loco_73 In the spirit of full disclosure, and just because I am simply lazy, this review also appears as a general posting on a message thread on the show's IMDb page...I personally liked the show. I actually saw it on re-runs on Space (the Canadian counterpart to SyFy) and not during the original airing of the show. It struck me that this new incarnation of "Night Stalker" was a show very much in the vein of "Millenium", a wonderful, wonderful show created by Chris Carter and starring the talented Lance Henriksen. It had that same brooding, dark and suspenseful atmosphere, but more than that it also had almost the same substance and heart as that show. Style was never, at least in my mind, put over substance. Of course as others have pointed it also shared certain similarities with "X-Files".It is true, that it was quite dark for a prime-time, network TV series, and liking it might have been an acquired taste...but the contention that this show was overly pessimistic, hopeless and depressing, is in my mind, unfair and unwarranted. The show only aired six episodes before it was cancelled and never got the chance to establish itself, evolve and show its true potential. We will never know what would and could have been. On the DVD set Frank Spotnitz does hint at and discusses what the future had in store for the characters and their respective story lines as well as the over all theme of the show, Good VS. Evil.Stuart Townsend and Gabrielle Union were excellent together as was the rest of the cast. The stories in each episode were crafted as stand-alone narratives, but they also neatly fitted into the overall arch of the show and Kolchak's one-man crusade to find out the truth about what happened to his wife as well as expose all the strange cases he came across, trying to understand the nature of the dark, the evil, the things that go-bump in the night, which most of us ignore and pretend don't exist.The more I think about it, the more I see "Night Stalker" if not parallel to, at least mirror other similar shows like HBO's "Carnivale" and CW's "Supernatural". But "Millennium" remains the show most comparable to "Night Stalker".Lastly I have to add, that the narration which Stuart Townsend did at the beginning/intro and end/outro of each episode was quite wonderfully chilling and gave me goosebumps each and every time, and I mean this as the highest compliment. That world-weary voice Carl Kolchak brought every week, heavily burdened by the knowledge and awareness of the darkness and evil which lurk out there, made this show a must-see! Too bad it didn't get a fair shake...

SnoopyvsRedBaron I just want to say when I first saw the trailers I was expecting the same formula of the 1970's show of the dead-beat, crusty reporter dealing with the supernatural though it would be updated for the 2000's for the Generation Y crowd. Unfortunately after watching several episodes, this show is more of HOMICIDE:LIFE ON THE STREETS with a little X-FILES or Millennium thrown in to make it "interesting". I will say as a show in its OWN RIGHT it is not bad. I am not really to much into crime shows since Michael Mann's CRIME STORY from several years ago.I think if this show had a different name, it might have been better. The reason (in my opinion) why the series did not go to far was the TITLE. Many fans were disappointed because there was no vampire, or Jack the Ripper or invisible alien being that this "updated" Karl Kolchak has to fight. My other reason why this series did not make it was the lack of Kolchak getting in arguments with his current boss, unlike the original Kolchak did with his editor boss, Vincenzo. Kolchak's paparazzi tactics in trying to get the bottom of the story always got him in the hot seat with the cranky Vincenzo which was great and funny at the same time.This type of conflict is NOT IN THIS SERIES AT ALL. No characters to conflict to the point of absurdity. The makers of this series just went off to tangent and wanted to make a serious television show with X-FILES/Millennium influences in mind. I think if fans of the old series try to forget the TITLE, then they may find the series enjoyable. BE FOREWARNED FANS OF THE OLD NIGHTSTALKER SERIES, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS UPDATED VERSION IF YOU ARE EXPECTING THE OLD CHARACTERS AND STORY LINES OF THE 1970'S MOVIES AND SHOWS.

lonewolfdagaz It hooked me. I had to watch more and when I did, I was glad I did. I confess that the first time I watched, it was purely out of curiosity. Having grown up with the original show, I could not resist the nostalgic draw of hearing it was back and seeing what they had done with it. I just had to see it. I was one of the few that appreciated the homage to the original character by having him digitally inserted into the show at one point and even felt a bit of pride that they went to such trouble to do so. I found myself liking the show because of such things almost instantly.I then was impressed by the show on its own merit very quickly. It departed from the original format without question, but made very clear it was worthy of watching. Not only was it interesting and had the classic "neat spooky stuff", but it had plot twists and storyline that kept you watching. It also had enough intelligence in the writing that you didn't feel like it was campy and childish. In a time when shows like CSI are top billing, this kind of show was ranking right up there with writing that was suspenseful and well thought out. It kept you guessing. In this day, when an audience can say, "Wow, I didn't see that one coming," you know you have done well.Studio executives don't want to hear this kind of praise though. It is nice, but it doesn't pad the bottom line. Fine, here is something for their pockets to listen to then: Right now people are hungry for being scared. They want things that are spooky and go bump in the night. We watch movies like SAW 5 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 7 and have a morbid fascination with CSI shows like there is no stopping us. You have a your foot in the door with a sure thing here. The old name got you in the door, so don't let this go. Make it better than ever. Figure out where to take it with the writers for another couple of seasons and run with it and you'll make tons of cash. People want this. Scare them and not in a Buffy kind of way. Supernatural is going there too, but in a different way. You have an almost X-files approach here and you should exploit it to the fullest. People want to be scared and have a fixation on death and love being afraid. They also need to know that there are some people out there who are just as afraid as the rest of us, but still are willing to risk it all to save the world, so bring on the dark heroes. You have Dirty Harry with a camera and a pen chasing monsters and half of the ghosts are in his own closet. This is good stuff and as close as you can expect to get to the flavor of the original without feeling like it is a rip-off. The only thing you risk is writer burn out as they continue to reach for bigger and better things each week, but since when did that ever stop a series? You should be good for at least another season or two and by then maybe even a movie or two. Come on, think big and go for the money while spoiling us with what we want...more Night Stalker.

viciouslollipop I just recently watched the box set and enjoyed it very much. If you approach it from the angle that this is a different show(but with the same name as the old show-which I enjoyed)you can enjoy it on it's own merits. There was some unexplained and "huh?" type stuff going on, but getting canceled after 6 episodes will do that. I liked the leads, and there were spots of humor in the show(as dark as it was)if you were paying attention. Network TV is inane simply for the fact that they don't give us viewers a chance to get into shows anymore...remember when a show came on every week at the same time and was there for at least a year(even if it sucked)? I had no clue this show had been canceled until I saw the box set of the "complete series"...heck, I never even got a chance to watch it on the telly. Oh well, enough railing against the system...a nice little show that could have been something if given a chance.