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verdantheart
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here's the writeup from zap2it:
There are things in the dark; adults deny them, but children are right to fear. When a pregnant woman is kidnapped from her home, the city of Los Angeles believes it's an act of domestic violence. But crime reporter Carl Kolchak suspects that the truth is far more complicated. That's because 18 months ago, Kolchak's wife was killed in a bizarre fashion -- and he has been the FBI's No. 1 suspect ever since. Kolchak's determination to find the truth behind his wife's mysterious murder has led him to investigate other crimes that seem to have some kind of supernatural component. But he's trying to piece together a puzzle that keeps changing shape. Who or what is committing these crimes? How are they all related? And why do some victims end up with a strange red mark on their hands in the shape of a snake? With sidekick Perri Reed (a sexy if skeptical fellow reporter) in tow, Kolchak will go to any lengths to answer these questions. Will anyone believe him once he discovers the truth?
Current Cast:
Stuart Townsend as Carl Kolchak
Gabrielle Union as Perri Reed
Eric Jungmann as Jain McManus
Cotter Smith as Tony Vincenzo
zap2it article:
There are things in the dark; adults deny them, but children are right to fear. When a pregnant woman is kidnapped from her home, the city of Los Angeles believes it's an act of domestic violence. But crime reporter Carl Kolchak suspects that the truth is far more complicated. That's because 18 months ago, Kolchak's wife was killed in a bizarre fashion -- and he has been the FBI's No. 1 suspect ever since. Kolchak's determination to find the truth behind his wife's mysterious murder has led him to investigate other crimes that seem to have some kind of supernatural component. But he's trying to piece together a puzzle that keeps changing shape. Who or what is committing these crimes? How are they all related? And why do some victims end up with a strange red mark on their hands in the shape of a snake? With sidekick Perri Reed (a sexy if skeptical fellow reporter) in tow, Kolchak will go to any lengths to answer these questions. Will anyone believe him once he discovers the truth?
Current Cast:
Stuart Townsend as Carl Kolchak
Gabrielle Union as Perri Reed
Eric Jungmann as Jain McManus
Cotter Smith as Tony Vincenzo
zap2it article:
Evil Takes the Upper Hand on 'The Night Stalker'
(Thursday, July 14 09:00 PM)
By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Those old enough to remember the original 1970s "The Night Stalker" -- two TV movies, "The Night Stalker" and "The Night Strangler," followed by a short-lived series called "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" -- know that hard-luck reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) chased all manner of supernatural evil, usually just failing to get the big story (or if he did, no one wanted to publish it).
When Frank Spotnitz ("The X-Files") took on the task of bringing "The Night Stalker" into the 21st century -- an irony, since "X" creator Chris Carter cited the show as an influence -- he knew that just chasing monsters wasn't enough. In an era of terrorist attacks and a 24-hour-news cycle that runs on child abductions and serial killers, the bar for evil had been set a lot higher.
So in his version of "The Night Stalker," coming to ABC this fall, Spotnitz made his Kolchak younger and more sexy, casting Irish heartthrob Stuart Townsend, as well as darker and more troubled.
Kolchak's wife was the victim, so he says, of supernatural evil (the FBI is more inclined to suspect Kolchak himself), and now he's obsessed with discovering how his personal tragedy fits into a larger picture of mayhem and destruction. And what's up with those jagged red marks on the wrists of Kolchak and many of the victims?
"What does that mark mean?" Spotnitz says. "You're meant to think all kinds of things. Obviously, I want people to ask questions. What the show's really about is good and evil. In this show, evil really does have supernatural forces at its command. Good does not. Good has to operate through human beings. That is so interesting to me.
"I'm not a religious person, but I do a lot of reading of religious stuff. I do think, whether you're a person of faith or not, it does seem like evil is so much more powerful than good. I believe, if there is a God, God expects good to operate through men and women, that goodness in the world exists through the goodness of what people do."
Of course, unlike good, evil doesn't have to play by the rules. "Exactly," Spotnitz says. "Good people have to live by a code. They have conscience and mercy and all those things that get in the way when you're trying to destroy evil. That's what this show is ultimately about.
"It's interesting, because you don't know if Kolchak really is what he says he is."
Asked if he believes in evil incarnate, Spotnitz says, "I do think there is such a thing as evil -- whether it's supernatural or not, I don't know. But I do think there are certain things that people do that can only be characterized as monstrous.
"This is not original to me, but the whole idea that there are monsters is comforting, because some things people do are so monstrous, you would rather they came from monsters."