all very good comments...which is why I love this forum...real FANS of the greatest show ever....I suppose my main point was that Dick Levinson commented on not liking Columbo lose his cool...ever..I thought it was an interesting observation by the show's co-creator....also didn't like when the humour was too broad (hokey)..and wasn't crazy about tight shots of Columbo's facial reaction to things...

Although he wasn't as angry as in "Stitch in Crime" or "Exercise in Fatality", he was quite clearly annoyed with Mark Halperin in "A Friend in Deed". The line where he said "I'm sure Mr. Caldwell will help fill in the details, once he understands the situation" could have been delivered with a knife.

One of the times he resists getting mad is in BLUEPRINT, when Elliott tells him he'll have a statement to make to the reporters after all that digging. His only answer is "Well, maybe I'll have a statement to make myself."
It makes sense that he leaves it at that, especially the way that scene ends.

I agree that someone else's life on the line in addition to the murders in "A Stitch in Crime" and "An Exercise in Fatality" contribute to Columbo's anger. Cleverly, both fits take place in a hospital--where Columbo is uncomfortable to begin with, as clearly stated in "A Stitch in Crime".

It seems that Columbo should have become more annoyed and/or angry with Jarvis Goodland in "The Greenhouse Jungle". He was probably the most miserable of the murderer characters. Sometimes holding in anger on the part of Columbo makes for a more rewarding ending, depending on the subtle cleverness of the final clue.

One of my favorite scenes of all-time in Columbo series was the Dr Mayfield scene. It is precisely because he rarely gets angry that the scene is so jarring. I would like the anger scenes less if he did it all the time. In fact, I can only think of three scenes where he lost his cool in the entire series.

Two of my favorite scenes are the scenes in a Stitch in Crime and Exercise when he loses his cool. If he got angry on a regular basis these scenes would not have stood out. Hey give the guy a break, he is a homicide detective in what was then the third largest city in the US. Not an easy occupation and one that was filled with a great deal of stress. He is entitled to show anger especially when two individual's lives are in peril.
I think that many of us would have "lost it" much worse than Columbo when dealing with slime like Mayfield and Janus.

There are a small number of times that he at least gets inpatient (not furious) with someone who isn't the killer or connected with the killer. Like Richard Stahl's travel agent character in MOST CRUCIAL GAME. Of course, there's the little sub-plot that his feet are giving him trouble, so that explains it.

I like the roommate in A Stitch In Time: "She was other-directed I was inner -directed and I selfishly enjoy being with upper middle class people", etc. Columbo hasn't slept well and he's exhausted and the roommate is going a mile a minute.