Kolchak?

[HIjol]

This is the internet. Aren't you guys required to suggest Bruce Campbell or Nathan Fillion somewhere?

I kept thinking that Kolchak was already remade for one short-lived cable TV season... but that was Kojak with Ving Rhames.

Missiion, Impossible, Indeed! Disavow, Disavow!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I kept thinking that Kolchak was already remade for one short-lived cable TV season... but that was Kojak with Ving Rhames.

Network TV
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460665/

 

[RJDiogenes]

The Night Stalker is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I love Darren McGavin. What a night that was when it premiered. It was Friday the 13th, 1974, and I was 13 years old. Planet of the Apes was on at 8 and Night Stalker at 10. I think Six-Million-Dollar Man was on between them.

I read a lot of contemporary Kolchak fiction, but it's all set in the present, which is kind of awkward. Like Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow, Kolchak should always be a period piece.

This is the internet. Aren't you guys required to suggest Bruce Campbell or Nathan Fillion

Zachary Quinto! Benedict Cummerbund!

 

[Starkers]

I'm not sure anyone could do crumpled as well as Darren McGavin...

 

[Admiral2]

I'm not sure anyone could do crumpled as well as Darren McGavin...

Peter Falk...but he's dead.

But of course, if you could get him anyway, that could be a Night Stalker ep all on its own!

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I was always a huge fan of the show, but it was only a couple of years ago that I got the series on DVD. It’s interesting but I’m not sure it was anywhere near as good as I remember it. It was very formulaic and sometimes the show seemed to go out of its way to be goofy rather than scary.

That is usual problem of series inspired by successful TV movies. The best episodes of KTNS--"The Ripper" and "The Vampire" either were copy+paste versions of the TV movies, or had a direct connection to it. The one episode to address government suppression of the "monster" in any direct manner was "Mr. R.I.N.G", with the military drugging Kolchak, forcing him to forget the android experiment.

What humor was in the Kolchak characterization in the movies was turned into a schtick, instead of occasional humor taking the edge off of the horror, so in a way, the series is almost a different animal than the TV movies.

 

[DEWLine]

Peter Falk...but he's dead.

But of course, if you could get him anyway, that could be a Night Stalker ep all on its own!

That could be fun.

 

[publiusr]

Joe Peschi--he's got the energy level--but Tony Shalhoub has a closer personality.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The only thing I've ever seen Tony Shalhoub in is Monk, and that character was too stiff and sheltered-- Kolchak is rumpled, worldly, and acerbic. Something like Artie on Warehouse 13. I can't really think of anyone currently who would be right for the character.

 

[HIjol]

I'm not sure anyone could do crumpled as well as Darren McGavin...

Peter Falk...but he's dead.

But of course, if you could get him anyway, that could be a Night Stalker ep all on its own!

So much the better!

Genius!

 

[Gov Kodos]

Ed O'Neill could make a great Kolchak, but I don't see the character as tall as O'Neill, though.

 

[HIjol]

But his physical presence! That could make up for a lot. And he was pretty rumpley in "Glengarry Glen Ross"

Which fricking rocks on every level, by the by.

 

[Drone]

And Darren McGavin showed up in a few X-Files episodes as well.

Wasn't one of his appearances as a character that was essentially a Kolchak reprise, presented as a kind of proto-Mulder? I seem to remember him living in a trailer or motorhome and the episode being set in Florida. Maybe???

 

[sojourner]

And Darren McGavin showed up in a few X-Files episodes as well.

Wasn't one of his appearances as a character that was essentially a Kolchak reprise, presented as a kind of proto-Mulder? I seem to remember him living in a trailer or motorhome and the episode being set in Florida. Maybe???

Yep, took place during a hurricane I think.

 

[Vendikarr]

And Darren McGavin showed up in a few X-Files episodes as well.

Wasn't one of his appearances as a character that was essentially a Kolchak reprise, presented as a kind of proto-Mulder? I seem to remember him living in a trailer or motorhome and the episode being set in Florida. Maybe???

McGavin played a retired FBI agent. The last agent before Mulder who worked with the X-files.

 

[the G-man]

This is the internet. Aren't you guys required to suggest Bruce Campbell or Nathan Fillion somewhere?

You know, now that you mention it, Bruce Campbell would be a great choice, now that he's older and more rumpled.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

A pretty good suggestion I saw somewhere was William H. Macy.

 

[Greg Cox]

A pretty good suggestion I saw somewhere was William H. Macy.

I can see that . . ..

 

[Saga]

as a kid i found reruns of Kolchak to be more creepy than a lot of X-Files episodes. as much as i love Matheson i always thought the second tv movie was a bit weak. though i do enjoy the last half with Kolchak exploring old Seattle.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The Seattle underground was probably the high point of that movie. And, of course, Richard Anderson is cool. His sad little hideaway was very Dickensian.