Before there were any X-Files … Carl Kolchak was on the case in Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
Darren McGavin played Carl Kolchak, a disreputable “investigative reporter” of the sort you’d expect to be reporting for the Weekly World News. Considered a pest by the police and barely tolerated by his boss, he continued to check out and report on various weird doings about Chicago — with the twist, of course, that they were real. Vampires, rogue robots, aliens, black witches, ghostly knights, pagan sacrificers, monsters … Karl approached each story with a Scully-like skepticism that would eventually morph into desperate action when he was the only one who believed that the threat of the week was real — and usually, by that time, aiming at him.
(The series title was an odd combo of the title character’s name (the standard 70s way to name a show) with the title of the original TV movie he piloted in (the “Night Stalker” was a vampire, as I recall).)
The show holds up pretty well thirty years later (gads). The fx, such as they are, are crude, but there’s plenty of violence each ep, threatened and just-off-screen, and horror to go with it, with screams from both male and female throats and a sizeable body count (often in the first fifteen minutes or so, voice-over reported by Kolchak as he records notes for his story). McGavin himself does the reluctant hero well, the cynic with a heart of gold. While there were bits of conspiracy theory at times, the main problem Kolchak faced was the unwillingness of people to believe, even in the face of proof that had convinced him.
The main titles were always a favorite of mine, starting with Kolchak whistling as he casually enters the darkened news room to write up his story, tossing his ever-present hat to a hook (and missing), plopping down in a chair, loading up a typewriter — and the music abruptly shifts to bass viols and horns, deep and threatening, as we see a few of the ominous words he’s typing — and, by the end, as things begin to weird out even there, the freeze-frame look of terror McGavin’s face was perfect.
The series only lasted a season, but has remained, justifiably, a cult classic. Many of the eps are out on VHS, and the original two TV movies (The Night Stalker and the The Night Strangler) have been out on DVD, but the pair has now been rereleased, and I expect (given that SciFi is occasionally running a block of eps during the day) that a full series collection should be coming soon
Plus there’s word that a revival is on the way. Which could be good, or could be horrible, depending on what course they take — the ground of horror, conspiracy, disbelief and credulity has been well-plowed since then, and it would take a serious twist to make doing a new Kolchak worthwhile.
More info: TV Tome, IMDB, and a great fan page.
One of my friday night faves when I was a child.
Mine, too.
Just got the two movies on DVD at Best Buy for $9.99. There’s only about 25 minutes of “special features,” but who cares? The movies are just as fun now as when I was 12! Richard Matheson is possibly the best screenwriter ever (for this genre, anyway).
I bought the entire 20-episode season on 3 DVDs on ebay for $24.00. I’ll let you know more when they arrive (assuming they do–the seller only had 18 feedback, and only 1 as a seller, so he could flake out on me).
It’s amazing how well this series holds up (even though some of the stories seem to be retreads of Star Trek episodes–did you ever notice that?). I think it was due largely to McGavin (who was the only actor considered for the role). Kolchak and Simon Oakland’s Tony Vincenzo really sell the wild premises of the stories.
McGavin had the role nailed. Nary a false note. Makes me concerned over any remake/revival of the show.
Yeah. I can see the Jim Carrey movie now…
{Gag}
My concern is, frankly, it will be turned into a Big Conspiracy Theory show, which has been so overdone that it would be very difficult ot come up with a fresh approach.
Did you know that there are Kolchak graphic novels?
Yes. I’ve never bothered reading any of them, since it didn’t strike me as the sort of show that would lend itself to comics (at least not of the traditional kind — I can see Bendis doing someting with it).
Well, I got the full season on DVD from an ebay seller. Apparently the series has not been released on DVD, as these are copies of the videotapes. I surmise the same is true of all such, from any sellers.
Well, if I’m going to get tricked into buying bootleg DVDs, at least they weren’t recorded from television, with commercials and squished credits. It still feels sleazy, though. Caveat emptor, I guess.
Ah. Sorry to hear that.
If you want, you can file a complaint with eBay about the bootlegging, and possibly get a refund.
Oh, thanks. I had totally forgotten about Night Stalker, and it was a show I really like. I am enjoying the hell out of sharing old shows on DVD with my daughter. Current TV is such a wasteland that having some shows on DVD to watch–the 30 to 60 minute veg out every 3rd night or so–is fun. I’ll look for the season.
It’s happened! ABC is reviving the series:
‘LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Stuart Townsend and Gabrielle Union are starring in ABC’s drama pilot “Night Stalker.”
The project is an updated take on the 1970s ABC series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” about a crime reporter who investigates supernatural phenomena. Townsnd will play Kolchak and Union a newspaper colleague who partners with him in his endeavors.’
I’m not familiar with either of the stars, but I found some pictures of them. They look about as un-Kolchak as you can get. I don’t know if I’ll be able to bring myself to watch the first episode.
Well, it seemed unlikely that it would be a clone of the original.
I’ll repeat:
My concern is, frankly, it will be turned into a Big Conspiracy Theory show, which has been so overdone that it would be very difficult to come up with a fresh approach.
I regret to some degree seeing a female sidekick (“They Fight Crime!”), as part of what made Kolchak what he was is the “unbelieved loner.” Throwing in a partner breaks that, leaving it as being either a mutual support/friend/co-worker, which weakens the conflict, or a rehash of the believer/skeptic dynamic from X-Files.
We’ll see.
Actually, there was a pretty amusing show a few years back set at an investigative newspaper that treated all of this sort of thing as completely legit (if disbelieved by the public), the protagonist being a fish-out-of-water journalist trying to get legitimacy even as he became a believer. Don’t recall the name, but it was fun (and sort of the anti-Kolchak).