Is it because he's always nailing smug weirdo rich fuckbags? Is it the peter falk hard carry? Is it because despite being canonically a cop he does anything but act like a cop?
Is everything downstream of columbo an attempt to erase his legacy as the hound of wealthy sociopaths?
Is Columbo a demigod?
Columbo is like sober-and-in-a-stable-marriage Harrier DuBois
OK, so he doesn't take off his pants to make a 3-foot jump when he could have just as easily climbed down like a normal jagoff anywhere in the course of the show, but you know what I mean.