Kolchak: The Night Stalker

When Kolchak: The Night Stalker fired on all cylinders, it was solid gold - scary, with enough humor to keep the show in check, and strong performances all around. Occasionally, the "frights" would falter and the humor would pick up the slack. Hence, we have "The Energy Eaters."



The idea is a good one, but like other episodes, the execution is spotty. Despite the deaths, we never get a sense of urgency about the Bear god and his attacks. Even Kolchak seems detatched. Perhaps it's because the scenes of the specter at work consist of bursting light bulbs and doors crashing open. Not terribly exciting, and definitely not fright-invoking. The guest players are weak this time around too, particularly the hospital administrators when they discover that there may be some truth to what Kolchak is preaching.



What saves this episode is the humor. The newsroom provides some laughs when we see that Carl bribed Emily into writing his story (and tricks Tony into taking another assignment meant for him). The scenes where Carl breaks up a romantic rendezvous between the tribal shaman and his neighbor is also well done. Even when he was bored, Darren McGavin brought his best work to the table, and even a mediocre episode like "Energy Eaters" is worth seeing for his performance and some well-delivered shouting matches with Simon Oakland.