The influential Kolchak TV series from 1974-1975 The TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker ran for one season in 1974-1975, consisting of 20 episodes. Two additional episodes were scheduled to be filmed, but star Darren McGavin was becoming disillusioned with due to an exhausting schedule and the fact that he was rewriting scripts plus doing much of the production work without compensation. The ratings were mediocre so he asked to be released from his contract with two episodes yet to be shot. The network granted his request in light of the ratings. I wish Darren would’ve persevered and finished out the season because then we’d have two more episodes to enjoy. He was too fatigued at the time to see that this unique and groundbreaking series would be his most well-known role, along with “A Christmas Story” (1983). If you haven’t seen the two pilot movies, “The Night Stalker” (1972) and “The Night Strangler” (1973), I encourage you to view them before checking out the series. The debut movie was the best of the batch with “The Night Strangler” almost as good and even better in some ways (see my reviews for details). Both movies established the template (formula) for the TV series and myriad books that followed. The 20 episodes are more of the same, but condensed into 51 minutes and all-around inferior. They’re all of about the same quality with favorites emerging depending on…

This could have been a witty show instead of a depressing one that borders too much on Hitler worship. Kolchak is an obnoxious reporter and terrible role model. He does anything for a story. Trouble is, the writing for the series seems to always degenerate into some Nazi ideology where all the murder victims are women with dark hair and dark eyes. It's impossible not to notice this worship of Hitler's genocide program. You feel like you're watching the reels of Nazis taking beautiful brunettes out to be executed. That's the weakest part of the series, and it's impossible not to notice. It appears either the writer or director was jilted by too many brunettes in his life and couldn't get over it. Simon Oakland almost salvages this series with his matter of fact character who has the sanity that Darren McGavin's Kolchak totally lacks. But it isn't enough to save the poor writing.

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