Three years later, only the 20-episode TV series is still available from Kino, and the OOP copies on eBay are quite pricy...
I've appended Dan K.'s post from 2021 with its excellent details--it might just convince you to pop for the TV series box set...

originally entitled "Kino goes all-in on Carl Kolchak"...
...with blu-ray releases for not only the two original TV movies (1972's THE NIGHT STALKER and 1973's THE NIGHT STRANGLER) but for the short-lived (20 episode) TV series (KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER) that followed in 1974.



The bombastic, cynical Carl Kolchak (rendered with a loving sneer by the peerless Darren McGavin) was kind of like Kirk Douglas' ACE IN THE HOLE character Cbuck Tatum brought into the 1970s and tossed against his will into the world of the supernatural. The first film was an immense hit, perfectly capturing the tone of the ongoing social unrest that occasionally manifested itself in the margins of the movies.

I remember not being particularly jazzed with the TV series, but dozens of reviewers, both the pros and the IMDBers, wax eloquent (and highly nostalgic) about it, including a lot of kudos for the show's purported influence on THE X-FILES.

So here are some links to Kino's site for these products, and once you're there you are on your own...no help from the dyspeptic Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland, in one of his finest blowhardy incarnations).

https://www.kinolorber.com/product/kolchak-the-night-stalker-the-complete-series-blu-ray?

https://www.kinolorber.com/product/the-night-stalker-special-edition-blu-ray?

https://www.kinolorber.com/product/the-night-strangler-special-edition-blu-ray?

Note that the last two links no longer work...

Gary Tooze at DVD Beaver has his usual lavishly illustrated compendium of images for the TV series (which even at a discount will set you back to the mordant tune of $60). But take a look--all or some of it may prove to be fatally irresistible...

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film10/blu-ray_review_159/kolchak_the_night_stalker_blu-ray.htm

Re: Kino goes all-in on Carl Kolchak...
Posted by Dan in the MW on 10/13/2021, 4:18 pm, in reply to "Kino goes all-in on Carl Kolchak..."

I always enjoyed the Kolchak made for television films and the resulting series (which never stood a chance of succeeding long term).

The movies were huge hits, but the television series (developed as an afterthought when a third television movie stalled) had a brief but troubled run.

My personal bias is obvious: while the two movies were set in Las Vegas and Seattle respectively, the television show relocated Kolchak and Vincenzo to Chicago. Although the entire series was not filmed on location, the budget permitted several days of background footage to be shot in Chicago. It was sort of fun seeing some Chicago stock footage cross cut with some definite Hollywood locations. McGavin drove around Chicago in several sequences.

What I liked about the show is that it captures a lost City of Chicago. The elevated trains pass the notorious Cabrini-Green public housing projects (long since demolished in the wake of gentrification). The program tried to mock up Chicago police cars and the elevated trains are from an older series of train cars that were discontinued by the Chicago Transit Authority in 1976. The oft repeated window shot of the INS (Independent News Service) office is across from a Ravenswood elevated train station.

There is a world weariness about the program. "Chicago -- The City That Works," according to Mayor Richard J. Daley, is shown to be an ineffective bureaucracy. Carl Kolchak bribes corrupt city employees for news tips and leads. The cops simply want to close investigations and suppress the truth.

The series had numerous guest stars from Hollywood's Golden Years, including Milton Parsons, Virginia Gregg, Marvin Miller, Nina Foch, Keenan Wynn, John Dehner, and so many more. A young David Chase (of "The Sopranos") was a script editor and story consultant.

The program never had a firm time slot and was often rescheduled. It was a minor miracle that it lasted for twenty episodes. It was a grind for Darren McGavin, who also took on some production duties, and how long could a "Monster of the Week" show continue?

One of the interesting things about the Kolchak cycle is that the movies and television shows admitted the existence of the demimonde. A world in which people drank, smoked, used drugs, and engaged in illicit sex.