7.1/102,933 votes#1 - Lovely But Lethal
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1973
Viveca Scott, the founder of Beauty Mark Cosmetics, is being threatened by her rival David Lang. When he finds out that her revolutionary cream formula actually removes wrinkles, he has the formula pirated.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Jackson Gillis, Myrna Bercovici
8.3/103,976 votes#2 - Any Old Port in a Storm
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1973
A wine connoisseur kills his half- brother to prevent him selling the family winery to a merchant company so he can pay off his gambling debts.
Director: Leo Penn
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.7/102,935 votes#3 - Candidate for Crime
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 11/4/1973
A Senate Candidate running for office kills his campaign manager by making it look like he was the target for the killer's bullet.
Director: Boris Sagal
Writer: Dean Hargrove
7.8/102,849 votes#4 - Double Exposure
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 12/16/1973
A filmmaker kills one of his clients. in a break, during the screening of a new ad campaign
Director: Richard Quine
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.6/102,684 votes#5 - Publish or Perish
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 1/18/1974
A publisher hires a Vietnam vet to kill his star author and thus give himself an alibi before the writer can defect to another publisher.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
7.0/102,527 votes#6 - Mind Over Mayhem
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 2/18/1974
The director of a government institute that employs various scientific geniuses commits a clever murder. But another kind of genius is on the case: Lt. Columbo.
Director: Alf Kjellin
Writer: Dean Hargrove, Steven Bochco, Robert Specht
8.0/103,493 votes#7 - Swan Song
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 3/3/1974
A Country and Western singer kills his overpowering wife in a plane crash while he parachutes to safety.
Director: Nicholas Colasanto
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
8.2/103,060 votes#8 - A Friend in Deed
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 5/5/1974
A police commissioner provides an alibi to a friend who has just killed his wife. Later the commissioner kills his own wife and gets the friend to repay the favour.
Director: Ben Gazzara
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
The Best Episodes of Columbo Season 3
Every episode of Columbo Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Columbo Season 3!
Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves...
Genres:CrimeDrama
Season 3 Ratings Summary
"Lovely But Lethal" is the best rated episode of "Columbo" season 3. It scored 7.1/10 based on 2933 votes. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc and written by Jackson Gillis, Myrna Bercovici, it aired on 9/23/1973. This episode is rated 1.2 points higher than the second-best, "Any Old Port in a Storm".