EDITOR’S NOTE: This episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker was on the CBS Late Movie on June 1 and December 7, 1979; May 29, 1981; October 2, 1987 and January 8, 1988.

Carl Kolchak, a character I can’t even explain how important he was to two-year-old me. My parents even bought me a straw hat and toy camera so that I could hunt down the monsters in my small Western Pennsylvania hometown. I may never have found any, but I discovered a love for the supernatural that has lasted my entire life. Kolchak, a Las Vegas reporter with a penchant for getting into trouble, was a hero to me. His relentless pursuit of the truth, even when it led him into danger, was inspiring. And his unorthodox methods, like pretending to be the commissioner, stealing a car, and placing several people under citizen’s arrest, were always entertaining.

The character started in Jeff Rice’s unpublished novel The Kolchak Papers — which told the story of the Las Vegas reporter discovering real-life vampire Janos Skorzeny — which was optioned as a movie by ABC in 1972. The Night Stalker is even today one of the best TV movies ever filmed with a dream team of director John Llewellyn Moxey, writer Richard Matheson, producer Dan Curtis and star Darren McGavin.On its first airing, it had a 33.2 rating and a 54 share, which means that 33% of possible viewers were watching it, and 54% of all TVs turned on were tuned to ABC. Those are the kinds of numbers that we will never see again outside of the Superbowl, and perhaps not even then.

A year later, Curtis directed and wrote The Night Strangler, which was written by Matheson. This time, Kolchak had been run out of Vegas and was working in Seattle when he ran into a serial killer who had stayed alive for nearly a hundred years thanks to the blood of his victims. The movie also did well in the ratings, so well that instead of a third movie in which Kolchak would investigate android duplicates—The Night Killers—ABC ordered a weekly series.

The series cannot live up to the movies, but there are some great episodes.

The show aired in the worst time slot, Friday nights at 10 p.m., and then moved to 8 p.m. Before the last four reruns aired on Saturday at 8 p.m., McGavin worked as an executive producer with no credit or pay to try and keep the show’s quality, which exhausted him. He hated that each week there was a new monster, and finally fed up, he asked for his release with two episodes unfilmed. Despite the challenging time slot, the show developed a dedicated fan base who would stay up late or rearrange their schedules to watch it.

For several years, that was it. No more Kolchak.

Then, on May 25, 1979, The CBS Late Movie resurrected Kolchak!

Sure, they started with episode four, but it was back. And then it was gone! The ratings were so strong that CBS decided to save it until the fall. The series played in 1979, 1981 and from 1987 to 1988, missing only four episodes.

That’s because ABC packaged “Demon In Lace” and “Legacy of Terror” as The Demon and the Mummy and “Firefall” and “The Energy Eater” as Crackle of Death. Until 1990, these episodes were kept from the original rotation. They made their return to the series when SciFi aired the show.

Now, let’s journey back to 11:30 p.m., when the rest of America was asleep or about to fall asleep watching Carson and getting into “The Ripper.”

Directed by Allen Baron (who also made the noir classic Blast of Silence) and written by Rudolph Borchert, the story begins with an exotic dancer (Denise Dillaway, The Cheerleaders) being attacked by a man in a cape with a sword cane who is somehow strong enough to throw human beings through the air.

We cut from this to a scene that will become familiar to show fans: Carl’s boss, Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland), is now with him in Chicago, screaming at him yet again for the reporter’s latest screw-up. This time, he pretended to be the commissioner, stole a car and placed several people under citizen’s arrest as he was looking into a robbery. As punishment, Carl must write an advice column as Miss Emily.

That’s not where our reporter friend wants to be. His police scanner alerts him to another attack by the man people are calling The Ripper. There, Carl watches the man shrug off several point-blank gunshots, a four-story leap off a building and fighting multiple police officers. Carl would be fired if it wasn’t for the fact that his fellow reporter Updyke (Jack Grinnage) got sick when he even heard about the crimes.

At a press conference, Captain Warren (Ken Lynch) refuses to answer any of Kolchak’s questions but does reveal that The Ripper has sent a letter to another reporter, Jane Plumm (Beatrice Colen). She and Carl compare their research, and he learns that the letter says, “And now a pretty girl will die, so Jack can have his kidney pie.” As he digs deeper into the case, he discovers that there have been murders like this all over the world for decades.

Another crime, another poem — “Jack is resting. Be reborn. To finish up on Wednesday morn.” — and Carl learns something else the police didn’t. A couple hit a man with their car who just walked away. Kolchak saves a scrap of fabric from the accident. Jane is taking things even further, meeting men who claim to be The Ripper.

The cops want Carl out of the way, but The Ripper attacks the squad car he’s in the back of, and even though he’s caught after being stunned by an electric fence, the serial killer tears a jail cell door off its hinges and escapes. Carl figures out that he’s in a house in Wilton Park. There, he finds Jane’s corpse and barely survives when The Ripper attacks him. Luckily, Carl thought ahead and brought electrical gear to disintegrate the killer. Unfortunately, it also burns the Musnter’s house on the Universal backlot he’s been hiding in down to the ground, destroying all the evidence.

Carl closes, ruminating over how he got here all over again, saying, “And here’s the postscript: when they drained that pond, they found nothing – nothing, but some old clothes. For some reason, the police suddenly decided they wanted those and my head. I don’t know how Vincenzo will handle the charges of arson and malicious mischief lodged against me by Captain Warren, but that fire was a big one – a six-alarmer. A blast furnace couldn’t have done a better job: everything gone. The house. My story. The evidence. Like they say: ashes to ashes. One thing survived the inferno, however. There’s enough of it left to read the maker: “Peel’s Footwear, London, Southwest 1.” They’re still there, of course, but they don’t make this style shoe anymore. It was discontinued over seventy years ago. Seventy. Years. Ago.”

Realizing that no one will believe a word he’s written, he pulls the paper from his typewriter and throws it in the trash.

“The Ripper” is a decent first episode that introduces Carl to anyone who hasn’t seen the first two movies and the show’s theme. I’m excited to revisit these, as they are some of my fondest childhood memories.