"The Night Stalker Companion" by Mark Dawidziak

Dawidziak, a former TV critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal, has written books about three prominent TV shows: Columbo, Twilight Zone and Kolchak the Night Stalker.Columbo ran for 10 seasons while Twilight Zone ran for five and been repeated endlessly over the years. Kolchak, on the other hand, lasted for only the 1974-75 season and 20 episodes.Dawidziak told Steve Tarter that the Kolchak series was preceded by two TV movies that aired in 1972 and 1973. When the first Night Stalker movie aired on ABC in January 1972, it picked up a 54 percent share of the TV audience, said Dawidziak.Even though his class of movie enthusiasts had never heard of that first TV movie, Dawidziak said that, after watching the film, "students loved it.""The magic that worked in 1972 still works today," he said.That magic is largely due to the performance delivered by Darren McGavin who plays reporter Carl Kolchak for a Chicago newspaper where he tangles weekly with his editor played deftly by Simon Oakland, said Dawidziak."Kolchak is such a creature of life. He's constantly getting knocked down but he just gets back up and keeps going. He's constantly seeking the truth. I look at him as a knight errant in a seersucker suit and porkpie hat," he said.Dawidziak said he expects to have a revised version of the Kolchak book ready by next year.