Peter Falk didn't want it. The fans didn't really ask for it. Yet, in 1979, NBC decided that the wife of the world’s most famous rumpled detective needed her own spotlight. Mrs. Columbo is one of those bizarre artifacts of 1970s television that feels like a fever dream when you look back at it. It wasn't just a spin-off; it was a desperate attempt to keep a brand alive while the main star was busy trying to do movies. You've probably seen the reruns or heard the trivia, but the actual history of this show is a mess of identity crises and name changes.
Basically, the network was in trouble. Fred Silverman, the legendary executive who had moved from ABC to NBC, needed a hit. Since Columbo had been a massive pillar of the NBC Mystery Movie rotation for years, the logic seemed sound on paper: take the unseen wife the Lieutenant always talked about and give her a show. They cast Kate Mulgrew—long before she was Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager—as Kate Columbo. She was 23 playing 35. It was weird.
The Problem with Casting Kate Columbo
The age gap was the first red flag. In the original series, Lieutenant Columbo’s wife was implied to be a middle-aged woman who shared his lifestyle and quirks. Casting a young, vibrant Kate Mulgrew created an immediate disconnect. Fans of the original show couldn't reconcile this energetic young mother with the "Mrs. C" who supposedly entered bowling tournaments and obsessed over recipes.
Kate Columbo lived in a modest suburban house with her daughter, Jenny. She worked as a freelance journalist for a small weekly newspaper, the Valley Advocate. This gave her a reason to poke her nose into murder mysteries, much like her husband. But the show lacked the "inverted mystery" format that made the original show a masterpiece. Instead of seeing the crime first and watching the detective play cat-and-mouse, we mostly got a standard "whodunnit." It felt generic.
Honestly, the show felt like it was apologizing for itself from the start. Peter Falk was famously vocal about his distaste for the project. He felt it cheapened the character of the Lieutenant by making his "unseen wife" a visible, tangible person. The magic of Mrs. Columbo in the original series was that she was a reflection of the Lieutenant’s personality—a ghost in the machine. By putting her on screen, NBC killed the mystery.
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A Show with an Identity Crisis
The ratings were, to put it mildly, not great. But instead of just canceling it, NBC panicked and started changing everything. This is where the Mrs. Columbo TV series history gets truly confusing for modern streamers and DVD collectors.
After the first few episodes, they realized the Columbo connection was actually hurting them because fans of the original hated the continuity errors. So, they changed the name of the show. And then they changed it again.
- It started as Mrs. Columbo.
- It became Kate Columbo.
- It shifted to Kate the Detective.
- It finally landed on Kate Loves a Mystery.
They even tried to divorce her from the Lieutenant. They had the character get a divorce from an "unseen husband" (who we were supposed to assume was the detective) and she went back to her maiden name, Kate Callahan. They literally tried to retcon the show while it was still airing. It’s a level of network meddling that you just don't see as much anymore. They even changed the car. She stopped driving the beat-up car that resembled her husband’s and got something more "suburban mom."
Why It Failed (But Why Mulgrew Succeeded)
The failure wasn't Kate Mulgrew’s fault. She was actually quite good. She brought a sharp, inquisitive energy to the role that hinted at the powerhouse actress she would become. The scripts, however, were often thin. The villains weren't the high-society elites that the Lieutenant used to take down. Instead, they were more mundane, "TV-movie-of-the-week" types.
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The producers—including Richard Alan Simmons—tried to keep the spirit of the mystery alive, but the shadow of Peter Falk was too long. You can't have a show called Mrs. Columbo and not have the Lieutenant show up. He never did. Not once. Not even a cameo. The closest we got was a dog that looked like "Dog" from the original series.
The Erasure from Canon
When Peter Falk finally returned for the Columbo revival on ABC in 1989, the creators of the show made a very specific choice: they ignored the spin-off entirely. They treated it as if the Mrs. Columbo TV series had happened in a parallel universe. In the new movies, the Lieutenant still talked about his wife as if they were happily married and had been together for decades.
This effectively erased Kate Mulgrew’s character from the official lore. If you ask a hardcore Columbo fan today, they’ll tell you that the spin-off isn't canon. It’s a "what if" scenario that went on for thirteen episodes.
Interestingly, there’s a bit of a cult following now. People look back at the show as a fascinating failure of 70s television marketing. It’s a time capsule of a specific era of network desperation. The show featured some solid guest stars, too, like Donald Pleasence and Robert Loggia, which makes the episodes watchable even if the premise is shaky.
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Finding the Show Today
If you're trying to track down the Mrs. Columbo TV series today, it’s a bit of a hunt. It rarely gets syndicated because of the confusing branding. Most DVD releases of Columbo don't include it, though some "Complete Series" sets have included the pilot or a few episodes as "bonus features." It’s treated more like a historical curiosity than a legitimate part of the franchise.
The show eventually ended in 1980. It didn't leave a legacy of great mystery writing, but it did prove one thing: some characters are better left to the imagination. The Lieutenant’s wife was a perfect character specifically because we never saw her. She was whatever we imagined her to be. By making her a 23-year-old journalist in the San Fernando Valley, the mystery was solved, and the answer was "she’s just another TV lead."
How to Approach This Relic of TV History
If you're a fan of 70s detective shows or Kate Mulgrew, the series is worth a look for the kitsch factor alone. But don't go in expecting the genius of the original Columbo.
- Watch the pilot episode "Word Games" first. It’s the strongest of the bunch and actually tries to maintain the link to the original series before the renaming madness began.
- Look for the guest stars. Part of the fun of these old shows is seeing famous faces before they were huge or legendary actors picking up a paycheck.
- Ignore the timeline. If you try to make the show fit into the Peter Falk timeline, your head will hurt. Treat it as a standalone series about a woman named Kate who happens to be good at solving crimes.
- Check niche streaming services. While it's rarely on the big platforms like Netflix, it occasionally pops up on services like IMDb TV (Freevee) or specialized retro channels like MeTV or Cozi TV.
The real value of the show today is as a lesson in Hollywood branding. It shows that even a massive "IP" (Intellectual Property) can't save a show if the core premise undermines what made the original special.