Lieutenant Columbo, played with average Joe charm and unshowy, easy-to-miss dexterity by Peter Falk, is more than meets the eye — to the bad guys, not us, because we know how things will turn out.

Prescription: Murder, the 1968 pilot for Columbo, had been something of a muddled affair: overlong, unremarkable and, worst of all, a dull characterization of the lieutenant himself. Columbo returned ...

Technically the first episode of Columbo (if you discount the television movie pilot episodes), 1971's Murder By The Book also has the distinction of being one of Steven Spielberg's earliest ...