Editing Columbo (section)

=== Directors and writers ===
{{See also|List of Columbo episodes}}
The first season première "Murder by the Book" was written by [[Steven Bochco]] and directed by [[Steven Spielberg]]. [[Jonathan Demme]] directed the seventh-season episode "Murder Under Glass". [[Jonathan Latimer]] was also a writer. Actor [[Ben Gazzara]], a friend of Falk's, directed the episodes "A Friend in Deed" (1974) and "Troubled Waters" (1975).

Falk himself directed the last episode of the first season, "Blueprint for Murder," and wrote the episode entitled "It's All in the Game" in season 10. Actor [[Nicholas Colasanto]], best known for playing Coach on ''[[Cheers]]'', directed two episodes, "Swan Song" with [[Johnny Cash]], and "Étude in Black".

[[Patrick McGoohan]] directed five episodes (including three of the four in which he played the murderer) and wrote and produced two. [[Vincent McEveety]] was a frequent director, and homage was paid to him by a humorous mention of a character with his surname in the episode "Undercover" (which he directed).

Two episodes, "No Time to Die" and "Undercover", were based on the [[87th Precinct]] novels by [[Ed McBain]],<ref name="Ed McBain's Columbo">{{cite web |title=Ed McBain's Columbo |url=http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/mcbain.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408081151/http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/mcbain.htm |archive-date=April 8, 2016 |access-date=December 29, 2010 |work=The Ultimate Columbo Site |publisher=}}</ref> and thus do not strictly follow the standard Columbo/inverted detective story format.