less stressed and moody...

[laura_seabrook]

Comments

[stephen_dedman]

I remember the show with considerable affection, despite the way it quickly deteriorated as they ran out of ideas for what Stephen King aptly described as 'Monster of the Week'. I have the DVD of the two pilots, which were written by Richard Matheson, and who both feature Simon Oakland as Kolchak's editor/boss as well as McGavin as Kolchak. The first pilot, which was for several years the highest-rating US telemovie of all time, also had a wonderfully bittersweet tone thanks to the relationship between Kolchak and his girlfriend, played by Carol Lynley.

Darren McGavin also does a great job as the voice of Travis McGee in the audiobooks of some of John D MacDonald's novels.

[laura_seabrook]

I have vague recollections of the TV films. First was a vampire story, and the second - I seem to recall that it featured an underground city and the actor who played Oscar Goldman in Six Million Dollar man.

[stephen_dedman]

Yes, that's right. The first (and IMHO best) pitted Kolchak against a vampire in Las Vegas (and, IIRC, had a direct sequel in the series): the second, 'The Night Strangler', featured Richard Anderson as an alchemist who'd discovered a formula for immortality which required him to kill women every few decades. It was set in Seattle, which has a fascinating underground level: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground

When I first visited Seattle and toured its underground, the fake spiderwebs from 'The Night Strangler' were still in place. McGavin, btw, also gave a great performance as Oscar Goldman's underhanded boss in the pilot of Six Million Dollar Man: it's a pity they didn't make him a regular character.