George Hamilton stars as Wade Anders, a successful host of a true crime TV series called "Crime Alert" who finds himself being blackmailed by the runner-up for the job called Budd Clarke(played by Peter Haskell) who has a videotape of an adult film Wade did long ago that he desperately wants to keep a secret, so rather than give in to his demands(resign as host, and see to it Budd is his replacement), Wade kills him by using poisoned cigarettes, but of course Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) finds discrepancies in the clues, so sets his sights on Wade as his prime suspect. Hamilton(making his second appearance) is smooth as the killer, though plot does ramble on a bit.
