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The Worst Episodes of Columbo

Every episode of Columbo ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Columbo!

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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 all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for

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  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Columbo Season 8 Episode 4 - Grand Deceptions
    5.9/10(23 votes)

    #1 - Grand Deceptions

    S8:E4

    Frank Brailie runs a private military foundation for wanabe soldiers owned by the wheelchair bound General Padget. The General has become suspicious of Frank as a great deal of money seems to be going to a Special Projects Fund. The General tells a close colleague to investigate Frank and the Special Projects Fund. Instead of reporting his fraudulent findings back to the General, he decides to blackmail Frank for some of the money, Frank agrees and starts to plan his murder.

    Director:Sam Wanamaker
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Columbo Season 5 Episode 6 - Last Salute to the Commodore
    6.0/10(26 votes)

    #2 - Last Salute to the Commodore

    S5:E6

    The family and friends of brilliant naval architect Commodore Otis Swanson have gathered for the company’s annual party. The commodore, however, has become increasingly discontented with the way his son-in-law, Charles Clay, has developed the shipbuilding firm into a vast, impersonal corporation. He is tired of being surrounded by freeloaders like his alcoholic daughter, Joanna, his irresponsible nephew, Swanny, and of course, Charles. The only man he respects is Wayne Taylor, the head of the boatyard. In fact, the Commodore intends to sell the company. That night, Charles is wiping clean the belaying pin used to bash the Commodore’s skull.

    Director:Patrick McGoohan
    Writer:Jackson Gillis

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  3. Columbo Season 2 Episode 4 - Dagger of the Mind
    6.2/10(36 votes)

    #3 - Dagger of the Mind

    S2:E4

    While on a work trip to London, to learn the techniques of the British police, Columbo gets involved with the murder of Roger Haversham, a rich old businessman who is financing the careers of two rundown theater stars. When Sir Roger threatens to end their careers, because he felt betrayed, he's killed. A short while after, his butler figures out the motives for his master's murder, and blackmails the actors, who have no other choice than to kill him and make it look like he commited suicide due to remorse, because he murdered his employer. Columbo stills manages to catch both the murderers, with the help of a pearl and a new umbrella.

    Director:Richard Quine
    Writers:Richard Levinson, William Link

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  4. Columbo Season 9 Episode 1 - Murder, a Self Portrait
    6.2/10(24 votes)

    #4 - Murder, a Self Portrait

    S9:E1

    A famous artist, Max Barsini, lives with his wife Vanessa and a beautiful live-in model named Julie at his beach house/studio. Max's ex-wife Louise lives in the beach house next door. Together, these women comprise Max's own little harem. He loves them all in different ways, but, more importantly, likes to control them. In fact, Max derives a great deal of satisfaction from the fact that they all fight for his attention and are reliant upon him financially and emotionally. The competitive jealousy between the women reaches a head at the dinner table one night when Max asks each of them what they think of the other. Their answers prove the intense rivalry between the women.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writer:Sy Salkowitz

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  5. Columbo Season 9 Episode 5 - Uneasy Lies the Crown
    6.3/10(25 votes)

    #5 - Uneasy Lies the Crown

    S9:E5

    While investigating the death of a popular actor, Columbo must outwit a cunning dentist, who has set up his wife for a murder in order to keep up his image and expensive lifestyle.

    Director:Alan J. Levi
    Writer:Steven Bochco

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  6. Columbo Season 9 Episode 6 - Murder in Malibu
    6.4/10(24 votes)

    #6 - Murder in Malibu

    S9:E6

    An ambitious womanizer, rejected by the romance novelist he planned to marry, ends the story she was writing with a gun and makes the murder look like robbery gone awry.

    Director:Walter Grauman
    Writer:Jackson Gillis

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  7. Columbo Season 10 Episode 5 - No Time to Die
    6.4/10(24 votes)

    #7 - No Time to Die

    S10:E5

    Columbo attends the wedding of his police officer nephew. While her husband takes a shower, the bride disappears from the bridal suite. The groom enlists Uncle Columbo's help in unraveling the case. Seems she has been kidnapped by a psychopath who intends to kill her once he consummates "their" marriage.

    Director:Alan J. Levi
    Writer:Evan Hunter

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  8. Columbo Season 5 Episode 4 - A Matter of Honor
    6.5/10(23 votes)

    #8 - A Matter of Honor

    S5:E4

    The owner of a bull ranch in Mexico gives his workers the day off, and then talks his number one man into fighting the bull who nearly killed his son. But instead he shoots him with a tranquilizer gun, and lets the bull kill him. Colombo, who is on vacation in Mexico, gets dragged into this case by an admiring colleague, but he has trouble convincing the Mexicans that the accident is really homicide. And how do you prove that the bull is a murder weapon?

    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:Brad Radnitz

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  9. Columbo Season 10 Episode 9 - Undercover
    6.5/10(21 votes)

    #9 - Undercover

    S10:E9

    A photograph is the only clue for Columbo when two dead men and a seven year old mystery with $4 million dollars involved as well as an obnoxious insurance investigator come into play.

    Director:Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Evan Hunter

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  10. Columbo Season 1 Episode 3 - Dead Weight
    6.6/10(47 votes)

    #10 - Dead Weight

    S1:E3

    A famous general kills a business associate, then woos a neurotic female witness to thwart Columbo's investigation.

    Director:Jack Smight
    Writer:John T. Dugan

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  11. Columbo Season 8 Episode 3 - Sex and the Married Detective
    6.6/10(29 votes)

    #11 - Sex and the Married Detective

    S8:E3

    A sex therapist catches her boyfriend with another woman when he thinks she is out of town. She then disguises herself and manages to kill him while in disguise, not realizing that a potential suitor saw her enter the bathroom as a dark-haired woman and exit as a blonde.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writer:Jerrold L. Ludwig

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  12. Columbo Season 2 Episode 2 - The Greenhouse Jungle
    6.8/10(38 votes)

    #12 - The Greenhouse Jungle

    S2:E2

    Jarvis Goodland, along with his nephew, plan a kidnap scam to break the nephews trust fund, but after the money has been collected, Jarvis kills his partner.

    Director:Boris Sagal
    Writer:Jonathan Latimer

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  13. Columbo Season 5 Episode 2 - A Case of Immunity
    6.8/10(25 votes)

    #13 - A Case of Immunity

    S5:E2

    An ambassador from Suari and his code clerk kill the chief of security in an attempt to make it look like the chief was a traitor, who blew up the legation safe and stole £600.000 on behalf of a dissident group. But Columbo gets suspicious. He just has one problem crushing the ambassador's alibi and then, when the code clerk turns up dead, the ambassador has an alibi again. But even if Colombo could rock the two alibis, there is always the immunity problem.

    Director:Ted Post
    Writers:Lou Shaw, James Menzies

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  14. Columbo Season 8 Episode 1 - Columbo Goes to the Guillotine
    6.8/10(23 votes)

    #14 - Columbo Goes to the Guillotine

    S8:E1

    Lt. Columbo delves into the world of magic, ESP and slight of hand as he investigates the death of a magician, and there appears to be a tie to a prodigal psychic supported by a government founded institute on parapsychology.

    Director:Leo Penn
    Writer:William Read Woodfield

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  15. Columbo Season 10 Episode 10 - Strange Bedfellows
    6.8/10(20 votes)

    #15 - Strange Bedfellows

    S10:E10

    Graham McVeigh, a thoroughbred ranch owner, kills his brother, and frames a local mob bookie. Then, under the guise of making good on his brother's debt, he kills the bookie as well, claiming self-defense. Mob boss Vincenzo Fortelli starts to exert pressure on McVeigh. To solve the crime Columbo must work with the gangster.

    Director:Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Peter S. Fischer

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  16. Columbo Season 10 Episode 12 - Ashes to Ashes
    6.8/10(24 votes)

    #16 - Ashes to Ashes

    S10:E12

    Mortician to the stars Eric Prince, kills gossip reporter Verity Chandler, who had knowledge of skeletons in Prince's closet. Columbo must figure out what happened to her and why.

    Director:Patrick McGoohan
    Writers:Patrick McGoohan, Jeffrey Hatcher

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  17. Columbo Season 4 Episode 6 - A Deadly State of Mind
    6.9/10(27 votes)

    #17 - A Deadly State of Mind

    S4:E6

    A doctor kills the husband of the woman he is having an affair with but is seen leaving the house by a witness who is happens to be blind.

    Director:Harvey Hart
    Writer:Peter S. Fischer

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  18. Columbo Season 6 Episode 2 - Old Fashioned Murder
    6.9/10(25 votes)

    #18 - Old Fashioned Murder

    S6:E2

    The female head of a museum hires one of the guards to rob the museum to collect the insurance money. But during the robbery she kills him and her own brother, and makes it look like they killed each other. The guard/robber's brother reports a strange message on his answering machine, that makes it seem that he has been killed. And Columbo gets the case. When Columbo first comes to the crime scene, he notices that the lights are off, a gold medallion in the robber's pants, and signs that pointed to the fact that he was going abroad after the heist. And he concluded that these clues mean that someone else was involved.

    Director:Robert Douglas
    Writer:Peter S. Feibleman

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  19. Columbo Season 10 Episode 11 - A Trace of Murder
    6.9/10(24 votes)

    #19 - A Trace of Murder

    S10:E11

    Cathleen Calvert and her lover, crime scene investigator Patrick Kinsley, plot to get rid of Calvert's husband, Clifford, a powerful businessman, by killing an investment broker with whom he is currently feuding, and pinning the murder on Clifford. As long as he is alive and in prison, Cathleen has access to all his money. Columbo must uncover a criminal who is part of the team handling the investigation.

    Director:Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Charles Kipps

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  20. Columbo Season 10 Episode 13 - Murder With Too Many Notes
    6.9/10(23 votes)

    #20 - Murder With Too Many Notes

    S10:E13

    Hollywood film composer and conductor Findlay Crawford has been mentor to a talented young composer who has been ghostwriting most of Crawford's work for the last few years, and penned Crawford's entire last movie score, which won an Oscar. When the protege wants to venture out on his own, Crawford, whose own talent seems to have run dry, concocts the perfect murder, made to look like a suicide.

    Director:Patrick McGoohan
    Writers:Patrick McGoohan, Jeffrey Cava

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  21. Columbo Season 1 Episode 5 - Lady in Waiting
    7.0/10(44 votes)

    #21 - Lady in Waiting

    S1:E5

    A woman shoots her overbearing brother, claiming she thought he was a burglar. Columbo doesn't buy the self-defense claim - he know's it's murder.

    Director:Norman Lloyd
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Columbo Season 1 Episode 6 - Short Fuse
    7.0/10(42 votes)

    #22 - Short Fuse

    S1:E6

    A chemist rigs a bomb in his uncle's car to gain control of his uncle's company, then plants clues to make Columbo suspicious of the company's Vice-President.

    Director:Edward M. Abroms
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Columbo Season 7 Episode 5 - The Conspirators
    7.0/10(23 votes)

    #23 - The Conspirators

    S7:E5

    An Irish poet, who fronts a peace organization while secretly running guns, kills an arms dealer who tries to swindle him.

    Director:Leo Penn
    Writers:Howard Berk, Pat Robison

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  24. Columbo Season 2 Episode 7 - The Most Dangerous Match
    7.1/10(38 votes)

    #24 - The Most Dangerous Match

    S2:E7

    A chess grandmaster disposes of the champion, who keeps coming back on him.

    Director:Edward M. Abroms
    Writers:Richard Levinson, William Link

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  25. Columbo Season 8 Episode 2 - Murder, Smoke and Shadows
    7.1/10(22 votes)

    #25 - Murder, Smoke and Shadows

    S8:E2

    An egocentric film director resorts to his mastery of special effects to murder a vengeful friend who discovers the director's role in the movie stunt death of the friend's sister years before.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writer:Richard Alan Simmons

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Grand Deceptions" is the worst rated episode of "Columbo". It scored 5.9/10 based on 23 votes. Directed by Sam Wanamaker and written by Unknown, it aired on 5/1/1989. This episode scored 0.1 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Last Salute to the Commodore".