Both Steven Spielberg and Jonathan Demme cut their teeth on Columbo. This is a particularly good episode that sports not only Demme directing but an excellent script by Robert Van Scoyck, an award winning writer who wrote episodes for Columbo, Ellery Queen, Banacek, and other shows.
Louis Jourdan is the murderer du jour in this one, playing a blackmailing restaurant reviewer who collects big time from some of the local establishments, owned by France Nuyen, Michael Gazzo, and others, in return for good TV reviews. Shera Danese, Falk's then new wife, plays Jourdan's associate, who's in love with him but isn't getting very far. One of the restaurant owners has had enough and threatens to expose Jourdan, so he poisons him over dinner. Columbo pegs Jourdan within minutes of getting to the scene. At this writing, the dialogue at the end of the show is on the home page for this episode, and I hope it's removed. We all know who did it, but learning how Columbo reached his conclusion is a lot of the fun.
It's a strange thing about these shows. When you see them as often as I have, you realize that a lot of the shows are based on the same formula: successful man using a woman accomplice with the promise of love unlimited, and yet the shows are presented in such an interesting way that they're not tired. This is a particularly good one, and you'll love Columbo eating his way through restaurant after restaurant while questioning people, and his conversation in Italian with an employee. Basta!