Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it developed cult status in syndication.
Chris Carter cited Kolchak as a "tremendous influence" in creating his franchise The X-Files. In 2005, inspired by that success, The X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz resurrected the series as Night Stalker, but the new series was unable to compete with CBS' C.S.I. and was cancelled after only six of the ten episodes that had been produced were aired on ABC. The full ten-episode series was eventually aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in the summer of 2006. Several comics and novels based upon the original series have been published.
Origins The Night Stalker
The character originated in The Kolchak Papers, a novel written by Jeff Rice. In the novel and film, a Las Vegas newspaper reporter named Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) tracks down and defeats a serial killer who turns out to be the vampire Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater). The novel gives Kolchak's birth name as "Karel", although he uses the anglicized version "Carl". ABC approached Rice with an offer to option The Kolchak Papers, which was adapted by Richard Matheson into a television movie. At the time it was optioned for the screen, the novel was unpublished. The Night Stalker first aired January 11, 1972, and garnered the highest ratings of any television movie at that time (33.2 rating—54 share). Matheson received a 1973 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best TV Feature or Miniseries Teleplay.
The Night Strangler
Impressed by the success of the first television movie, ABC commissioned Richard Matheson to write a second movie, The Night Strangler (1973). A fictional version of Seattle Underground was used as a setting for much of the movie's action. Richard Anderson played the titular villain Dr. Richard Malcolm, and Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland reprised their roles as Carl Kolchak and Kolchak's editor, Tony Vincenzo, respectively.
Novel tie-ins Following the success of the TV movie, the novel was published in 1973 by Pocket Books as a mass-market paperback original, titled The Night Stalker, with a photo of Darren McGavin on the cover in order to tie it to the film. Rice authored a novelization of The Night Strangler based on Matheson's screenplay. The novel was published in 1974 by Pocket Books as a mass-market paperback original. The books were republished in 2007 by Moonstone in an omnibus edition entitled The Kolchak Papers. Moonstone Books had been producing and publishing Kolchak comic books since 2002.
Production
In late 1973, Matheson and William F. Nolan completed the script for an intended third television movie, to be titled The Night Killers, a story about android replicas. ABC decided that it wanted a weekly series instead.Martin, Bob and David Hirsch, "'Kolchak: The Night Stalker'", Starlog Photo Guidebook: TV Episode Guides, Vol. 2, Starlog Press, Inc., January 1982, p. 84.
After some negotiation, McGavin agreed to return as Kolchak and also served as the series' executive producer, though he was not credited as such. However, neither ABC nor Universal had obtained Jeff Rice's permission and he sued the studio. The suit was resolved shortly before the series aired in the fall 1974 season, replacing Toma on the network's Friday night schedule. Rice received an on-screen credit as series creator. The first four episodes aired under the title of The Night Stalker. After a month-long hiatus, the series was renamed and returned as Kolchak: The Night Stalker."The Night Stalker Companion: A 25th Anniversary Tribute", by Mark Dawidziak. The later home video releases of the television series also used that title.
While the show was set in Chicago and some generic location/background filming was done there in summer and early fall, the show was filmed primarily in Los Angeles and at Universal Studios.
Jimmy Sangster, known for having written some of the Hammer Horror films, wrote the episode "Horror in the Heights". The series provided the first professional writing credit for Robert Zemeckis and his writing partner Bob Gale, who wrote the script for the episode "Chopper". David Chase also worked on the series as a story editor, his first regular staff position in Hollywood. Though Chase is credited on eight episodes as story editor, he also helped rewrite the remaining 12. McGavin and others attribute much of the show's quirky humor to his creative input.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker was plagued with problems from the start, including budgetary issues and McGavin constantly struggling with the series' producer Cy Chermak over the direction. The show's ratings were mediocre and McGavin was growing dissatisfied, resulting in its cancellation after one year. The series aired on Friday nights at 10 p.m., a virtual graveyard for most TV series, particularly one aimed at a younger audience. In January 1975, the show was moved to Friday nights at 8 p.m., where it remained until June 1975. In August 1975, ABC moved Kolchak to Saturday nights at 8 p.m for four final weeks of reruns. McGavin found himself rewriting scripts and doing much of the work of a producer, but without getting either the full credit or the full compensation of one. McGavin had been unhappy with what he felt was the show's "monster of the week" direction, and an exhausting filming schedule. He asked to be released from his contract with two episodes remaining to be filmed, which the network granted in light of the show's dwindling ratings.
Two television movies, The Demon and the Mummy and Crackle of Death, were cobbled together in 1976. Each contains new footage as well as previously screened episodes from the series. McGavin provided a voice-over for both, which allowed the narrative to maintain some continuity.
The Kolchak series completely vanished after ABC's final repeat, which was the premiere episode "The Ripper", broadcast early September 1975. On May 25, 1979, The CBS Late Movie resurrected Kolchak with the fourth installment "The Vampire". The return of Kolchak proved a smash success. CBS pulled the series during midsummer and saved it for the fall premiere where it was expected to bring in more viewers. Universal held back four episodes to make two television movies. So successful was Kolchak on CBS late night, it was brought back two more times in 1981 and 1987-1988. After 1990, Universal pulled the two episodic "TV movies" and finally released the missing four episodes that CBS was not allowed to air. All 20 episodes of Kolchak were seen for the first time since 1975 in their original format on the Sci-Fi Channel in the early 1990s. They were released by Columbia House on home video and DVD in 2005.
Plot Carl Kolchak is an investigative reporter for the Chicago branch of the Independent News Service (INS), a small news agency. He often investigates bizarre or supernatural activities. Each episode is book-ended by Kolchak speaking into his portable cassette recorder or writing about what has transpired as his narration is heard during the episode.
Characters INS characters Carl Kolchak (portrayed by Darren McGavin) - Kolchak is a talented but outspoken investigative reporter with an affinity for bizarre and supernatural occurrences, obtaining information driving around Chicago in his yellow Ford Mustang convertible and snatching exclusives armed with his compact Rollei 16 camera and portable cassette recorder. He is perpetually dressed in a blue and white striped seesucker suit. Using only limited information, Kolchak has cracked several cases relying on gut instinct and often prevailing through sheer dumb luck. Often Kolchak's prospects are hampered by law enforcement personnel, other people getting in the way, and the destruction or confiscation of evidence which prove his claims which advance the sheer implausibility of his stories where his peers are concerned and causes his boss Tony Vincenzo to get frustrated. On other occasions, his investigations have led to demotion or relocation of varying authority figures who witnessed what happened, though reasons for these actions are never fully disclosed. Tony Vincenzo (portrayed by Simon Oakland) — Kolchak's bellicose and frustrated editor-in-chief and one of the only people willing to tolerate Kolchak's antics, despite their frequent arguments. Vincenzo has a grudging respect for Kolchak's reporting skills, but often finds himself caught between Kolchak's zeal and his own management responsibilities. Vincenzo's hot temper often affects his blood pressure and digestion and he sometimes laments that he did not go into his family's Venetian blinds business. Ron Updyke (portrayed by Jack Grinnage) — A reporter and Kolchak's supercilious rival at INS whom Kolchak repeatedly refers to as "Uptight". A San Francisco native, Updyke is the opposite of Kolchak, always smartly dressed and hobnobbing with Chicago's elite. He appeared in 18 episodes. Emily Cowles (portrayed by Ruth McDevitt) — An elderly puzzles and advice columnist known as "Miss Emily". Cowles aspires to be a novelist and expresses passion for issues relating to the elderly. She is often sympathetic toward Kolchak and the two share a warm working relationship. She appeared in 12 episodes. Monique Marmelstein (portrayed by Carol Ann Susi) — A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and an intern whose Uncle Abe is highly placed in INS management. Despite her education and enthusiasm, many of her coworkers believe she got her job due to nepotism, an allegation she denies. She appeared in three episodes.
Other recurring characters Gordon "Gordy The Ghoul" Spangler (portrayed by John Fiedler) — A city morgue attendant and sometimes source of information for Kolchak. Gordy runs a lottery pool based on death statistics and other factors. He appears in three episodes. Captain "Mad Dog" Siska (portrayed by Keenan Wynn) — A Chicago police captain whose efforts to rein in his volatile temper were constantly thwarted by Kolchak's abrasiveness. He appeared in two episodes.
Music Robert Cobert scored the music for the original television movies. Gil Mellé wrote the music for the TV series, including the theme that begins with Kolchak whistling in the opening credits. Mellé was offered the assignment with only 20 minutes before the opening credits were to be shot. With no time to compose a new theme, Mellé remembered a secondary theme that he had previously written for The Questor Tapes, an unsold pilot. As that had also been produced under Universal Television, the company already had the rights to the work and Mellé quickly adapted it for The Night Stalker.
Mellé left the series after the fourth episode, saying it was becoming too light-hearted. Composer Jerry Fielding took over scoring music for the remaining series, augmented by one score each from Greig McRitchie (best known for his collaborations with Fielding, and James Horner), and Luchi De Jesus. Music supervisor Hal Mooney reused much of Mellé's score in various later episodes (most notably "The Spanish Moss Murders", which has no credited score composer) along with material from the other composers.
Two soundtrack albums have been produced. One released in 2000 by Varèse Sarabande features two suites of Cobert's music from the TV movies. The other, a bootleg copy of Melle's private tapes, features his theme and scores written for the first three episodes ("The Ripper", "They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be..." and "The Vampire"), and two cues from the TV movie The Questor Tapes.