I don't really remember this one from the original run. I was 14 when Columbo's first run went off the air and I watched them regularly with my mom on Sunday nights.

When I caught it on re-runs many years later, I didn't care for it. When I bought the boxed DVD set, I contemplated skipping it when it came around on the rotation. Several times I DID skip it.

Upon more viewings, however, I have noticed that I've actually begun to enjoy the episode, embracing its bizarre nature and quirks. While not gripping in many ways, there is an unmistakable mood to the episode at times which I do enjoy. I also enjoy the cinematography - the opening scene of Swanny merrily sailing the mini-Titanic along while he belts out 'Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" (I often sing, hum or whistle this tune even though I've never been to church); the scene of Charles discovering the Commodore's body; the scene of Columbo arriving to find Charles' body; the final scene with Columbo whistling "This Old Man" while getting in the row boat. It now strikes me as a sort of majestic ending - even though the show as a whole was something far less.

I understand the harsh criticism this episode receives, as I felt just as critical of it myself. But now, I don't skip it in the rotation and often find myself chuckling at several moments. The line deliveries of Robert Vaughn as Charles Clay: "I like everything prelminary." and, when asked if he smoked, "Erratically". Great stuff.

I also find this episode to be enjoyable. I realize it has its weak points, but I never understood the strong negative reactions it often gets.

I'm glad to see some positive comments here. I've always had more to like than to dislike about it.

I understand the negative reactions to the episode generally, apart from columbo's strange acting the gotcha scene has been criticised as well with the infamous "t'isnt" and swanny singing being generally annoying, if you check for example on columbophile, another website dedicated to columbo, it seems like 85-90% of users, including the creator of the blog, hate this episode!

While it has its negative points, I don't mind it, I like the boat-related setting, the final discussion to find out who is the murderer, and liked when someone asked if it was charles clay who killed the commodore (since clay was initially suspected by columbo, but after he died doubts started to rise it could not have been him).

Another scene I like which has been heavily criticised is the one where columbo and his assistants shuffle some letters around and make the word "sails", which turns out to be the wrong word in the end.

I agree mac would be interesting to see in more episodes and a thing this episode definitely does right is the unusual formula: for first time viewers it seems obvious clay is the murderer after watching the first minutes, then he shows up dead and that's a plot twist, so instead of being focused as much as other episodes on how the murdered did it, it's focused on who did it.

I visit the Columbophile website you mentioned. There is a lot of good reading there, but some of the people who post are a bit too intense. There is also a lot of hate for the revival Columbo episodes there. I’m the type of fan who can find something worthwhile in every episode. I think the Forum here is more relaxed. Like I said, there is good stuff at the Columbophile website, but I get irritated and turned off after awhile.