与同类型刑侦剧惯用的强刺激声画或对白密度相比，《神探可伦坡》呈现出一种稀缺的“生活流”张力。它摒弃了煽情与肤浅的感官刺激，专治那些自以为是的高智商罪犯，适合喜欢细腻心理刻画与抽丝剥茧式推理的观众，是一部能让大脑在舒适区里保持高度紧张的经典神剧。里卡多·蒙特尔班那场与帕特里克·麦高汉的戏尤为精彩，反派在被“纠缠”到最后时刻的崩溃，被演员处理得极具张力。这是一场长达一小时的心理博弈，观众不再是旁观者，而是需要像法尔克一样去“找茬”。如果你厌倦了肾上腺素飙升的暴力猎奇，这季剧集那种如剥洋葱般层层深入、抽丝剥茧的推理过程，无疑是更高级的思维享受。相比同类型剧集的强冲突与快节奏，这里更胜在“慢”。

Many criminals made the mistake of underestimating Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide investigator with a crumpled trench-coat and a beat-up car, who certainly acted as an incompetent bumbler.　　But he was so polite to every suspect, and he talked so much about his wife (who we never got to see on any episode, but who many believe later had her own show, starring Kate Mulgrew, later of Star Trek Voyager fame) that he lulled even the shrewdest murderer into a false sense of security.　　And although the audience had witnessed the murder in the beginning of each episode, it was still a surprise to see what mistakes the killers had made during the seemingly perfect murder.