5/5 The Great Detective!
  by Arta Marta Kski (Los Angeles, CA)
Will there ever be another Columbo? I don't think so. This mystery movie collection is done as well as any other of the Columbo episodes and seasons. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to add this classic collection to their DVD collection. I never get tired of watching the episodes over on a regular basis.

5/5 item arrived in fine shape
  by M. Bernasek (Lincoln, Nebraska United States)
it took about two weeks to arrive but I chose the cheapest form of shipping

2/5 Columbo: the Parodies--Plus One
  by Carolyn Paetow (Proctorville, OH United States)
The original Columbo series was about a brilliant detective with amazing powers of intuition and deductive reasoning. He exaggerated his unpolished demeanor in order to bamboozle arrogant suspects and place rattled witnesses at ease. His sloppy attire and beaten-up old auto put overconfident murderers off guard. More than one character thought he was undercover. And, in a way, he was.
In these 1989 episodes (excepting Grand Deception with Robert Foxworth) he comes off as more of a buffoon than a savvy pretender. In the 70's series, he methodically went about his work, needling and wheedling, at times employing rhetorical roughness, occasionally losing his finely tuned temper. In most of the programs in this set, however, it's as though the writers have taken his fake veneer and presented it as the real Columbo. He pointlessly plays the tuba and marches with a group of children. He runs slapstickishly through an office building, overturning trash cans, yelling at a cleaning lady who obviously understands no English and bellows back at him in Russian. He stages theatrical stunts to deliver the coup de grace to arrestees. Much of these antics were probably plot devices to beat in time for these movie-length special episodes, but their inclusion cheapens the Columbo character and causes pathetic digressions in the storyline. In fact, watching Columbo act like a clown for no good reason can be downright disconcerting!
The original series had star-quality actors and snappy pacing. After the initiation of the crime, the emphasis was on Columbo. In this set, he's often like a bumbling old hobo who stumbles into the action and almost accidentally solves the murders. Some of the villains make such stupid blunders that the original Columbo could have nailed them halfway through the programs--which he of course would have had the episodes been made to fill a one-hour time slot. Like television in general, these late 80's shows exhibit the profound decline in quality that has resulted in the cultural wasteland of the present day.

5/5 Thank you very much!
  by Marty Gillis (Los Angeles, CA USA)
After reading a few reviews complaining of poor video quality I was happy to see the quality of this set is as good as any of the original seasons shown on NBC were. Not only that but I am getting stereo sound that translates very well into surround using my Pro Logic 2 decoder mode.

These programs not only bring back our favorite police Lt. but the producers (Peter Falk among them) also brought back many of the mainstays from the original 7 seasons in the categories of music, direction and production staff. All these things work well together to bring back some of the 'feel' of the original series. We even get Leo Penn directing the first movie in this series, and he was of course responsible for what is arguably the most favored Columbo of all time "Any Old Port in a Storm" and another great episode, "The Conspirators" ... ( "This far, and no farther")

The main difference that I can see is the casts may not be as 'star studded' but they still feature fine actors and Peter Falk is as great as ever, driving that same car, wearing that same awful suit and smoking those cheap cigars. Columbo is famous for saying "Just One More Thing" but in reality the phrase he uses more than ANY other during the entire run of Columbo is "Thank You Very Much" .. Columbo is a VERY polite man and I'll be darned if he didn't say "Thank You Very Much" within the first 2 minutes of his first appearance in this set. Do yourself a favor and add this set to your Columbo collection. And to the great Peter Falk, Thank YOU very much!

3/5 Columbo 1989
  by Anthony Green (Wilmette, Illinois)
All three discs are in good shape and play well.
The box is a bit scruffed.