
The third season of Columbo originally aired from September 23, 1973 to May 5, 1974 and consisted of eight episodes.
Episodes[]
No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Runtime | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
18 | 1 | Lovely But Lethal | Jeannot Szwarc | Teleplay by Jackson Gillis, Story by Myrna Bercovici | 73 minutes | September 23, 1973 |
19 | 2 | Any Old Port in a Storm | Leo Penn | Teleplay by Stanley Ralph Ross, Story by Larry Cohen | 98 minutes | October 7, 1973 |
20 | 3 | Candidate for Crime | Boris Sagal | Teleplay by Irving Pearlberg, Alvin R. Friedman, Roland Kibbee and Dean Hargrove, Story by Larry Cohen | 98 minutes | November 4, 1973 |
21 | 4 | Double Exposure | Richard Quine | Stephen J. Cannell | 73 minutes | December 16, 1973 |
22 | 5 | Publish or Perish | Robert Butler | Peter S. Fischer | 73 minutes | January 13, 1974 |
23 | 6 | Mind Over Mayhem | Alf Kjellin | Teleplay by Steven Boncho, Dean Hargrove and Roland Kibbee, Story by Robert Specht | 73 minutes | February 10, 1974 |
24 | 7 | Swan Song | Nicholas Colasanto | Teleplay by David Rayfiel, Story by Stanley Ralph Ross | 94 minutes | March 3, 1974 |
25 | 8 | A Friend in Deed | Ben Gazzara | Peter S. Fischer | 94 minutes | May 5, 1974 |
Behind the Scenes[]
- Robert Culp becomes the first actor to have a Columbo killer three times with this season. He is the only actor to played the role of the murderer in three seasons in a row. He would not appear on Columbo again until the first episode of Season 10 in 1990.
- At eight episodes, this season is the only one that matches the length of Season 2, tying them as the second-longest Columbo season.
- Across those eight episodes, there are thirteen murders committed.
- Every episode of Season 3 was directed by different individual. Only Seasons 1, 6 and 9 share this distinction.
- Jeannot Szwarc was the only director to never direct another episode of Columbo either before or since.
- Like every other NBC season other than Season 1, this season aired on Sunday nights from 8:30 to 10:00 pm (EST) as part of The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie.
Columbo Seasons |
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NBC
Season 1 (1971 - 1972) ~ Season 2 (1972 - 1973) ~ Season 3 (1973 -1974) ~ Season 4 (1974 - 1975) ~ Season 5 (1975 - 1976) ~ Season 6 (1976 - 1977) ~ Season 7 (1977 - 1978) ABC Season 8 (1989) ~ Season 9 (1989 - 1990) ~ Season 10 (1990 - 2003) |