As the Czar predicted (some might say begged for), emails have been flooding in (some might say two arrived) about the Czar’s tribute to Kolchak: The Night Stalker television series.

ScottO, the @AgStateSense, writes in:

O Great and All-Knowing Czar,

Not wishing to disappoint Your Czarness, I just had to tell you I also loved Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I was about the age of the Цесаревич when it aired, and my dad was almost as cool as you, so I got to stay up and watch it every week. I was also very sad when I learned it was no longer being aired.

Since then, anytime I saw that Darren McGavin was in something, I’d watch if I could. Boy, was I glad of that when A Christmas Story came on! I was devastated when I heard he’d died.

Your uncreeped minion,
ScottO
@AgStateSense

Thanks! The Czar pointed out to ScottO that everyone the Czar met who loved the television series always remembers one or two specific scenes from it, usually in considerable detail. We asked ScottO what his were, and of course, he said he couldn’t remember a single one. There is one in every crowd.

And Dr. J puts forth an interoffice memo (you can tell the interoffice ones: more blood stains because we tend to reuse paper):

I couldn’t hold out the email any longer.

Loved that show too. I was introduced to it when The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler were broadcast on UHF one October Saturday afternoon when I was in late Junior High or early High School. Darren McGavin will always be one of my favorite character actors. I will definitely tap into You Tube tv and such as our Blu-rays and AppleTV are linked.

Thanks for awakening some dusty neurons today.

P.S. You owe me two dollars for the Predators victory the other night.

Now don’t get us wrong: The X-Files was a very successful show, and its creator worshipped Kolchak: The Night Stalker as its inspiration. But the two shows were very different in execution, style, theme, and atmosphere. Kolchak: The Night Stalker was fun and satirical; The X-Files seemed overly staged and too into itself, even though Darren McGavin was brought back late into the show’s demise to pick up its ratings.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.