Seasons & episodes
S3 · E8A Friend in Deed 1974-05-05 · 98 min
A police commissioner provides an alibi to a friend who has just killed his wife. Later the commissioner kills his own wife and gets the friend to repay the favour.
S4 · E1An Exercise in Fatality 1974-09-15 · 98 min
A health club owner kills his partner who is about to uncover a fraud and makes it look like an accident
S4 · E2Negative Reaction 1974-10-15 · 91 min
Brilliant photographer Paul Galesko plans to murder his domineering wife, Frances, and pin the crime on an ex-convict named Alvin Deschler. His plan is to make it look as if Alvin kidnapped his wife and killed her before picking up the ransom money.
S4 · E3By Dawn's Early Light 1974-10-27 · 98 min
The head of a military school kills one of the governors by sabotaging the gun which is used on founders day.
S4 · E4Troubled Waters 1975-02-09 · 98 min
While holidaying on board a cruise liner, Columbo helps capture the killer of the singer with the ship's band.
S4 · E5Playback 1975-03-02 · 74 min
An inventor video tapes his mother-in-law's death, and then replays it back to the security guard, to give himself an alibi.
S4 · E6A Deadly State of Mind 1975-04-27 · 75 min
A doctor kills the husband of the woman he is having an affair with but is seen leaving the house by a witness who is happens to be blind.
S5 · E1Forgotten Lady 1975-09-14 · 98 min
A fading actress kills her husband when he refuses to back her comeback show.
S5 · E2A Case of Immunity 1975-10-12 · 75 min
An ambassador from Suari and his code clerk kill the chief of security in an attempt to make it look like the chief was a traitor, who blew up the legation safe and stole £600.000 on behalf of a dissident group. But Columbo gets suspicious. He just has one problem crushing the ambassador's alibi and then, when the code clerk turns up dead, the ambassador has an alibi again. But even if Colombo could rock the two alibis, there is always the immunity problem.
S5 · E3Identity Crisis 1975-11-02 · 95 min
A spy is killed on a lonely beach by his contact, but the killer has been photographed beforehand walking with the victim.
S5 · E4A Matter of Honor 1976-02-01 · 75 min
The owner of a bull ranch in Mexico gives his workers the day off, and then talks his number one man into fighting the bull who nearly killed his son. But instead he shoots him with a tranquilizer gun, and lets the bull kill him. Colombo, who is on vacation in Mexico, gets dragged into this case by an admiring colleague, but he has trouble convincing the Mexicans that the accident is really homicide. And how do you prove that the bull is a murder weapon?
S5 · E5Now You See Him 1976-02-29 · 90 min
Master magician the great Santini is amazing audiences at the Cabaret of Magic. What they don’t know is that Santini hopes to pull of the grandest illusion of his career - making club owner Jesse T. Jerome disappear. The crude Jerome is the only person who knows that Santini was a Nazi death camp guard named Stefan Mueller, He has been blackmailing the magician since learning his dark secret.
S5 · E6Last Salute to the Commodore 1976-05-02 · 91 min
The family and friends of brilliant naval architect Commodore Otis Swanson have gathered for the company’s annual party. The commodore, however, has become increasingly discontented with the way his son-in-law, Charles Clay, has developed the shipbuilding firm into a vast, impersonal corporation. He is tired of being surrounded by freeloaders like his alcoholic daughter, Joanna, his irresponsible nephew, Swanny, and of course, Charles. The only man he respects is Wayne Taylor, the head of the boatyard. In fact, the Commodore intends to sell the company. That night, Charles is wiping clean the belaying pin used to bash the Commodore’s skull.
S6 · E1Fade in to Murder 1976-10-10 · 73 min
Ward Fowler, who plays debonair television detective Lieutenant Lucerne, has a reputation for being a difficult actor. His series is a hit, however, so the network and studio executives again and again capitulate to his demands. Although separated, husband and wife team Sid and Claire Daley continue to produce the Inspector Lucerne program. Claire continually advises everyone else to go along with their stars demands. Not even Sid knows that Claire is blackmailing Ward. Claire discovers Ward in Canada. She knows he deserted from the United States Army during the Korean War. If that information got out ,it would ruin Ward's career. When Claire takes a phone call in Ward's trailer, the actor overhears her saying she’ll be getting a sandwich at Tony’s Deli. Ward gets to Tony’s Deli just after Claire disguising himself with a ski mask and bulky parka he pretends to be a hold up man.
S6 · E2Old Fashioned Murder 1976-11-28 · 73 min
The female head of a museum hires one of the guards to rob the museum to collect the insurance money. But during the robbery she kills him and her own brother, and makes it look like they killed each other. The guard/robber's brother reports a strange message on his answering machine, that makes it seem that he has been killed. And Columbo gets the case. When Columbo first comes to the crime scene, he notices that the lights are off, a gold medallion in the robber's pants, and signs that pointed to the fact that he was going abroad after the heist. And he concluded that these clues mean that someone else was involved.
S6 · E3The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case 1977-05-22 · 74 min
Two former college friends, now partners in an accounting firm, become enemies when one realizes the other has embezzled funds. The reason for his embezzling ways is his wife, she demands nothing but the best.
S7 · E1Try and Catch Me 1977-11-21 · 73 min
A writer of murder mysteries wreaks revenge on her nephew-in-law by blaming him for her niece's murder.
S7 · E2Murder Under Glass 1978-01-30 · 75 min
A famous food critic is threatened by a restaurant owner, and so the critic leaves. Soon after, the cook dies. Columbo's involvement is welcomed by all the other chefs in the area, but Columbo wonders why the dead restaurant owner slammed the drawers before he died. And how could the poison that killed him enter an unopened bottle without the killer even being in the room? Could it have been suicide? But then there's the cheques to a mysterious society, and the victim's calender. Can Columbo's cooking skills really match the food critic's taste?
S7 · E3Make Me a Perfect Murder 1978-02-25 · 98 min
Mark McAndrews a top network programmer is promoted to a New York position. His assistant, who is very ambitious and his lover, expects to get his old job. But of course he feels she is out of her league and needs more experience. Kay, feeling betrayed, decides to seek revenge.
S7 · E4How to Dial a Murder 1978-04-15 · 73 min
A famous psychiatrist uses an appointment with his doctor as his alibi while he calls his house, where his dead wife's lover is. The call serves as the first step in a conditioning reflex on the psychiatrist's dogs. The other part is the word Rosebud as uttered by the victim. When Columbo arrives on the scene, the psychiatrist is very understanding when police say they may have to put his dogs to death. But Columbo notices how friendly the dogs seem, and then there's the telephone that's hanging from it's hook.
S7 · E5The Conspirators 1978-05-13 · 100 min
An Irish poet, who fronts a peace organization while secretly running guns, kills an arms dealer who tries to swindle him.
S8 · E1Columbo Goes to the Guillotine 1989-02-06 · 93 min
Lt. Columbo delves into the world of magic, ESP and slight of hand as he investigates the death of a magician, and there appears to be a tie to a prodigal psychic supported by a government founded institute on parapsychology.
S8 · E2Murder, Smoke and Shadows 1989-02-27 · 96 min
An egocentric film director resorts to his mastery of special effects to murder a vengeful friend who discovers the director's role in the movie stunt death of the friend's sister years before.
S8 · E3Sex and the Married Detective 1989-04-03 · 98 min
A sex therapist catches her boyfriend with another woman when he thinks she is out of town. She then disguises herself and manages to kill him while in disguise, not realizing that a potential suitor saw her enter the bathroom as a dark-haired woman and exit as a blonde.