If you happen to be a fan of science fiction television, you probably watched “The X-Files” with some sort of regularity. And, if you watched that show, chances are you know that its creator Chris Carter was inspired by the television movies and short-lived series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.”

I never really watched much of the original series or the movies. While I wasn’t old enough to remember them when they first aired, I do remember seeing them occasionally on the SciFi Channel when it first began in the mid-1990s.

To be honest, I’m not much of a Darren McGavin fan. Sure, he was great in “A Christmas Story,” but the slovenly and Columbo-esque Carl Kolchak never really did it for me. (I never really liked Columbo that much, either, to tell the truth.) However, I did respect the series, what it stood for and the atmosphere it created. I even read a couple comic adaptations a few years ago, and those were pretty decent.

When Touchstone put together a new “Night Stalker” series, I missed it. Chalk it up to the fact that I don’t watch much broadcast television. Of course, you could also chalk it up to the fact that it only ran for a half dozen episodes.

In many ways, this short run was a bum rap for the show. In watching the complete series on DVD (a whopping ten episodes total, there were some great places the stories could have gone. However, this show, like “The Lone Gunmen” several years before jumped the X-Files shark. Perhaps if it would have been made in the X-Files heyday, “Night Stalker” could have been a hit. Alas, it came a little too late.

The show is updated quite a bit, starring the much less slovenly Stuart Townsend as reporter Carl Kolchak. He’s partnered with skeptic Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) and the eager Jimmy Olsen-style photographer Jain (Eric Jungmann). While following stories, Kolchak is trying to uncover the mystery behind his wife’s murder. Together, Kolchak and Perri stumble over a series of bizarre happenings and strange occurrences that defy logical thought.

The biggest problems with “Night Stalker” the series don’t necessarily make it a bad series. They just seemed to be unoriginal. The skeptical Perri Reed is cut from the same cloth as “The X-Files’” Dana Scully. Similar plot lines were seen on that show as well. There also wasn’t the spark of Darrin McGavin. While Townsend does a fine job, he doesn’t really pop in the series.

However, the shows still make decent television viewing – often better than other contemporary science fiction or horror shows that have come down the pike. While “The X-Files” laid the framework for an overall conspiracy, it wasn’t kicked into high gear until after the show took off. In “Night Stalker,” we see some really good groundwork for additional shows. Unfortunately, we never see these ongoing plotlines played out to fruition.

Probably the biggest thing working against “Night Stalker” was that it wasn’t as creepy and bizarre as it could have been. The show tries to make a serious go at mainstream viewing, but unfortunately, I think the mainstream’s tastes have moved on a bit.

The DVD comes with a nice selection of bonus features. In addition to the four unaired episodes (which includes the second part of a cliffhanger), there’s a conversation with creator Frank Spotnitz, a selection of deleted scenes and scripts accessible from DVD-ROM for shows that were never produced. There’s also commentaries on several episodes that not only provide insight into the show, but reveal some of the mysteries that were never allowed to play out.



Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.78:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.