Columbo (TV series)
Columbo
Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo
Format
Television movie
Mystery
Police procedural
Created by
Richard Levinson
William Link
Starring
Peter Falk
Country of
origin
United States
Language(s)
English
No. of
episodes
69 (List of episodes)
Production
Camera
setup
Single-camera
Running time 30 x 73 minutes
39 x 98 minutes
Broadcast
Original
channel
NBC
Picture
format
Film
Audio format Monaural
Stereophonic Sound
Original run
February 20, 1968 – January
30, 2003
Columbo is an American crime fiction TV
series, starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant
Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los
Angeles Police Department. The show pop-
ularized the inverted detective story format;
almost every episode began by showing the
commission of the crime and its perpetrator.
Thus, there is no "whodunit" element. The
plot mainly revolves around how the perpet-
rator, whose guilt is known, would finally be
exposed and arrested.
The character first appeared in a 1960
episode of the television-anthology series The
Chevy Mystery Show. This was adapted into
a stage play, and a TV-movie based on the
play was broadcast, in 1968, as the pilot for a
series. The series began on a Sunday
presentation of the "NBC Mystery Movie" ro-
tation, which included McCloud, McMillan &
Wife, Quincy M.E., and other whodunits. The
series spawned a similar format on Wednes-
day nights with fare such as The Snoop
Sisters, Hec Ramsey, and Banacek. Columbo
aired regularly from 1971 to 1978 on NBC,
and then more infrequently on ABC begin-
ning in 1989. The most recent episode was
broadcast in 2003.[1]
Columbo is a scruffy-looking cop who is of-
ten underestimated by his fellow officers, and
by the murderer du jour. Despite his appear-
ance and superficial absentmindedness, he
solves all of his cases and manages to come
up with the evidence needed for indictment,
thanks to his eye for detail and the meticu-
lous and committed approach he brings to his
work.
Character
Police Lieutenant Columbo is a shabbily-
dressed, seemingly slow-witted police detect-