In “The Night Stalker,” they are working together in Las Vegas, and in “The Night Strangler,” they are working together in Seattle, and at one point Kolchak lists a whole bevy of cities he has worked in. Vincenzo wants to run a straight-laced, respectable newspaper wire service, but Carl digs up stories of the paranormal throughout the Windy City in the 20-episode series proper. That’s the crux of the conflict between Kolchak and, well, everyone else, but primarily his editor at the Chicago branch of the Independent News Service, Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland). In those movies, Carl Kolchak (McGavin) is the newspaper profession’s answer to James Bond: In “Stalker,” his prostitute girlfriend genuinely wants to marry him, and Kolchak is somewhat agreeable to that, but you get a sense that he’d be doing it on a lark.Īfter that pairing fizzles, Carl hits it off with a belly dancer in “Strangler,” but platonically this kicks off a random-female-sidekick-of-the-week (or most weeks) approach while Kolchak is repositioned as someone entirely obsessed with his job. Obsessed with his jobĪfter a complete viewing of the series, “The Night Stalker” and “The Night Strangler” have to be categorized as false starts toward its identity. Once I adjusted to what the series IS, I liked it (for what it is). Never fear, though, I’m not going off on a rant about how “Kolchak” is terrible. Stars: Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland, Jack Grinnage It’s never scary, the low budget is always obvious (it uses the same establishing shots of Chicago and the INS building in every episode), and even when it’s serious it’s hard to take it seriously. Rather, “Kolchak” is like a parody of what it never was. It’s not even like the idea I had in my head of what “Kolchak” would be (essentially 2005’s “Night Stalker,” but with Darren McGavin). In a future post, I’ll outline distinct similarities between the two franchises, but the thing that struck me most on this viewing is how Jeff Rice’s show (and the TV movies he co-wrote with horror legend Richard Matheson) isn’t very much like “The X-Files,” aside from sharing the genre of paranormal investigations. “Kolchak” is often cited as the biggest inspiration and influence behind Chris Carter’s landmark show. Like most people who weren’t around when it was on the air, I was inspired to check out “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (1974-75) – and its preceding TV movies, “The Night Stalker” (1972) and “The Night Strangler” (1973) – because I’m an “X-Files” fan.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |