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Season guide

Columbo: Season 3

8 episodes Premiered Sep 23, 1973 Updated Sep 20, 2026

Columbo Season 3 continues the overarching saga across 8 episodes. The American crime drama television series stars Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective and homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link, the series originally aired on NBC after two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971. As a homicide investigator

Previously on Columbo

Season 3 Lore Primer

Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.

  • Lieutenant Columbo is a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.
  • The character is known as a friendly, verbose, and disheveled-looking police detective.
  • The series was created by Richard Levinson and William Link.
  • The show stars Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo following two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971.

Season overview

Columbo Season 3 continues the overarching saga across 8 episodes. The American crime drama television series stars Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective and homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link, the series originally aired on NBC after two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971. As a homicide investigator with the Los Angeles homicide department, Lieutenant Columbo applies his unique investigative approach to solving crimes. The show features a television-pg rating and falls into the crime, drama, and mystery genres, continuing to follow the established format of the detective examining complex cases and confronting suspects with his trademark manner.

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Season 3 Episodes

Episode Guide

🛡️ SPOILER SHIELD

Season 3 Progress Shield

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Binge Efficiency Engine

Season 3: Filler vs. Essential Canon

Filter episodes by narrative weight. Focus on essential mytharc and skip standalone side quests.

38%
63%
Mytharc (3): Crucial lore & season climaxes
Core (5): Character development & subplots
Side Quest (0): Standalone / filler
S3·E1 Mytharc

Lovely But Lethal

Sep 23, 1973

Viveca Scott, the founder of Beauty Mark Cosmetics, is being threatened by her rival David Lang. When he finds out that her revolutionary cream formula actually removes wrinkles, h

S3·E2 Core

Any Old Port in a Storm

Oct 7, 1973

A wine connoisseur kills his half- brother to prevent him selling the family winery to a merchant company so he can pay off his gambling debts.

S3·E3 Core

Candidate for Crime

Nov 4, 1973

A Senate Candidate running for office kills his campaign manager by making it look like he was the target for the killer's bullet.

S3·E4 Core

Double Exposure

Dec 16, 1973

A filmmaker kills one of his clients. in a break, during the screening of a new ad campaign

S3·E5 Core

Publish or Perish

Jan 18, 1974

A publisher hires a Vietnam vet to kill his star author and thus give himself an alibi before the writer can defect to another publisher.

S3·E6 Core

Mind Over Mayhem

Feb 18, 1974

The director of a government institute that employs various scientific geniuses commits a clever murder. But another kind of genius is on the case: Lt. Columbo.

S3·E7 Mytharc

Swan Song

Mar 3, 1974

A Country and Western singer kills his overpowering wife in a plane crash while he parachutes to safety.

S3·E8 Mytharc

A Friend in Deed

May 5, 1974

A police commissioner provides an alibi to a friend who has just killed his wife. Later the commissioner kills his own wife and gets the friend to repay the favour.