I couldn't write a critique the so-called remake of this show without paying homage to the original.
I'm a pushing-50 baby boomer who watched the original Kolchak movies on ABC's Movie of the Week when I was in high school and watched the one season of *Kolchak: The Night Stalker* when I was in college.
Kolchak was an irreverent, sarcastic and wisecracking rogue who could get knocked down but never out, who always got back up laughing, still irreverent and sarcastic and ready to keep swinging. And his verbal sparring with Tony Vincenzo almost made the whole show in and of itself. Darren McGavin as Kolchak, with the seersucker suit, straw homburg hat and tennis shoes, was an irreplaceable icon. And Simon Oakland was the perfect foil. Yes, I know Mr. McGavin is in his 80s and ailing, and Mr. Oakland is no longer with us, but that doesn't mean the chemistry of their characterizations is not replicable.
I'll even point out that I grew up watching reruns of George Reeves in *The Adventures of Superman*, and never had a problem accepting Jeff East, Christoper Reeve, Dean Cain and now Tom Welling taking over the role of Clark Kent/Superman in his various subsequent incarnations. I wish I could say the same for Stuart Townsend's incarnation of Carl Kolchak, but I can't. Humor and irreverence were the lifeblood of the original Cark Kolchak, and it's been sucked out of the new 2005 incarnation of Kolchak as thoroughly as if done so by Janos Skorzeny, Dracula, Nosferatu, Lestat or any other vampire who appeared on the big or small screen.
Anyone who has ever seen this original series or the two Kolchak movies that preceded it knows what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you don't know what you've missed!
I'm a pushing-50 baby boomer who watched the original Kolchak movies on ABC's Movie of the Week when I was in high school and watched the one season of *Kolchak: The Night Stalker* when I was in college.
Kolchak was an irreverent, sarcastic and wisecracking rogue who could get knocked down but never out, who always got back up laughing, still irreverent and sarcastic and ready to keep swinging. And his verbal sparring with Tony Vincenzo almost made the whole show in and of itself. Darren McGavin as Kolchak, with the seersucker suit, straw homburg hat and tennis shoes, was an irreplaceable icon. And Simon Oakland was the perfect foil. Yes, I know Mr. McGavin is in his 80s and ailing, and Mr. Oakland is no longer with us, but that doesn't mean the chemistry of their characterizations is not replicable.
I'll even point out that I grew up watching reruns of George Reeves in *The Adventures of Superman*, and never had a problem accepting Jeff East, Christoper Reeve, Dean Cain and now Tom Welling taking over the role of Clark Kent/Superman in his various subsequent incarnations. I wish I could say the same for Stuart Townsend's incarnation of Carl Kolchak, but I can't. Humor and irreverence were the lifeblood of the original Cark Kolchak, and it's been sucked out of the new 2005 incarnation of Kolchak as thoroughly as if done so by Janos Skorzeny, Dracula, Nosferatu, Lestat or any other vampire who appeared on the big or small screen.
Anyone who has ever seen this original series or the two Kolchak movies that preceded it knows what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you don't know what you've missed!