# What was the best episode of Columbo
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted
**Created:** [June 13, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126 "2022-06-13T19:33:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/1 "2022-06-13T19:33:47Z")
And why is it [_ **Ransom for a Dead Man** _](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066933/)?
Lee Grant kills her husband, dumps the body, and tells police he was kidnaped.\* She and Columbo then match wits for the rest of the movie. It’s a real joy to watch Grant and Falk together; the pairing is truly of the greatest examples of mutual chemistry I’ve ever seen. The editing and score are also topnotch.
Between this and _ **In the Heat of the Night** _, Lee Grant is one of the most underrated actors of all time.
\*Not a spoiler: i just described the first scene of the movie.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/2 "2022-06-13T22:13:09Z")
Sorry, but it’s [Murder By the Book](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066932/), because Jack Cassidy is a villain you just want to hiss.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/3 "2022-06-13T22:20:10Z")
Hard to pick. Those are both good.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2022, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/4 "2022-06-13T22:40:00Z")
**Negative Reaction** : Dick Van Dyke, start the investigation by freely admitting, _oh, hey; I’m the killer!_
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/5 "2022-06-14T02:14:35Z")
_Suitable For Framing_. Probably the best clincher clue in the series.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/6 "2022-06-14T02:22:22Z")
You’re all wrong, it’s **Any Old Port in a Storm** with **Now You See Him** coming close behind.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/7 "2022-06-14T02:46:08Z")
So many to choose from!
I’m partial to “An Exercise in Fatality” and “Forgotten Lady” myself. But all of the others mentioned above are great.
Add “A Stitch in Crime,” just because Leonard Nimoy and Anne Francis are in it.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/8 "2022-06-14T13:08:27Z")
_Troubled Waters_ because Mrs Columbo finally puts in an appearance. Well, kind of.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/9 "2022-06-14T13:21:28Z")
The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/10 "2022-06-14T13:40:19Z")
This is in the running just because it had the awesome Theodore Bikel, but the murder itself, and his arrogance, are also great. And Samantha Eggar, and early Jamie Lee Curtis.
I will admit that “Columbo Goes to College” isn’t the best of the mysteries, but I do enjoy so much the sneering college students and their mockery of Columbo, and how it all ends for them. And Robert Culp, in one of his several hundred appearances on the show.
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### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/11 "2022-06-14T15:03:30Z")
“A Friend in Deed”. A ruthless adversary who is also in a position to thwart Colombo’s investigation. Also features one of the best “gotcha” moments of the entire series. “Hey, I don’t even live here.”
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/12 "2022-06-14T15:04:52Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> I will admit that “Columbo Goes to College” isn’t the best of the mysteries, but I do enjoy so much the sneering college students and their mockery of Columbo, and how it all ends for them.
I very nearly mentioned that one, for the same reason
> [@E-DUB](#):
>
> Also features one of the best “gotcha” moments of the entire series. “Hey, I don’t even live here.
I also like the similar “gotcha” in “Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo”
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/13 "2022-06-14T15:09:40Z")
In “Columbo Goes to College,” he uses the same trick to trap the murderers that he used in “A Friend in Need”: Feed them false information and then let them plant incriminating evidence. Instead of “I don’t even live here!” it’s “This isn’t his car.”
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/14 "2022-06-14T15:18:50Z")
“Candidate for Crime” should also be added to the list, just because I like seeing US Senators get nailed. Joanne Linville as a hopeless alcoholic is great too.
I can’t watch this episode without thinking that Jackie Cooper’s receptionist is actually teenaged Peg Bundy.
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### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/15 "2022-06-14T22:09:55Z")
If Columbo and Monk each committed a murder, would they be able to catch each other?
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### Author:  [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/16 "2022-06-14T22:28:31Z")
I really liked the personal interaction in Any Old Port in a Storm. Donald Pleasence is often a great actor. Played the character so well.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/17 "2022-06-15T01:04:15Z")
I can’t watch that episode without thinking of what it must be like to strip a corpse that’s been lying in an overheated cellar for a week and then fit it into into a wet suit and flippers. Yeccch! 🤢🤮
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### Author:  [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2022, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/18 "2022-06-15T01:46:46Z")
> [@E-DUB](#):
>
> If Columbo and Monk each committed a murder, would they be able to catch each other?
Columbo would probably start talking to himself and go insane.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2022, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/19 "2022-06-15T11:27:38Z")
> [@Jay\_Z](#):
>
> Columbo would probably start talking to himself and go insane.
Are you kidding me? Columbo and Monk are both terrific at spotting little things that everyone else missed; isn’t the key difference that Columbo routinely puts on an act to make people slip up, and Monk is — _more_ bothered than most people are by people who act the way Columbo does?
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### Author:  [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2022, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-columbo/966126/20 "2022-06-15T12:01:15Z")
I actually recently watched **Any Old Port in a Storm** and I have to agree that it is one of the finest episodes. There are some others that I like but mostly because of the guest stars, like **Swan Song** because of Johnny Cash playing a bit of darker and creepier version of himself.
`//i\\`
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