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Columbo s2

The second season of Columbo originally aired from September 17, 1972 to March 25, 1973.

Episodes[]

No. in series No. in season Title Directed by Written by Runtime Original air date
10 1 Étude in Black Nicholas Colasanto Story by Richard Levison & William Link, Teleplay by Steven Bochco 98 minutes September 17, 1972
11 2 The Greenhouse Jungle Boris Sagal Jonathan Latimer 73 minutes October 15, 1972
12 3 The Most Crucial Game Jeremy Kagan John T. Dugan 73 minutes November 5, 1972
13 4 Dagger of the Mind Richard Quine Story by Richard Levison & William Link, Teleplay by Jackson Gillis 93 minutes November 26, 1972
14 5 Requiem for a Falling Star Richard Quine Jackson Gillis 73 minutes January 21, 1973
15 6 A Stitch in Crime Hy Averback Shirl Hendryx 73 minutes February 11, 1973
16 7 The Most Dangerous Match Edward M. Abroms Story by Richard Levison & William Link, Teleplay by Jackson Gillis 73 minutes March 4, 1973
17 8 Double Shock Robert Butler Story by Jackson Gillis, Richard Levison & William Link, Teleplay by Steven Bochco 73 minutes March 25, 1973

Behind the Scenes[]

  • Columbo's dog, a bassett hound he names Dog, is introduced in this season.
  • With his appearance in The Most Crucial Game, Robert Culp becomes the first actor to have played a Columbo killer more than once.
  • 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.
  • Rumours have abound for years that the season opener Étude in Black was not entirely directed by Nicholas Colasanto, but partially by Peter Falk and guest star John Cassavetes. This is allegedly because the episode was originally going to be 70 minutes but NBC decided late in the game to bulk it up to 98 minutes.
  • Also on that point, this is the first Columbo season to feature longer episodes. The previous season's episodes only ran to 70 minutes. The pilots, however, were two hours long.
  • At eight episodes, this season is one episode longer than Season 1. Only Season 3 was also eight episodes, tying them as the second-longest Columbo season.
  • Across those eight episodes, there are eleven murders committed.
  • This season features the first episode to take place outside of Los Angeles, California with Dagger of the Mind. The episode, set in London, was partially filmed on location and partially filmed in L.A..
  • Double Shock is the first episode of the series to truly twist the Columbo formula by making the identity of the murderer a mystery, as Norman Landau plays a pair of twin brothers both suspected of murder. This is the only episode of the entire show where the main guest star plays a dual role.
  • Speaking of, this is the first season to feature more than one killer in an episode. It is also one of the few to have more than one episode featuring multiple murderers, alongside Seasons 3 and 10.
  • This is the first season to feature more than one female murderer.
  • This is the first season where a guest director helmed more than one episode, in this case Richard Quine. He also achieves the feat of being the first director to have directed two consecutive episodes, not counting Richard Irving who directed the pilots.
  • Despite having both worked on multiple episodes of Season 1, this is the first time that Steven Bochco and Jackson Gillis actually shared a credit on a single episode for Double Shock.
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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