Columbo
The Most Crucial Game
TV Flash files “The Most Crucial Game” as hour 12 of 69 in the TV Flash guide — Columbo (1971–2003) on NBC, season 1972, episode 5, aired 1972-11-05, 90 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S1972E05: listed hour 12 of 69 in the Columbo guide, hour 5 of 6 in season 1972. It aired 1972-11-05 (90 min). The listed hour before it is “The Greenhouse Jungle” (S1972E04). Next is “Dagger of the Mind” (S1972E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The manager of a football team murders its callow owner, making it look as if the young man had had an accident in his swimming pool. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Most Crucial Game sit in the Columbo guide?
S1972E05 is listed hour 12 of 69 — hour 5 of 6 in season 1972, season 1972 episode 5.
When did Columbo S1972E05 air?
The Most Crucial Game aired 1972-11-05 and is listed at 90 minutes.
Where should I start?
Prescription: Murder for the 1968 trap, then Murder by the Book for the weekly form. If you only have one night, take Any Old Port in a Storm.
In the series
Why this series still plays
For the manners: an inverted mystery that spoils the killer on purpose, then lets Peter Falk talk a guest star to pieces. Prestige anthology in a raincoat — ego as the puzzle, courtesy as the trap.
The opening is a murder you are allowed to watch. That is the thesis, not a twist. Richard Levinson and William Link built Columbo as an inverted detective story: the killer's competence is the first act, Peter Falk's rumple is the second, and the third is a trap made of manners. If you came for a whodunit, the series has already spoiled itself on purpose. The pleasure is structural. How does a man in a raincoat talk a movie star into a mistake. The cut is the polite question that is not polite.
Filed against
- Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo
Peter Falk’s rumpled Columbo inverted the mystery — howdunit trap, one more thing, guest killers as prestige toys. Levinson and Link spoiled the murderer on purpose, then let a raincoat talk a movie star into a mistake. On TV Flash he is…