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Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974~'75)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 7:41 pm    Post subject: Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974~'75) Reply with quote

"Kolchak:The Night Stalker" was an ABC network supernatural---and on a few occasions sci~fi---television series.

It was created by journalist Jeff Rice.

The show lasted only one season and ran from September 13, 1974 to March 28, 1975 for a total of 20 episodes.

The series has gained a devoted cult following even with its short run.

Show's Premise : Reporter Carl Kolchak investigates eerie and strange murders each week that often are supernatural in origin.

The TV show was actually spun-off from two ninety-minute TV movies.
"The Night Stalker" from January 11, 1972, and "The Night Strangler" from January 16, 1973.

Noted author Richard Matheson wrote the teleplay's for both TV movies.

Matheson wrote a number of episodes for Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone." He wrote another highly praised TV movie, "Duel," which helped to put its director Steven Spielberg on the map.

A number of Matheson's novels have been adapted to film such as I Am Legend. This novel would be put on film several times, starting with "The Last Man on Earth" (1954) and starring Vincent Price.

Later on as "The Omega Man" (1971) starring Charleton Heston which would also be based upon the Matheson novel.

His The Shrinking Man novel would be adapted to film in 1956 as "The Incredible Shrinking Man."

Hell House was filmed as "The Legend of Hell House" in 1973; and Bid Time Return was shot as "Somewhere In Time" in 1980.

Yeah, this gent was truly talented.

On the show, Darren McGavin played Chicago I.N.S (Independent News Service) reporter Carl Kolchak.

Kolchak is a somewhat disheveled reporter that always wears his old seersucker suit with a pork-pie straw hat on his head and drives his yellow Ford Mustang convertible.

Kolchak is a veteran reporter and a good one who has bounced around a number of newspapers. He can be unorthodox as he goes about getting that all important story.

Carl, like most journalists, is suspicious by nature and doesn't simply take anyone's word at face value.

This includes any and all authority figures with whom Kolchak often clashes when they are evasive, or attempt to suppress the facts.

Sometimes---many times---Carl is on the losing end of these battles with the-powers-that-be; hence his bouncing from one newspaper to another whenever he's fired.

Tony Vincenzo, Carl's editor at I.N.S., was played by the terrific Simon Oakland. To say that Carl & Tony butt heads is an understatement.

Tony is often exasperated by Kolchak's antics and let's Carl know it in a bellowing voice. Tony also realizes that Carl is one hell of a reporter and will begrudgingly stand by him.

Ron Updyke (Jack Grinnage) is a fellow reporter at I.N.S.

Ron is kind of the 'Felix Unger' of the newspaper. He is fussy, cultured, and neatly dressed at all times.
None of that fits Carl, so that's probably why he & Ron bicker all the time and have nothing in common.

Ruth McDevitt portrayed the elderly and kind columnist Edith Cowles who dispensed advice to readers ala Ann Landers.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote




I didn't watch very many of the episodes, but I do remember enjoying the first one, about Dracular living in Las Vegas because it had such an active night life.

Clever Idea. Very Happy

YouTube has that original TV movie and a site containing seven full episodes with reasonably good pictures.

Enjoy! _


_________ Kolchak The Night Stalker Movie 1972


___________



_________________ Kolchak: The Night Stalker


___________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Nov 05, 2021 1:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"The Night Stalker" (January 11, 1972) and the sequel "The Night Strangler" (January 16, 1973) were both exciting and well done horror TV-movies.

Stalker took the classic vampire legend and updated it by setting it in contemporary Las Vegas instead of doing it as a period piece like the majority of vampire movies were usually done such as the marvelous Hammer Films.

The other refreshing aspect to these TV-movies was the mixture of humor in with the horror-supernatural atmosphere.

The scripting was first rate and the casting for each TV-movie was top-notch.

As sequels go, Strangler cannot quite match Stalker.

Strangler follows its predecessor's formula, and therefore doesn't have that advantage of being original or as surprising as Stalker was in 1972.

However, Strangler is a suspenseful romp with some chilling scenes and achieves what it sets out to do and that is to frighten us.

Trivia: Writers Richard Matheson & William F. Nolan wrote a script for a third Kolchak TV~movie titled "The Night Killers."

Premise: Key politicians are being murdered and replaced with lookalike androids.

For whatever reasons the project was dropped and Kolchak instead morphed into a weekly television series.

In that regard I believe the fun and freshness of the TV~movies, as well as only doing them occasionally versus every week, would have been the smarter way to go with the concept.

While I enjoyed the TV series, it became apparent that they ran out of clever and intriguing foes for Carl Kolchak to encounter.

I always found the show to be at its best with its early episodes. As it went on the plots seemed to become rather stale and not nearly as engaging to me.

Perhaps the series premise was too rigid which led to uninspiring episodes.

Perhaps the formula each week of having Kolchak figure out the truth of a situation; no one believing him or doing cover ups; Carl defeating the supernatural-sci~fi enemy alone and having no proof; became too repetitive for fans?

Keeping the premise to one or two 90-minute special TV-movies would have worked much better.

Kolchak does certainly have a cult following, no denying that at all.

And a handful of episodes are enjoyable while other episodes have their moments, and others just fall flat.

Doesn't keep me from re-watching my favorite episodes such as "The Ripper," "The Zombie," or "The Werewolf."
Scary episodes to watch on a Halloween Evening to be sure.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow, I had read that the third movie was proposed after the TV show had been canceled. Darren McGavin, who was upset with how the network treated his show, told them to go pound sand.

David.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I believe it, Krel, Darren was a pretty tough customer in real life. So he wouldn't hesitate to tell a network or producers where they can all go.

It's very arduous for any actor to be in a TV series where they are carrying the show and are in 99% of the scenes. Hour long TV shows put in fifteen, sixteen, seventeen hour long days for filming...or more. It always made sense to me that a series would have an ensemble cast rather than having most of the burden fall on one person week after week.

David Janssen had to quit "The Fugitive" after its fourth season because he was so burned out from having to be in almost every scene. One of my favorite actors is James Garner, and he ended up in the hospital trying to keep up with the demands of "The Rockford Files." And it almost cost him his marriage.

I think the same thing would have happened to Darren had his Kolchak series had been renewed for a second season.

As I wrote in an earlier post here, ''Kolchak:TNS" would have worked great as one or two 90-minute TV-movies a year. I think the quality could have been better overall for the production.

It also would allow them to develop better villains with having more time to prepare versus the mad dash a weekly series must do in order to meet their schedule.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
________________________________

~ The original script by Richard Matheson called for Carl Kolchak to be dressed in Bermuda shorts and wearing an Aloha shirt. Actor Darren McGavin said, "That doesn't sound like anyone I know," and elected to use a different wardrobe.

While reading up on the character, McGavin noted that Kolchak had been fired from a New York newspaper years before, and thought, "That's it! He hasn't bought a new suit since!" So, Kolchak appeared in a circa 1950s suit.


Note from me: McGavin was right about the original idea for the outfit. Newspaper reporters don't dress like beach bums . . . Rolling Eyes

~ While filming in Las Vegas, producer Dan Curtis was amazed at how oblivious the casino gamblers were to any events going on around them other than gambling.

So as a joke one day, actor Barry Atwater (Janos Skorzeny) was asked to walk through the Sahara's casino in full costume and makeup to see if anyone noticed him. He did this for over 40 minutes, and didn't even get a second glance.


Note from me: This would seem to prove the idea that a very strange-looking man could actually live and Vegas and attract much less attention than he would in other cities. Cool. Cool

~ Actor Barry Atwater was given red contact lenses for his role as vampire Janos Skorzeny. After wearing them for long periods his eyes became very sensitive — as a result, he did not need the contact lenses to make his eyes look red in later scenes.

Note from me: Maybe the actor was really a vampire, and he hadn't needed the contacts all along! He just took out the contacts he'd wore for years that made him look "normal"! Shocked

~ A planned third installment in the franchise, 'The Night Killers', was scripted but ABC opted to develop the TV series instead of continuing the films.

The plot had Tony Vincenzo hiring Kolchak to work for him in Honolulu. While there, Kolchak discovers a cover-up involving UFOs, a nuclear power plant and important people being murdered and replaced by androids.


Note from me: This sounds like a clever ploy to get McGavin to wear those damn Bermuda shorts and Aloha shirt! Crying or Very sad

~ At a test screening, the audience reaction was so positive that producer Dan Curtis regretted not releasing it as a theatrical feature film.

Note from me: Spielberg's Duel was so successful as a Movie of the Week that it later received an international theatrical release in an extended version featuring scenes shot after the film's original broadcast.

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 4:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From good ole' Wiki.

Darren McGavin served as series executive producer for the show but is not credited as such.

~ Wonder why? Doesn't that translate into even more $$$ by having such a credit? Perhaps DM had some sweet deal already and did not require this particular credit?

Neither ABC nor Universal Studios obtained Jeff Rice's (author of The Night Stalker novel) permission regarding the production for the TV series. Rice sued and the case was settled out of court prior to the 1974 fall debut of the TV show.

~ Man, those studio & network execs never play nice, do they? I mean, when's the last time you heard someone associated with a film or TV show actually praise the fine, honorable executives of the movie studio or network.

Yeah, me neither.

For the first four episodes the show's title was The Night Stalker. After a month-long hiatus the series returned with a new title, Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

~ I assume the producers felt the show needed tinkering and that one of the things done to increase ratings was a alteration in the series title. I cannot imagine that it truly elevated ratings doing this.

The show's music theme was composed by Gil Melle who originally created it for the Gene Roddenberry pilot The Questor tapes.

Director Robert Zemeckis's (Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump) first professional writing credit (along with partner Bob Gale) was for the episode "Chopper."

David Chase (creator of The Sopranos) served as a story editor on the series.

Unfortunately the show was slotted for Friday night at 10:00 P.M. which then, as now, is considered the graveyard for TV audiences who are generally out for the evening and not at home.

~ Yep, that same time slot killed off Star Trek: TOS on NBC. There's speculation that sometimes if a network wishes to kill off a show that they purposely place it on Friday night.

Usually works, too.

DM was unhappy with the monster of the week direction the show was going in, along with the exhausting shooting schedule.

~ Seriously? DM did the two ninety-minute movies with supernatural overtones. He committed to the show and had to know it was going to be a monster of the week premise.
So how could he become dissatisfied with what he knew the show was going to be about in the first place?

~Sure, he could be displeased with the scripting but not the concept of the series. Did he think the series was going to morph into a show about journalistic investigations of everyday topics like the terrific Lou Grant TV show!?!

C'mon!

~The shooting schedules for one-hour TV shows remains exhausting to this very day. Fourteen, fifteen hour days are not uncommon. Again, DM had starred in the TV show Riverboat & The Outsider. Both were one-hour series, so why would he be unaware of the tough schedule he would be facing doing K:TNS?

~ Don't get me wrong, I like DM and his acting but these two complaints seem incredulous to me coming from a man who experienced in the industry.

Un-produced scripts: "Eve of Terror," "The Get of Belial," Kolchak is sent to cover a miner's strike in West Virginia. While there he uncovers gruesome murders associated with a backwoods family who harbor an inbred monster.

"The Executioners," Kolchak is demoted and given the choice between writing obits, or covering the arts section of the newspaper. He comes across a painting that is tied to a series of murders.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

He probably didn't figure on most of the show being filmed at night. That makes it harder.

David.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I liked show while it lasted. I also liked the first-person narrative to augment the action scenes.
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From the September 13, 1974 TV Guide Fall Profile for The Night Stalker:

This show is a scream. And a moan and a gasp and a shriek.

Not to mention eyes widening in terror, hands clutching throats, bodies slumping to floors, and figures lurking in the shadows.

The Night Stalker is based on a made-for-TV movie of that name, and Darren McGavin repeats his role of Carl Kolchak.

He's a reporter who keeps coming up with bizarre explanations for crimes. His editor (Simon Oakland) and the police wish he would keep his crazy theories to himself.

But when he sees a cape-clad murderer escape unscathed after jumping from the roof of a five-story building, getting run over by a car and being shot at point-blank range, Kolchak figures there's something strange going on, even if nobody else in the whole city of Chicago is willing to give it a second thought.

The Night Stalker's plots, involving werewolves, vampires and other weirdos, have to be taken with a grain of salt---and maybe a bag of garlic.

Thoughts: My folks had a subscription to TV Guide Magazine for as long as I could remember. Oh how I wished I had saved some of them that featured articles and photos of the TV shows I enjoyed.

The Fall TV Guide was always exciting to receive. I could read about the brand new series debuting in September, as well as read about the returning shows I liked so much.

Of course the downside to the fall TV Guide was that it meant that my summer was winding down.

Reading this description from TV Guide, a few things struck me. The cheeky ending of the article regarding "a grain of salt and maybe a bag of garlic" is indeed funny. At the same time was this also the general opinion of the staff at TV Guide about television series about the supernatural? And likely the same for science fiction?

If we could read the profiles from Fall TV Guide Profiles for those types of genre shows, would we find a thread of mild contempt and disrespect for such shows? Did their profiles for law enforcement series, legal series, and medical series, which were the most prolific offerings for audiences back then, as well as today, have no, or less, snark to 'em.

I also notice that this profile article doesn't once mention that The Night Stalker is both dramatic AND humorous. It is an unusual combo for sure. Yet for the TV Guide to not include that major detail for a show seems odd to say the least. Or did they simply not care because who can take this kind of show at all seriously? More disrespect?

The last thing that struck me about The Night Stalker TV series (and not anything specifically to do with the TV Guide article) was Kolchak versus the authorities in every episode.

Obviously this is played for laughs at times, and to place Carl into dire situations alone as he battles the forces of evil. He is forced to wade into these frightening situations all by himself, after all, no one believes him. Authority in general dislikes him (journalist), and fears him if anyone (the public mostly) believes his incredible stories.

However, it also struck me how often the authorities ended up realizing Kolchak was spot-on-the-money regarding his theories of the supernatural, sometimes science fictional, baddie of the week. Every single time they seized any evidence he had obtained, threatened him with imprisonment, or worse, and discredited him. Massive coverups by those in charge.

I wonder if the producers were also making a comment about groups in power at that time? That they resisted truth and never wanted transparency (unless they could control it) of any kind. Then when they finally figured it all out, they promptly did everything they could to sweep it under the rug. Bury it and move on.

The X-Files had the motto "Trust No One." I think Kolchak was showing that side of our society decades prior to The X-Files debut. Ironically, star David Ducovny (Fox Mulder) ended up suing for profits due him by the show's creator/showrunner Chris Carter, that Carter had hidden from him with "creative bookkeeping." .

Yeah, Kolchak was about monsters-of-the-week, had laughs mixed in with the terror, and saw McGavin as a larger than life colorful character. I understood that when I viewed the show back when it first premiered. We all did.

But as I watch it now that I'm older (and hopefully wiser), I consider that perhaps the writers were also attempting to get a point across to the audience about the powers that be, and that they rarely, if ever, are trustworthy.
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2022 12:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I loved this show . . . but then I liked McGavin in everything he did . . . including and especially A CHRISTMAS STORY ! He did a few sci-fi low budget movies too.

The writing on this was just perfect! It drew the viewer into the story by the first person narrative.

I greatly enjoy popping a DVD of Kolchack into the old moving picture box and dozing off to werewolves, vampires and reporters involved in some mystery or other!

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Gord, that's a great personal pitch for this highly-regarded sereies.

I loved the original TV movie about the vampire in Las Vegas (great concept!), and I've seen a dozen or so episodes, all of which were terrific! But I've never taken the time to really explore the series.

I really should set my DVR for the airings on MeTV so I can do some serious binge watching.

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 1:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After the success (at least for some of us fans) of seeing the beautifully remastered special effects for Star Trek: The Original Series, I now wonder what other classic TV series could benefit by having their now dated visuals upgraded? Wonder no more my friends.

Kolchak came to mind — as did The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and The Invaders — for benefiting from having newer and better effects.

Example: "The Werewolf" from November 1, 1974. This is one of the series niftier episodes, although I confess I'm a huge fan of the wolf man in horror films and therefore biased on this one. Still, setting this particular episode aboard a real cruise ship made it fresh and compelling. How far can you run away from a shipboard-raging murderous werewolf when you're out at sea? Then again, it can also pose a challenge for the wolf man to be ship bound too. Probably making him even madder, if that's possible.

The guest stars are all terrific, especially the talented and charming and funny Dick (Hymie the Robot on Get Smart) Gautier as one of the romantically inclined passengers on the single cruise. How did he not have a bigger career?

Not terrific is the werewolf makeup. It's downright atrocious! They try to keep the wolf man in the shadows, or moving rapidly in his action scenes. It creates suspense. It also somewhat hides that terrible looking makeup job, which I'm sure the director just knew he had to do in order to make this episode work at all.

So, could a top-notch special effects team of artists work their magic keyboards and erase entirely the werewolf mask for this episode? Then, could they design a truly impressive and harrowing looking CGI werewolf face in its place?

If they can, then I say, "Go for it!"

Now some episodes of Kolchak just aren't as well scripted. So, redoing the effects cannot fix that aspect of the episode.

However, superior visuals will make it cooler to look at at. Especially if you aren't paying that much attention to the tepid story at hand. In fact, enhanced effects might be the only saving grace of some episodes.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Fortunately, Mike, the technology to matte a new face onto actors already exists, so your suggestion concerning a "fix" for the poor makeup in Kolchak The Night Stalker: The Werewolf could definitely be accomplished. Very Happy

Obviously, I agree with your willingness to "fix the flaws" in old shows so that their strong points aren't hampered by their weak points.

I hate to say it, but I've found that many people continue to enjoy older shows primarily because of the nostalgic feelings they invoke — not because the shows still measure up to the higher standards which every adult should develop as they mature.

As you know, Mike, I've occasionally criticized several highly regarded movies and shows just because their FX no longer met the high standards of today. And sometimes you've defended those productions by pointing out that the producers did the best they could at the time the production was made.

You're right, of course! Very Happy

And yet, despite all that, we obviously agree that if the flawed FX of an older production CAN be fixed, then they certainly should be!

With that in mind, I guess your advice to me could be interpreted as, "Bud, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!"

And nobody would disagree with THAT! Shocked

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 01, 2023 1:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of my favorite episodes of The Night Stalker is the very first one, "The Ripper," from September 13, 1974.

Investigating the murders of three young Chicago women, Kolchak becomes convinced that the original Jack the Ripper is responsible and tracks the killer to an old house.

However, I did catch a mistake with this episode.

It is established that the Ripper always murders 5 women and then vanishes for a period of time. Kolchak figures out this pattern and informs his friend and fellow reporter Jane Plumb about this. He tells Jane that the Ripper has now murdered 3 Chicago women, so that leaves 2 more victims.

The problem is that by now we've seen 4 women murdered by the Ripper, not 3. Later on, Kolchak tells the Police Chief the same thing about 3 women being murdered. It is still 4 at this stage.

Another oddity was that for one murder the Ripper visits the Sultan's Palace massage parlor where he does slay one of the women there. Later on in the episode we see him coming back to the Palace in order to murder again.

Why would he return to the very scene of his previous crime? He has all of Chicago from which to roam to perform his brutal murders. How does it make sense to go back to the exact same place he's already slain a person? Not too smart Jack.

When Kolchak locates the old and crumbling home that Jack is residing in, he breaks into it. The Ripper isn't at home. As Kolchak is exploring the old dark house there is the sound of a tea kettle hissing. Carl discovers it on a hot plate in a room upstairs. Next we see Jack returning to his house.

I wonder where the Ripper went that was so important? He left a hot plate on when he was gone, isn't that dangerous? It could cause a fire to the house he's using as his base of operations.

Still and all, a spooky and fun episode all these years later.
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