Hi Guys. Just watched the new Night Stalker. The best part was a 5 second "digital" Darrin McGavin as the original Night Stalker. Also Jeff Rice's name(He Created Carl Kolchack), was nowhere to be seen. It also reminded me just how far ahead of it's time the original was.I can't wait till October 4th to pick up the whole original series on DVD! I think I will watch the original Night Stalker movie on DVD. We miss you Mr. McGavin. Regards, Mark.

Stuart had none of the charisma that Darren had, then again the show itself didn't have any charisma either.
I hold nothing against it because of my liking of TOS Night Stalker but I found the show kind of flat. Even under another name it would still be missing something.
I would say the reviews I had read of it were pretty much on the mark, it was bland.

It didn't do anything for me.

In fact, the only thing that I did enjoy was Darren McGavin's "cameo" at the newspaper office.

I, too, am looking forward to the release of the original series on DVD. I'll be picking it up on release day.

i missed it . any body know if they repeat it ?
hb

I was disappointed in the lack of snappy banter between Kolchack & Vincenzo, the wisecracks, the walk-on cameo appearances of sources who really DO act like sources, the dry-witted narrations between scenes, the legendary creature taken from actual legends, and all the other "little details" that made the original show the great show that it was.
I DID like the Great One's 5-second digital cameo appearance. Nice touch! :)
Storywise, it wasn't too awful, but it was more of a "salt & pepper Scully & Mulder" than a "Kolchack". :rolleyes:
I'll watch it, but as somebody pointed out on a different thread, I agree that it SHOULD have been a "Kolchak, Jr." kind of show. :cool:

You guys didn't enjoy the cameo of McGavin's hat on the coat rack at Kolchak's house???? Sheesh. Whiners.
Yep, it was a pale shadow of the original.
That being said, it was still a lot better than that crap INVASION show.
I might give it 1 or 2 more episodes - after all, this was the pilot; it might shake out a bit and find a happy place.
Unlike that crap INVASION show, whose premise is a yawn and had the most predictable, cliched writing I've seen on tv in a few years.... and that's really saying something, folks.
Of course, I didn't even bother to watch Berman's new show... didn't even bother to learn it's name, in fact. I'm betting that's 3 episodes and gone.
Did I mention that I didn't care for INVASION?
AT

Glad I'm not the only one who was relieved to not have to make room for another television commitment, i.e. INVASION.

Stunk. Easily the worst of all the new sci-fi/horror shows. Down to just Surface and Supernatural and both those are on probation.

I didn't care for the show at all. My son and I tried to watch it, but the acting was simply not good and the dialogue was too predicatable.

- Fred

The second episode was better than the first, but not by much. I knew this show was in trouble when I found out Stuart Townsend was playing Kolchak. I thought Robert Lloyd (the reviewer for the Los Angeles Times) pretty much nailed it with his comment, "The new show, which is perfectly fine and nothing special..." This show is just like any other detective/mystery series.

BTW, the digital cameo appearance by Mr. McGavin was obviously nothing more than a ploy to get fans of the original series to watch this steaming pile of claptrap. The fact that they didn't even bother to adjust the footage for lighting conditions or image quality just made it all the more obvious that it was digitally inserted.

I watched about 2 minutes. nuff said.

Third episode was pretty good.

Maybe if they paired this remade Kolchak with USA's remade Kojak we'd have something interesting.

I like the new "Kojak", Lauren, and can't wait for it's new season to start up. It's a great character driven show that doesn't rely on 70's/80's insulting murder mystery shtick. What is it you find so bad about it that you have to drag it down to this new "Kolchak"...?

It was just wordplay, Jeffrey, and I meant nothing insulting to either show. Kojak, Kolchak - both detectives, both remakes, the letter 'K' abounds. Just seemed like a natural comedic pair-up. I haven't seen the new Kolchak, but have seen an episode of the new Kojak, and it looks like a fun, well executed show, and Ving Rhames does a fine job. I assure you that no offense was meant to either fictional character.

It's been cancelled after six episodes. Just another famous title used to put crap on, by people who didn't understand the show anyway.

Spotnitz writes " It was a blast.'' Or a bomb anyway.

Back in March I was extremely judgemental of a show that had not yet aired:

Night Stalker was fun because Kolchak was an ordinary, scared as the rest of us, non action hero kind of a guy. THIS VERSION WILL SUCK. They should peel the familiar names off, rinse off the Hollywood slime and let it ride on it's own. Trying to drag us in by way of "name brand recognition" really pisses me off.

Lucky guess, huh? :tongue:

They actually aired six episodes? :rolleyes:

I hadn't planned on giving a rats a** about the new Stalker. Watched a couple times, it felt flat, figured it would bite the dust but we did get the TRUE Stalker on DVD out it!
So I'm happy.

Slippery slope after shows 1 & 2. In retrospect they shoulda had an older actor.

If they would have only cast someone who actually looks like Darren McGavin, say, for instance, Connor Trinneer (he really does). Add some decent writing and production that is actually an extension of the original show, then they just might have had something.

i hadn't watched in a week or two and decided to check out last night's ep .
it wasn't on , so i figured it got the axe .
it probably wasn't the smartest thing to run it opposite CSI also .
hb

I think a good indication of the quality of the show is the fact they dropped it in the middle of a two-part episode, yet I have no burning desire to see the second half. The first part was dramatically inert with only a hint of the supernatural. Frankly, I was more upset when ALF ended on cliff-hanger.

I think this new NIGHT STALKER is typical of the thinking of those in Hollywood. They look at what makes the original unique and interesting and see it as a deficit. It isn't that people liked the original despite the fact that Kolchak is a middle-aged, schlumpy everyman. That is exactly what was appealling about his character. The major problem I had with the new Kolchak is the same problem I have with Fox Mulder. He assumed that the supernatural was involved from the start, no matter how weak the evidence. In real life, people like this are naive crackpots. The real Kolchak was someone with enough of an open mind to accept the truth when faced with overwhelming evidence.

It's been cancelled after six episodes.

Oh, more good news!

I'm surprised at Invasion. Shawn Cassidy was behind American Gothic, an excellent show. Quite a drop in quality.

What's wrong with Invasion? Hardly anyone around here bothers to review things, in the sense of actually detailing problems they have with shows. Eh, it sucks. Thanks! Enlightening!

I liked the insight above about how the original Kolchak approached the stories he investigated. I'm not familiar with the original show beyond knowing that it exists. I tried to watch an episode on Sci-fi a few months back but it held no interest for me. The new show did however. I didn't have any prejudice against what it was doing with it's inspiration. I found it a good yet unexceptional show, though I did like certain production aspects of it. I really don't get how people care to dislike things so much. I see a lot of shows that don't do much for me, but I don't get angry at their existence. :) I just move on.

Don't know about Invasion, as I never watched it.

I know one new show I do love though.
Supernatural.
This show feels like Nightstalker to me.
The monster of the week formula.
The cheap effects.
The fun.
I love it.

Sure there are a lot of differences. The man characters are 2 brothers who actually search out paranormal entities to eliminate them. They are in a different city every week.

But it just seems to capture that same fun for me that the original Night Stalker did.

hey , what night is Supernatural on ? in all the onslaught of otherworldly show i haven't caught this one . sounds like fun .
hb

I like that this thread has lasted longer than the show :lol:

hey , what night is Supernatural on ? in all the onslaught of otherworldly show i haven't caught this one . sounds like fun .
hb

Tuesdays at 9 on WB.
Though it isn't on this week.

Good news for all you new Night Stalker fans. It will becoming to DVD, with episodes that you don't want to watch. :freak: