Continuity mistake: At the very end Fleming sees the dead body of his girlfriend being hoisted onto a gurney - she is soaking wet, having been hauled out of the swimming pool. Later we see it is a policewoman acting as a stand-in in order to fool him into talking - and after a few minutes under a blanket on the gurney she, her bikini, and her hair are all bone dry. Not only that, her hair looks like it has just been styled and her makeup is perfect.
Columbo: Prescription Murder (1968)
Directed by: Richard Irving
Starring: Peter Falk, Gene Barry, William Windom, Katherine Justice
Character mistake: After Fleming has murdered his wife, he warns his girlfriend not to touch anything in the apartment, but he hands her a drink which he already prepared for her. At his direction she also makes a telephone call, holding the receiver with a cloth he hands her, but dialling the number with her bare fingers. On top of that, he hands her a pair of gloves after she has made the call - she would have touched or handled all sorts of things in the room by then. Why didn't he hand her the gloves as soon as she stepped in the room?
Revealing mistake: Just after the scene where the doctor asks Columbo to switch off the light before leaving, the detective does so, but it can be seen that both light switches are down before he does this, and that they are still both in the down position after he "switches off" the light.
Trivia: The first choice for actors to play Colombo was Bing Crosby.
Lt. Columbo: There must be something wrong with me. I seem to bother people, to make them nervous.
Dr. Ray Flemming: They expect me to be on call at all hours.
Lt. Columbo: Same with me, Doctor.
Lt. Columbo: I think I'm too suspicious. I don't trust people, that's my trouble.
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Suggested correction: This is a subtle hint that Fleming is preparing to frame his girlfriend for the murder. He would admit to having an affair with her (not a crime) but is going to deny any involvement in his wife's murder. (SPOLER ALERT!) Later he makes it clear that his girlfriend meant nothing to him and he didn't care that she had committed suicide (or so he thought).
Nowhere in the episode is this sub-plot explored or even mentioned.
Not only that, but the idea he was going to subtly frame his girlfriend doesn't make sense because he used her to establish his alibi. He tried to make it look like she was killed by an random intruder.
Bishop73