Columbo (season 10)

Wade Anders (George Hamilton) is a former security expert and host of the popular America's Most Wanted-esque crime show CrimeAlert. He gets an unexpected visit from his rival, chain-smoking newscaster Budd Clarke (Peter Haskell), whom he blocked from becoming CrimeAlert host. Clarke has a porn video starring a young Anders. He plans to go public with the tape unless Anders resigns from the show. Anders decides to kill him. He palms a pack of Clarke's cigarettes, which he doctors with a few drops of the alkaloid poison nicotine sulfate. Anders then twice visits his production office -- once that night and again the next morning -- so a surveillance tape there will show him at the office all day. Anders drives to Clarke's house, switches a cigarette pack for the poisoned pack, then makes it look like Clarke had a heart attack at his desk. The intellectually limited Anders makes some serious mistakes, making Columbo's job easy, and suggesting that Clarke would have made a superior crime show host.

Columbo attends the wedding of Andy Parma (Thomas Calabro), his police officer nephew. While Andy is showering, his wife Melissa Alexandra Hayes (Joanna Going), a fashion model, is abducted from the bridal suite. Andy enlists Columbo's help in unraveling the case. She has been kidnapped by Rudy Strassa (Daniel McDonald), a psychopath who intends to kill her once he consummates "their" marriage. Based on a story by Ed McBain (actually the 87th Precinct novel So Long As You Both Shall Live, though not credited as such). An uncharacteristically dark story, with little of the humor normally present, this is the only episode where no murder takes place and Columbo doesn't meet the criminal.

Wealthy socialite Lauren Staton (Faye Dunaway) and young Lisa Martin (Claudia Christian) kill their abusive two-timing lover Nick Franco (Armando Pucci). Lauren does it by going to Franco's apartment and shooting him. Lisa keeps the body warm for several hours with an electric blanket, then waits until Lauren returns with the building manager (Bill Macy). While they're knocking on the door, Lisa fires a shot into the air, then flees through the patio. Lauren takes all the heat from Columbo in order to protect Lisa, even going so far as to romance him. The viewer does not find out that Lauren is Lisa's mother until almost the end of the episode. Dunaway won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for this. This is the only episode written by Falk.

Cathleen Calvert (Shera Danese, in her sixth and final appearance) and her lover, crime scene investigator Patrick Kinsley (David Rasche), are weary of having to see each other on the sly, because she can't divorce her husband, Clifford (Barry Corbin), a wealthy businessman, due to their prenuptial agreement. So they scheme to get him out of the way by killing Howard Seltzer (Raye Birk), an investment broker who is suing him, then framing Clifford for the murder. To do so, Patrick drives to Seltzer's house and tricks Seltzer into letting him inside by claiming that his car phone has died and that he has an urgent call to make. Patrick then shoots Seltzer and plants evidence to suggest that Clifford was responsible. Columbo's work is cut out for him, because Patrick is on the team handling the investigation.

Hollywood film composer and conductor Findlay Crawford (Billy Connolly) has been mentor to a talented young composer, Gabriel McEnery (Chad Willett), who has been ghostwriting most of Crawford's work for the last few years. Gabe even penned Crawford's last movie score, which won an Oscar. Crawford realizes he will be ruined and ridiculed if it ever becomes known. Aware that Gabe practices on the roof of a studio building, Crawford plots his murder. He promises Gabe will get to conduct the orchestra during a concert based on Crawford's "own" movie scores. While giving a toast, Crawford drugs Gabe, then takes his body up to his rooftop rehearsal place, which happens to be atop a trapdoor to a freight elevator. He makes it look like Gabe was there rehearsing, With the concert about to begin, Crawford starts the freight elevator, then makes it into the concert hall in time to begin conducting before the elevator reaches the top. When the elevator doors open, Gabe's unconscious body is pushed over the side and falls to his death, landing in front of a late-arriving couple.

Los Angeles rave promoter Justin Price (Matthew Rhys) helps his girlfriend Vanessa (Jennifer Sky) get rid of the corpse of her ex-husband, mobster Tony Galper, who was backing Price's new club, after he drops dead in Vanessa's apartment. He disposes of the body for her but unknown to him, tabloid photographer Linwood Coben secretly photographs him getting rid of the body. He tells Price he can have the negatives and prints for $250,000 and Price agrees to pay him. They meet that evening but Price instead kills him and makes it look like a suicide.