For those of you who may not know who Jeff Rice was, or for that matter, who Carl Kolchak is, please check out this touching and insightful obituary by Mark Dawidziak of the Plain Dealer:

http://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/inde...

Now, Mr. Dawidziak said these things far more eloquently than I ever could, but I am going to attempt to add my own two cents.

In addition to The Walking Dead, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural, I believe an entire genre or subgenre would not exist if not for the adventures of Mr. Rice’s intrepid reporter. It is my belief that you can draw a straight line from Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV series to Chris Carter’s The X-Files to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and J.J. Abrams’s Fringe, and a similar line from the original TV movie The Night Stalker to Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire and subsequent novels, to White Wolf’s Vampire: The Masquerade RPG, to Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books to HBO’s True Blood. In other words, Horror Adventure might not exist as we know it today if not for an all-too-oft forgotten writer and the influence he had on the American zeitgeist of the 1970s and onward. Just imagine that for a moment; a world without a Mulder and Scully; without an Olivia, Peter, and Walter; without Hellboy, Abe, and Liz; without Lestat and Louis; without Sookie and Bill; without a Sam and Dean Winchester.

I will tell you this for nothing, there definitely wouldn’t be a Godric and Robert, or a Shadow Crusade if not for those nights staying up late and watching those Kolchak reruns with my Dad in the dark. Nightmares and damaged eyesight be damned.

So, if you’re a fan of any of these works, I invite you to check out the TV shows and the books featuring Carl Kolchak. And, if you find yourself so moved, doff your straw pork pie hat in respect. I know I will.