For Your Batty Consideration: Kolchak the Night Stalker

Our good friend John Holm suggested we look at Kolchak the Night Stalker this season, and we enjoyed perusing the short-lived but fondly remembered cult series. In "Werewolf," intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak didn't have to do much digging to find the title creature; it shared a cruise ship with him! Unlike many of the podcast subjects, Kolchak is something neither of us really grew up watching, so it was a fun experience for us. 

OR WAS IT?

Yes. Yes, it was, very much so.

Links:

Our podcast episode
Show notes and YT playlist

Anonymous Batty Insider says: "Mike and Rick have given other shows a lot more praise this season, but they love Darren McGavin, and that alone makes Kolchak a Batty player. Throw in a colorful guest cast and a fun episode, and this could be a much bigger force than you might expect after hearing the episode."

Power Rankings: Kolchak's (missing) monsters

If you're disoriented by Power Rankings Friday falling on a Tuesday this week, just think that Friday the 13th fell on a Wednesday this month, so anything goes.

This week we rank the monsters that Carl Kolchak did not investigate on his short-lived but fondly remembered ABC series. Specifically, these are monsters we talked about on BOTNS (and, wow, we have discussed a lot of them) and that could in theory have had crossover episodes of some kind with Kolchak the Night Stalker.  Remember, this ranking is of how these would fare if they squared off under a dome in Takoma, Washington! The original podcast episode where we discussed said monster is accessible by clicking the monster's name:

1) The Daleks:  I would love to see a confrontation between Kolchak and the Daleks, mainly because I am not 100% sure that Carl wouldn't bust out laughing as soon as he saw them.

2) Bigfoot: Ok, I'm cheating here because we didn't actually cover the Bigfoot episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man. Would you rather see the Death Probe again?

3) The Loch Ness Monster: Carl Kolchak and In Search Of... host Leonard Nimoy have so much in common. One is a hardened reporter dedicated to pursuing the truth at all costs. Another is the host of a program dedicated to possibly finding something that may be useful as we continue to pursue the probabilities that may exist that something of this nature might well in fact be real.

4) The Munsters: Ridiculous? Of course. But don't tell me you wouldn't pay to see one or two good scenes with McGavin going back and forth with Grandpa Al Lewis.

5) Killdozer: Kolchak (but not Darren McGavin) might be out of his element on a remote island, but I bet he'd make better choices than 

6) Space Vampire: Carl had several encounters with vampires, but with SPACE vampires? If the series would have lasted more than 20 episodes, how long before they found a way to get the character to the moon?

7) Uncle Ned: You don't think he's a monster? HE HIT ALEX!

8) Solomon Grundy: This beast brought the mighty Ed McMahon to his knees on national television. While Kolchak's at it, maybe he can find out what the deal is with Retired Man.

9) Winterbolt's Ice Dragons: I confess I have not yet seen every Kolchak episode, but I am 99% confident that he never encountered ice dragons. After having survived winters in Chicago, he probably wouldn't be too intimidated.

10) Andy Griffith: Randy Andy's character in Pray for the Wildcats, Sam Farragut, is arguably the scariest, fiercest monster we have seen in 10 seasons of doing the podcast.

Not ranked but receiving votes: Lorne Greene from The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew, the werewolf from Barney Miller, the space creature from Greatest American Hero.

YouTube Spotlight:

One of the more interesting clips in our YouTube playlist for this week's Kolchak episode of the podcast is this opening from 1973 ABC sitcom Here We Go Again:

What is this 13-episode failed show doing in the Kolchak list? Well, note that supporting Larry Hagman and Diane Baker are Nita Talbot and Dick Gautier, both of whom appear in the 'Werewolf" episode we discuss on the pod. They ain't in this clip, though!

The series debuted midseason 1972-1973 and was the lowest-rated show that season according to Wikipedia. ABC moved Kung Fu to Thursdays and inserted this and another sitcom flop, A Touch of Grace, into the 8:00 hour to go against CBS' Saturday night sitcom lineup (led by All in the Family and NBC's Emergency.

Back to Here We Go Again: Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows has an interesting summary of the series, speculating that the types of relationships depicted here might have been better suited for primetime soaps. The authors say the show is funny but that "divorce comedy" scenarios like this are easier to make work in movies than in TV series, especially when the ultimate pair is already together (like Hagman and Baker are at the beginning of this).

Another interesting note they add: "Oddly, Nita Talbot found herself observing another split couple (but with a more believable continuing friendship between them) in the late 1980s comedy Starting from Scratch." Here's a look at that one, which aired in first-run syndication in 1988:

How TV Guide saw Kolchak at the beginning

Here are a few glimpses of the 1974 Fall Preview edition of TV Guide. Note the (perhaps) condescending way it describes the series, and note the display ad that spotlights an episode different than the one ABC actually showed that night.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 10-10: Kolchak

*Welcome to the show notes for this week's podcast episode! Click below to check out our video playlist featuring commercials, promos, and werewolves!

And remember, you can always visit our official YouTube channel for all of our podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*Thanks again to friend of the show John Holm for suggesting we take a look at Kolchak!

*The Outsider with Darren McGavin aired on NBC in the 1968-69 season. The Roy Huggins series starred McGavin as an L.A. private eye. As this piece explains, the show received significant criticism for its violent content, to the point of reshaping episodes to remove gunplay and other material.

*The Night Stalker premiered January 11, 1972. Follow-up The Night Strangler debuted January 16, 1973. The series began with "The Ripper" on September 13, 1974.

*Kolchak aired a mere 20 episodes in the 1974-75 season, Friday nights on ABC--first at 10:00, then at 8:00.

*One of the most praised books about the series is the (sadly out of print and not in digital form) is Night Stalking by Mark Dawidziak,.

*The New York Times' former TV critic, John J. O'Connor, does appear to have liked some TV series despite evidence to the contrary.

*Our Forgotten Sitcoms episode with Dick Gautier in When Things Were Rotten is right here.

*Credit to Gil Melle for composing the series' theme song.

Episode 10-10: Kolchak: The Night Stalker

In past episodes, we've encountered vampires, space vampires, Frankensteins, and space mummies, but this time, we sink our teeth into a show featuring another monster! In the cult classic "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," intrepid reporter Karl Kochak finds himself stuck on a singles cruise with Dick Gautier, Nita Talbot, and a werewolf! Will anyone believe him? Will anyone stop the man-beast? Will any of the singles pair up?

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #kolchakthenightstalker #werewolf #werewolves #darrenmcgavin

 

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...