I grew up in a time that was perfect for scaring ourselves silly. I was at that age where my friends enjoyed a steady diet of monster movies, and then Kolchak: The Night Stalker came along.  It wasn’t like anything we had ever seen. It took place in the here and now, unlike all those Universal monster movies. And the “hero” didn’t seem very heroic. He was kind of a…goofball.

And it was really, really scary!

Kolchak: The Night Stalker was a short-lived TV series in the early seventies, inspired by an incredibly successful made-for-TV movie. (Do you remember made-for-TV-movies?)  Each week intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak would stumble into an astounding story that inevitably involved the existence of real-life vampires, werewolves or aliens. 

Kolchak’s greatest motivation wasn’t saving people, and it certainly was not punishing bad guys. What really got under Kolchak’s skin was when authority abused power and subverted the truth. At the core it all, he was motivated to get the real story out there. He wanted to ensure that real news, as bizarre as it may be, was available for all.  Continue reading “With Further Ado #064: That Night Stalker, Carl Kolchak” →