From its pilot in 1968 to its curtain call in 2003, Columbo ran for 35 years and comprised 69 episodes.
The full list of Columbo episodes in chronological order can be viewed below. Click on the links to read my reviews of the episodes. I may not get round to reviewing them all until about 2023.
Columbo pilot episodes
- Prescription: Murder (1968)
- Ransom for a Dead Man (1971)
Columbo season 1 episodes (1971-72)
- Murder by the Book (view full episode)
- Death Lends a Hand (view full episode)
- Dead Weight
- Suitable for Framing (view full episode)
- Lady in Waiting
- Short Fuse
- Blueprint for Murder
Columbo season 2 episodes (1972-73)
- Etude in Black (view full episode)
- The Greenhouse Jungle
- The Most Crucial Game
- Dagger of the Mind
- Requiem for a Falling Star
- A Stitch in Crime (view full episode)
- The Most Dangerous Match
- Double Shock
Columbo season 3 episodes (1973-74)
- Lovely But Lethal
- Any Old Port in a Storm (view full episode)
- Candidate for Crime
- Double Exposure
- Publish or Perish (view full episode)
- Mind Over Mayhem
- Swan Song (view full episode)
- A Friend in Deed (view full episode)
Columbo season 4 episodes (1974-75)
- An Exercise in Fatality
- Negative Reaction (view full episode)
- By Dawn’s Early Light
- Troubled Waters
- Playback
- Deadly State of Mind
Columbo season 5 episodes (1975-76)
- Forgotten Lady
- Case of Immunity
- Identity Crisis
- Matter of Honor
- Now You See Him
- Last Salute to the Commodore
Columbo season 6 episodes (1976-77)
Columbo season 7 episodes (1977-78)
- Try and Catch Me (view full episode)
- Murder Under Glass
- Make Me a Perfect Murder
- How to Dial a Murder
- The Conspirators
Columbo season 8 episodes (1989)
- Columbo Goes to the Guillotine
- Murder, Smoke and Shadows
- Sex and the Married Detective
- Grand Deceptions
Columbo season 9 episodes (1989-90)
- Murder: A Self Portrait
- Columbo Cries Wolf
- Agenda for Murder
- Rest in Peace, Mrs Columbo
- Uneasy Lies the Crown
- Murder in Malibu
Columbo season 10 episodes, plus TV specials (1990-2003)
- Columbo Goes to College (1990)
- Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991)
- Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991)
- Death Hits the Jackpot (1991)
- No Time to Die (1992)
- A Bird in the Hand… (1992)
- It’s All in the Game (1993)
- Butterfly in Shades of Grey (1994)
- Undercover (1994)
- Strange Bedfellows (1995)
- A Trace of Murder (1997)
- Ashes to Ashes (1998)
- Murder With Too Many Notes (2001)
- Columbo Likes the Nightlife (2003)
You can read about my all-time Columbo top 10 episodes here.
The ‘gotcha’ in this always seemed weak to me. Collier could have easily defended himself by saying, “Why did I think this man was blind? Because you had him wear dark glasses and specifically move as a blind man would. That’s entrapment, Lieutenant.”
Also, other than sheer panic in the moment, it really makes no sense for Collier to have concocted the intruders story to explain the death. After all, Carl had attacked him, and then was savagely beating Nadia. Collier was lawfully defending both himself and her. Sure, he was so self-centered, in that instant he was probably most worried about the publicity killing his book deal, but if he had taken a few more moments to think about it, he’d have realized that the media coverage of him heroically protecting a helpless woman would doubtless boost sales and make his book a bestseller.
Great site for Columbo fans as I am, and have been for a long, long time.
This series was my first to complete on DVD! I just had to have them all…
I do have one quick question that I need help with. I’m not sure if this plot was a ‘Columbo’ plot or not. But, I remember when I was much younger, a storyline about calculating how the killer got from point A to point B in such a short timeframe. The detective tried many times with a car and then finally figured it out that a motorcycle was used (which could move through traffic faster and fit the proper timeline). Does anyone know this plot? Was it a Columbo episode that I just can’t remember? I hope someone can help me out there… Thank you in advance and thanks for this wonderful website for the great detective Columbo! Cheers! PTG.
Great show! I agree 100%! I just don’t get enough of this guy!…I’ll give your Q some thought. 🙂
Thank you, I would appreciate it very much. That plot I described has been bugging me for years and years. I even thought maybe it’s a Quincy M.D. or Rockford Files episode by chance; but my memory has failed me so far…
Too bad I couldn’t ask Peter Falk; I could have said… “Just one more question” 🙂
G. Figard.
Question: First, great site. Second, so Columbo ran for 10 seasons, correct? But on Tubi it shows 16. I gather that there were a bunch of specials that ran after the series ended. Correct?
I have reviewed the various comments and watched all of the episodes many times and sometimes while listening to episodes as described on the Columbophile Blog. It’s been a great delight and I love Columbo even more than ever, and all the comments, too! But in the end, Columbo is fantastic fiction. There is a clear disregard for reality on many levels throughout, from beginning to end. However, the magic of its believability is what we all love. From its intricate plots full of details and clues to the great performances of classic characters portrayed by the best. Columbo really does exist in our hearts as the iconic genius detective. We know many actors did other detectives, and respectably so. All in all, Peter Falk is what makes Columbo great. And for the record… Shera Danese’s frequent appearances is what motivated me to find out why and that search brought me here. I love Shera, all things considered. When I found out she is Mrs. Peter Falk, I couldn’t help but drink up all the info here and started keeping track of all the repeat contributors. Despite the inconsistencies, from episode to episode, and decoupling with reality on various occasions, Columbo is always entertaining!
And I don’t want to forget to thank Columbophile for this great site and its various assessments. I don’t agree in many cases but do respect the points of view and am really appreciative of how much I’ve learned! It’s made reviewing the episodes exciting again by taking all of the viewpoints into consideration while watching for them! Thanks, again! 🙂
I watched all the Columbos from beginning to end and there is something about that show that scense and story lines stickout more than any other show ive seen before or since, has anyone else had this feeling about the show?
New readers should be aware that the long term strain of creating & maintaining this truly magnificent enterprise has clearly taken its toll on Columbophile, who, truth to tell, has stumbled badly in his judgments as he nears the finish line. Sweaty, sultry “A Bird in the Hand” is a massively better episode than he rates it, as is “A Trace of Murder” – a completely riveting re-working of Double Indemnity with an excellent suave murderer in the persona of Patrick Kinsley (David Rasche – an intelligent subtly charismatic, handsome presence, fit to have graced any of the classic episodes… contrary to what CP would have you believe). “Trace” is also fascinating as a worthy precursor of the CSI franchise, which not surprisingly completely overhauled & superceded tired old dross like the awful fag end of the Columbo run. But it is Billy Connolly’s worthless ersatz villain in “Too many Notes” that truly marks the lowest point in the entire canon – not that you would guess that from Columbophile’s faint praise even (!) of the Gorbals unfunnyman… Maybe worse is to come in the very last instalment….but you know … I don’t think I can be bothered to even read about it.
You are free, of course, to disagree with elements of CP’s episode reviews. To personalize differences of opinion, however, is inappropriate. I’m quite sure that there are others here who might take issue with certain of your views. But they, too, should not pepper those criticisms with personal remarks about you.
If you don’t think you can be bothered to read about it, why bother coming and penning poison about a well-meaning enterprise and my personal opinions on the show?
Wow. Do you realize the power of your words to hurt. Subjectivity is a given. But Columbophile has a great intelligent outlook. Everyone disagrees as you will see if you follow this site. (as an American viewer I appreciate David Rascher’s work and I don’t despise Murder With Too Many Notes; but I would never use these opinions to affect my appreciation of Colombophile’s educated and perceptive observations) Please follow another site if you don’t appreciate Columbophile’s in depth analyses.
“the awful fag end of the Columbo run”
What are you on about?
It’s British slang for a cigarette butt; that is, the useless remnant of something.
Wonder how old the actors were at the time? I love the houses and furnishings and the way people dressed!!
You can easily find out on imdb.com
Thank you so much for this website. We first watched the videos you recommended and we’ve now bought them all and are starting from number one (we’re not on streaming platforms). We’ll see them all, that’s for sure. And perhaps not only once… Thanks to your pages we have been able to try the Columbo’s, and now we can easily see which one’s we’ve already seen and which ones not yet. Good blog.
Does anyone know what type of folding bicycle that Donald Pleasence took out of the trunk of the Ferrari in S03:E02-Any Old Port in a Storm?
Also, I loved to watch Robert Culp get mad in S02:E03-The Most Crucial Game
My favourite moment: Columbo says, “Fascinating!” to Mayfield.
Where can I watch all the later episodes (1989-2003)? I have the original episodes (1968-1978) but can’t find the later episodes anywhere. Any advice?
https://archive.org/details/columbo
Thank you, Good Sir!
I can’t watch all the episodes becouse its loading every times. Greetings from Holland.
appreciate this site as I usually fall asleep( esp season 5-7) actions trump words andif I can’t stay awake there prob a reason for it. this site synopses obviate the desire to try to wade through the dullards repeatedly
does anyone remember an episode that had a lady and a guy talking about something, an inheritance or how much something was worth, it was $15,000 and the lady had big teeth
That’s Murder by the Book. The lady is the episode’s second victim, Lily La Sanka.
Seems like Murder by the Book (s. 1, ep. 1), but the lady wasn’t talking about any inheritance, she was blackmailing the man and $15,000 was the amount she demanded.
No reviews for the last six or so episodes? My wife and I just got done watching the entire series and though the earlier (first five or six years) were the best for us, too, some of the very last ones were surprisingly good.
I’m still working through the episodes. The final few will likely all be reviewed by early 2023.
Hi, can someone please tell me which episode or TV movie had Columbo investigating a judge?
I think you’re thinking of the Matlock episode “The Judge “ with Dick Van Dyke as the murderous judge.
Can someone remind me: which is the episode that has a gotcha that involves a man being unable to make a supposed car phone call due having been driving out of range in the mountains at the time? The gotcha scene involves being alone on a mountain road…until a group of cyclists turn up, who turn out to be undercover police officers …. thanks
Butterfly in Shades of Grey from 1994.
Butterfly in shades of gray (William Shatner
Thank you both. I watched it yesterday and enjoyed it. Although not a classic it seemed better than I remembered it to be. The mansion in Malibu was an incredible filming location. I read somewhere (imdb I think) that it was demolished?
Is Dabney Coleman the only person to play a fellow cob in one episode and a villan in another?
No, Ed Begley Jr was cop and killer in How to Dial a Murder and Undercover: and Fred Draper was killer in Last Salute to the Commodore and a forensics guy in Negative Reaction.
Who else’s favorite villan on the show is Jack cassidy? Close second is Leonard Nimoy
Mine is definitely Jack Cassidy! Agreed!
My close second though is Richard Kiley. Boy was he scary.
Leonard Nimoy is definitely up there though!
IMO Jack Cassidy as ex-nazi Mueller was superb (Now You See Him.) Cassidy was able to play the arrogance and aloofness perfectly. It was uncanny. Maybe the best casting of all the episodes. To me his other roles were good but not quite as convincing.
What is your take on Strange Bedfellows? Have not seen it but will watch later on tv being aired shortly.
Strange watching George Wendt walk into a bar and not be greeted as Norm! by one and all
I’m old enough to have watched “McMillan and Wife” and “McCloud” back in the day, but for some reason I have zero recollection of ever watching Columbo either in first run, or at any time in the past. I stumbled upon the show and then started watching them all in order on Tubi.
My only comment is that I love Columbo so much that there is no such thing as a bad episode. There are only 69 made between 1968 and 2003 and I treasure every one of them. I only have 14 left and I wish there were many more.
Thank you for this site. I sometimes read along as the episode progresses and other times I wait until it’s over and use the commentary to fill in the blanks. But this is an awesome site.
I was also a fan of McCloud and to a lesser extent, McMillan and Wife, but Columbo was always my favorite of the 70s TV detectives. I have caught an episode here and there over the years in reruns, but I started working my way through the episodes in order on Tubi about a month ago and just finished Murder in Malibu. I also love the additional insight that this site provides, but I can’t fathom how you missed Columbo during it’s initial run and syndicated reruns. It is far more widespread in availability than either of the other series you mention. Regardless, I’m glad you found it. Everybody needs Columbo in their life!
Oh man, you are gonna be so disappointed in the last 14 or so episodes. Good that you started seeing it tho, and it’s true, this is an awe inspiring site