Kolchak premieres Thursday at 9

I've looked forward to the return of Kolchak, the Night Stalker since I first posted about it back in March. There is always that risk of getting your hopes up when it comes to remakes of television programs. I just have a good feeling that this is going to be done well. There's no way it can capture the feeling of the original, particularly the first two TV movies and the first season of the series. This also isn't faithful to the original. In this version, Kolchak is a widower and the police suspect him in his wife's death. In the early '70s version, Kolchak was a hard-nosed crime reporter always out to get the scoop. One had the sense he'd be just as dogged in investigating corruption in City Hall as he was when it came to digging up the dirt (vampire humor) on the supernatural (too bad we don't have reporters like him covering the White House in these days). I'm not sure how I feel about the change if Kolchak's motivation. The death of the wife might give his character more edginess. However, it sounds a bit like The Frighteners. Here's the official Night Stalker web site. It's got some neat features to play with. I particularly like the answering machine message telling Kolchak to check his fax.