Kolchak, why'd they dig you up?

Newsday.com has a review (for tomorrow's edition) of the new The Night Stalker series that mentions DC and DS:

'ABC has even retained the services of Dan Curtis, legendary producer of the original "Night Stalker" (as well as the classic spook-soap "Dark Shadows"), just to make sure his "Stalker" isn't transmogrified into slop.'

However, the review isn't exactly what one might call favorable:

'The Jan. 11, 1972 movie, "The Night Stalker," in which Kolchak tracked a vampire, was a huge hit - it's still ranked 13th in TV history in total viewers. Although a 1973 sequel, "The Night Strangler," didn't fare as well and the 1974-75 series, "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," lasted a mere season, the ghost of Kolchak has lingered many years. "The X-Files" was directly inspired by "Night Stalker," but not until tonight has a network been brazen or foolish enough to attempt an actual exhumation.

Based on the first two episodes, this is a ghost best left moldering in the grave.'

That sure makes it seem as if the retainment of DC didn't quite prevent the series from being "transmogrified into slop" in the reviewer's opinion. But then...

It will certainly be interesting to see what the series is actually like. And even more interesting to see how long it actually survives on the air because, as I've noted before, it's in a killer timeslot that even an amazing series will have tough going in. But if Newsday's review is an accurate take, it looks like the going may have just gotten a hell of a lot tougher.

Read the full review: Kolchak, why'd they dig you up?

I certainly will give the show the benefit of the doubt by viewing it. Sometimes critics are wrong. The scifi.com website reported that Rob Bowman has directed the October 6th Night Stalker episode entitled" The Five People You Meet In Hell". Now if he only directed the 2004 DS pilot...........?

I'll give it a shot.  It doesn't seem to have the charm of the original though.

SCI FI Wire has a much more positive article: Night Stalker Has Answers
(Though it doesn't mention DC or DS.)

I thought it was going to be on Saturday nights?  They've scheduled it opposite the dreary WB soap opera Schlongville, which my roomie tapes obsessively.  Oh well.  Sounds as if I am not missing much.

G.

Well the NY Post gave it 3.5 stars and the NY Dailynews rated it 2.5

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/28690.htm

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/350647p-299092c.html

I thought it was going to be on Saturday nights?

That might have actually been preferable to the death slot it's actually in.

They've scheduled it opposite the dreary WB soap opera Schlongville, which my roomie tapes obsessively.

Smallville is on at 8 (and a Spike fan alert: James Marsters makes his first appearance as Brainiac in tonight's season premiere). Night Stalker is on at 9 (and is opposite the WB's Everwood, which, considering that most WB shows routinely of late place 5th in their timeslots, probably won't be much competition - but I suppose we'll see...).

A blogger on the capecodtoday Web site posted the following remark in a piece in their Cape Cod Crusader blog that generally deals with the state of TV today and specifically with the original Night Stalker series:

Original shows of "Dark Shadows", "Twilight Zone", "Outer Limits", and  "Lost in Space", were among other favorites while growing up.

They sound like someone who would definitely fit in well here. 

Check out the entire entry: TV - Friendly Companion or our Brain Sucking Enemy

Watch for a prop from the original series to show up.  It's not a person but a thing. 

I think this review of the pilot is pretty much on target. It seems only seven million viewers tuned in to catch the pilot-it may have to do a little better than that but the show is not in a desirable time slot. I think the next episode with Rob Bowman directing will be much better.

http://www.creature-corner.com/?type=reviews&id=862

jimbo, I agree.  That review pretty much hit the nail on the head IMO. 

The fact that Night Stalker pulled in 7.13 million viewers (in the overnight ratings) doesn't paint the complete picture. The really damning facts are that NS came in 3rd in its timeslot, with CSI bringing in 27.2 million and Apprentice 4 brininging in 10.34 million - and in the key 18-49 demographics it only mustered a 2.7/6 rating, whereas CSI had a 9.3/23 and Apprentice 4 had a 4.7/11. As one media analyst put it "that is nothing to certainly boast about." But as bad as all that might be, it's usually true that a new series' viewership will fall off after the premiere episode as the people who merely tuned in to sample it go back to whatever they normally watch, so it's anyone's guess what might happen next week...

As for the Creature Corner review, I think it's a bit harsh, and in opposition, Variety's review was generally favorable and they liked Stuart Townsend's performance/interpretation. At the moment I think my own opinion of the series probably falls somewhere between those two views and I'm definitely willing to give it at least a few more views before forming a final opinion. However, something that I wholeheartedly agree with as a general principle is the sentiment expressed in the first two paragraphs of the Creature Corner review:

"Sacrilege!" That's the usual cry when a genre classic ends up on the conveyor belt to remakesville, and all too often we spend way too much time bemoaning the ways in which the new version deviates from what we know and love, and too little time considering whether the new material stands up in its own right.

In other words, sometimes a remake isn't always a bad thing. They can honour the original and stand alone as solid entertainment at the same time.

Thanks PennyDreadful.

MB I agree that it is too early to get a good read on the series. I just think it was a poorly filmed pilot and I can't put my finger on why I feel that way. Maybe because Townsend looked bored and/or unsure on how to play his character. It almost reminded me on how uncomfortable Ben Cross appeared in the Barnabas role for the first 4-5 episodes. After that Cross was just great in my opinion. Perhaps the NS script could have been written more tightly. I remember how good the Jack and Bobby pilot was filmed only to see the show fall apart when it went to series. Perhaps the reverse will hold true for the NS. I think this show is going to have to average about 8 million viewers for the show to survive.
I also agree that a remake is not a bad thing. We need a good DS remake to bring life back into the franchise.

I thought the whole attempt was both half-assed and half-hearted.

I wondered why the hell there was so much use of extreme low-light shots.....only to discover that they were using a brand spanking new extreme low-light camera for the first time.  Too bad there was no Mom around to take that toy away.

And worst of all, I couldn't fathom why the lead character,( who's lost his wife to an unspeakable horror, and has to defend himself from both suspicion AND the Thing he seeks),  still has to look like a european underwear model!  No, he doesn't have to be a middle aged curmudgeon, but can't he at least look like a man who's actually been touched and changed by his experience?

TV gets more Totally Vapid with every new season.......

There's a bright side to everything, I guess.  After all, there almost certainly never will be a cross-over episode where the new Kolchak stumbles into a new Dark Shadows.