Columbo is an American television crime drama created by Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a disheveled and deceptively unassuming Los Angeles police detective, becoming a regular series in 1971. The show inverted the conventional mystery format by revealing the killer's identity to the audience at the outset, building its suspense instead around how Columbo would methodically gather the evidence needed to catch a typically wealthy or prominent suspect. Columbo is widely regarded as one of the most influential American television crime dramas and helped popularize the howcatchem mystery format.
Facts
Classification
Original LanguageSourced to the subject's own account AwardSourced to the subject's own accountPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Miniseries 1 Release YearSourced to the subject's own account CountrySourced to the subject's own account Connections
Created By
Source Columbo (Wikipedia)
Source Columbo (Wikipedia)
In Medium
Source Columbo (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: United States, originated there.
- Also in Language Atlas: English, original language there.
Sources
1. Columbo (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationColumbo, Introduction section
Columbo is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Columbo, Description, original language
Columbo is an American television crime drama created by Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a disheveled and deceptively unassuming Los Angeles police detective, becoming a regular series in 1971. The show inverted the conventional mystery format by revealing the killer's identity to the audience at the outset, building its suspense instead around how Columbo would methodically gather the evidence needed to catch a typically wealthy or prominent suspect.
Wikipedia category, checked 2026-09-27
Category:Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries winners
In Medium: Television, Article lead sentence
Columbo is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Created By: William Link, Article lead sentence
The character and show, created by Richard Levinson and William Link, popularized the inverted detective story format (sometimes referred to as a "howcatchem").
Created By: Richard Levinson, Article lead sentence
The character and show, created by Richard Levinson and William Link, popularized the inverted detective story format (sometimes referred to as a "howcatchem").
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