Kolchak: The Night Stalker
The Ripper
TV Flash files “The Ripper” as a desk essential hour — Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974–1975) on ABC, season 1, episode 1, aired 1974-09-13, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 20 in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1974-09-13 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “The Zombie” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “The Ripper”. The Ripper opens the wire-service mutter. McGavin's seersucker reporter already tripping over what the police refuse to file: monster-of-the-week journalism, flashlight, scoop that never quite prints.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A serial killer murders attractive women in the Illinois/Indiana area, and soon comes to Chicago. Kolchak begins to suspect that the killer is not just imitating the 18th century Jack the Ripper, but actually is the seemingly immortal killer.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Ripper sit in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 20 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Kolchak: The Night Stalker S01E01 air?
The Ripper aired 1974-09-13 and is listed at 60 minutes.
TV movies first or the series?
The movies launched the ratings event. The 1974–1975 series is the weekly monster beat. Either entry works; McGavin's mutter is the constant.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Darren McGavin's wire-service reporter in a seersucker suit keeps tripping over vampires the police refuse to file. One short, grumbling season of monster-of-the-week journalism that later paranormal hours raided for tone. The mutter, the flashlight, and the scoop that never quite makes page one.
The seersucker arrives before the monster. ABC, 1974–1975: Darren McGavin's Carl Kolchak in rumpled summer cloth, flashlight as jewelry, a wire-service reporter dressed like he lost the dry cleaner and found a vampire. Kolchak: The Night Stalker grew from hugely rated Night Stalker TV movies and lasted one season — twenty hours of investigative mutter while Simon Oakland's Tony Vincenzo demanded ordinary crime copy. Jack Grinnage's Ron Updyke completed the newsroom that did not want this beat. *Wrinkled…
Filed against
- Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak
Darren McGavin’s Carl Kolchak kept tripping over vampires the police refused to file — seersucker, flashlight, a wire-service reporter in one short, grumbling season of monster-of-the-week journalism. Later paranormal hours raided the…
- Simon Oakland as Tony Vincenzo
Simon Oakland barked Kolchak: The Night Stalker as Tony Vincenzo — the editor who will not file the vampire while Darren McGavin's seersucker reporter keeps tripping over monsters the police refuse to see. One short, grumbling season. TV…
- Jack Grinnage as Ron Updyke
Jack Grinnage’s Ron Updyke filed copy while Darren McGavin’s Kolchak tripped over vampires the police would not name — seersucker monster journalism, one short 1970s season, a flashlight that later paranormal hours raided for tone. TV…