The 8 Best Episodes Of Columbo, Ranked

There are few television shows as warm and comforting as “Columbo,” the long-running mystery series starring Peter Falk as the eponymous detective. Each episode begins with a murder, and the fun isn’t trying to figure out whodunnit but instead watching Columbo put together the pieces and catch the bad guy. Whether you’re watching one of the original 1970s television episodes or one of the movie-of-the-week “episodes” that came out all the way through 2003, you can sit secure in the knowledge that Columbo will probably take the rich and powerful down a peg or two and be almost impossibly lovable while doing it. Despite the fact that Peter Falk wasn’t originally the series’ creator’s choice to play Columbo, he is what makes the show so incredible watchable as he seems to aimlessly wander through crime scenes in his rumpled trench coat and ruin criminals’ days with his trademark “just one more thing…” Almost every episode of “Columbo” is fun to watch as a result, but some are definitely better than others. 

Although Columbo himself is incredibly consistent from episode to episode, there are very different vibes to each story courtesy of different directors and different murderers, played by a menagerie of famous guest stars. (Seriously, they got everyone from William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy from “Star Trek” to Johnny freaking Cash.) Here are the eight best episodes of “Columbo,” ranked from worst to best, although “worst” is a very loose term when it comes to the magic of “Columbo.” Pull up a seat, grab yourself a (fake) stogie, and read about the very best “Columbo” has to offer. 

A regular feature on “Columbo” is murderers who think they’re smarter than everyone else, but in “The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case,” the murderer is actually a member of a genius-level I.Q. club. Oliver Brandt (Theodore Bikel) is a member of the Sigma Society (like the real-life Mensa, a “high I.Q.” club) who is discovered embezzling by his friend Bertie (Sorrell Booke). Oliver comes up with an elaborate murder plan that he thinks will look like a botched burglary, but Columbo ends up pinning him anyway by using his sky-high ego against him. Columbo makes up an even more ridiculously elaborate murder plan and while explaining it, Oliver gets furious and explained how he actually put the whole thing together. It’s great stuff and one of the most entertaining (and satisfying) final reveals in all of “Columbo.” 

The episode also features a young Jamie Lee Curtis as a waitress in a cafe, just one year before she first appeared as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s “Halloween.” It’s not a big role, but it is fun to see her pop up for a moment as Columbo quizzes one of Oliver’s accomplices. “The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case” is one of the more complicated “Columbo” episodes, but it’s also one of the best. 

In the season 7 opener, “Try and Catch Me,” Columbo must test his wits against murder-mystery writer Abigail Mitchell (Ruth Gordon), an elderly woman who’s clearly inspired by real-world author Agatha Christie, who wrote the famous Hercule Poirot mystery novels. Abigail believes that her nephew-in-law Edmund (Charles Frank) murdered her beloved niece and the police ruled it was an accident, so she takes matters into her own hands. She lures Edmund into a massive safe to allegedly show him some of the riches he stands to inherit, then she locks him in there and lets him suffocate. As the LAPD investigate, Abigail uses her murder mystery writing skills to throw them off course, ruining evidence and really playing up the “sweet little old lady” routine. Unfortunately for her, Lt. Columbo is on the case, and he even brought his beloved Basset Hound, Dog, along with him. 

One of the best things about “Try and Catch Me” is the back-and-forth between Abigail and Columbo, as he seems to have affection and empathy for her in ways that he rarely does with the murderers on the series. She is one of the more sympathetic killers, even if she’s still very much in the wrong, and Colombo eventually sees that justice is done by finding evidence she couldn’t hide: a note from Edmund just before he died, indicating that she killed him. Even if the killer is as prepared as a mystery writer, they need to remember that Colombo always gets his man (or woman). 

One of Lt. Columbo’s many lovable traits is that he’s a dog person, and in “How to Dial a Murder,” he gets to pal around with some beautiful Dobermans … who also happen to be trained killers. Oh, and their names are Laurel and Hardy. In one of the most unusual murders of the series, Dr. Eric Mason (Nicol Williamson) trains the dogs to attack and kill anyone who says the trigger word “Rosebud,” a word forever tied to Orson Welles’ classic “Citizen Kane.” He kills Dr. Charles Hunter (Joel Fabiani) using this method, and once Columbo is on the case, he tries to use it on the detective as well. It doesn’t go so well for him, however, as Columbo has trained the dogs to kiss people instead of kill them when they hear the command, which is pretty darn funny. 

“How to Dial a Murder” can feel a little silly in places, but it also features one of the show’s most harrowing murder sequences in which Dr. Mason uses a phone call to get his victim to say the word and then listens in as he’s torn to pieces. It’s nasty stuff that’s countered perfectly by Columbo getting cuddly with the pups. A little silliness mixed with murder mystery can be a whole lot of fun, and “Columbo” basically perfected the formula. (Oh, and “Sex and the City” star Kim Cattrall appears as one of Dr. Mason’s psychology students who nearly becomes another dearly departed doggy snack!)

People have a tendency to underestimate Columbo because of his rumpled appearance and laid-back manner, but he manages to surprise them (and sometimes the audience) at every turn. In “Any Old Port in a Storm,” Columbo must learn the finer points of winemaking and wine tasting in order to solve a murder, and he does so brilliantly. Donald Pleasance guest stars as winemaker Adrian Carsini, who murders his half-brother Ric (Gary Conway) over a dispute regarding the family winery’s future, and he’s one of Columbo’s most despicably entertaining villains. Carsini thinks he’s above everyone else, especially the seemingly doddering detective, and so he teaches Columbo everything he knows about wine. This is his undoing because some spoiled wine ends up being the smoking gun in Ric’s murder, and Columbo might never have caught him if he hadn’t divulged such details about his beloved craft. 

Pleasance and Falk are a delight to watch play against one another, and Columbo’s newfound knowledge of wines is a treat. Usually we only see Columbo with his trademark cigars or occasionally chowing down on some diner food, so the world of wine is a bit of a joyous departure because he sticks out like a sore thumb in a wrinkled trench coat. 

Actor Patrick McGoohan became a regular fixture on “Columbo,” playing four different murderers over the course of the series and directing five episodes as well. His first appearance was arguably his best, however, as he played Colonel Lyle C. Rumford, the head of a military school who murders the President of the Board of Trustees in order to protect his continued career. He is perfectly despicable as the colonel, who frames a goofy young cadet for the crime. The murder plot itself is pretty fantastic, involving a live cannon, but what really makes “By Dawn’s Early Light” so delightful is Columbo’s in-depth investigation. 

Columbo himself is always the highlight of the series, but in “By Dawn’s Early Light,” he decides to stay at the military academy in order to best investigate the murder. That means he bunks down with the cadets and goes through a bit of their routine, which is hilarious given his laid-back, rumpled demeanor. It’s hard to imagine Columbo back in police academy, where he had to iron his shirts and shine his shoes, and he’s just as out of place here. “By Dawn’s Early Light” is an absolute blast, unless of course you’re the President of the Board of Trustees… then it’s a very different kind of blast. 

Being the murderer on “Columbo” became a pretty huge guest star spot, the kind of thing that showed an actor was really a somebody. One of the best guest stars of all was Martin Landau, the actor known for his role on the “Mission Impossible” television series who later played late actor Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood.” In the season 2 finale, “Double Shock,” Landau plays a pair of identical twins who are both suspects in the murder of their uncle Clifford. Unlike most episodes, the true murderer wasn’t actually revealed until the end, so the audience was in just as much suspense as our beloved lieutenant. 

“Double Shock” also features one of the show’s most impressive guest stars in a minor role, as the original Catwoman, Julie Newmar, plays Clifford’s beautiful young fiancée. She spends most of her screentime stretching and showing off her legs, clad in a black leotard, but it’s clear she’s having a bit of fun vamping it up. What’s not to love about an episode that has a genuine mystery to solve, double Martin Landaus, and Julie freaking Newmar? 

Speaking of absolutely incredible guest stars… in the season 3 episode “Swan Song,” country music legend Johnny Cash appeared as wildly famous gospel singer Tommy Brown. His wife Edna (the always-fabulous Ida Lupino) has him on a short leash, however, after she catches him sleeping with one of his underage backup singers, Maryann (Bonnie Van Dyke). Tommy, an ex-con, wants to live more of a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and so he comes up with an elaborate plan to kill both of them. He drugs them and then pilots a plane out into the middle of nowhere before parachuting out, leaving it to crash in a ball of fire. He sustains minor injuries and some of Lieutenant Columbo’s sympathy, though that doesn’t last for too long. 

Cash’s acting is surprisingly decent, and he gets to sing in the episode, which makes for some entertaining television. It’s an interesting episode because even after Columbo has arrested Brown, he tells him that he believes a man with a voice like that “can’t be all bad.” Throughout the series, Columbo shows that he has empathy for even the worst killers, because he’s both an optimist and a humanist at heart. Episodes like “Swan Song” show why Columbo himself is so unlike any other cop on television, before or since. 

One thing is for certain about Lieutenant Columbo: he was one unusual police officer. He was supposed to represent the ideal version of a cop, an investigator with a solid moral core who stands up for what’s right even when it goes against the status quo. In the season 3 finale, “A Friend in Deed,” audiences are introduced to the show’s version of a bad cop in Richard Kiley’s Deputy Commissioner Mark Halperin. Halperin helps his friend Hugh Caldwell (Michael McGuire) cover up the accidental murder of Caldwell’s wife in exchange for Caldwell doing the same for him, as he’s grown tired of his wife Margaret (Rosemary Murphy.) “A Friend in Deed” is one of the darkest episodes of “Columbo” and has none of the typical silliness, but it’s a perfect example of why the series works because Falk’s Columbo is incredibly watchable no matter what. 

“A Friend in Deed” features a dastardly double murder and one of its craftiest villains, and the fact that he’s not only a cop but Columbo’s superior makes it all the more compelling. Columbo also gets to be plenty clever, with one of the show’s best gotcha moments in its entire run. It would be criminal to ruin it here, but Columbo gets to really show Halperin who is the better cop and the better human being.