ABC Pulls the Plug on 'Night Stalker'
11-14-05 | 01:01 PM
#1
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ABC Pulls the Plug on 'Night Stalker'
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/newswire.cgi?id=7033
I actually thought the show was okay, but not good enough for me to be upset about this news. At least it frees up my Thursday logjam a bit.
ABC Pulls the Plug on 'Night Stalker'
By Brian Ford Sullivan
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- ABC has axed its struggling freshman drama "Night Stalker" after six airings.
Executive producer Frank Spotnitz broke the news on his production company's blog, Big Light Productions, yesterday:
"It is with regret that I confirm 'Night Stalker' has been canceled. While I’m disappointed the series has come to an end, I am enormously grateful for the experience and the opportunity given me by the network and Touchstone Television. I would like to thank our amazingly talented cast, wonderful crew, killer post-production department, terrific writing staff, producers and partners in crime Daniel Sackheim and John Peter Kousakis, the incredible Jana Fain, and all of you who watched and enjoyed the show. It was a blast."
Scheduling updates released this morning by ABC confirmed the news as the Alphabet will air the first half of an expanded two-hour "Primetime" in the show's Thursday, 9:00/8:00c time period this week.
Previously planned airings of "Finding Nemo" and the original movie "Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II" will fill the hour on November 24 and December 1. A permanent replacement will likely be announced in the coming weeks.
The cancellation comes on the heels of the show's series-low 3.94 million viewer performance (according to preliminary Nielsen numbers) for its most-recent airing.
It's not clear how many installments of the show's initial 13-episode order were produced.
By Brian Ford Sullivan
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- ABC has axed its struggling freshman drama "Night Stalker" after six airings.
Executive producer Frank Spotnitz broke the news on his production company's blog, Big Light Productions, yesterday:
"It is with regret that I confirm 'Night Stalker' has been canceled. While I’m disappointed the series has come to an end, I am enormously grateful for the experience and the opportunity given me by the network and Touchstone Television. I would like to thank our amazingly talented cast, wonderful crew, killer post-production department, terrific writing staff, producers and partners in crime Daniel Sackheim and John Peter Kousakis, the incredible Jana Fain, and all of you who watched and enjoyed the show. It was a blast."
Scheduling updates released this morning by ABC confirmed the news as the Alphabet will air the first half of an expanded two-hour "Primetime" in the show's Thursday, 9:00/8:00c time period this week.
Previously planned airings of "Finding Nemo" and the original movie "Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II" will fill the hour on November 24 and December 1. A permanent replacement will likely be announced in the coming weeks.
The cancellation comes on the heels of the show's series-low 3.94 million viewer performance (according to preliminary Nielsen numbers) for its most-recent airing.
It's not clear how many installments of the show's initial 13-episode order were produced.
11-14-05 | 01:57 PM
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From: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell
I watched a few episodes and couldn't stomach it. WB pretty much beat them to the punch with Supernatural.
11-14-05 | 02:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Jadzia
I still have never watched any off my Tivo. Should I even bother now?
11-14-05 | 03:09 PM
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Some of the previews looked decent, but I didn't hear that many good things about it so I never actually took the plunge and watched it. I guess I'm happy now that I didn't.
11-14-05 | 03:22 PM
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I don't understand all the praise for Supernatural. Usually I'm a WB fanboy, but I haven't found anything to like about Supernatural. OTOH, Night Stalker really impressed me. I liked the main theme by Phillip Glass, the characters, and some of the storylines. Also, unlike just about any other show, it's actually a little scary. I didn't like it enough to care about it getting cancelled, but I am surprised people were so negative towards the show.
11-14-05 | 04:17 PM
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Interesting. I wonder if they'll leave the show up on the iTunes store. Not that I care about Night Stalker, but it will be interesting for the development of this whole video download business to see how they handle catalog titles/cancelled programs.
11-14-05 | 08:07 PM
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Too. Many. X-Files. Clones.
Nightstalker.
Surface.
Invasion.
Threshold.
Supernatural.
There were more now than there were when The X-Files was airing.
It's strange that "Lost" seems to have inspired so many of them, as "Lost" really has little to do with The X-Files. While there are ambiguous supernatural overtones, the similarities end there. It's an ensemble cast. It's takes place in a can. The protagonists aren't investigating anything; they're struggling to survive.
Nightstalker.
Surface.
Invasion.
Threshold.
Supernatural.
There were more now than there were when The X-Files was airing.
It's strange that "Lost" seems to have inspired so many of them, as "Lost" really has little to do with The X-Files. While there are ambiguous supernatural overtones, the similarities end there. It's an ensemble cast. It's takes place in a can. The protagonists aren't investigating anything; they're struggling to survive.
11-14-05 | 08:53 PM
#20
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The problem I had with the show is that the "reporter" thing didn't really play in 2005. It just seemed bizarre that reporters were granted the type of access they were, especially considering they ultimately were never allowed to actually write about any of their discoveries.
11-14-05 | 10:43 PM
#21
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Originally Posted by nny
I don't understand all the praise for Supernatural. Usually I'm a WB fanboy, but I haven't found anything to like about Supernatural. OTOH, Night Stalker really impressed me. I liked the main theme by Phillip Glass, the characters, and some of the storylines. Also, unlike just about any other show, it's actually a little scary. I didn't like it enough to care about it getting cancelled, but I am surprised people were so negative towards the show.
I liked the new Night Stalker, although it did have a half-baked X-Files-ness about it. (I always wondering if some of the scripts were unused ones left over from that show.) But it was at least as good as Supernatural, if not better. (Supernatural is okay, but way overhyped and not nearly as good as EW claims.)
11-15-05 | 12:39 AM
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i watched the 1st episode, 1/2 way through i was liking it, noticed Spotnitz name so i was semi excited (loved X-files). i have them all on my DVR, and i will be dumpin them now, since what could i really miss?
11-15-05 | 01:40 AM
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From: Sacremende (by way of the worst place on Earth: cincinnati, ky)
Originally Posted by ruk
sucks, they were in the middle of a 2 part episode,. atleast have the decency to show the next episode.
11-15-05 | 03:11 AM
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I've watched the show. Can't say I cared much for it. It was more like background noise to whatever I was actually doing. I could really care less that it was canceled evem im the middle of a 2part episode.
