The television series Columbo started out as a TV movie in 1968 and later in 1971 the second TV movie aired. In that same year, Columbo aired as a television series. The series is a mystery drama that revolves around Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk). Columbo is a well respected LAPD homicide detective, who has a unique way of solving crimes. Unlike many others, he has the ability to see things in a crime scene that others miss. The series is one of my favorite mysteries. It is riveting, gripping, and entertaining. For more details about this show please refer to DVD Talk's reviews of season one, season two, and season three.

Season four of Columbo may only come with six episodes, but they are darn good episodes. All of the things that made the first three seasons so exciting, intriguing, and gripping return in season four. Peter Falk's portrayal of Columbo is outstanding and the six episodes in season four reflect how great his performance is, as well as how well the stories are written.

The season begins with "An Exercise in Fatality". In this episode, Columbo almost meets his match. A shrewd business man, Milo Janus (Robert Conrad) murders a business partner and almost too perfectly covers his tracks. It gets to the point where he is rubbing it in Columbo's face and he can't do a thing about it. How Columbo brings it together in the end to take Janus down is beyond words. "An Exercise in Fatality" was easily my favorite episode this season.

The next episode "Negative Reaction" features a high class photographer named Paul Galesco (Dick Van Dyke) murdering his wife and leaving an almost too perfect trial leading to an ex-con. The near perfection of the evidence leads Columbo to believe something is amiss.

"By Dawn's Early Light" is another episode where the killer's almost perfect murder is spoiled by Columbo. In it, Colonel Lyle Rumford, commandant of Haynes Military Academy, kills the chairman of the board who was planning on turning the military school into a coed community college. To the naked eye the murder was a simple accident, but Columbo finds enough clues and invariance's to uncover the truth.

In the next episode "Troubled Waters" Columbo solves a murder while on vacation. Mrs. Columbo, who we never see, won tickets for two on a luxury cruise. The episode lies on the comical side in the beginning, as Columbo can't seem to find his wife on the big ship! Once the cruise gets underway, a lounge singer is murdered. Luckily for the crew, LAPD's finest detective is on board and Columbo, without the help of 1970s modern forensics manages to use several techniques to help him uncover the murderous plot that no regular detective could ever fully capture. Robert Vaughn plays the bad guy in this episode and his performance as a villain is tremendously good. The episode also features a young version of Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap).

In the second to last episode of season four, "Playback", the president of an electronics company is about to fired by his spiteful mother-in-law. In order to keep his standing within the company, he kills the mother-in-law and manipulates the mansion's closed circuit television surveillance system to make it look like the murdered occurred at a later time then it really did. What is a more perfect alibi than separation of time and space?

The season finale "A Deadly State of Mind" takes a different approach than past episodes. The past episodes before this one have involved some very methodical and thorough murders. However this episode features a murder that was planned at the last minute, but the cover up was still meticulous. George Hamilton stars as the devilish Dr. Collier, a psychiatrist with a lot to hide. When the husband of a patient reveals he knows about their love affair, Collier kills him in passion and convinces the instable widow to lie to the police.

Overall I was more than happy with this season of Columbo. Each episode is very exciting and you will be cheering Falk on as he unravels the necessary clues to shut down the bad guys.

Episode Guide
1. An Exercise in Fatality
2. Negative Reaction
3. By Dawn's Early Light
4. Troubled Waters
5. Playback
6. A Deadly State of Mind

The DVD
For this season, Universal did not use DVD-18s (dual-sided, dual-layered discs). Instead DVD-9s (dual-layered discs) are used. The set comes with three discs and the six episodes evenly spread across. The packaging is also different. Instead of regular sized DVD cases, slim pack cases are used. I like the slimmer packaging a lot better and not having DVD-18s is great.

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality is good considering its age. The image is a bit soft at times. For the most part, it looks good with a slight grain and no noticeable issues attributed with video compression.

Audio:
The audio in this release is in English 2.0 Dolby digital mono. The quality is quite good. The audio is fairly flat, which is due the show being dialogue driven and the mono track offers very little in terms of dynamics. This release also supports closed captioning and has subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.

Extras:
Similar to the third season release, a bonus episode for Mrs. Columbo is included. The spin-off series stars Kathryn Mulgrew and has her solving crimes, just as her husband Columbo, by seeing the small flaws in a crime. I think it's nice they included the episode. In a way it has its charm, but it does not compare to the likeness of Columbo.

Final Thoughts:
Like past seasons of Columbo, season four is a lot of fun. Falk continues to give a riveting performance as Columbo. In addition the supporting cast is usually filled quite well and actors like Dick Van Dyke and George Hamilton make some great villains. In the end, Columbo: The Complete Fourth Season is a great addition to a great series. Highly recommended.