Based on a reporter who digs into crimes that don’t quite make real-world sense, mid-’70s favorite Kolchak: The Night Stalker spawned numerous comic books and novels, was cited by Chris Carter as a pivotal influence on The X-Files, and practically reinvented the detective procedural. But ABC’s 2005 reboot, canceled just over halfway through its 10-episode run (in the middle of a two-parter, no less), wasn’t afforded the same opportunity to make such an impact.
Indeed, Night Stalker was essentially thrown to the wolves from the outset, premiering in the same time slot as NBC’s The Apprentice, Fox’s MLB playoffs, and CBS’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. But armchair sleuths who switched over from the latter 20 years ago today were treated to an intriguing and decidedly murkier subversion of the prime-time whodunit.
