And once again, the Owl dates himself a little. One particularly fond remembrance I have of 1970's TV (besides "All In The Family"), was more Friday nights than not, tuning into ABC TV's KOLCHAK: The Night Stalker, the continuing adventures of one Carl Kolchak (played by the late Darren McGavin), an investigative reporter who worked for the Independent News Service based out of Chicago. It seems our hard-boiled hero with the odd straw hat, a 110 Instamatic camera and a Sony TC-55 portable cassette recorder is always finding himself on the trail of some of Chicago's most bizarre news stories involving vampires, paranormal phenomenon, unfriendly aliens from other worlds, vengeful spooks, monsters and more.And as if that wasn't challenging enough, Kolchak's ever skeptical boss Tony Vincenzo (played by Simon Oakland) didn't make life easy for him, along with police and other authorities that did their darnedest to cover up the real facts as Kolchak got too close to the truth and started asking VERY tough questions they couldn't get around. Topping it all off, the series managed to pull off a very delicate balance of suspense and comedy not seen since the 1966 Batman series.
Unfortunately, due to something known as The Nielsen Ratings, the series only lasted 2 seasons, but within those two, a lot of very entertaining stuff took place. I always liked the ending where Kolchak's acerbic wit would put a fitting cap on the story.
The series started first as a book, then a pair of made-for-TV movies before hitting the small screen on a regular basis.
X-Files creator Chris Carter acknowledges that KOLCHAK: The Night Stalker did play a part in his conception of the X-Files series. Interestingly enough, Chris Carter tried to get Darren McGavin on the series but he steadfastly refused to reprise the Kolchak character, but later did make some appearances as Arthur Dales, a retired FBI agent described as the "father of the X-Files".
In 2005, a revival of the series was attempted but sank like a rock, namely because of it's bleak and over0serious tone, a complete contrast to the suspenseful and funny original.
And yes fans, it is on DVD from the usual sources, heck, even Netflix has it in circulation. Need some popcorn and a dose of suspense mixed with comedy? You can't go wrong with KOLCHAK: The Night Stalker
1 comment:
Ah, the days of quality televison. I affectionately referred to Kolchak as Dum Dum. I was sad to hear of Darren McGavin's passing this past year.
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