Home → Where to start
Where to start with Columbo
Nothing carries over between films, so there is no wrong entry point — but some episodes show what the series can do far better than others. These are the ones to try first.
Murder by the Book
Directed by a 24-year-old Steven Spielberg, and the film that set the template for everything after it.
9.5Prescription: Murder
The pilot. The character is not quite finished yet, which makes it fascinating to watch first or last.
8.5Etude in Black
John Cassavetes as a conductor who kills his mistress — and the film that gives Columbo his dog.
9Any Old Port in a Storm
The one most fans name as the best: a wine snob whose taste is also his undoing.
10Double Shock
Twins, and one of the neatest tricks the show ever played on its own format.
7.5Not these, not first
Both are worth watching eventually. Neither is a good introduction.
Last Salute to the Commodore
Deliberately breaks the formula — confusing if you do not know the formula yet.
No Time to Die
A kidnapping, not a murder: the inverted structure the show is built on is missing.
Common questions
Which Columbo episode should I watch first?
Murder by the Book (1971). It was directed by Steven Spielberg, it is tightly built, and it shows the formula working at full strength straight away.
Do I need to watch the pilots first?
No. Prescription: Murder and Ransom for a Dead Man are worth seeing, but the character is still forming in them — many people enjoy them more after the classics.
Are there episodes to avoid at the start?
Last Salute to the Commodore breaks the format deliberately and confuses newcomers, and No Time to Die is a kidnapping story with no murder in it at all.