Kolchak: The Night Stalker
The Vampire
TV Flash files “The Vampire” as a desk essential hour — Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974–1975) on ABC, season 1, episode 4, aired 1974-10-04, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E04: listed hour 4 of 20 in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker guide, hour 4 of 20 in season 1. It aired 1974-10-04 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be...” (S01E03). Next is “The Werewolf” (S01E05).
Essential hour: “The Vampire”. The Vampire is the franchise's home monster named plainly. Night Stalker as weekly filing: seersucker, flashlight, a scoop the city desk will kill before the creature does.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A victim of Janos Skorzeny, the vampire that Kolchak dispatched in Las Vegas, has risen from a shallow grave and traveled to Los Angeles. Now she is posing as a prostitute and feeding on her clients, and Kolchak comes to town to investigate the killings.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Vampire sit in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker guide?
S01E04 is listed hour 4 of 20 — hour 4 of 20 in season 1, season 1 episode 4.
When did Kolchak: The Night Stalker S01E04 air?
The Vampire aired 1974-10-04 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…