Why is it that Columbo only seems to get homicide cases where the murder/murderess is very wealthy or powerful (or both)?

I can't ever remember seeing an episode where the criminal is poor or "unimportant". I admit, I haven't seen all the episodes (yet), but so far, they all seem to be rich business people, or politicians etc, with houses as big as Buckingham Palace and bank balances to match!

If you know of any episodes, please let me know. thanks.

obviously it is the contrast, andrew. the seemingly 'lowly, bumbling, absent-minded' columbo vs. the 'affluent, suave, cocky, self-centered' murderer makes for such a delicious denouement when columbo finally nabs them and proves that all along he was so much more clever, and so much more than they had ever expected!

I do find it interesting to see Columbo interacting occasionally with someone who isn't part of the country club crowd, such as the private eye in "The Most Crucial Game" or the burglar in "A Friend in Deed." He's just as effective with them as he is with the swanky people, shifting gears with no trouble. Somehow those scenes help give the character credibility, at least for me.

There's an answer to that, but I'll keep it to myself to preserve the privilege of posting here.

And besides, there's nothing very endearing about murder investigations in run-down neighborhoods anyway.

The majority of "Hollywood-types" are leftists, often
with socialist backgrounds. This includes Ronald Reagan, who then "saw the light" and became an
arch-conservative. Thus, I would imagine they would
enjoy portraying rich people in a negative light, even
though these Hollwood people themselves became quite
well-off. In fairness to them, they also portrayed their own class quite negatively in the Columbo series with episodes like "Reguim for a Falling Star" (Nora Chandler) and "Fade into Murder" (Ward Fowler) with TV stars who are murderers, and "Make Me A Perfect Murder" with a TV executive who is the murderer (K Freestone).

If you like "down and out"-type criminals, watch "Kojak", although he also has his share of rich bad guys.

I don't think it has anything to do 'them' enjoying 'portraying rich people in a negative light'. That's a bit absurd.

I think it just makes for better drama; the villians are rich because they're accomplished and therefore smart and harder to catch. They also would have access to whatever financial or social resources necessary to help conceal the crime or lead Columbo down a wrong path. Finally the fact that they have so much to lose adds to the drama considerably.

I remember Falk saying something along the lines of
here we have these wealthy, powerful people with the whole world at their fingertips. In a material way they have everything that one could possibly want, they are god's chosen..but it's not enough, they still want more. It's their fatal weakness and in the end their downfall.
Without getting to Karl Marx here I would say the clash between classes is probably the single major reason I love Columbo so much.