Kolchak The Night Stalker.... Friday Night fun

[iamwhatiseem]

I LOOVED this show as a kid... looked forward to it every week.
I don't think anyone else could have played the character any better than Darrin McGavin
It just might be my favorite TV show of my entire childhood.
How on earth it only lasted one season is impossible.

 

[harmonica]

....McGavin was a great actor-----..those were good shows....now they have violence/sex crap/etc.....all kinds of bullshit......

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Just looked it up... it only lasted one season, that despite it's popularity, McGavin wanted to be released from his contract due to his disappointment in the next seasons scripts that he believed were just thrown together. He also quit because he said he was basically the producer as he did all of the work but got none of the credit. Other people involved in the show attests to his claim.

 

[Lysistrata]

Blast from the way past. I loved, loved, loved that show! But I used to run home from school so that I wouldn't miss Dark Shadows, even if the boom mikes were visible.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Blast from the way past. I loved, loved, loved that show! But I used to run home from school so that I wouldn't miss Dark Shadows, even if the boom mikes were visible.

Oh Dark Shadows... of course!
It was in reruns by my time, I was only 6 when the show ended.
And then there was "The Night Gallery, that show used to scare the beeJesus out of me.

 

[Lysistrata]

Oh Dark Shadows... of course!
It was in reruns by my time, I was only 6 when the show ended.
And then there was "The Night Gallery, that show used to scare the beeJesus out of me.

I loved Barnabas Collins, a good vampire still trying to protect his family. I guess this is how I came to love Anne Rice's vampires and True Blood. Vampires just trying to survive and do the right thing.

Night Gallery was wonderful. The one thing that scares me to this day is the grinning doll. I can't remember what show it was on. There are things that just stay with you. More modern, Rutger Hauer in The Hitcher placing coins in that kid's eyes in the diner. The guy in American History X forcing somebody to bit the curb. Can't watch. Nobody has to splash blood all over the screen. The suggestion of what is coming is quite enough.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

.... The guy in American History X forcing somebody to bit the curb. Can't watch.

For sure.... that is a tough scene, I would also say that 2 second scene is the most unforgettable of the entire movie.

 

[Lysistrata]

For sure.... that is a tough scene, I would also say that 2 second scene is the most unforgettable of the entire movie.

Which was that?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Which was that?

oops... didn't realize I cut that out of your post.... the scene of American X "biting the curb"

 

[Lysistrata]

oops... didn't realize I cut that out of your post.... the scene of American X "biting the curb"

That was about the most horrifying scene that I have ever seen in a movie. The end was never shown. It was all suggestion. Chills.

 

[bluzman61]

I LOOVED this show as a kid... looked forward to it every week.
I don't think anyone else could have played the character any better than Darrin McGavin
It just might be my favorite TV show of my entire childhood.
How on earth it only lasted one season is impossible.


View attachment 528864

I enjoyed it, as well. Thanks for the post.

 

[Flopper]

I remember it and what remembered was good.



Hear this out loud
The series was cancelled because Darren McGavin asked to be released from his contract. He became disappointed with the series' scripts and was exhausted from his uncredited producing duties. I understand it's available on NBC.com

 

[whitehall]

I loved the series. It was a horror show with a comedic touch. McGavin played it perfect

 

[Flopper]

I loved the series. It was a horror show with a comedic touch. McGavin played it perfect

I agree it was a shame it was cancelled.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Was this the vampire hunting show ?

 

[lg325]

Was this the vampire hunting show ?

Two episodes had vampires but there were also other creatures from zombies ,witches and those from mythology. Kolchack was a news reporter.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Two episodes had vampires but there were also other creatures from zombies ,witches and those from mythology. Kolchack was a news reporter.

I saw one set in Vegas and one in Seattle (I think) when I was young. Scary.

 

[Flopper]

I saw one set in Vegas and one in Seattle (I think) when I was young. Scary.

And he was great in A Christmas Story" as the father of a young boy named Ralphie who attempts to convince his parents, his teacher and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.

 

[DudleySmith]

All horror shows were comedies by the time we got to age 11 or 12. The one scene I remember most seeing as a kid was in Doctor Phibes, where the guy in an office gets a gift of binoculars and the camera moves away and you hear the guy scream, then the camera goes to floor and you see two bloody spikes sticking out of the eyepieces. Also The Birds; I had to walk home from the theater after seeing that on a Saturday afternoon, and walked across a field where a big flock of birds were feeding, doing that back and forth sweep they do and getting lower and lower each time. lol I started running and didn't stop until I got in the house.

Vampires and Frankensteins and were wolves just never scared us, don't know why; too fake I guess.

 

[Flopper]

All horror shows were comedies by the time we got to age 11 or 12. The one scene I remember most seeing as a kid was in Doctor Phibes, where the guy in an office gets a gift of binoculars and the camera moves away and you hear the guy scream, then the camera goes to floor and you see two bloody spikes sticking out of the eyepieces. Also The Birds; I had to walk home from the theater after seeing that on a Saturday afternoon, and walked across a field where a big flock of birds were feeding, doing that back and forth sweep they do and getting lower and lower each time. lol I started running and didn't stop until I got in the house.

Vampires and Frankensteins and were wolves just never scared us, don't know why; too fake I guess.

In the 1930's there were warning placed on movie trailers and doors to theaters of some horror movies that warned audiences that children, pregnant women, and those with hearts problems should not view this movie. This may seem funny now but in the past these movies seem very realist. When the 1933 movie "King Kong" was shown, a women had a mischarge and sued the theater. Critics said the movie was to frightening for most audiences. Today audiences look at the silly monkey and laugh.