When Columbo is viewing the closed circuit video tapes of the murder, they pause a moment right after the professor goes down. When they then fast forward, the body position is completely different, though the prof is supposedly dead and could not have moved.
The splattered blood on Rusk's windshield is present in the closeup view only but is missing in the long shot.
Shortly before the murder, the clock on the auditorium wall and Rowe's wristwatch display different times.
In the meeting with Justin Rowe's father, the father holds one of the victim's books in his left hand as he admonishes Columbo for not reading it. He's holding the book out toward Columbo with the binding side in his hand. The next camera angle shows Columbo taking the book from the father, but the book is turned in the opposite direction, with the binding side out.
While Columbo is visiting Mrs. Rusk, he walks towards her as she sits on the couch in the window. As he walks, his hands are visible and are empty. In the next shot, he has his notebook and pencil in his hands.
The woman from the TV station says a viewer recorded the murder video from a dish antenna. A dish picks up satellite signals. It is possible that someone could have inadvertently picked up the signal with a TV antenna but It certainly would not have been broadcast by satellite.
Robert Culp plays a defense attorney, Jordan Rowe. He says to Columbo, he and Columbo are in the same game, "you catch em, I try em," but a defense attorney wouldn't say he tries them, but instead defends them.
When recording the broadcast feed from a satellite station, the antenna type and carrier frequency can't match the one required for a wireless CCTV. They are incompatible systems. So it would have been impossible to intercept the CCTV signal this way. But a regular VHF or UHF antenna connected to a Beta or VHS VCR would have likely worked if on the same carrier frequency.
Vehicle description given to Columbo over the phone is stated as a 1976 Ford 2 door green. Vehicle shown is a c1969 Ford Falcon 2 door green.
Why didn't Coop remove the camera and firing device, it's been a week since the murder he had plenty of time to do so. UPDATE: They did. The set up seen at the end was done by the two "tech" guys that were helping Columbo in the garage.
When Cooper and Justin try to follow the professor out of the underground parking lot early in the episode they have to ask Joe Doyle to raise the barrier, delaying them following the professor. However, after the professor's murder, Justin drives the truck out of the parking lot quickly by simply pressing a button on the barrier.
When they are first playing back the security camera footage, it resumes normal speed before the button is pushed to take it out of "fast forward" mode.
In the final scene when Lt. Columbo is pointing out the rig containing the TV camera and .45 caliber 1911 pistol, the pistol is secured to the rig using cable/zip ties that wrap around the slide. This would have held the pistol securely in place; however, once fired, the recoil would have broken the cable/zip ties and surely done some damage to the rig and perhaps the hood of the truck.
When Columbo is talking to the Security Guard about the security cameras in the garage, the position of the two strands of his tie suddenly changes . At first one strand seems to be caught in his belt, and then both strands are together in the normal position.
When Sachs is talking to lieutenant Columbo on the walkie-talkie, his voice can be heard on the TV monitor but not through the walkie-talkie that Columbo is holding.
Professor Rusk tells Justin and Cooper that he is thinking of having them expelled from this University. They are not at a university. They are at Freemont college.
The tips of the main rotor blades of the filming helicopter can be seen at the top of the screen during the opening sequence.