This 90-minute Columbo episode casts Dick Van Dyke in the image-busting role of a cold-blooded murderer. Van Dyke plays a photographer who calmly shoots his hateful wife (Antoinette Bower) after binding her to a chair. He arranges the evidence to make it appear as though the wife had been kidnapped, and that her abductor/murderer was an ex-convict--who becomes Van Dyke's next victim. Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) gathers clues in his usual shambling, off-the-cuff fashion, allowing Van Dyke to trip himself up at episode's end. Negative Reaction was first telecast October 6, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi