It was created and produced by Richard Alan Simmons and Universal Television for NBC, and stars Kate Mulgrew as a news reporter helping to solve crimes while raising her daughter.

After poor ratings and reception from both audiences and the original producers of Columbo, both the series and the eponymous character herself were renamed in an attempt to change direction, but this did not help ratings and the series ended with a run of just 13 episodes.

[1] Levinson and Link further objected to Silverman's insistence on casting someone young to play the part; Kate Mulgrew was only 24 years old when the show made its debut.

[3] The revamped series also introduced the character Sergeant Mike Varrick of the Valley Municipal Police Department, played by Don Stroud.

Peter Falk expressed his disapproval of the spin-off, calling it a "bad idea" and "disgraceful".