Friday, December 09, 2005

Writer's Block, TV, Tidbits, Nightstalker staked!

To be completely honest I have been suffering from a horrific case of writer's block. So I am taking the oldest remedy for it - Just writing untill the post takes a direction. There are several things I know I am definitely going to cover. You can see them up in the title there.

First off the last thing in the list - the cancellation of the ABC series The Nightstalker. The fans of the show of course were pretty rabid about it. I wasn't. For example Spotnitz's cancellation post on his blog is his notice and a few comments lamenting the demise of the show. - Not a single online site devoted to saving the site. It's not entirely surprising. I watched 1 episode boy was the formula off on the show. The Kolchak formula formula is different from the X-Files formula. Instead they adapted a version of CSI group of characters. This introduction of Team Kolchak was a mistake but it reflected Spotnitz's late X Files experience with john Dogget, Monica Reyes, and Dana Sculley.

I found the plotting solid on Nightstalker and the writing also strong. Stuart Townsend's performance was reserved but I suspect that was quite intentional. His character development was to have taken several seasons for the looks of it. I thought worked with Kolchak was that he wasn't a true believer ala Fox Mulder. He was a reporter. He didn't have connection to the Unknown through the death of his wife. He knew about as much as the every day guy when he started the episode (although each episode is told after the fact but story unfolds chronologically). This means the viewer's enlightenment and encounter with the unknown occurrs at roughly the same time it occurs with Kolchak. Kolchak is more of an every man than a Fox Mulder (who I may need to remind you was an Oxford trained serial killer profiler). Mulder was steeped in the unknown and more than equipped to quickly puzzle out things. Kolchak often consulted a whole range experts, professors and scientists. His character archetype was distinctly different, funnier and older.

I had my doubts about the ensemble approach with the Kolchak it appears that my fears were well founded. There is a silver lining in all this - You can now get the original series on DVD. For years fans have requested them on DVD, yet Universal couldn't be bothered to issue them. The new series made them get off their butts and actually release them on DVD. You can buy Kolchak - The Night Stalker here and Amazon will ship them to your door.