Editing Columbo (section)

==Episodes==
{{main|List of Columbo episodes}}

{{:List of Columbo episodes}}

[[File:Martin Landau Peter Falk Colombo 1973.JPG|thumb|left|[[Martin Landau]] and Falk in the 1973 episode "Double Shock," in which Landau played a dual role as twins]]
[[File:Peter Falk Richard Kiley Colombo 1974.JPG|thumb|right|[[Richard Kiley]] and [[Peter Falk|Falk]] in [[Columbo (season 3)|Season 3]] Episode 8, "A Friend in Deed", 1974]]

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 on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] under the umbrella of ''The ABC Mystery Movie'' from 1989 to 1990.<ref>{{cite web |title=ABC Mystery Movie, The: Columbo: Columbo Goes To The Guillotine (TV) |url=http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?item=T:16910 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728081025/http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?item=T:16910 |archive-date=July 28, 2014 |access-date=September 10, 2013 |publisher=The Paley Center For Media}}</ref> After ''The ABC Mystery Movie'' was canceled, ''Columbo'' episodes continued to premiere on ABC on a less frequent basis; the last episode was broadcast in 2003 as part of ''ABC Thursday Night at the Movies''.<ref>{{cite web|title=ABC Thursday Night at the Movies: Columbo: Columbo Likes the Nightlife (TV) |url=http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?item=B:75207|publisher=The Paley Center For Media|access-date=September 10, 2013|archive-date=July 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728075521/http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?item=B:75207|url-status=live}}</ref>

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 [[Detective dénouement|dénouement]], 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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Galbraith |first=Stuart IV |date=May 10, 2007 |title=Columbo - Mystery Movie Collection, 1989 |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/27997/columbo-mystery-movie-collection-1989 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928010430/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/27997/columbo-mystery-movie-collection-1989/ |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |access-date=June 27, 2011 |publisher=DVD Talk}}</ref>

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.