to wreak havoc at CIA headquarters, accidentally shooting Vaughn with an anesthetic dart and volunteering to wear a skimpy bikini intended for Sydney during the mission. Columbo reveals that his mission is not to aid the CIA but rather to help Walt Disney Company/ABC head Michael Eisner better understand the show. His work completed, Columbo departs, leaving Jack Bristow to utter a confused, "My god, that was strange."

Falk also appeared as Columbo in the 1977 Dean Martin Roast of Frank Sinatra

Books

Columbo was also used as the protagonist for a series of novels published between 1994 and 1999 by Forge Books, an imprint of Tor Books. All of the books were written by William Harrington.

Columbo trivia

Columbo's character is based on Inspector Fichet from the classic French suspense-thriller Les Diaboliques (1955).
Columbo's wardrobe was provided by Peter Falk himself. They were his own clothes.
The song that Johnny Cash sings in "Swan Song" was written by Hank Williams, Sr.
Fiona Apple is a fan of the program, and watched it daily during her six-year resting period.

Bibliography

Dawidziak, Mark. The Columbo Phile: A Casebook. The Mysterious Press, 1989.

International

Australia: the show is shown on TV1 (Saturday nights at 11pm).
Croatia: the show is shown on HRT in the early afternoon 4 times a week (days are various).
France: the show was shown on TF1.
Germany: the show is shown on Super RTL (Sunday nights at 8:15 PM).
Japan: the show is still shown on Super Channel and The Mystery Channel.

External links

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