Here's why Darren McGavin steered clear of any romance in Kolchak: The Night Stalker

The only ladies that Kolchak was interested in were lady monsters.

NBC/Universal

Is a love story always necessary? Sometimes a good love story really makes a film and television show, and sometimes it just hinders the experience. Was Cheers a better series because of Sam and Diane's will-they-or-won't-they dynamic, or would the show have been just as memorable without any romance?

For Darren McGavin, on-screen romances often got in the way of what was truly important: Hunting monsters.

McGavin spoke about his show, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, during an interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer. In the interview, McGavin called Kolchak "terrific." "He really is a man out of his time," said McGavin.

It makes sense for a man out of his time to have no time for any sort of silly romance throughout the series.

It's important to understand that Kolchak hasn't always been happily single; in one of the films that preceded the series, The Night Stalker, for a time, the reporter did have a girlfriend.

However, by the time the series rolled around, McGavin had changed his tune about the character's love life. "We're not doing any more warm and human shows," the actor said. "I'm so bored with private eyes being attracted by females! I have no love interest in this!"

With less time focused on love, McGavin felt it was his duty to focus on the more spooky, supernatural elements of the show. "Hopefully, we'll attack those primeval fears within all of us," he said. "I'm sitting at the top of it to make sure it works. Nobody knows as much about this as I do."

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16 Comments

HopeDuchaine 16 days ago
I loved the Night Stalker. At one time I had a crush on Darren McGavin. I thought that he was so handsome. The monsters were so well displayed and and well acted.
StrayCat 17 days ago
Interestingly, I remember reading somewhere that the reason why Kolchak didn't have a season 2 was because McGavin walked away from the series.
AnnieM 19 days ago
Darren McG was right; Kolchak wasn't the kind of show (and the character the kind of guy) that could have sustained any romance. His ever-so-slight flirty banter with Miss Emily was just right for the character.
FLETCH 20 days ago
Great show. Only wish they filmed more episodes. And I always felt they didn't take advantage of Simon Oakland being on the show. He was a fine character actor and they should of expanded his role on the series. Instead, his character is reduced to nothing more than cliche and trope with him yelling and screaming at Kolchak all the time.
AnnieM FLETCH 19 days ago
They did the same thing to him on 'Black Sheep Squadron' as Col Lard. It seemed like all he ever did was yell at Robert Conrad's Pappy Boyington.
dmzabooo 20 days ago
Gavin was a great actor for his time. Always dug the Nightstalker series only wish there were more seasons.
Avie 21 days ago
Kolchak was a Man with a Mission, and men with a mission are single-mindedly focused on that and nothing else. A woman is a distraction and, maybe, even a threat perhaps sent by the forces that Kolchak is determined to track down. It's the essence of the character, and Kolchak's only romance is with the truth he seeks.
MikefromJersey 21 days ago
His real life wife Kathie Brown guested on the series, her character loathed Kolchak.
She was good in a multi episode story arc on Bonanza as Adam's fiance.
Till she fell in love with one of the Lost In Space members and left with him.
I know, you all assume it was Doctor Smith, but don't be a bubble headed booby.
It was the robot. Okay that's wrong too.
Avie MikefromJersey 21 days ago
Kathie BROWNE.
Badge714 Avie 18 days ago
Now now ... we know Mike meant Browne. Let's all Chille.
Badge714 21 days ago
He did get close to romance with Carol Lynley in the original Night Stalker movie. They weren't just hanging out talking in that Las Vegas hotel room all the time.
MichaelPowers 22 days ago
A very good call by DM. The series needed to zero in on the frightening aspects of the show without devoting time to romances that would only take time away from the meat and potatoes of the series.
His statement is somewhat ironic considering that he once played Mike Hammer! I suspect that he was so in love with his wife he wanted to reassure her that she was the one! Fun Fact: He met her on The Outsider, his previous series!
Say her name! (As the kids like to say.)
Kathie Browne, who was hubba as well as hubba.
DID guest star in one episode: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0621545/?ref_=tt_mv_close
Avie AgingDisgracefully 21 days ago
An insufficient number of hubbas for Browne.
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