- 7.4/1016 votes
#1 - How to Dial a Murder
Season 7 Episode 4 - Aired 4/15/1978
A famous psychiatrist uses an appointment with his doctor as his alibi while he calls his house, where his dead wife's lover is. The call serves as the first step in a conditioning reflex on the psychiatrist's dogs. The other part is the word Rosebud as uttered by the victim. When Columbo arrives on the scene, the psychiatrist is very understanding when police say they may have to put his dogs to death. But Columbo notices how friendly the dogs seem, and then there's the telephone that's hanging from it's hook.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: Anthony Lawrence
- 7.0/106 votes
#2 - The Man Who Was Never Born
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/28/1963
An astronaut travels to the 23rd Century, where he finds the Earth a blasted wasteland inhabited by monsters.
Director: Leonard Horn
Writer: Anthony Lawrence
- 6.7/103 votes
#3 - The Deception
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/1/1974
When the guys try to track down the apes who are framing humans for crimes in a small community, Fauna, a blind female ape, falls in love with Burke while believing him to be a chimpanzee.
Director: N/A
Writer: Anthony Lawrence
- 4.5/102 votes
#4 - Breakup
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 5/12/1977
An episode where there are two parallel stories: A small business owner (Roberts) is going through divorce proceedings while his business is in financial straits. His wife's lawyer (Pressman) just happens to also be hunted by a revenge-seeking ex-con (Murdock).
Director: Harry Falk
Writer: Anthony Lawrence
- 4.0/101 votes
#5 - The Children of Spider County
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 2/17/1964
Four scientists disappear in one day. All were born in the same county, on the same day. A fifth scientist is in jail and a federal agent is assigned to the case. The fifth man is sprung from jail by a mysterious stranger who says he's the young man's father.
Director: Leonard Horn
Writer: Anthony Lawrence
- 3.5/102 votes
#6 - Song of the Younger World
Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 7/17/1987
In 1916 a girl and a young man from a reformatory for wayward boys fall in love and try to get away from her father, the superintendent. He finds out and doesn't approve of their love, locking away his daughter and punishing the boy. With the help of a wandering vagrant the girl finds a way to use a book to transfer both her and the boy into a primordial world where they become wolves and can live free and together.
Director: Noel Black
Writer: Anthony Lawrence