MovieChat Forums > Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) Discussion > No wonder it was cancelled .....

No wonder it was cancelled .....

posted 9 years ago by tanner3212001
6 replies | jump to latest

The show had a lot of potential but it didn't hold up well with time. The director should have been shot! What is the most annoying is half the time its so freaking dark you cant even see the what is going on !!! Horrible 70`s directing! No doubt this is why people stopped watching! Hell its so dark ya cant even see the damn monster half the time! No wonder it didn't get a 2nd season.

I`ve got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders depended upon me.

[–] Doom 9 years ago

Um, exactly which director is it you would like to have had shot?

Allen Baron, Alexander Grasshoff, Don Weis, Gordon Hessler, Michael Caffey, Gene Levitt, Robert Scheerer, Bruce Kessler, Don McDougall, Vincent McEveety or Seymour Robbie?

I'm just curious.

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Wait a minute... who am I here?

[–] tanner3212001 9 years ago

Which ever one of these that directed the scenes that are BLACK ! HA !

I`ve got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders depended upon me.

[–] a_l_i_e_n 9 years ago

I think they often shot with as little light as possible because the show simply didn't have the budget for first rate makeup effects. The werewolf, for example, looked very unconvincing in the few close up shots we get of it's face, so the director wisely opted to present it as a lurking shadow, or showing the victims from the creature's point of view rather than the reverse. And, for most part, it works pretty well. In fact, I think the episode would've been fine even if they hadn't included a single shot of the werewolf's face. Anyways, even if cloaking some of the monsters in shadow caused eye strain for some, it's probably better than if we'd been able to see some of the very unconvincing makeup in broad daylight.

[–] tanner3212001 9 years ago

I already knew that was the reason half the time.

I`ve got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders depended upon me.

[–] ccorraliza 8 years ago

It was spooky when I was ten years of age watching it in a dark room.

Loved the darkness of it now as an adult.

[–] TVholic 8 years ago

It was cancelled partly because Darren McGavin didn't want to do the show anymore. He was overworked, doing several jobs for the show and not getting the producer credit the showrunner promised him.

As for dark, you haven't seen dark. Take a look at one of the later Star Trek shows. It's so dark in most of the shipboard scenes there, you can't see much of anything. Or how about Arrow? Besides, the show was called the Night Stalker. What do you want, bright daylight all the time? And are you going to complain that Hitchcock was a lousy director because you couldn't see the stabber in Psycho?