* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Just how sympathetic are Leslie, Mr. R.I.N.G, and Tyrell Institute? Kolchak admitted at the end he's not sure himself how strong his recollection is as his memories were chemically erased.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** The intro, which perfectly captures the series’s tone and mix between lighthearted comedy and dark and horrific.
** The melancholic tone composed by Music/JamesHorner's and the show's other episodic composer Jerry Fielding's ProductionPosse orchestrator Greig [=McRitchie=] that plays intermittently throughout “Horror in the Heights”.
* CompleteMonster: [[IntrepidReporter Karel "Carl" Kolchak]] has faced [[Characters/KolchakTheNightStalkerVillains numerous unpleasant characters]], but several stand out:
** "[[Recap/KolchakTheNightStalkerE1TheRipper The Ripper]]": UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper himself is a SerialKiller who is at first believed to be a [[JackTheRipoff Ripper copycat]], but is soon revealed to be something far more sinister. First seen butchering numerous women, mostly hookers and strippers, throughout Milwaukee and Chicago, the Ripper cannibalized his third victim in Chicago, carving out her kidneys to eat. Sending taunting letters of his crimes to the press, the Ripper arranges a meeting with a young reporter while claiming he won't kill anyone the night they would meet, however [[ILied he kills her anyway]]. After escaping police custody and brutalizing many officers and innocents who try to restrain him, the Ripper is revealed to be the actual Jack the Ripper, having spent the past decades traveling the world and always murdering 5 women in each location he terrorizes, having killed over 70 women over the years. Jack the Ripper was a mysterious figure whose crimes were never given justification beyond sheer sadism and hatred.
** "[[Recap/KolchakTheNightStalkerE7TheDevilsPlatform The Devil's Platform]]": [[CorruptPolitician Robert Palmer]] is a senator obsessed with gaining as much personal power as possible, and to this end, made a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with the Prince of Darkness]] for supernatural abilities. Using these abilities, for which he pays for by regularly sacrificing animals and "higher forms of life", Palmer kills off all of his political opponents, with their wives and friends being casualties as well. When Palmer's campaign manager plans to reveal his crimes to the public, Palmer [[ElevatorFailure sends the elevator his manager is on plummeting to the ground]], killing him and the numerous other innocents onboard. A secretary, aware of Palmer's part in the elevator crash, tries to blackmail him into paying her to keep quiet about it, and Palmer responds by trying to maul her in his {{hellhound}} form; when she survives and is sent to the hospital, Palmer pursues and [[SickbedSlaying kills her in her weakened state]]. After murdering another of his opponents in a car crash, Palmer tries to manipulate Kolchak into signing his soul over to Palmer, and wastes no time in trying to butcher Kolchak when he refuses. [[SmugSnake Smug]] and [[AmbitionIsEvil power-hungry]], Robert Palmer stood out even to Kolchak as one of the most wicked villains he ever faced.
** "[[Recap/KolchakTheNightStalkerE8BadMedicine Bad Medicine]]": [[RealityWarper The Diablero]] was a [[WasOnceAMan native shaman]] cursed for his {{greed}} to seek out treasure. Now an [[HumanoidAbomination undead monster]], the Diablero has stalked treasures through history, killing anyone who gets in his way. Slaughtering numerous victims in Chicago for priceless valuables, the Diablero murders numerous people before trying to make Kolchak the 13th victim.
** "[[Recap/KolchakTheNightStalkerE19TheYouthKiller The Youth Killer]]": [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Helen of Troy]], alias Helen Surtees, has the longest HistoricalRapSheet in the series. A beautiful demigoddess who made a deal with the powerful goddess Hecate for [[ImmortalityImmorality eternal life]], Helen is required to drain the life out of physically perfect individuals on a regular basis to retain her youth, a process that inevitably kills her victims, something sadist she takes pleasure from. Having lived for hundreds of years, Helen uses a computer dating service in the present to find victims, and drains the life out of three of them throughout the episode, nearly getting Kolchak killed when he tries to interfere. Defined by her callousness and lust for beauty, Helen of Troy was the most beautiful, and [[ItsAllAboutMe most self-centered]], foe Kolchak ever faced.
* CultClassic: A textbook case. It faltered in its day, but the humor and supernatural stories attracted a niche audience that guaranteed the show a long life in reruns and tie-in novels.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Captain "Mad Dog" Siska is the most popular of the numerous unhelpful cops Kolchak ran into, thanks to his funny interactions and chemistry with Kolchak and having more depth to him than the usual PoliceAreUseless ObstructiveBureaucrat, and was the only one to get a return appearance. Being played by legendary character actor Creator/KeenanWynn helped.
** Other contenders are Captain Vernon Rausch in "The Knightly Murders" and actor Creator/JohnDehner's eccentric performance. And Irene Lamont in "The Sentry", because she's the only female captain, relies more on charm than threats to get her way, and is played by Darren McGavin's wife Creator/KathieBrowne.
** The Diablero is one of the series's most popular monsters, thanks to a menacing performance by Creator/RichardKiel and his creepy and creative powers.
* EvilIsCool: Harold "Swordsman" Baker, a [[HeadlessHorseman Headless Biker]] who wields a {{BFS}} that he uses to decapitate his killers in the middle of doing badass motorcycle stunts.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** In "The Zombie" (the show's second episode), Vincenzo tries to butter up Kolchak, who sees it as a ploy to stick him with an unwanted assignment. Kolchak lists some of the other times this happened (such as having to rewrite a co-worker's piece), capping off by saying this usually ends with him getting stuck with all the work and frustration. That ended up being a complaint of Darren [=McGavin=]; not only was he the star and featured in most scenes, but he purportedly did a lot of extra work writing and producing the show without proper credit.
** Not long after ''The Night Strangler'' came out, '''Ted Bundy''' started preying on young women in Seattle.
* JerkassWoobie: Carl Kolchak is abrasive, rude, and often treats his coworkers as burdens on him. He also is treated like crap by everyone, who deliberately tries to sabotage his efforts to help or ignores any suggestion he might have, often falsely arrested, and is never given proper credit for the times he's risked his life to save others. After what he dealt with in the first two movies and what he currently deals with in the show, it's easy to interpret his behavior as a defense mechanism to get his job done by any means necessary.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
** The way Kolchak defeats Catherine Rawlings in "The Vampire": by setting a giant cross on fire and trapping her in a ring of flames so she can’t escape. Then he stakes her. When the cops arrive and arrest him, he clearly doesn’t give a damn, and he gets off free because the coroner’s report said she had been dead for 3 years.
** In "Firefall" he manages to defeat Frankie Marnoff by giving him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. Then, after being arrested for arson committed by Marnoff, he simply decides he’ll take the opportunity to fall asleep, and does so while inside a police car.
* RetroactiveRecognition: A behind the camera example: Creator/DavidChase wrote several episodes decades before he created ''Series/TheSopranos''.
** And hey, Creator/RobertZemeckis and his writing partner Bob Gale got an early credit on "Chopper"!
* SeasonalRot: The last few episodes are widely seen as terrible, although there are several exceptions.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: In "Bad Medicine" there are a couple times where they try to show a dog that's been savaged to death by the evil metamorph. Unfortunately, they're ruined a little by how the dead dogs ''move''.
* TearJerker:
** The death of Mr. R.I.N.G., who is fatally wounded when he is shot, and spends his last moments calling out to his mother.
** The ending of ''The Night Stalker''.
** The Rakshasha killing lovable old Harry Starman.
* VindicatedByHistory: With the rise in popularity concerning the UrbanFantasy genre since the [=1970s=], the series has gotten a significantly more positive critical and commercial appraisal as time has gone on.
* TheWoobie: Kolchak at the end of ''The Night Stalker''
----