Why ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’ Still Matters

When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to watch Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Now, let’s be clear: Just because I wasn’t permitted to watch it, doesn’t mean I didn’t watch it. Once the old man made it clear that no member of his family would be watching that evil program in his home, I started working on plans to make sure that I could watch it elsewhere. But its forbidden nature wasn’t the only thing appealing about Kolchak; the show pioneered the episodic “monster of the week” format that horror-adjacent shows from The X-Files to Buffy to Supernatural.

I truly believe that Kolchak: The Night Stalker is one of those shows that actually holds up better than most. One of the primary reasons that this show is so good is because of the man who played seasoned, grizzled reporter Carl Kolchak. Simply put, Darren McGavin was one of the best. And his performance in The Night Stalker is utterly believable because of the small nuances that McGavin delivers in every scene. Unlike many actors who never seem to fully fade into a role, McGavin became Carl Kolchak, and because of that, viewers were able to experience each week’s adventure through Kolchak’s eyes — which were usually wide open and filled with fear.

Truthfully, it’s hard to believe the show’s original run happened more than half a century ago. Despite the passage of time, fans of horror and the macabre have not forgotten it. Writing for Forbes, journalist Marc Berman called Kolchak: The Night Stalker, “The definition of a cult favorite. And the inspiration for The X-Files.”

Before it was a weekly series, there were two movies that aired on ABC in ’72 and ’73. The first one, The Night Stalker, was a ratings hit, and its follow-up, The Night Strangler, was almost as popular. Both of these movies had a very talented individual writing the script — one of my all-time favorite authors, Richard Matheson. Although novelist Jeff Rice created the world of Carl Kolchak, Matheson added color. His scripts for the first two TV movies provided additional depth and humor at just the right moments.

Sadly, as the show was nearing the end of its first season, it just kind of lost its steam. McGavin had become disenchanted with the show, publicly lamenting that it had just become another “monster of the week” kind of show. (Hey, what’s wrong with that?) And the ratings had fallen dramatically. When you put those two things together, you get the end of the series. Put a bow on it. Finito. Despite its all too soon cancellation, the program made its mark on TV history and has found its way on to many “Best Horror TV Shows of All-Time” lists including this one from Rolling Stone.

Later on, reruns of the show would make their way to CBS late night, before the network had any sort of talk show presence late at night. Instead, they would play old movies and TV shows like The Night Stalker. Way back then, it was a nice alternative to the whole late night talk show thing…and truthfully, I think it’s an idea that has possibly come full circle and might even work today.

I guess it’s also worth mentioning that there was a reboot of the show way back in 2005. Sadly, it didn’t last long. I think they filmed 10 episodes and, if I remember correctly, only a handful of them actually were actually aired by ABC before the network unceremoniously gave the show the boot.