Night Stalker

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre television series Starring Stuart Townsend, Gabrielle Union, Eric Jungmann, Cotter Smith Directed by Rob Bowman, Daniel Sackheim Publisher Walt Disney Video External Links Official Walt Disney Video Website

If you are like me, you are just too busy to sit down and catch television shows anymore. Sure, there is TIVO, but it only stores so much, and again, if you are like me, you have to delete things that you would like to watch to make room for other things that you may not get around the watching.

This was exactly the case with Night Stalker, ABC's re-tooling of the 1970's Darrin McGavin series in which he played Kolchak, an investigative reporter on the trail of every thing from serial killers to vampires. I REALLY wanted to watch it, but never had the chance. Obviously I am not the only one, because the show was cancelled mid-season.

This is the perfect way to catch up and see what could have been. The entire series on DVD! Including four un-aired episodes that complete the seasons and answer some questions brought fourth early on in the series.

This time around, Kolchak is played by Stuart Townsend, and up and comer who landed roles in genre films such as League Of Extrodinary Gentlemen and Queen Of The Damned. Not as quirky and cool as McGavin, but these are different times. This time around, he also has a much more mysterious past that links him to the mysterious happenings that he is investigating.

This show should still be on the air! It's a quirky cross between "The X Files" and "CSI." I have to think that the problem was the network. ABC didn't really market the show well enough to get it a loyal viewership. The figured after "Lost" and "Invasion," that it would just kind of take off on it's own, but LOST was sort of a freak accident that marketed itself, and INVASION had the time slot along side it to help it out.

If Night Stalker had been on THE SCI-FI CHANNEL instead of network television, or even SHOWTIME (who are seeing good numbers with their anthology series "Masters Of Horror") or USA (who draw in the genre crown with "The Dead Zone"), I feel that this show would still be running. It was just a little too dark for network television.

This two-disk set is packed with extras, including the four un-aired episodes, an interview with series creator (and "X Files" alumni) Frank Spoonitz, commentaries, deleted scenes and the ability (DVD ROM) to print the final un-filmed scripts. It is a must have for fans of the series, and if you are not a fan, you may very well be after watching it. This show was a hidden gem just now being discovered a little too late to save it's future.