Television series

Columbo

Name: Columbo
Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery
Released: 1968
Cast: Peter Falk

Columbo flips the whodunit inside out: you watch the murder happen in the first ten minutes, then spend ninety more watching a shambling, cigar-ashed lieutenant politely dismantle a rich, smug killer's alibi. It's less mystery than psychological siege — courteous, patient, deeply satisfying. Slow by modern standards, but the cat-and-mouse has never been better played.

TVMaze rating

8.0

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Poker Face2023

The direct spiritual heir — Natasha Lyonne's human lie detector works the same inverted structure, chasing killers you already know are guilty, with the same rumpled warmth Falk brought.

But Faster, jokier, and more visually restless than Columbo's patient long takes — it wants to entertain you, not just outwit you.

Monk2002

An obsessive, socially hopeless detective whose weirdness is actually the investigative superpower — gentle, funny, and oddly moving in the same underdog-outsmarts-the-room way.

But Broader comedy and more physical slapstick; the tone leans sitcom where Columbo stays dry and deadpan.

Knives Out2019

A whip-smart modern whodunit that openly loves the genre's old bones, with a rumpled, unglamorous detective quietly out-thinking a room full of wealthy suspects.

But Traditional structure — you don't know who did it until the end, the opposite of Columbo's reveal-first pleasure.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Crime and Punishment1935no page yet

Columbo's creators built the show on this exact structural idea — reveal the crime first, then watch the psychological siege — borrowed straight from Dostoevsky's novel of a killer unravelling under scrutiny.

Dostoevsky's novel is the actual literary ancestor of the 'inverted mystery' — we know Raskolnikov is guilty from page one and watch the noose of conscience and investigation tighten anyway.

But Heavier, slower, genuinely bleak — this is about guilt and moral collapse, not a comfortable weekly puzzle.

Murder, She Wrote1984

Cozy, warm, and absurdly bingeable, with a small-town charm that makes twelve seasons feel like visiting an old friend every week.

But Straight whodunit format with none of Columbo's cat-and-mouse tension — you're guessing, not watching someone squirm.

Jonathan Creek1997no page yet

British, clever, and stuffed with impossible locked-room puzzles solved by a scruffy oddball nobody takes seriously — until he is, again, completely right.

But More interested in the mechanics of the trick than the psychology of the killer, which is where Columbo actually lives.

The Rockford Files1974

Same era, same laconic charm, a PI who talks his way out of trouble instead of fighting his way out, with scripts as sharp as anything of its decade.

But More fistfights and cons than deductive unravelling — this is a private eye show, not a procedural chess match.

Death in Paradise2011

A fish-out-of-water detective bumbling through sun-drenched murders with real charm — comfort viewing that still respects the puzzle.

But Breezier and sunnier by design, missing the class-warfare bite that gives Columbo its edge.

Ironside1967no page yet

A contemporary of Columbo — a formidable, wheelchair-bound police chief running a tight, old-school procedural with real period texture.

But Standard whodunit pacing without the reveal-first structure that makes Columbo's episodes so distinctive.

Perry Mason1957

The granddaddy of televised legal mystery — meticulous, talky, satisfying courtroom unravellings that reward patience the way Columbo does.

But Courtroom-bound and dialogue-heavy; even slower and more procedural than Columbo, with none of the location variety.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst2015

Same dynamic as Columbo's interrogations — a wealthy, self-assured man talking himself into a corner in front of someone he underestimates — except here nobody's acting.

A real documentary filmmaker politely, patiently interviews a real suspected murderer over years, and the accused's own arrogance does the rest — it's Columbo's cat-and-mouse played for actual stakes.

But No script, no tidy resolution in the fictional sense — it's true crime, and the discomfort is real, not entertainment-shaped.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst poster

Death Note2006

Strips Columbo's central engine — audience and detective both know the killer's identity, and the drama is entirely in watching the trap close — down to its purest form, in a wildly different genre.

An anime chess match between a genius killer and the detective hunting him, each fully aware of the other's game — pure structural cousin of Columbo, dressed in supernatural thriller clothes.

But Animated, serialized, and much darker in tone — a real leap in format and genre for anyone expecting rumpled trench coats.