Show: Columbo
The one-named Columbo—well, he must have had a first name, but nobody knows it, and it’s better that way—solved television crimes throughout the 1970s, and in other media before and after, starting with a made-for-TV movie called Prescription: Murder. The show distinguished itself in murder-mystery history for revealing the criminal at the beginning of the episode, and Columbo differentiated himself by solving the crimes despite his constant disheveled style and faked dimwittedness. Because of his ability to put suspects at ease and discover the cracks in their alibis, he always got the last zinger.
Case File: In the season-five classic “Now You See Him,” a Nazi-cum-magician commits a murder—but Columbo has his own tricks in store to solve the crime.
LIST: ALL-TIME 100 TV Shows