From the moment he shuffled onto television screens in a rumpled raincoat, cigar dangling from his fingers, Columbo-in the ...

Lieutenant Columbo, played with average Joe charm and unshowy, easy-to-miss dexterity by Peter Falk, is more than meets the eye — to the bad guys, not us, because we know how things will turn out.

We're in a new golden age of television, but between rubbery pirates, ruthless family succession struggles, and dark superhero romps, nothing compares to Columbo, right? Peter Falk's cigar-chomping ...