Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it rapidly achieved cult status and has remained very popular in syndication.Kolchak: The Night Stalker Season 1 Download.
Chris Carter cited Kolchak as a “tremendous influence” in creating his franchise The X-Files.[1][2] Following that success in 2005, The X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz resurrected the series with a new cast and characters, as well as subsequent novels and comic books. The new series was a ratings bomb and was quietly cancelled after only six of the ten episodes produced were aired.In late 1973, Matheson and William F. Nolan completed the script for an intended third television movie, to be titled The Night Killers,[3] a story about android replicas. ABC decided that it wanted a weekly series instead.[4]
After some negotiation, McGavin agreed to return as Kolchak and also served as the series’ executive producer, though he was not credited as such.[5] However, neither ABC nor Universal had obtained Jeff Rice’s permission and he sued the studio.[6] The suit was resolved shortly before the series aired in the fall 1974 season, replacing Toma on the network’s Friday night schedule. Rice received an on-screen credit as series creator. The first four episodes aired under the title of The Night Stalker. After a month-long hiatus, the series was renamed and returned as Kolchak: The Night Stalker.[7]The later home video releases of the television series also used that title. The series theme had originally been part of the music score that Gil Mellé had composed for The Questor Tapes. [8] While the show was set in Chicago and some generic location/background filming was done there in summer and early fall, the show was filmed primarily in Los Angeles and at Universal Studios.