Kolchak the night stalker

Darin McGavin is recognizable to many people because he portrayed the father in the popular holiday classic A CHRISTMAS STORY. He also has cult following because of staring in the ABC thriller THE NIGHT STALKER during the 1974–1975 season. There were 2o episodes of the series and only the first 4 used that title. There was a month long hiatus and when the show returned the remaining 16 episodes aired under the name KOLCHAK; THE NIGHT STALKER.

McGavin portrayed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak who investigated mysterious crimes that were supernatural or science fiction in nature and had unlikely causes. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night StraIn most episodes there was some type of otherworldly creature who was doing harm. Each time Kolchak obtained evidence or snapped images to use in his newspaper article it disappeared so no one ever believed him, When his stories went to print they almost always were written with the official police explanation for what had occurred.

Although KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER only lasted for one season, it quickly achieved cult status and continues to remain very popular in syndication. Currently, you can watch the series Saturdays at midnight on MeTV. Carl Kolchak originated in an unpublished novel, by Jeff Rice titled The Kolchak Papers. Carl was a Las Vegas newspaper reporter who tracked down and defeated a serial killer named Janos Skorzeny who turned out to be a vampire. In the novel, Kolchak's first name is actually "Karel" also he uses a C.

Prior to the ABC series, there were two television films, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler. After the success of the movies, the novels by the same name were published by Pocket Books. Darren McGavin's photo was on the cover in order to tie the book to the films. Both novels were republished in 2007 by Moonstone in an omnibus edition called The Kolchak Papers. Two recurring characters were Gordon "Gordy The Ghoul" Spangler (John Fiedler) who was a city morgue attendant and often a source of information for Kolchak.

In the series Kolchak is a reporter for the Chicago branch of the INS, the Independent News Service which is a small wire service. THE NIGHT STALKER first aired on ABC on January 11, 1972, and received the highest ratings of any television movie at that time which was a 33.2 rating or a 54 share. All 20 episodes of KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER were seen for the first time in their original format since 1975 on the Sci-Fi Network during the early 1990s. Soon after the series became available on Columbia House home video and in 2005 on DVD. The series can currently be seen on MeTV on Saturday nights at midnight.

In addition to Darrin McGavin, other series regulars were Tony Vincenzo as Simon Oakland who was Kolchak's editor, and the only person who put up with the crazy theories that the reporter could never seem to prove. Ron Updyke was Jack Grinnage who was Kolchak's rival at the newspaper and his polar opposite. Carl wore a blue seersucker suit most of the time and a straw Raffia hat on his head. Grinnage was always dressed sharply and hobnobbed with the rich and famous.

Ruth McDevitt played Emily Cowles a co-worker who liked puzzles and wrote an advice column that went by the name "Miss Emily." Kolchak and the elderly woman were pretty close. Monique Marmelstein portrayed Carol Ann Susi an intern whose uncle Abe has a high INS position. Despite the fact that she graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism, her co-workers believe she obtained her job based on nepotism.

This is something that Carol wholeheartedly denies. Two recurring characters were Gordon "Gordy The Ghoul" Spangler (John Fiedler) a city morgue attendant who sometimes was a valued source for Kolchak and Captain "Mad Dog" Siska (Keenan Wynn) a Chicago police officer whose temper often flared due to Kolchack's unorthodoxed methods.