Columbo
Columbo Goes to College
TV Flash files “Columbo Goes to College” as the last listed hour of season 1990 — Columbo (1971–2003) on NBC, season 1990, episode 6, aired 1990-12-09, 120 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S1990E06: listed hour 56 of 69 in the Columbo guide, last listed hour of season 1990. It aired 1990-12-09 (120 min). The listed hour before it is “Murder in Malibu” (S1990E05). Next is “Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health” (S1991E01).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Columbo is invited as guest speaker in a Criminology course and squares off against two cunning students, who are confident they have duped the lieutenant with various leads, when their professor is found murdered.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Columbo Goes to College sit in the Columbo guide?
S1990E06 is listed hour 56 of 69 — last listed hour of season 1990, season 1990 episode 6.
When did Columbo S1990E06 air?
Columbo Goes to College aired 1990-12-09 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…