I've seen clips, since it wasn't broadcast n many PBS stations, in the US, compared to other shows.  I have access to it, though.  I've seen more of Ronnie Barker on Open All Hours, since it was broadcast on A&E, when I was in college.  Back then, A&E was like a glorified cable version of a PBS station, and had a couple of nights devoted to British comedies, including Father, Dear Father; The Faint-Hearted Feminist (with Lynn Redgrave), Yes Minister, Last of the Summer Wine, Butterflies, Solo, and Black Adder (first two series, at that point).  Richard Beckinsale was featured on Rising Damp, also shown on A&E, at that point.

With our local PBS station showing Doctor in the House, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and one or two others, plus MTV showing the Young Ones and The Comic Strip, I was in Britcom heaven. Later, that same PBS station (the Univ of Illinois' station, WILL), would have weeknight showings of Are You Being Served? (it was Doctor Who, weeknights, when I was in high school and college), and weekends with others (including Keeping Up Appearances, The Thin Blue Line, May to December, Ever Decreasing Circles, The Good Life, Yes Minister 7 Yes Prime Minister, As Time Goes By and Red Dwarf,, on the weekends, then rotating in other shows.  In the early to mid 90s, Comedy Central showed Absolutely Fabulous and Drop The Dead Donkey, while Mr Bean was on HBO.  We also got The Vicar of Dibley, Bless Me Father, The Piglet Files, Mulberry, and a few more.  Bravo used to show A Bit of Fry & Laurie and French & Saunders, and PBS carried Jeeves & Wooster, as part of Masterpiece Theater (one of the few comedy series they ran on there, instead of drama shows).

I've been re-watching Columbo over the past few weeks (one episode a night) and recently I watched the season 3 episode, "Swan Song," featuring Johnny Cash as the murderer of the week. He plays a country/gospel singer who carries out a scheme to kill his controlling wife (played by Ida Lupino) and the young back-up singer who she has in the choir to keep him in line (under threat of a statutory rape charge, as Cash's character had a tryst with her when she was 16). I think it's one of my favorite, if not very favorite, episode of Columbo ever. It starts out with this concert scene...


...and just gets better from there. What makes it so enjoyable is Cash's bigger-than-life performance and the fact that he and Peter Falk have such great on-screen chemistry. It's particularly endearing when, during the course of the investigation and Columbo's repeated questioning, Cash's character starts calling him "Lil' Buddy."

That's a good one.  Lupino is also in the season 1 episode, "Short Fuse," playing the aunt of Roddy McDowell, my murders his uncle, who controls the family chemical company and is out to shut down McDowell's research division.  That's a great favorite, too.  Any of the ones with Patrick McGoohan are in my Top 10, but, particularly, "By Dawn's Early Light," where McGoohan is the commandant of a military college, who murders the founder to prevent the school from being opened to other students, icluding females, which he sees as lowering their standards.  McGoohan and Falk were always great together; but, McGoohan's character is really intriguing and plays off Columbo well.  Also features Bruno Kirby as one of the cadets, while his father, Bruce, is there as a police sergeant, which was a semi-regular role for him, in the later seasons.  My other big favorite is "Negative reaction," with Dick Van Dyke as a photographer who murders his wife and makes it look like a botched kidnapping, framing an ex-con for it.  The ending is one of the best, along with "Suitable for Framing."

Where he has a conversation with Vito Scotti, in one of his several appearances in the show.  The nun is Joyce Van Patten, a fixture of the 70s, along with her older brother Dick Van Patten, of Eight is Enough and Spaceballs fame.  And Weird Al's "Smells Like Nirvana" video.

The only episode I can think of that deviated from the basic formula of showing the killer, at the start, is "Last Salute to the Commodore," where we are somewhat misled, until the final reveal.

Fifty years ago today, the following TV shows debuted:

Police Woman
The Rockford Files

I saw a few episodes of The Rockford Files. It was my grandfather’s favourite show, and I believe it aired on the BBC. I did watch some with him.

I haven’t seen Police Woman.

Anyone here seen these?