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Columbo s3

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
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)

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