I've brought this up before, but there's at least one character that viewers seem to have a real problem with, and that's the Carlson character in "Ransom." In at least five places (including here?), I've heard how great it is to hear Columbo "put him in his place" in that last scene with him.
I've seen the story many times, and all he does is ask why Columbo seems to suspect Leslie, then he warns him he that needs to hear some pretty good reasons. He doesn't try to threaten him professionally (the way several characters do), and he doesn't get nasty in any other way. So when Columbo is a little abrupt with him, I don't get how that's "putting him in his place."

It's a little thing to bring up, but again, I keep hearing that about the character.

Mrs Peck!




(No explanation needed)

Mrs. Peck is annoying, but I’m not a fan of Columbo’s behavior in that episode, either. That causes me to rate the episode in the B range.

Yes, the story seems to really set him up to make her mad.

It's still the Carlson character I don't get the bad feeling about. In the first place, the actor Harold Gould could make almost any character likable. But even without that, Carlson just doesn't do anything that makes him seem like a jerk (at least to me). So if anyone bothers me a little in that scene it's Columbo himself, because he sounds a little defensive with him.
(So it's a little like what you say about Double Shock.)

I don't recall that scene with Carlson off the top of my head. I will revisit it soon and check it out. I liked Harold Gould on "Rhoda" and "The Golden Girls".

I watched the scene with Columbo and Carlson. I don't dislike Carlson in that scene, but he does mention "taking it upstairs" which could be slightly threatening.

Yes, there is that.

Yes, it's that, and I'm one of those who like when columbo says since it's no longer a kidnapping now but a murder it's columbo's department and not carlson's that will deal with it.

I'm pretty sure it's because it was the series Pilot that Carlson snaps at Columbo. The Movie pilot (Prescription Murder) Columbo isn't the bumbling character we see later. In the Series pilot maybe they wanted more emphasis on his bumbling or absent mindedness. We rarely see Columbo get reprimanded in later episodes except perhaps in Death Lends a Hand, A Friend in Deed and Candidate for Crime.