DAY-NIGHT STALKER

I have something in common with John Harms. No. Not Geelong. No. Not Queensland. No. Not short sentences. No. This:

The first time I ever stayed up for the entire night was watching the World Cup final from Lords in 1975.

Me, too. Watched it at my grandparents house in Mount Eliza, on a weekend away from boarding school. I still count that final as among the best one-day matches I've seen. Dunno about the decadent, but there was action alright: Lloyd and the Tavern window, Richards and the run outs, the calypso music, Thommo & Lillee batting at the end, Bill Lawry declaring with Marsh on 93. Ok, Marsh was 92. And it was a Test match. In Melbourne. Four years earlier. Anyway. Half way through the telecast I flipped to The Night Stalker, which despite being completely daggy, is still in my top ten all-time favourite TV shows. The way Kolchak went alone into derelict buildings, sewers, basements, attics and hidden underground cities is still in my top ten all-time how to create tension techniques. His blue suit and sand shoes is still in my top ten all-time fashion statements. And the show's theme is still in my top two all-time TV themes.

With this theme:

The theme to Dexter reminds me of John Barry.

Comments

[Amanda]

I saw Kolchak in a TV guide recently, can't remember where and forgot to follow it up. Stupid me, I have never seen it but read many admiring comments.

Relatedly, I am trying to blog about The Wire. Am 7/10 way through the last season, waiting with sinking heart for 8. How will life go on after it's over? *sniff*

[Tony T]

I'm a stoic. I've been sitting on Series 4 of The Wire until I've got all my other backlogged series and movies out of the way. I want to savour it.

[Tom H]

Two of my absolute favourite shows. One of the few reasons I could ever see for wasting money on pay TV would be for a nostalgia channel that showed this kind of gear.

Mind you, I bought a DVD of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", another of my childhood favourites, and I must say the years have not been kind. Maybe some things are best remembered, not re-experienced.

[Uncle J rod]

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[Tony]

Tom: While TNS holds up well, despite being clunky, the Persuaders is very ordinary. Still, it's a great theme.

J: You'll notice my informed contribution at your blog. I had to take a round-a-bout way to get there, though, because your link is wonky.

[boynton]

For that genre, this theme is pretty good.

(But for sheer nostalgic value, National Velvet is my own fave... You're lucky that one hasn't been youtube-d yet)

[Tony T]

I've just spent some time Y-Tubing for favourite TV themes and each time I unearth one I discover it wasn't all that good. The Rockford Files was dicky, but it was Mike Post after all. And The Prisoner theme was not bad, but nowhere near the Persuaders or the Night Stalker.

Haven't been able to find the theme for an Aussie show called The">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196279/">The Outsiders, which I liked back in the 70s, but I haven't heard since.

[carneagles]

I can distinctly remember, as a youngster, my parents refusing to let me watch the Night Stalker.

I presume that the ban's now been rescinded, but I haven't thought to ask.

[carneagles]

As for TV themes, I always loved the theme from The Winners, which many years later I discovered was basically just a few bars of the main theme from The Great Escape.

[Tony T]

Carn: How's the post Benny/Juddy era shaping up?