Which was YOUR favorite - old Kolchak or new Kolchak?

About a month ago, I posted that I’d finally finished watching every episode of “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” which aired on ABC in the mid-1970s. The series was about a fictional Chicago reporter named Carl Kolchak, who worked for the Independent News Service. He almost always ended up investigating mysterious crimes with supernatural aspects like vampires, werewolves and UFOs.

In the Fall of 2005, ABC aired a modernized remake of the Kolchak series in a show called “Night Stalker.” That series consisted of 10 episodes, but only six of them aired on television with the rest of the series released on iTunes in 2006. Through NetFlix, I managed to watch all 10 episodes, and I liked it a lot.

As you might have imagined, there were a few differences between the original Kolchak series and the modernized series. The 2005 series includes two characters from the original series, Kolchak (played by Stuart Townsend) and Anthony “Tony” Vincenzo (played by Cotter Smith). The original series was set in Chicago, and the remake is set in Los Angeles. In the remake, Kolchak works for The L.A. Beacon newspaper, not the Independent News Service.

Recurring characters in the 2005 series that aren’t in the original series include female Beacon reporter Perri Reed, Beacon photographer Jain McManus, FBI agent Bernie Fain, Beacon technology specialist “Edhead” and coroner’s assistant Alex Nyby. Of those characters, Reed is the most prominent in the series. She reminded me a lot of Dana Scully from “The X-Files” in that she’s extremely skeptical when it comes to claims made by Kolchak.

I enjoyed watching this series so much that I was surprised to learn that it had been cancelled due to low ratings. I later read that it was in the same time slot as the immensely popular crime show, “CSI,” which probably explains why a lot of viewers didn’t tune in to watch “Night Stalker.” If you get the urge to watch this entire series for yourself, you can. The complete series was released on DVD in May 2006, and it’s available through NetFlix.

I really enjoyed watching the modernized “Kolchak” TV series. As a reporter, it was fun to watch Townsend's Kolchak investigate the supernatural in a modern setting. If you’ve never watched this TV show, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re in the newspaper business.

Despite the fact that I’ve watched both Kolchak TV series, there are still a few Kolchak-related things I’d like to do. I’ve yet to watch the two made-for-TV Kolchak movies, 1971’s “The Night Stalker” and 1973’s “The Night Strangler.” They’re currently unavailable through NetFlix.

Those movies and all things Kolchak were originally based on a novel by Jeff Rice called “The Kolchak Papers,” which I’d also love to read. The book was originally published by Pocket Books, but it was re-released in 2007 by Moonstone. I’ve just got to get my hands on a copy of it.

In the end, how many of you remember watching 2005’s “Night Stalker” series? Did you see every episode? Which was your favorite? What did you think about the series and its cancellation? Let us know in the comments section below.