Columbo (season 2)

Columbo (season 2)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	8
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 17, 1972 – March 25, 1973

This is a list of episodes from the second season of Columbo.

Broadcast history

The season originally aired Sundays at 8:30-10:00 pm (EST) as part of The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie.

DVD release

The season was released on DVD by Universal Home Video.

Episodes

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Runtime	Original air date
10	1	"Étude in Black"	Nicholas Colasanto	Teleplay: Steven Bochco Story: Richard Levinson & William Link	98 minutes	September 17, 1972
Alex Benedict (John Cassavetes), the married conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, murders his mistress, Jennifer Welles (Anjanette Comer), after she insists on going public with their affair, and tries to make it look like a suicide. Columbo searches for clues to place Benedict at the murder scene. Blythe Danner and Myrna Loy guest star as Benedict's wealthy wife and mother-in-law, respectively. Pat Morita cameos in one scene as Benedict's butler. (During filming Danner was pregnant with her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow, who was born ten days after this episode aired.). This episode was directed by Nicholas Colasanto, who later became known for his role as Coach in Cheers.
11	2	"The Greenhouse Jungle"	Boris Sagal	Jonathan Latimer	73 minutes	October 15, 1972
Jarvis Goodland (Ray Milland) and his nephew, Tony (Bradford Dillman), stage Tony's kidnapping in order to break his trust fund, but Jarvis shoots and kills Tony once the ransom is paid, and a careful swapping of guns with Tony's philandering wife casts suspicion in her direction. Gloria, the mistress of murder victim Tony Goodland is played by Arlene Martel, famous for playing Spock's wife in the Star Trek Episode "Amok Time". This episode marks the first appearance of Bob Dishy as Columbo's newly assigned and totally unwanted neophyte partner, full of the latest techniques from Berkeley. He appears again in Now You See Him... (Season 5, Episode 5) It is also the first episode in which the main crime is committed after Columbo's initial appearance.
12	3	"The Most Crucial Game"	Jeremy Kagan	John T. Dugan	73 minutes	November 5, 1972
Paul Hanlon (Robert Culp), the general manager of the Los Angeles Rockets football team, wants to create a sports empire, but Eric Wagner (Dean Stockwell), who inherited the team, lacks ambition. Hanlon sneaks out of the stadium during the national anthem by disguising himself as a Ding-A-Ling ice cream truck driver. He drives to a pay phone near Eric's house, knowing Eric's phones have been bugged, during which Hanlon makes it seem like he's in his private box at the stadium by holding a radio to the receiver. He then drives to Eric's house, kills him with a block of ice in his swimming pool, then makes it look like a diving accident. Valerie Harper plays Eve Babcock, an operative placed in Eric's home as a secretary by a private detective (Val Avery). Dean Jagger plays Eric's attorney, Walter Cannell, who hired the private detective.
13	4	"Dagger of the Mind"	Richard Quine	Teleplay: Jackson Gillis Story: Richard Levinson & William Link	93 minutes	November 26, 1972
When Sir Roger Haversham (John Williams) realizes that actors Nicholas Framer (Richard Basehart) and his wife, Lillian Stanhope (Honor Blackman), have manipulated him into backing their theater production, he confronts the couple, and is accidentally killed during the ensuing scuffle. The pair cover up the murder by stuffing the body into a trunk, taking it home to his estate, and staging an apparent fall down the stairs. Columbo is visiting London to study British police techniques as the guest of Scotland Yard Detective Chief Superintendent William Durk (Bernard Fox), who stops by the estate to investigate the incident. Wilfrid Hyde-White is type-cast as the butler. Sharon Johansen played Miss Dudley, an attractive young understudy. The first to feature locations outside the US, this episode was filmed in both London and Hollywood.
14	5	"Requiem for a Falling Star"	Richard Quine	Jackson Gillis	73 minutes	January 21, 1973
Jean Davis (Pippa Scott), personal assistant to aging movie star Nora Chandler (Anne Baxter), is marrying gossip reporter Jerry Parks (Mel Ferrer), who has secret information about Chandler. One night Nora empties the tire of Jean's car, so they have to switch vehicles, Chandler starts a gasoline fire just as Parks's car pulls into his garage being driven by Davis. So it would look like the assassin was after Jerry Parks when in reality the intention was to kill Jean. Columbo solves the case after connecting it to the mysterious disappearance of Chandler's husband a decade earlier. Kevin McCarthy appears as a physician and friend of Chandler, with Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head having a cameo as herself.
15	6	"A Stitch in Crime"	Hy Averback	Shirl Hendryx	73 minutes	February 11, 1973
Cardiac surgeon Dr. Barry Mayfield (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. Edmund Hidemann (Will Geer) have pioneered a major medical breakthrough that Mayfield wants to publish immediately, but Hidemann wants to continue testing. When Dr. Hidemann's heart condition worsens, requiring the insertion of a heart valve, Mayfield performs the surgery and plans to kill his partner by placing dissolving sutures in his heart. After their nurse, Sharon Martin (Anne Francis), discovers the plot, Mayfield kills her, and stages a mugging to pin the crime on her drug addict ex-boyfriend. This episode contains a rare scene of Columbo losing his temper, as well as Nimoy, well-known for playing the always-in-control Mr. Spock.
16	7	"The Most Dangerous Match"	Edward M. Abroms	Teleplay: Jackson Gillis Story: Jackson Gillis and Richard Levinson & William Link	73 minutes	March 4, 1973
When chess Grandmaster Emmett Clayton (Laurence Harvey) loses an impromptu game to Eastern European champion Tomlin Dudek (Jack Kruschen) the night before their championship match, Clayton decides to kill Dudek. The hearing impaired Clayton shoves him into a garbage grinder in the basement, but because of a malfunctioning hearing aid, he doesn't realize that the grinder automatically shuts itself off when anything big falls into it. Dudek survives and now Clayton schemes to poison his rival in the hospital before he can regain consciousness. Heidi Brühl plays Linda Robinson, who follows in her mother's footsteps in looking after Dudek. Lloyd Bochner plays Dudek's accompanying coach, Mazoor Berozski. Columbo regular Mathias Reitz plays Dudek's valet, Anton.
17	8	"Double Shock"	Robert Butler	Teleplay: Steven Bochco Story: Jackson Gillis and Richard Levinson & William Link	73 minutes	March 25, 1973
Flamboyant television chef Dexter Paris and his twin brother, conservative banker Norman (both played by Martin Landau), are supposedly not talking to one another. But both disapprove that their uncle Clifford Paris (Paul Stewart) has become engaged to Lisa Chambers (Julie Newmar), who is young enough to be his granddaughter. They kill him by dropping an electric mixer into the bathtub while Clifford is bathing, electrocuting him. They move the body and make it look like he had a heart attack while using an exercise bike. Clifford's lawyer, Michael Hathaway (Tim O'Connor) reveals that a new will exists, one he's willing to "lose" for a price. However, Chambers also has a copy, requiring her to be eliminated. Unlike most Columbo episodes, this has a whodunit element in that it is not made clear which brother was the murderer until the end of the episode. Indeed, each brother "helpfully" explains to Columbo the motives that the other one has to kill their uncle. Dabney Coleman plays Columbo's colleague, Detective Murray. Jeanette Nolan plays Mrs. Peck, a fastidious housekeeper who makes Columbo's life a living hell, complaining very loudly about the "terrible mess" he is making in her house.