Quintessential late 1960s crime drama ala Perry Mason or Hawaii Five O Classic. The pilot episodes "Prescription Murder" and "Ransom for a Dead Man" set the stage for a long and successful career of Lieutenant Frank J. Columbo. There are many intentional omissions from the story line, as in the first name is never said aloud or Lt. Columbo's wife is never seen or heard. Many times , before Columbo can introduce himself , the supporting actors who have supposedly never seen him before call him by his titled name at the beginning of a scene. In every episode, a Peter Falk trademark is that somehow the Nick Nack Paddywhack song is heard or hummed or played. As Season 1 unfolds, the Columbo character gets more refined and honed, and the presentation is enhanced greatly. Falk relies often on "Do you have a match?" or "Just one more thing..." which in many instances was not in the script and ad-lib'd. Notable guest starts abound in Season 1 : Suzanne Pleshette, Eddie Albert , Jack Cassidy , Martin Milner , Robert Culp , Ray Milland , Patricia Crowley , Ross Martin , Susan Clark , Richard Anderson , among many other "That Guy" supporting cast actors. Steven Bochco wrote two of the first season stories ; Link and Levinson wrote two others and it is self-evident that these four stories stand out as better than the other stories because some of the events in the others not written by Bochco/Link.Levinson seem unbelievable , contrived or the running time gets away from the story line and the director has to omit some important events from the teleplay. Of the episodes in Season 1, my favorite is Death Lends a Hand guest starring Robert Culp , Patricia Crowley and Ray Milland. These time-honored actors juxtapoz Falk's character with skill and precision. Death Lends a Hand was written by the Levinsion.Link duo and it stands out as a well orchestrated story line, easy to follow and fantastic punchline at the end, when Columbo related his mis-steps with the law as a teenage prankster using potatoes. This story is in contrast to other story lines of Season 1 not so skillfully mastered by the writers ( Suitable for Framing , Dead Weight as examples). Dead Weight is saved by the superb performances of Eddie Albert and Suzanne Pleshette. It seems the writer of Dead Weight , John T. Dugan , was stumped for good material , so we end up on Major General Hollister's yacht for what seems like twenty minutes testing the yacht's engines. In Suitable for Framing , Jackson Gillis drags the story line out and the excitement sags towards the end; but Falk pulls a rabbit out of the hat to save the episode at the end with a pair of gloves. Hope Amazon can release Season 2 and subsequent seasons on Video On Demand soon, I've bought the DVDs three times and somehow through my moves, they get misplaced. Would rather stream the shows.

working great

Peter Falk's Columbo ranks as one of the greatest TV detective characters ever created. His ability to capture the kirky Los Angeles Lieutenant has captivated decades of viewers and is sure to also capture younger fans with this long-awaited DVD release.
Created by Richard Levinson and William Link, the series debuted in 1971 with "Murder by the Book," which was actually the third appearance of Falk's Columbo (there had been two previous two-hour NBC World Premiere Movies prior to the series launch.) Interestingly, "Murder by the Book" was directed by a then unknown talent: Steven Spielberg.
Columbo was unique in so many ways, the first was that the viewer learned the killer's identity in the first few minutes of every episode. Up until then, detective shows and mysteries had tried to keep the audience guessing "Who Done It?" until the very final scene. Levinson and Link turned that formula upside down, letting viewers in on the intracacies of the crime from the killer's viewpoint, their motivation, and what they did to cover their tracks to avoid discovery.
Often, Columbo was not even introduced until 20 minutes or more into the episodes (which ran a network 90 minutes with commercials instead of the usual 60 minutes for dramas.)
However, as soon as the audience caught a glimpse of the short, rumpled, cigar-smoking detective with the tan rain coat, they knew that they were watching something really special. Columbo feigned a scatter-brained approach, but it was soon obvious to viewers and the episode's killer that beneath his step-and-fetch-it manner lay the cooly brilliant mind of a master detective. And, it was the cat-and-mouse interplay and dialog between Columbo and the criminal that was at the heart of this brilliant series.
Smartly written and tightly crafted, the dramatic tension was created as Columbo slowly chipped away the layers of subterfuge left by the killer to reveal the mechanics of the crime and the killer.
Throughout the series, which spanned three decades after several relaunches as specials, Falk's black hair turned gray, but he wore the exact same rain coat while pursuing some of the best actors and actresses on TV or in the movies who portrayed various extremes of melevolent killers. A virtual "who's who" of the acting profession did a turn on Columbo.
To say that Columbo affected the TV mystery genre is to give it far too little credit: it changed it forever and produced a detective from which his alter ego, the vastly talented Falk, will also never be able to escape.
Let's hope the studio takes a clue from Colombo and quickly releases the rest of these outstanding episodes!

Product was like new. Very happy

So what if they're no extras!!! Fans of Peter Falk's one-of-a-kind supersleuth should be pleased with this release of the landmark first episodes of this thirty-year television institution.

One can delight in "Prescription for Murder," the NBC TV-movie from the late 60's that introduced the world to the Italian-American gumshoe. Columbo was a bit abrasive in this first time out and he wasn't wearing his trademark, disheveled raincoat, but he still showed the deductive savvy that would endure throughout the series. The episode succeeds with great acting from Falk, Gene Barry, Justice, and acting luminary Nina Foch.

Also, a jazzy Dave Grusin score helps move things along quite nicely.

By the time of the second TV-movie, "Ransom for a Dead Man," the character was dressed appropriately and was spouting that annoying, "One more thing..." that would become a show staple of the detective. It is appropriate that Lee Grant, one of the industry's trailblazers for women in film, would be cast as a crafty lawyer that kills her husband but must contend with the wily Columbo.

It wasn't until the Steven Spielberg-directed first episode ("Murder by the Book") of the series that viewers would find the Columbo that would be around for the next, and counting, three decades.

"Death Lends a Hand" features Robert Culp who would appear in three more Columbo's. It also has a unique camera trick involving Culp's character's glasses.

"Lady in Waiting" has Susan Clark and Richard Anderson as dysfunctional siblings with the former deciding that it's better to be an only child! The episode also stars Leslie Nielsen during his dramatic, second-tier leading man-days.

There are numerous pleasures in the remaining episodes, many of them featuring the brilliant scoring of Billy Goldenberg, a Universal Studios landmark.

Though extras would be nice, the wonders of Falk and company are enough to satisfy fans of a good who-dunit!

Oh yeah, just one more thing, I'm not the only person who thought Columbo was one of greatest series on TV between 1968 and 2003. The 69 episodes are all movie-length, between 73 and 100 minutes long. The series was once broadcast on over 80 networks, spanning 44 countries. In 1997, "Murder by the Book" was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. And in 1999, the magazine ranked Lt. Columbo No. 7 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list. In 2012, the program was chosen as the third best cop or legal show on Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time. In 2013 TV Guide included it in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time. In 2013, Writers Guild of America ranked it No. 57 in the list of 101 Best Written TV Series. My wife and I have watched each single episode dozens of times and we never get tired of watching the same ones over and over again. There are very few TV shows that I can say that about. And although we already own all episodes that were ever released on DVD, we still in fact enjoy watching them again when they are on broadcast TV. I just wish I could give this DVD series more than FIVE stars. Without a doubt, it is still my favorite TV series of all time. The famous guest stars also added to the show. Some of them appeared more than once. It would be truly hard to pick just one episode as my favorite Columbo episode. You just can't go wrong with watching Columbo.

When I learned that Peter Falk had died in June of 2011, I came to Amazon and purchased [[ASIN:B0090R53EM The In-Laws (1979) [HD]]] as a kind of homage, I guess. What I was looking for at the time however, was really Columbo. I can remember back in the '70s, when we all watched TV together as a family, Sunday nights were a big TV night because of The Wonderful World of Disney, and the ABC Mystery Movie. Columbo was always my personal fave, though the others were good too. I come here once in a while and search for stuff that I'd like to get on AIV, and was delighted to see that Season One (at least) was available. While I don't remember seeing many of these particular episodes back then, I remember the feel of them. I remember the rumpled, seemingly-bumbling detective, the beautiful ladies, the handsome men. I mean, come on! Just in this first season you have Lee Grant, Jack Cassidy, Anne Francis, Roddy McDowall, Suzanne Pleshette, Martin Milner (who, according to IMDB, played Officer Pete Malloy in three different TV series in ADDITION to ADAM-12), and a very dashing Leslie Nielsen. You'll also see many excellent character actors and others who later went on to star in regular series TV. These are not generally Emmy-winning performances, just fine 90-minute mysteries with a bit of morality tale, driven by the ever-persistent undauntable Lieutenant Columbo. Uh, just one more thing -- Columbo was produced from 1968 to 2003, and I'd like to get the rest of them. I'll do it in a heartbeat when and if they become available.

In most murder mysteries, it is a mystery of who did it, how it was done, and why. In the Columbo series we know the who, the how, and the why; so what is the mystery?

Most Columbo episodes begin with a coldly intelligent murderer carefully laying out in meticulous detail their scheme for murder, while at the same time, providing themselves a cleverly arranged alibi at the apparent time of their victim's demise. The mystery is, how is Columbo going to solve these perfectly crafted murders?

If you are the murderer, you are probably arrogant and are ready to dismiss Columbo as just a bumbling policeman; nothing to worry about. But after your first encounter with this short and somewhat comical detective, you suddenly realize that Columbo has just spotted something: a minor, insignificant flaw in your perfect plan.

Before you know it, Columbo begins finding more and more little things that just don't add up. And those loose ends that Columbo needs to tie-up, turn out to be your shoelaces. Desperately, you try to out-maneuver this pest of a detective, but he just won't leave you alone. Columbo spirals in tighter and tighter like a noose around your neck.

Just when you think you can't stand the pressure anymore, it appears his evidence is just not solid enough; you got away with it! And that little detective thinks he's so smart! You let your guard down: he's gotcha!

If you are a Columbo fan and have never seen the first season, you will be pleased to know, all of these shows are as great as the later Columbo shows.

Picture (DVD): good to excellent.