Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Youth Killer

March 14, 1975 Season 1 Episode 19

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

We have the very lovely Cathy Lee Crosby in this episode as Helen Surtees. She runs the Max-Match Corporation, a dating service. It also had John Fiedler, whose voice is very thin and right above a whisper. His voice was probably more well-known than he was. John Fiedler voiced Piglet in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh franchise for 37 years, from 1968 to 2005. He was on Star Trek and guested on The Bob Newhart Show many times as one of Bob’s patients. George Savalas, Telly’s brother, played Demosthenes, which, funny enough, was his real middle name. A nice support from a funny Kathleen Freeman as Bella Sarkof,  a matchmaker hoping to find Kolchak a wife (she may, in fact, still be waiting for Kolchak’s return call).

This episode opens with a string of murders where older men and women are found with their bodies showing signs of extreme aging in a short time. Police think it is a normal homicide case with strange medical results, but Kolchak notices that every victim had recently crossed paths with the same young person. 

He uncovers records going back decades showing the same face connected to deaths. Doctors confirm the victims lost years of life in hours. Kolchak realizes the killer is not just murdering but absorbing life itself, using it to stay young. The trail leads to Max-Match. 

In the final stretch, Kolchak confronts the problem and forces a showdown that reveals the truth and stops the killing. Kolchak files another report that will likely be buried, while the city moves on as if nothing unusual happened. It’s an odd episode. It has some very funny and entertaining scenes in this one, but overall, it’s not one of the top episodes. 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

14 thoughts on “Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Youth Killer”

  1. I think you said ratings for it weren’t great but do you think part of the reason for it only running one year is that the writers were running short on ideas for a new bizarre inexplicable killing every week? That would have been a challenge I think.

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  2. Pingback: Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Youth Killer – MobsterTiger

    1. It would be hard to keep coming up with stories…I think he wanted more than “monster of the week” type of thing….but I’m glad we have what we have. They could have went in a direction like the X-Files…and expanded it..

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  4. I did like the idea of Kolchak going down the ‘Hey, I’m no Greek God, Jeez, just look at me!’ route, and mentioning the guy with the glass eye to her. The Gods don’t like imperfections, obviously. It isn’t one of the best episodes but there is still a bit to think about. And yes, it is ‘shades of Dorian Grey.’

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    1. I did like it…and yes he knew he was short of their “goal” and used it to his advantage. Oh I had forgotten about Crosby….that was a dumb thing to do!
      The thing about this series…is even the weaker ones have their moments.

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  5. Max, I enjoyed this episode probably more than you did. First off, I like the way Kolchak was able to track down the victims without the aid of DNA testing. So funny to think of a time when forensics didn’t have DNA testing as one of its tools. I also really liked the setup the killer used to find victims! Does it feel a little eerie that your name is in the dating service name? I remember seeing that detective somewhere else. Is he the one with the soft voice? I liked the cabbie and the drunk that intervened in their conversation. The “mayonnaise scene” was a little weird, I thought. I also liked the matchmaker lady.

    We only have one more episode to go, right??

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    1. Oh yes…I noticed the “Max” right away! The guy with the soft voice is the guy in the morge that Kolchak promised a used television…I guess he was the morge.
      I’m so stupid! I knew I knew the detective as well but I couldn’t place him! I can’t believe I didn’t remember… Dwayne Hickman played…Dobie Gillis!
      I liked the show…not as much as some of the others….but I did like it. Crosby was like a blast from the past. I didn’t remember her looking like that.
      Yes one more to go!

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      1. oh right on morgue guy! bringing back Piglet’s voice. so funny Kolchak promised to buy him a color TV. Wasn’t Dwayne Hickman in The Flying Nun or Gidget also?

        With Crosby, they were very subtle with the bags under her eyes when she needed her next fix. She’s a pretty woman. I thought she did well in the role. I like that back and forth when she was questioning him when he barged in there.

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      2. He very well might have been….but like you I knew I knew him but couldn’t place him.

        I forgot she was that pretty…only a few could have played this part…Farrah and maybe one or two others had that look. The more I watch Kolchak the more I like the guy…he can be crude but he is effective.

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