The Night Stalker

RR777 · Apr 30, 2008

When I was a kid I loved the T.V. show Kolchak the Night Stalker. In 2005 Frank Spotnitz produced a remake of the series for television. It was dropped because of poor ratings and only ten episodes were actually made. I never bothered to watch it at the time it was aired, but I happened to catch a couple of episodes on the Space Channel a while back, and thought they were pretty good so I bought the DVD with all ten episodes on it. I've got to tell you, they are brilliant! What a tragedy more people didn't watch this series and enable it to survive. It's very different from the origional and there are some crazy story ideas flowing through it. What incredible unrealized potential! Anyone else catch this show?

http://http://epguides.com/NightStalker/

Shadow_Ferret · Apr 30, 2008

I saw every episode aired. It was hardly brilliant, but it wasn't so bad that it deserved being canned so quickly.

My main problem with it was that as a fan of the original, I didn't think this version held a candle to the real Kolchak. It wasn't a remake. It was something completely different. More like "Supernatural" where his wife is killed and he's looking for the supernatural culprit. If they had named it something else, I'd have liked it more, and I'm sure a lot of fans of the original would have been more inclined not to pan it.

DWSTXS · Apr 30, 2008

I loved the original.

Also, you might like The Time Tunnel, which I loved as a kid.
It only ran for one season, BUT, that season had 32 episodes.

I just watched the entire series.

plus, Mission Impossible. another GREAT show.

Jcomp · Apr 30, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
I saw every episode aired. It was hardly brilliant, but it wasn't so bad that it deserved being canned so quickly.

My main problem with it was that as a fan of the original, I didn't think this version held a candle to the real Kolchak. It wasn't a remake. It was something completely different. More like "Supernatural" where his wife is killed and he's looking for the supernatural culprit. If they had named it something else, I'd have liked it more, and I'm sure a lot of fans of the original would have been more inclined not to pan it.

Gotta agree. Me & my pops used to watch the real Kolchak in reruns (I think they were airing on Sci-Fi for a bit) and the quirky humor of the original was completely gone from the new version. They went for something way too dark for it to really inherit the namesake.

I never understand these kinds of decisions. Why take the name of the original, then ignore the good points of the original? It undermines the instant name recognition value you were aiming for in the first place.

It'd be like remaking Gunsmoke and giving it a Deadwood vibe. Just name it something different and see if it floats and spare yourself certain criticism from the fans of the original.

Appalachian Writer · Apr 30, 2008

I watched the original with Darrin McGavin. I couldn't imagine anyone doing better than he did. I'll take a peek at the remake episodes, but I go there with a biased mind.

The Night Stalker

RR777

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

DWSTXS

Mr Mojo Risin...

Jcomp

Appalachian Writer

Somewhere in the hills....