Swan Song

I think by the 3rd season, Columbo really reached his stride.

Episode had a lot of humorous moments, including the chili recipe bit.

Episode progressed nicely from investigation to aggravation of the suspect.

Columbo's trap was ( I think ) the best of all the episodes because he had a nice segue from letting Cash start to believe he was ruled out as a suspect to convincing him that Columbo thought that he (Cash) was the intended victim.

The planting of the seed to find the thermos ( but really getting Cash to worry that they would find the parachute ) was a real clever and plausible ruse.

The aggravation of the Air Force Colonel with Columbo on the phone...(never know when there may be an alert..."oh...rrright".

Columbo's facial response when the Colonel said that Cash had been a parachute rigger...almost like his jaw dropped 6 feet.

Columbo knew that Cash had done it by now but just couldn't figure how.

...his reaction was worth a thousand words as if to say..."of course...why the h*** didn't that occur to me?"

No, I haven't watched this 1,000 times, only about 120.

Another vote here for Swan Song. Johnny cash singing "Sunday morning coming down" at the get-together, the parachute conversation with the Marine colonel (and his forehead slap), the scene with Pangborn at the crash site . . . Love it.

A close second is Negative Reaction. When Dick Van **** says, " I have this dream, Frances . . . and I wake up crying not because you're dead but because you're still alive and all I have to look forward to is another 24 hours of a nagging, suffocating woman who's taken all the joy out of my life" reminds me of my first wife.

Banal can be good sometimes.Two episodes that I've seen several times is "Dead Weight", and "Etude in Black". I especially like 'Etude' because I'm a pianist.

Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo

my favorites are Etude in Black and Death Lends a Hand...cant seem to get enough of em...

A Stitch in time,By Dawns Early Light,Murder By The Book, Death Lends A hand, Double Exposure,Fade In To Murder,Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous To Your Health,Strange Bedfellows,The Greenhouse Jungle..and many more

A Stitch in time,By Dawns Early Light,Murder By The Book, Death Lends A hand, Double Exposure,Fade In To Murder,Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous To Your Health,Strange Bedfellows,The Greenhouse Jungle..and many more

sorry made a goof .. it's ... A Stitch In Crime

My Favorites:

Negative Reaction (good quote by Sgt. Hoffman "everybody makes mistakes-that's why the prisons are all full up-Antoinette Bower's line also "what is this Paul, some newly found masculinity"?).

Friend In Deed (great camera work and directing-Richard Kiley is a very underrated "bad guy", should have come back in another episode)

The Conspirators (Clive Revill is fantastic, great writing, Columbo came back to his "modest, mildly eccentric" personality for the final episode).

Troubled Waters (brilliant plot, Robert
Vaughn was super)

A friend in deed (unusual murderer) and A stitch in the Crime.

By Dawn's Early Light
Exercise in Fatality
Make Me A Perfect Murder
Troubled Waters
Columbo Goes to the Guillitine

Now You See Him, Bye Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case and Identity Crisis. Those three I have wore out.

A Friend in Deed
Blueprint for Murder
Prescription Murder (not your usual Columbo character)
The Conspirators
Murder by the Book
A Case of Immunity

Dead Weight
Short Fuse
A Stitch in Crime
The Most Crucial Game
The Most Dangerous Match
Candidate For Crime
A Friend in Deed
Negative Reaction
The Bye Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case
Columbo Goes to College

I would have to say Greenhouse Jungle - now not that i don't like it - but i have only seen it so many times because that seems to be the one they air over and over every weekend in my location.