Columbo

Short Fuse - S1-E7

Continuity mistake: While riding in a chauffeur-driven car, Mr. Buckner wants to smoke a cigar. He picks up a wooden cigar box. The lid is secured by two pieces of black tape. He peels up one piece of tape. After a close-up of his face is shown, he peels up the second piece of tape and the first piece is now back in its original position across the lid.

By Dawn's Early Light - S4-E3

Continuity mistake: Columbo is eating with the commandant of a military academy. Columbo has carrots on his plate, among other things. A few shots later, the carrots have been replaced with beans. The next time the plate is seen, it has carrots on it again. Later on in the same scene, the beans are back. Finally, at the end of the scene, there is a longer shot as the commandant is leaving the table, and where the vegetables were there is now something that looks like meat. (00:36:05 - 00:42:45)

paolog

Short Fuse - S1-E7

Continuity mistake: In the cable car climax, Roger opens the cable car door to throw out the cigars. Then while he is scrabbling on the floor, and there is dialogue, the doors are shut. Then, at the end, the doors are open again.

Dead Weight - S1-E4

Continuity mistake: Helen Stewart and her mother are boating in the harbor and are about to pass a small island. A Marine colonel goes to the nearby home of a retired general to inform him that he is under investigation for cost overruns on a government contract, Fearing that the colonel will implicate him, the general shoots and kills him near a window. Helen is looking toward the home and witnesses the shooting. She tells her mother, "We have to go back." The boat is in the same position it was in five minutes earlier.

Make Me a Perfect Murder - S7-E3

Continuity mistake: When Kay retrieves the gun from the elevator ceiling, they switch shots several time looking up at the ceiling and down from the ceiling. In one shot looking up, the barrel and grip of the gun are over the edge of the ceiling tile. In the next down shot, just the barrel is near the edge and the grip is inches away. Back to an up shot and the gun returns to barrel and grip over the edge.

Murder by the Book - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: The witness dunks the strawberry in the white sauce while talking. We cut to a view in front of her, and the dialog continues but suddenly the strawberry is half-eaten. When did she take that bite? (00:41:40)

Ransom for a Dead Man - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: When Columbo is eating his chili in the booth at the diner, whilst talking to the daughter of the murderer, his bowl of chili moves. It is right in front of him at one point but is then away from him. And it now contains less food.

Short Fuse - S1-E7

Continuity mistake: When Buckner's car leaves the chemical plant, it's a stretch limo with three bench seats. When it explodes on the mountain road a few scenes later, it's only a two-seat limo. (Buckner, who was initially in the distant rear seat, is suddenly close enough to reach up and take the cigar box the chauffeur hands him from the front seat. The entire middle section of the limo has disappeared.) (00:13:40 - 00:15:30)

Jean G

Étude in Black - S2-E1

Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the episode when Columbo is about to expose the killer he asks the conductor and his wife to adjourn to the recording studio from the stage. When his wife walks off the stage she has one hairstyle, but when she enters the recording studio she has a completely different hairstyle.

Ransom for a Dead Man - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: When Columbo and the woman have finished flying in the light aircraft, she taxis the aircraft back and shuts down the engine. There isn't much to see behind the aircraft at this point, but when Columbo and the woman get out (in the immediate next shot) there are two rather large buildings/hangars which have magically appeared right behind the aircraft. Plus the aircraft propeller has changed to a more horizontal position.

Murder by the Book - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: The insurance agent has a complete hot dog in his hand while Columbo talks. When we cut to a view over his shoulder, Columbo's sentence continues but the agent is suddenly chewing. When did he take that bite? (00:36:20)

Death Hits the Jackpot - S11-E1

Continuity mistake: After Lamarr takes off Freddy's undershirt we see the level of the water in the bathtub. Then he drags Freddy over to the tub and breaks his watch. At that time the water level is lower than it was before, even though the water was still running.

Leicaman

Dagger of the Mind - S2-E4

Continuity mistake: When Columbo takes the whiskey decanter out of the murdered man's liquor cabinet, he puts his cigar in his mouth with his right hand and opens the bottle with the same hand. A second later, the shot changes to a closeup of him sniffing the contents and the cigar is back in his hand. (00:28:55)

Captain Defenestrator

The Conspirators - S7-E5

Factual error: Devlin proclaims himself to be a staunch Irish Republican but he refers to the Northern Irish city of Derry as "Londonderry." This is the name imposed upon the place by the British and is despised and rejected by Republicans. Devlin would refer to the city as "Derry."

More mistakes in Columbo

Columbo: Oh, I didn't come to ask any more questions. I came to arrest you.

More quotes from Columbo

A Deadly State of Mind - S4-E6

Trivia: Unusually enough for a television show devoted to a homicide detective and the way he unravels the plans of cunning murderers, the fact is that Columbo has nothing to do in this episode. Doctor Collier is seriously assaulted by Carl Donner who then goes on to violently attack his wife. Use of deadly force to prevent such an attack is allowed in the United States. Collier does not commit murder; he doesn't even commit a crime. You'd think such a hightly educated man would know enough to keep his head, call the police and explain what had happened. He wouldn't even be charged.

More trivia for Columbo

Answer: "Apparent" drowning answers your question - things are not always as they seem. Drowning could be accidental, but it could also be a murder in disguise. Moreover, the actual cause of death has not yet been determined - accident, suicide, murder, or natural cause (e.g, heart attack while swimming). Columbo would be there to investigate if anything looks unusual for it to be a mere drowning or if there is evidence or suspicion of something else.

KeyZOid

This was just on TMZ.com's "Aaron Carter Dead at 34" (11/05/2022): "Law enforcement sources tell TMZ... homicide detectives have been dispatched to the scene but we have no information or evidence of foul play. It's standard operating procedure for homicide detectives to investigate such [drowning] death scenes."

KeyZOid

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