You're so right Cass, I just love that scene in Negative Reaction with Joyce Van Patten; Columbo beaming at her because she means well; a more fragile male ego would have been insulted and become defensive.
And Eddy Kane is actually a very likeable character, you could see he had the potential to be a fine human being but his experiences in Nam obviously warped his character beyond repair.
The use of split-screen in this episode is very impressive, and I would actually rate it as the best use of split screen I've ever seen.
It really advances the story-line quickly and excitingly where a conventional approach would have been slower and more cumbersome.
Usually split screen is gimmicky and aside from that 70s Michael Crichton film about a deadly germ outbreak, can't remember what its called, I can't think of any film which comes close.
i'm not sure about that c.g. but they did flip back and forth between showing roger with betty bishop at that disco place and then showing david buckner in the limo.