American crime drama television film series
Columbo
(
) is an American
crime drama
television series starring
Peter Falk
as
Lieutenant Columbo
, a homicide
detective
with the
Los Angeles Police Department
.
[2]
[3]
After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on
NBC
from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of
The NBC Mystery Movie
.
Columbo
then aired less frequently on
ABC
from 1989 to 2003.
Columbo is a shrewd and intelligent
blue-collar
homicide detective whose trademarks include his rumpled beige raincoat, unassuming demeanor, cigar, old
Peugeot 403
car,
[4]
[5]
[6]
love of
chili
, and
unseen wife
(whom he mentions frequently). He often leaves a room only to return with the
catchphrase
"Just one more thing" to ask a critical question.
The character and show, created by
Richard Levinson
and
William Link
, popularized the
inverted detective story
format (sometimes referred to as a "howcatchem"). This genre begins by showing the commission of the crime and its perpetrator; the plot therefore usually has no "
whodunit
" element of determining which of several suspects committed the crime. It instead revolves around how a perpetrator known to the audience will finally be caught and exposed. The clues Columbo finds to help him solve the case are sometimes revealed to the audience beforehand, but often not until the episode's end.
The series'
homicide
suspects are often affluent members of high society; it has led some critics to see
class conflict
as an element of each story.
[7]
Suspects carefully cover their tracks and are initially dismissive of Columbo's
circumstantial speech
and apparent ineptitude. They become increasingly unsettled as his superficially pestering behavior teases out incriminating evidence.
[7]
His relentless approach often leads to
self-incrimination
or outright confession.
Episodes of
Columbo
are between 70 and 98 minutes long, and they have been broadcast in 44 countries. The show has been described by the
BBC
as "timeless" and remains popular today.
[8]
Episodes
[
edit
]
After two pilot episodes, the show originally aired on
NBC
from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of
The NBC Mystery Movie
.
Columbo
then aired less regularly on
ABC
beginning in 1989 under the umbrella of
The ABC Mystery Movie
.
[9]
The last episode was broadcast in 2003 as part of
ABC Thursday Night at the Movies
.
[10]
In almost every episode, the audience sees the crime unfold at the beginning and knows the identity of the culprit, typically an affluent member of society. Once Columbo enters the story (he rarely appears in the first act), viewers watch him solve the case by sifting through the contradictions between the truth and the version presented to him by the killer(s). This style of mystery is sometimes referred to as a "
howcatchem
", in contrast to the traditional
whodunit
. In structural analysis terms, the majority of the narrative is therefore
denouement
, a feature normally reserved for the very end of a story. Episodes tend to be driven by their characters, the audience observing the criminal's reactions to Columbo's increasingly intrusive presence.
When Columbo first appears in an episode, his genius is hidden from the viewer by his frumpy, friendly, and disarming demeanor. While the details, and eventually the motivations, of the murderers' actions are always shown to the viewer, Columbo's true thoughts and intentions are sometimes concealed until the end of the episode. He occasionally begins to whistle the tune "
This Old Man
" as the pieces begin to fall into place.
Columbo generally maintains a friendly relationship with the murderer until the end, and sometimes even after their confession or incrimination, despite both characters being aware of their adversarial positions. The detective usually suspects the murderer within moments of their meeting, or even earlier, often based on their reaction to the news of the victim's death. The murderer in turn almost always immediately sees through Columbo's scruffy and absent-minded manner to his underlying investigative intellect, and accordingly takes steps to divert his efforts by disguising evidence, manipulating witnesses, manufacturing evidence to lead Columbo towards a different suspect, and/or feigning irritation as an excuse for declining requests for searches and interrogations. In some cases the murderer will even taunt Columbo over his inability to prove their guilt. There are two sides to Columbo's character: the disarming and unkempt detective and the hidden genius sleuth. The genius sometimes starkly manifests itself through his eyes, as when the magician The Great Santini escapes from police handcuffs that Columbo coyly presents him during Santini's show ("Now You See Him..."). In some instances, such as the avenging elderly mystery writer in "Try and Catch Me" and the terminally ill and deluded actress in "Forgotten Lady", many viewers find the killer more sympathetic than the victim.
[11]
Each episode is generally concluded with Columbo proving the killer's guilt, though some episodes, such as "Swan Song", go on to show the killer confessing or quietly submitting to arrest. There are few attempts to deceive the viewer or provide a twist in the tale. One exception is "Last Salute to the Commodore", where
Robert Vaughn
is seen elaborately disposing of a body, but is proved later to have been covering for his alcoholic wife, whom he mistakenly thought to be the murderer. Sometimes, Columbo sets up the murderer with a trick designed to elicit a confession. An example occurs in "Dagger of the Mind", in which Columbo flips an evidentiary pearl into the victim's umbrella, bringing about incriminating activity from Nicholas Frame and Lillian Stanhope.
Development and character profile
[
edit
]
The character of Columbo was created by the writing team of
Richard Levinson
and
William Link
, who said that Columbo was partially inspired by
Fyodor Dostoevsky
's
Crime and Punishment
character Porfiry Petrovich,
[12]
[13]
as well as
G. K. Chesterton
's humble cleric-detective
Father Brown
. Other sources claim Columbo's character is also influenced by Inspector Fichet from the French suspense-thriller film
Les Diaboliques
(1955).
[14]
The character first appeared in a 1960 episode of the television-anthology series
The Chevy Mystery Show
, titled "Enough Rope". This was adapted by Levinson and Link from their short story "May I Come In", which had been published as "Dear Corpus Delicti" in an issue of
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
. The short story featured a police lieutenant then named Fisher.
[15]
The first actor to portray Columbo, character actor
Bert Freed
, was a stocky character actor with a thatch of gray hair.
[16]
Freed's Columbo wore a rumpled suit and smoked a cigar; he otherwise had few of the other now-familiar Columbo mannerisms. The character is still recognizably Columbo and uses some of the same methods of misdirecting and distracting his suspects. 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.
Although Freed received third billing, he wound up with almost as much screen time as the killer and appeared immediately after the first commercial. This delayed entry of the character into the narrative of the screenplay became a defining characteristic of the structure of the Columbo series. This teleplay is available for viewing in the archives of the
Paley Center for Media
in New York City and Los Angeles.
Levinson and Link then adapted the TV drama into the stage play
Prescription: Murder
. This was first performed at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on January 2, 1962, with
Oscar
-winning character actor
Thomas Mitchell
in the role of Columbo. Mitchell was 70 years old at the time. The stage production starred
Joseph Cotten
as the murderer and
Agnes Moorehead
as the victim. Mitchell died of cancer while the play was touring in out-of-town tryouts; Columbo was his last role.
In 1968, the same play was made into a two-hour television movie that aired on NBC. The writers suggested
Lee J. Cobb
and
Bing Crosby
for the role of Columbo, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down because he felt it would take too much time away from the golf links. Director
Richard Irving
convinced Levinson and Link that Falk, who excitedly said he "would kill to play that cop", could pull it off even though he was much younger than the writers had in mind.
[17]
Originally a one-off
movie of the week
,
Prescription: Murder
has Falk's Columbo pitted against a psychiatrist (
Gene Barry
). In this movie, the psychiatrist gives the new audience a perfect description of Columbo's character. Due to the success of this film, NBC requested that a pilot for a potential series be made to see if the character could be sustained on a regular basis, leading to the 1971 ninety-minute television production,
Ransom for a Dead Man
, with
Lee Grant
playing the killer. The popularity of the second film prompted the creation of a regular series on NBC, that premiered in September 1971 as part of
The NBC Mystery Movie
wheel series
rotation:
McCloud
,
McMillan & Wife
, and other
whodunits
.
According to
TV Guide
, the original plan was that a new
Columbo
episode would air every week. However, Falk refused to commit to such a busy schedule given his steady work in motion pictures. The network arranged for the
Columbo
segments to air once a month on Wednesday nights. The high quality of
Columbo
,
McMillan & Wife
, and
McCloud
was due in large part to the extra time spent on each episode. The term
wheel show
had been previously coined to describe this format, but no previous or subsequent wheel show achieved the longevity or success of
The NBC Mystery Movie
.
Columbo
was an immediate hit in the
Nielsen ratings
and Falk won an
Emmy Award
for his role in the show's first season. In its second year the
Mystery Movie
series was moved to Sunday nights, where it then remained during its seven-season run. The show became the anchor of NBC's Sunday night lineup.
Columbo
aired regularly from 1971 to 1978. After NBC canceled it in 1978,
Columbo
was revived on
ABC
between 1989 and 2003 in several new seasons and a few made-for-TV movie "specials".
Columbo's wardrobe was provided by Falk; they were his clothes, including the high-topped shoes and the shabby raincoat, which made its first appearance in
Prescription: Murder
.
[18]
Falk said of the raincoat, "I just felt comfortable in it."
[19]
Falk often
ad libbed
his character's idiosyncrasies (fumbling through his pockets for a piece of evidence and discovering a grocery list, asking to borrow a pencil, becoming distracted by something irrelevant in the room at a dramatic point in a conversation with a suspect, etc.), inserting these into his performance as a way to keep his fellow actors off-balance. He felt it helped to make their confused and impatient reactions to Columbo's antics more genuine.
[18]
According to Levinson, the catchphrase "one more thing" was conceived when he and Link were writing the play: "we had a scene that was too short, and we had already had Columbo make his exit. We were too lazy to retype the scene, so we had him come back and say, 'Oh, just one more thing.' It was never planned."
[17]
A few years before his death, Falk expressed interest in returning to the role. In 2007, he claimed he had chosen a script for one last Columbo episode, "Columbo: Hear No Evil". The script was renamed "Columbo's Last Case". ABC declined the project. In response, producers for the series announced that they were attempting to shop the project to foreign production companies.
[20]
[21]
Falk was diagnosed with
dementia
in late 2007. During a 2009 trial over his care, physician Stephen Read stated that Falk's condition had deteriorated so badly that he could no longer remember playing a character named Columbo, nor could he identify Columbo. Falk died on June 23, 2011, aged 83.
[22]
[23]
[24]
Contributors
[
edit
]
Guest stars
[
edit
]
The series featured many guest stars as murderers and in other roles.
Some actors appeared more than once, playing a different character each time; among those actors are
Jack Cassidy
,
Robert Culp
,
Tyne Daly
,
George Hamilton
,
Patrick McGoohan
,
Leslie Nielsen
,
Dick Van Dyke
, and
William Shatner
.
Directors and writers
[
edit
]
The first season premiere "Murder by the Book" was written by
Steven Bochco
and directed by
Steven Spielberg
.
Jonathan Demme
directed the seventh-season episode "Murder Under Glass".
Jonathan Latimer
was also a writer. Actor
Ben Gazzara
, a friend of Falk's, directed the episodes "A Friend in Deed" (1974) and "Troubled Waters" (1975).
Falk himself directed the last episode of the first season, "Blueprint for Murder," and wrote the episode entitled "It's All in the Game" in season 10. Actor
Nicholas Colasanto
, best known for playing Coach on
Cheers
, directed two episodes, "Swan Song" with
Johnny Cash
, and "Etude in Black".
Patrick McGoohan
directed five episodes (including three of the four in which he played the murderer) and wrote and produced two.
Vincent McEveety
was a frequent director, and homage was paid to him by a humorous mention of a character with his surname in the episode "Undercover" (which he directed).
Two episodes, "No Time to Die" and "Undercover", were based on the
87th Precinct
novels by
Ed McBain
,
[25]
and thus do not strictly follow the standard Columbo/inverted detective story format.
Score composers
[
edit
]
Columbo
episodes contain a variety of music that contributes to the uniqueness of each. The score becomes of particular importance during turning points of the plots. "The Mystery Movie Theme" by
Henry Mancini
, written for
The NBC Mystery Movie
series, was used extensively in the whole of 38 episodes, from 1971 to 1977. Unlike the other elements of the
Mystery Movie
wheel,
Columbo
never had an official theme as such, although some composers, such as
Dick DeBenedictis
and
Gil Melle
, did write their own signature pieces. Several composers created original music for the series, which was often used along with "The Mystery Movie Theme":
- Dick DeBenedictis
(23 episodes, 1972?2003)
- Patrick Williams
(9 episodes, 1977?1992)
- Bernardo Segall
(10 episodes, 1974?1976)
- Billy Goldenberg
(7 episodes, 1971?1974)
- Gil Melle
(4 episodes, 1971?1972)
- Jeff Alexander
(1 episode, 1975)
- Oliver Nelson
(1 episode, 1972)
- Dave Grusin
(1 episode, 1968)
- Robert Prince
(1 episode, 1977)
- Jonathan Tunick
(1 episode, 1978)
- John Cacavas
(3 episodes, 1989?1991)
- James Di Pasquale
(2 episodes, 1990)
- Steve Dorff
(2 episodes, 1991)
- Dennis Dreith
(1 episode, 1990)
- Richard Markowitz
(1 episode, 1990)
- David Michael Frank
(1 episode, 1990)
- The Crystal Method
(1 episode, 2003)
Series Music department included:
- Quincy Jones
?composer: "Mystery Movie" theme / "Wednesday Mystery Movie" theme (8 episodes, 1972?1973)
- Henry Mancini
? composer: "Mystery Movie" theme / "Sunday Mystery Movie" theme (38 episodes, 1971?1977)
- Hal Mooney
? music supervisor (27 episodes, 1972?1976)
- Mike Post
? composer: "Mystery Movie" theme (9 episodes, 1989?1990)
Patrick Williams
received two
Emmys
nominations for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in 1978 (for "Try and Catch Me") and 1989 (for "Murder, Smoke and Shadows").
Billy Goldenberg
was nominated in the same category in 1972 for "Lady in Waiting".
Columbo
also featured an unofficial signature tune, the British children's song "
This Old Man
". It was introduced in the episode "Any Old Port in a Storm" in 1973 and the detective can be heard humming or whistling it often in subsequent films. Falk said it was a melody he personally enjoyed and one day it became a part of his character.
[26]
The tune was also used in various score arrangements throughout the three decades of the series, including opening and closing credits. A version of it, titled "Columbo", was created by Patrick Williams.
[27]
Reception
[
edit
]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
Columbo
received numerous awards and nominations from 1971 to 2005, including 13
Emmys
, two
Golden Globe Awards
, two
Edgar Awards
and a
TV Land Award
nomination in 2005 for
Peter Falk
.
Awards and nominations
|
Primetime Emmy Awards
|
Year
|
Category
|
Nominee
|
Result
|
1971
|
Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
|
Lee Grant
in "Ransom for a Dead Man"
|
Nominated
|
1972
|
Outstanding Series ? Drama
|
Everett Chambers,
Richard Levinson
and
William Link
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Won
|
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama ? A Single Program of a Series with Continuing Characters and/or Theme
|
Edward M. Abroms, for "Short Fuse"
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama
|
Steven Bochco
for "Murder by the Book"
|
Nominated
|
Jackson Gillis
for "Suitable for Framing"
|
Nominated
|
Richard Levinson and William Link for "Death Lends a Hand"
|
Won
|
Outstanding New Series
|
Everett Chambers, Richard Levinson and William Link
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming ? For a Series or a Single Program of a Series
|
Lloyd Ahern for "Blueprint for Murder"
|
Won
|
Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Entertainment Programming ? For a Series or a Single Program of a Series
|
Edward M. Abroms for "Death Lends a Hand"
|
Won
|
Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition ? For a Series or a Single Program of a Series
|
Billy Goldenberg
for "Lady in Waiting"
|
Nominated
|
1973
|
Outstanding Drama Series - Continuing
|
Dean Hargrove
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Drama Series - Continuing)
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama ? A Single Program of a Series with Continuing Characters and/or Theme
|
Edward M. Abroms for "The Most Dangerous Match"
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama
|
Steven Bochco for "Etude in Black"
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design
|
Grady Hunt for "Dagger of the Mind"
|
Nominated
|
1974
|
Outstanding Limited Series
|
Douglas Benton, Edward K. Dodds, Dean Hargrove,
Roland Kibbee
and Robert F. O'Neill
|
Won
|
Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
Best Cinematography for Entertainment Programming ? For a Series or a Single Program of a Series
|
Harry L. Wolf for "Any Old Port in a Storm"
|
Won
|
1975
|
Outstanding Limited Series
|
Everett Chambers, Edward K. Dodds, Dean Hargrove and Roland Kibbee
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Won
|
Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series
|
Patrick McGoohan
in "By Dawn's Early Light"
|
Won
|
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming for a Series
|
Richard C. Glouner for "Playback"
|
Won
|
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction or Scenic Design ? For a Single Episode of a Comedy, Drama or Limited Series
|
Jerry Adams and Michael Baugh for "Playback"
|
Nominated
|
1976
|
Outstanding Drama Series
|
Everett Chambers
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Won
|
1977
|
Outstanding Drama Series
|
Everett Chambers
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1978
|
Outstanding Drama Series
|
Richard Alan Simmons
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Film Editing in a Drama Series
|
Robert Watts, for "How to Dial a Murder"
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)
|
Patrick Williams
for "Try and Catch Me"
|
Nominated
|
1989
|
Patrick Williams for "Murder, Smoke and Shadows"
|
Nominated
|
1990
|
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Won
|
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
|
Patrick McGoohan in "Agenda for Murder"
|
Won
|
1991
|
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
|
Dabney Coleman
in "Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star"
|
Nominated
|
1994
|
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
|
Faye Dunaway
in "It's All in the Game"
|
Won
|
Edgar Allan Poe Awards
|
Year
|
Category
|
Nominee
|
Result
|
1972
|
Best Episode in a TV Series
|
Steven Bochco
, for "Murder by the Book"
|
Nominated
|
1974
|
Best Episode in a TV Series
|
Jackson Gillis
, for "Requiem for a Falling Star"
|
Nominated
|
1979
|
Best Episode in a TV Series
|
Robert Van Scoyk, for "Murder Under Glass"
|
Won
|
1979
|
Special Edgars
|
Richard Levinson & William Link for "Columbo and Ellery Queen TV series"
|
Won
|
Golden Globe Awards
|
Year
|
Category
|
Nominee
|
Result
|
1972
|
Actor in a Leading Role ? Drama Series Or Television Movie
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1973
|
Best Television Series ? Drama
|
|
Won
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series ? Drama
|
Peter Falk
|
Won
|
1974
|
Best Television Series ? Drama
|
|
Nominated
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series ? Drama
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1975
|
Best Television Series ? Drama
|
|
Nominated
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series ? Drama
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1976
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series ? Drama
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1978
|
Best Television Series ? Drama
|
|
Nominated
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series ? Drama
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1991
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series ? Drama
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1992
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
|
Peter Falk
|
Nominated
|
1994
|
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
|
"It's All in the Game"
|
Nominated
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
|
Peter Falk
, for "It's All in the Game"
|
Nominated
|
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
|
Faye Dunaway
, for "It's All in the Game"
|
Nominated
|
|
The 1971 episode "Murder by the Book", directed by
Steven Spielberg
, was ranked No. 16 on
TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time
[28]
and in 1999, the magazine ranked Lt. Columbo No. 7 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.
[29]
[30]
In 2012, the program was ranked the third-best cop or legal show on
Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time
.
[31]
In 2013,
TV Guide
included it in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time
[32]
and ranked it 33rd on its list of the 60 Best Series.
[33]
Also in 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it 57th on its list of 101 Best Written TV Series.
[34]
In December 2023,
Variety
ranked
Columbo
#85 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.
[35]
International reception
[
edit
]
Columbo
was an international success during its initial run and was syndicated in 44 countries.
[36]
According to a 1989 article in the
Chicago Tribune
, when production of
Columbo
stopped and no new episodes could be broadcast in
Romania
, the government feared that riots could break out, and Falk was asked by the
U.S. State Department
to record a special announcement to be broadcast on Romanian television.
[37]
The story was repeated by Falk in an appearance on
Late Show with David Letterman
in 1995, and in Falk's memoir
Just One More Thing
. While the cable containing Falk's speech was released as part of the
United States diplomatic cables leak
, it is disputed whether riots or any kind of mass protest were imminent due to the cancellation of
Columbo
.
[38]
[39]
A statue of Lieutenant Columbo and his dog was unveiled in 2014 on Miksa Falk Street in
Budapest
,
Hungary
.
[40]
According to Antal Rogan, then-district mayor of the city, Peter Falk may have been related to Hungarian writer and politician
Miksa Falk
, although there is no evidence yet to prove it.
[41]
Renewed popularity in 2020s
[
edit
]
In the 2020s, the renewed popularity of
Columbo
with much younger audiences has been noted by several media publications.
[42]
Slate
quoted a
Columbo
fan page on
Tumblr
as saying that the titular character "represents a kind of masculinity that is very attractive to a lot of queer people".
[43]
Collider
and the
BBC
emphasized the timeless nature of Peter Falk's performance.
[44]
[45]
GameRant
suggested that the show is "comfort viewing" and that its repetitive nature easily engenders
Internet memes
.
[46]
Home media
[
edit
]
On August 3, 1994,
MCA/Universal
released the episode "Murder by the Book" on VHS.
[47]
As of January 10, 2012,
Universal Studios
had released all 69 episodes of
Columbo
on DVD.
[48]
The episodes are released in the same chronological order as they were originally broadcast. On October 16, 2012, Universal released
Columbo?The Complete Series
on DVD in Region 1.
[49]
Because the
Columbo
episodes from 1989 to 2003 were aired very infrequently, different DVD sets have been released around the world. In many
Region 2 and Region 4
countries, all episodes have now been released as 10 seasons, with the 10th comprising the last 14 episodes, from "Columbo Goes to College" (1990) to "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (2003). In France and The Netherlands (also Region 2), the DVDs were grouped differently and released as 12 seasons.
In
Region 1
, all episodes from seasons 8 on are grouped differently; the episodes that originally aired on ABC were released under the title
COLUMBO: The Mystery Movie Collection
.
Season
|
Eps.
|
Year
|
DVD release
|
DVD name
|
Region 1
|
Region 2
|
Region 4
|
|
Pilots
|
2
|
1968?71
|
The Complete First Season
|
September 7, 2004
|
September 13, 2004
|
December 3, 2004
|
|
1
|
7
|
1971?72
|
|
2
|
8
|
1972?73
|
The Complete Second Season
|
March 8, 2005
|
July 18, 2005
|
July 13, 2005
|
|
3
|
8
|
1973?74
|
The Complete Third Season
|
August 9, 2005
|
November 14, 2005
|
July 20, 2006
|
|
4
|
6
|
1974?75
|
The Complete Fourth Season
|
March 14, 2006
|
September 18, 2006
|
September 19, 2006
|
|
5
|
6
|
1975?76
|
The Complete Fifth Season
|
June 27, 2006
|
February 12, 2007
|
March 21, 2007
|
|
6
|
3
|
1976?77
|
The Complete Sixth & Seventh Seasons
|
November 21, 2006
|
April 30, 2007
|
May 2, 2007
|
|
7
|
5
|
1977?78
|
|
8
|
4
|
1989
|
The Mystery Movie Collection 1989
(R1/R4)
The Complete Eighth Season
(R2)
|
April 24, 2007
|
March 31, 2008
|
July 4, 2008
|
|
9
|
6
|
1989?90
|
The Mystery Movie Collection 1990
(R1)
The Complete Ninth Season
(R2/R4)
|
February 3, 2009
|
March 30, 2009
|
May 6, 2009
|
|
10 +
specials
|
14
|
1990?93
|
The Mystery Movie Collection 1991?93
(R1)
The Complete Tenth Season ? Volume 1
(R2/R4)
|
February 8, 2011
[50]
|
June 15, 2009
|
July 28, 2009
|
1994?2003
|
The Mystery Movie Collection 1994?2003
(R1)
The Complete Tenth Season ? Volume 2
(R2/R4)
|
January 10, 2012
[51]
|
July 27, 2009
|
November 28, 2009
|
Complete series
|
69
|
1968?2003
|
Columbo: The Complete Series
|
October 16, 2012
|
October 19, 2009
|
December 7, 2016
|
Blu-ray
[
edit
]
The complete series was released on Blu-ray in Japan in 2011 as a ten-season set, taken from new HD masters and original 1.33:1 (4:3) aspect ratio (1989?2003 episodes are presented in 1.78:1 (16:9)
[
citation needed
]
).
[52]
The set contains 35 discs and is presented in a faux-wooden cigar box. It features a brochure with episode details, and a script for the Japanese version of
Prescription: Murder
. Special features include the original 96-minute version of
Etude In Black
and the original
NBC Mystery Movie
title sequence. In addition, many episodes include isolated music and sound-effects tracks.
[53]
Before this set's release, only the episodes up to
Murder, a Self-Portrait
were released on DVD in Japan.
In late 2023, specialist film distributor
Kino Lorber
released the first 7 seasons of Columbo on Blu-ray in North America, using an NBCUniversal remaster.
[54]
Although it was planned that the Blu-ray would have a commentary track for each episode, it was later cancelled for unexplained reasons.
[55]
Other appearances
[
edit
]
Stage
[
edit
]
The Columbo character first appeared on stage in 1962 in
Prescription: Murder
with
Thomas Mitchell
in the role of Columbo.
In 2010,
Prescription: Murder
was revived for a tour of the United Kingdom with
Dirk Benedict
and later
John Guerrasio
as Columbo.
[56]
Television
[
edit
]
Falk appeared as Columbo in an
Alias
sketch produced for a 2003 TV special celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC.
Falk appeared in character as Columbo in 1977 at
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast
of
Frank Sinatra
.
Cinema
[
edit
]
While Falk generally appeared as himself in
Wim Wenders
's 1987 movie
Der Himmel uber Berlin
("Wings of Desire"), there is also a short
cameo appearance
in the film where Falk is specifically recognized and greeted as "Columbo" by a couple of bywalkers.
Books
[
edit
]
A
Columbo
series of books was published by MCA Publishing, written by authors Alfred Lawrence, Henry Clements and Lee Hays. This series of books, with the first title published in 1972, was mostly adapted from the TV series.
[57]
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 these books were written by William Harrington.
William Link, the co-creator of the series, wrote a collection of Columbo short stories, titled
The Columbo Collection
, which was published in May 2010 by
Crippen & Landru
, a specialty mystery publisher.
[58]
Mrs. Columbo
spin-off
[
edit
]
Mrs. Columbo
, a spin-off TV series starring
Kate Mulgrew
, aired in 1979 and was canceled after only thirteen episodes. Lt. Columbo was never seen on
Mrs. Columbo
; each episode featured the resourceful Mrs. Columbo, here given the first name Kate, solving a murder mystery she encountered in her work as a newspaper reporter. Connections with the original
Columbo
series were made obvious: the glaring presence of Columbo's car in the driveway, the dog and Mrs. Columbo emptying ashtrays containing the famous green cigar butts?all featured in the show's opening sequence. References were also made to Kate's husband being a police lieutenant.
The Trivia Encyclopedia
lawsuit
[
edit
]
Columbo's
first name
is notably never mentioned in the series, but "Frank Columbo" or "Lt. Frank Columbo" can occasionally be seen on his police ID. This ambiguity surrounding Columbo's first name led the creator of
The Trivia Encyclopedia
, Fred L. Worth, to include a false entry that listed "Philip Columbo" as Columbo's full name as a
copyright trap
. When the board game
Trivial Pursuit
included "Philip" as the answer to the question, "What was Columbo's first name?", Worth launched a $300 million lawsuit against the creators of the game.
[59]
[60]
The creators of the game argued that while they did use
The Trivia Encyclopedia
as one of their sources, facts are not copyrightable and there was nothing improper about using an encyclopedia in the production of a fact-based game. The district court judge agreed and the decision was upheld by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
in September 1987. Worth petitioned the
Supreme Court of the United States
to review the case, but the Court declined, denying
certiorari
in March 1988.
[61]
See also
[
edit
]
- Furuhata Ninzabur?
, a Japanese television series often referred to as the Japanese version of
Columbo
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[
edit
]
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.
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External links
[
edit
]
Wikiquote has quotations related to
Columbo
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