History YMMV / Columbo

** While fairly popular in the US where it was made, Columbo was a smash hit in Japan, to the point where there were several novelizations of its episodes in Japanese and some episodes were released on home video there that weren't released in the US (until the full series was released on DVD decades later). It also managed to get a full Blu-Ray set in Japan compared to the states that only have [=DVD=].

** There are [[Creator/SuzannePleshette quite]] [[Creator/HaroldGould a few]] [[Creator/DonAmeche actors]][[note]]And these are just from the first season![[/note]] that would later go on to being Disney movies, however a special shout out goes to ''[[Recap/ColumboS01E07 Blueprint for Murder]]'' for having one of the side characters played by [[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Piglet]].

** In "Publish or Perish," Riley Greenleaf gets drunk and visits various bars and restaurants where he makes a scene so he will be noticed. This is a coincidental precursor to what Creator/JackCassidy did on the night of his own death in December 1976. Then he had consumed alcohol at various bars across West Hollywood before returning to his apartment, drunk. Tragically he lit a cigarette then fell asleep. The cigarette started a fire in which he was killed.

** Creator/LeonardNimoy, most famous for playing the Vulcan Spock on ''Star Trek'' played one of the killers in season 2. Some 25 years later, Lt. Tuvok, another Vulcan character, would make use of the "one more thing" Columbo line a few times on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''(and that's not getting into that series starring Creator/KateMulgrew, who played the title role in ''Mrs. Columbo''....)
** Speaking of ''Mrs. Columbo'', it puts Columbo's stock response to Fielding Chase in a new light in "Butterfly in Shades of Gray".
** "Double Shock" is about two brothers, Dexter & Norman Paris and it is initially ambiguous who the real killer is. [[spoiler: They both are actually helping each other.]] Then in 2006, a show about a SerialKillerKiller named [[Series/{{Dexter}} Dexter Morgan]] premieres and he finds out he has a brother in the first season. [[spoiler: Dexter's brother is the arch villain of said season.]]

** Probably worst in "Make Me a Perfect Murder" where he plays with the control console in a TV broadcast studio, making various 2D shapes "dance" with simple animations on the screens while music plays (this being the mid-70s, so don't expect anything too fancy out of these simple vector images), as he has a cheerful expression on his face. This goes on for over two minutes and has zero bearing on the plot or character development whatsoever, and it makes it clear that a lot of Columbo's behaviour throughout the series may not be that much of an act, because no one is even around to watch him!

** At the end of "Columbo Cries Wolf", Columbo finds the location of the body by dialing the number of the victim's wrist pager and punching in a message, the resulting beeping revealing where the body is hidden inside a wall. However, as these bracelets are more than a decade ahead of real technology (this being the late 80s), the message is a small slip of paper glued to the bracelet- and it's not even cut straight, which really makes it obvious (the clarity of modern DVD copies also makes the grain of the paper stand out even worse).

** In "Death Lends a Hand", Columbo in one scene is caught by a woman pushing her kid on the swings, before he even introduces himself as a detective. The woman is not even a suspect, but the wife of a witness who has gone abroad. Obviously most police forces today would be in serious trouble if a woman complained that a middle-aged man in a trench coat claiming to be an officer randomly started playing with her child in a park- seemingly innocent in TheSeventies, but looks outright predatory in the modern era.

** Helen Stewart from "Dead Weight". While Columbo questioning what she saw is understandable given it's his job, the episode only makes her more miserable. Her emotionally abusive mother doesn't believe her and takes every opportunity to say [[KickTheDog needlessly cruel things to her]]. Her ex-husband cheated on her with apparently numerous women during their marriage, and her own mother blames ''her'' for the breakup. And the episode's murderer, Hollister, charms her into doubting what she saw while starting a relationship with her. At the end, when Columbo reveals how Hollister committed the murder, she is left in tears.
** No doubt made much worse due to some severe behind-the-scenes issues during the filming of this episode thanks to the fact Falk was having a heated negotiation over his salary, which showed in his acting skills and apparent indifference to the other actors or even the job itself. Suzanne Pleshette had been friends with Falk for some time but the experience not only led to them not speaking for many years, but Eddie Albert called Falk an "asshole". The tensions were so high that when Falk ironed things out and returned, reportedly Pleshette and Albert refused to reshoot any of the scenes that were done with a stand-in during Falk's absence.
** Numerous murderers are pushed around by {{Asshole Victim}}s, such as Beth from "Lady in Waiting" who is held down by her dominating brother and mother for her whole life. Once her brother is dead her life turns around and she's suddenly more assertive and in control of her life for once. She later takes it to the point of becoming a JerkassWoobie, or just a plain {{Jerkass}}, however.

** "Last Salute to the Commodore" feels like the script was written while doing drugs. Columbo invades personal space a couple times, the cast acts like they're on tranquilizers, and the pacing feels like nobody even cares about finding the killer. The film opens with a ferry called "TITANIC" carrying a rather happy group of people who seem to magically teleport onto the boat. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWrtEYtNFQc A YouTube review highlights the episode.]]

** No doubt made much worse due to some severe behind-the-scenes issues during the filming of this episode thanks to the fact Falk was having a heated negotiation over his salary, which showed in his acting skills and apparent indifference to the other actors or even the job itself. Suzanne Pleshette had been friends with Falk for some time but the experience not only led to them not speaking for many years, but Eddie Albert called Falk an "asshole".

** One has to feel sorry for Karen Fielding, Adrian Carsini's secretary in "Any Old Port in a Storm", as she was willing to marry Adrian to keep him out of prison and he rebuffed her.

** While fairly popular in the US where it was made, Columbo was a smash hit in Japan, to the point where there were several novelizations of its episodes in Japanese and some episodes were released on home video there that weren't released in the US (until the full series was released on DVD decades later)

** Probably worst in "Make Me a Perfect Murder" where he plays with the control console in a TV broadcast studio, making various 2D shapes "dance" with simple animations on the screens while music plays (this being the mid-70s, so don't expect anything too fancy out of these simple vector images), as he has a cheerful expression on his face. This goes on for about five minutes or longer and has zero bearing on the plot or character development whatsoever, and it makes it clear that a lot of Columbo's behaviour throughout the series may not be that much of an act, because no one is even around to watch him!

** The ending of "Prescription: Murder" originally had Columbo saying lines to the effect that he believed that Miss Hudson was a weak-willed woman who would eventually run her mouth about the crime no matter what. The dialog was eventually cut and all modern releases of the episodes lack the lines in question.

** "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" features cigarettes laced with nicotine sulfate as the murder weapon. In ''[[Series/ForensicFiles Forensic Files II]]'', Paul Curry used a scheme of extracting nicotine from cigarettes to poison Linda Kincade's food since she didn't smoke. He managed to avoid conviction for 16 years due to varying the dosage to make it appear like an illness. Paul was motivated by the [[InsuranceFraud life insurance policy]] she had. Like Wade Anders, Paul had also been on television, only he was a ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' champion.

* In "Ashes to Ashes", Columbo discusses potential funeral arrangements with Eric Prince, for Mrs. Columbo and he himself. This was the third-to-last episode before Peter Falk had to retire due to his onset of dementia that was ultimately fatal.

** "Negative Reaction" stars Creator/DickVanDyke, best known for comedies and light-hearted musicals, as a hateful photographer who murders his wife in cold blood. It's worlds away from his usual performance and all the creepier for it.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Throughout the series, Columbo expresses a severe dislike of dentists, and the few times he has to go it ends up being a total nightmare for him. It's believed that a bad reaction to drugs during a dental visit is what led to the onset of Peter Falk's dementia, the illness that killed him.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The broadcast control room scene from "Make Me a Perfect Murder", as outlined below in Padding. Needless to say, the scene itself is not only lengthy and adds nothing, but it's also just bizarre.

** Justin Price looks an awful lot like [[Series/TheAmericans Philip Jennings]], although their accents are certainly different.

* MemeticMutation: "An exciting meal has been ruined by the presence of this... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqU4d4Rej5A LIQUID FILTH!]]"