Oh wow, thank you, Ted - that is fantastic! Hanumastivas is just around the corner, and this will be on all three lists! :)

Wendy, I'm glad you took the tip in the intended spirit. I'm actually thinking of buying this set, even though I have all the single-season DVDs, just because the box-set will be compact, all one-sided, and at an irresistible price. But of course, I'm a bit loony when it comes to Columbo

I still remember the days when I would get constant emails asking, "When will all the episodes come out on VHS???" -- and there was never a good answer, so this announcement brings me great pleasure.

Oop, I see they are calling it "Deal of the Day" so this price may go up in another 12 hours or so. The "regular" price isn't so bad either -- about a buck-and-a-quarter per episode, I believe --but it looks like the time to buy is now!

Here it is and a monstrous deal! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008RJ6TTC/ref=gb1h_img_c-3_0482_4793c78c?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1TFJ434V0HV9YHPTDK4E&pf_rd_i=384082011&pf_rd_p=1634410482

Ah well, I see it has gone up since yesterday's extra-special deal, but at 69 episodes for $79.99 that's still under $1.16 per episode.

Got it today! The main advantages over the previous releases, I think, is that the collection has been packaged to be very compact -- about 5 inches of shelf space for all 69 episodes. I thought they might use those super-thin boxes, but instead they just re-sized the original design to put more discs into each box. And they packed the "ABC series" into only 2 boxes, instead of stretching them out over 4.

Another advantage is that there are NO "double-sided" disks. In the original releases, at least one season (I forget which) had the error-prone, 2-sided disks. So that's been fixed.

One way they slightly slimmed each box, was to eliminate the booklets -- instead, the episode names, and brief descriptions, are printed on the inner surfaces of each box. This has the downside that you might have to pop-out a disc to read the episode list and notes.

Speaking of episode lists, one improvement I would have liked to see (other than better Extras!) would be to print the episode names ON each disk, so you can see what titles they include when they're away from the box. But no, as before, the discs are only identified as, for example, "Season 2 - Disc 3".

Extras are the 3 "Mrs Columbo" episodes previously added, and a TV special called "Top Cops" about the classic, mainly 1970s-era TV cop characters, including you-know-who (although if I recall correctly, their shot of his "ID card" is bogus, taken from an illustration created for the back of the paperback novels).

Anyway, for the price it can't be beat! If I am notified that Amazon repeats the super-deal at $52, I will post here.