Columbo
A Friend in Deed
TV Flash files “A Friend in Deed” as a desk essential hour — Columbo (1971–2003) on NBC, season 1974, episode 4, aired 1974-05-05, 120 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S1974E04: listed hour 25 of 69 in the Columbo guide, hour 4 of 7 in season 1974. It aired 1974-05-05 (120 min). The listed hour before it is “Swan Song” (S1974E03). Next is “An Exercise in Fatality” (S1974E05).
Essential hour: “A Friend in Deed”. The department in the trap. When the house style turns inward, the raincoat stops being a comfort.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A police commissioner provides a false alibi for a wife killer, but then expects an alibi in return.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Friend in Deed sit in the Columbo guide?
S1974E04 is listed hour 25 of 69 — hour 4 of 7 in season 1974, season 1974 episode 4.
When did Columbo S1974E04 air?
A Friend in Deed aired 1974-05-05 and is listed at 120 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…