Pod Stallions Episode 35: Kolchak the Night Stalker

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It's October and that means you get two podcasts, both devoted to scary subjects.

Episode 35 is dedicated to that TV sensation of the 1970s, the amazing phenom that was Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Jason and Brian discuss the TV Movies, the subsequent series and all the amazing influence this show had. We also debate who would make a great Kolchak now.

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[El Hombre Nuclear]

Oh, I'm all over this one! Kolchak was pure awesomeness, and Darren McGavin is one of my all-times favorite actors. Simon Oakland was great, too. I don't remember being too thrilled with the very short-lived remake, so it will be interesting to see if you guys covered that as well...

[Earth 2 Chris]

Awesome! You have successfully saved another Friday at work.

Chris

[Hedji]

Never seen an episode.

[MIB41]

Oh this is going to be GOOD! Getting ready to plug in now!!

[cjefferys]

Nice, I absolutely loved the Night Stalker when I was a kid.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Fun episode! I first saw Kolchak on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the 90s...when they used to run good stuff. I watched it fairly religiously. Between that and Dark Shadows, I had a lot of Dan Curtis to catch up on.

I've never seen either of the telefilms that preceded the series. I'd like to rectify that, as I see both the series and the TV movies are on separate DVDs on Amazon. Although the Amazon listing for the DVD says there was some issue with it, and it's being looked into? Anyone know what that's about?

Kolchak series

EDIT: Answering my own question, apparently the quality of the transfer to DVD on these discs is horrible. I guess that's the reason for the warning. Anyone have this DVD set that can comment?

Chris

[El Hombre Nuclear]

Good stuff, guys. You were very right about there being a lot of humor in the show. My favorite bit was the scene where Kolchak has to sort of BS his way into a high society cocktail party at a luxury apartment, and when the snooty butler answers the door and asks "Your name, sir...?", McGavin blurts out something like "Kol....worth. Yes, yes. You see, we're neighbors of the Woolworths in Newport. They deal in wool, and we deal in coal..."

Since you were mentioning rumpled/off-beat '70s detectives like Rockford and Columbo, as a classic cop/detective show nerd (to the point of having stuff like "Richie Brockleman, Private Eye" and "Eischied" on DVD-R) it should be mentioned that McGavin also starred in a really cool (but sadly short-lived) show called "The Outsider", which was sort of a prototype for the whole Rockford/Harry-O type of schtick.

[El Hombre Nuclear]

Fun episode! I first saw Kolchak on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the 90s...when they used to run good stuff. I watched it fairly religiously. Between that and Dark Shadows, I had a lot of Dan Curtis to catch up on.

I've never seen either of the telefilms that preceded the series. I'd like to rectify that, as I see both the series and the TV movies are on separate DVDs on Amazon. Although the Amazon listing for the DVD says there was some issue with it, and it's being looked into? Anyone know what that's about?

Kolchak series

EDIT: Answering my own question, apparently the quality of the transfer to DVD on these discs is horrible. I guess that's the reason for the warning. Anyone have this DVD set that can comment?

Chris

Yeah, I have all the Kolchak DVDs. I think what people are complaining about there is that the series (not the movies) was released on double-sided discs, which can be pretty finicky, depending on your player. I don't remember having any problem with the Kolchak discs, but I have had some with others that were released that way. I remember a few episodes of the first season of Kojak being a real nightmare to get through because of all the freezing, skipping, etc.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, the dreaded Universal double-sided disc issues. I had a player that refused to play Werewolf of London on the Wolfman Legacy Set. But now my new Blu-Ray does it just fine.

Chris

[PNGwynne]

Love Kolchak, the characterization overcomes the cheese.

My dvd set does in fact not play. Which is weird, since my Uni-Monsters legacy sets were fine.

[MIB41]

Excellent episode Brian and Jason! Kolchak, for me, has always been that bridge between reality and youthful imagination...namely monsters. I loved the character because he was first and foremost young at heart. If something creaked in the dark, the average adult would proclaim, "It's just the wind." But Kolchak was inquisitive like a child and would presume it was much more. Of course his curiosity always rewarded him with this other world that only kids saw in their nightmares. So Kolchak was that faithful explorer of what lurked under our beds and in the dark shadows of our basements. He was the Columbo of Fright Night. If you could imagine it, he found it, fought it, and survived it. But just like with kids, no one would ever believe what he saw. It was a fascinating dynamic to write a series around and to this day I love it just as much as I ever have.

I too loved the music, because the opening theme is upbeat and relaxing like Kolchak's personality. But when he starts typing, you get that tonal change that reflects a dark and terrifying environment that he seeks. It's a classic opening for a TV show and the TV movie was no less thrilling. I grew up watching this during it's first run and loved it in syndication when it came on late night. It will always be one of my fond childhood memories.

[johnnystorm]

Loved the Kolchak show. Always thought it odd that there was no merchandising from it, you would have expected at least a board game or rack toy. You know like a Kolchak the Night Stalker parachute set or jungle action playset
Actually, a Marx style figure set would be cool, Carl in that classic cross holding pose... And a few of the show monsters like Mr. R.I.N.G., the Ted Cassidy Indian, or the lady vampire ( whose episode was a sequel to the first movie). Glow in the Dark plastic, of course!
By coincidence, this week I picked up the two paperbacks at a thrift shop.
Also, your talking about the Joe Flynn Night Gallery episode jogged my memory of it so I looked it up on Hulu. Guess what...that segment was written by and based in a story by Richard Matheson, who also worked on The Night Stalker.

[Wee67]

Kolchak has one of those kid moments where you remember being terrified by something that borders on silly when you look back. I seem to remember an episode where people spontaneously combusted. I have a fuzzy memory of a crisp-ified body on a lounge chair that scared the poop out of me. I'm sure it wouldn't be nearly as scary today.

[Hedji]

Finally got around to listening. I've never seen an episode, which is odd because I love monsters and such. But is this the sort of thing that holds up, or did you have to grow up with it? I enjoyed the show but expected to hear more talk of favorite episodes or moments.

So, if I were going to give this a try, would you recommend starting with the two movies, or the series?