Characters / Kolchak The Night Stalker The Press

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Carl Kolchak

Karel "Carl" Kolchak

"If you want a job done right, you just have to foul it up yourself."

Played By: Darren McGavin

"A reporter is paid to find out things, whether he wants to or not."

A talented albeit abrasive and outspoken investigative reporter with an affinity towards investigating bizarre and supernatural cases.

• Adaptational Attractiveness: The Kolchak Papers describes him as being rather overweight, a description the svelte Darren McGavin does not match in the slightest.
• Action Survivor: Unlike many other Urban Fantasy protagonists, Kolchak has no powers, isn’t a professional monster hunter, or even a cop, just an aging, not particularly handsome or athletic reporter who still faces off against monsters armed with practically nothing and wins every time.
• Agent Mulder: He almost always leaps to a supernatural explanation, and never considers a potential mundane explanation instead, though he’s always right.
• Agent Scully: In The Night Stalker, he at first believes Skorzeny is a false vampire, until Gail convinces him that he is genuine.
• The Alcoholic: By the end of The Night Stalker, he’s started drowning his sorrows in alcohol, and a few episodes of the series subtly imply he still drinks.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: In the first issue of Tales of the Night Stalker he is infected with a parasitic plant that slowly transforms him into a carnivorous, mindless plant monster. Fortunately, a flesh-eating Living Shadow manages to devour the plant right off of him and another unfortunate victim. However, in a bit of Laser-Guided Karma, the plant’s spores manage to infect the Corrupt Corporate Executive who started the whole mess.
• Badass Normal: Some episodes have him as being able to hold his own against the monsters physically, at least for a while.
• Being Good Sucks: Kolchak puts his life on the line time and time again to stop the monsters he encounters, and all he gets is harassment from the authorities and insulted by others. He also constantly tries to expose the truth, which gives him even more trouble from the authorities. This lessens after the films, thanks to his Ultimate Job Security, but pretty much no one likes him and he’s completely ruined his reputation. He puts it best when taking to a young reporter who idolizes him in a short story.
  Reporter: I want to be like you!
  Kolchak: Kid, no one wants to be me.
• Berserk Button:
  • Suppressing the news really, really pisses him off, as he believes the public has a right to always know the truth.
  • Do not promise him a ticket to a Cubs game and then forget about it.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Kolchak is a great reporter, but his quirks have stalled his career, and The Night Stalker mentions he was fired from multiple newspapers for it. The only reason Vincenzo keeps him around is out of respect for his skill, and because he’s a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • In The Night Stalker he is depicted as a far more serious character, and while his snark is still there, it’s far more restrained.
  • The films and the first few episodes of the series also depicted him as being prone to fits of rage when significantly annoyed, a trait that vanished later on in the series where he tended to keep a more detached or at least calmer attitude.
• Character Development: In The Night Stalker he is shown as being skeptical of the supernatural and, while not particularly nice about it, he’s perfectly happy to work in tandem with the authorities to stop Skorzeny. After discovering Skorzeny is a genuine vampire and being run out of town by Masterson and Butcher so the truth won’t be revealed, he loses these traits and becomes an anti-authoritarian Agent Mulder.
• The Chosen One: The Expanded Universe heavily implies that he's been chosen by some sort of higher power to battle malevolent supernatural forces. Some materials even hint he may be some sort of Humanoid Abomination created for this purpose.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Kolchak is abrasive, kind of a dick, and perfectly willing to use amoral tactics to find out information, but he still puts himself in danger to help people and stop the monsters.
• Combat Pragmatist: When he’s in a fight or a jam, Kolchak will take any advantage to win, whether it be smooth talking, utilizing powerful weapons, or using his bare hands.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kolchak has a very dry wit, and his barbs are far more cutting than anything a monster could throw at someone.
• Depending on the Writer: A minor example, but his physical prowess tends to alternate between him being a Badass Normal who is able to take on monsters armed with his bare hands or a physically weak Combat Pragmatist who relies on his brains to beat the Monster of the Week. Most episodes and most Expanded Universe materials have a merge of both characterizations, and for the most part this isn’t really noticeable, since Kolchak usually relies on his brains anyway, with the exception of the Jeff Rice novels, where he is depicted as overweight and unable to walk up a hill without running out of breath, though this could be chocked up to Heroic Self-Deprecation.
• The Determinator: Kolchak will not stop once he thinks he has a story, and he will pursue it no matter how much danger he gets into.
• The Exile: The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler have him run out of Las Vegas and Seattle respectively by the local authorities after stopping the monster so the truth won’t be revealed.
• Famed In-Story: The Expanded Universe shows he has gained fame among certain circles who believe in the supernatural, to the point of being called a legend to his face.
• Fatal Flaw: Ambition and Pride.
• First-Person Smartass: Any Expanded Universe story told from first-person perspective shows that Kolchak is as snarky internally as he is externally.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Nobody at the INS likes him that much thanks to his abrasive attitude, with the exception of Miss Emily.
• Glory Seeker: Downplayed. He definitely wants to make a big break and have his talents recognized, but when push comes to shove, he always chooses saving lives over glory.
  • In "The Devil’s Platform" Palmer reveals Kolchak secretly covets the Pulitzer Prize and wants a cushy job at a high class newspaper in New York with his own office, and tries to tempt him into selling his soul to Satan and aiding Palmer in his rise to power in exchange for making these dreams come true. He refuses.
• Hard Boiled Detective: He gives off the vibe, with his snarky and cynical attitude and his monologues.
• Heroic BSoD: In "The Zombie" after witnessing Francois Edmonds murder a mobster after being held hostage by several mobsters, and in "The Spanish Moss Murders" after his fight with Pére Malfait.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Most people either think of Kolchak as a loon, an Immoral Journalist, or some combination of the two. Subverted in the short stories and comics following the series, where he is depicted as a legend within certain circles for his constant tackling of the supernatural.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Beneath the callous and cynical exterior, Kolchak is actually very compassionate, with him getting involved with the Rakshasha's killings while trying to write an expose on the poor conditions of a Jewish neighborhood, and shows a softer side to those close to him, like Miss Emily and Gail.
• Hidden Depths: He’s a big fan of baseball and the Chicago Cubs.
• Iconic Outfit: His porkpie hat and his blue seersucker suit.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: In spite of his cynical demeanor and hunger for glory, Kolchak always chooses to do the right thing and never compromises his principles. Best exemplified in an issue of Tales of the Night Stalker, where a demon disguises herself as a woman and becomes his girlfriend, secretly causing him to get fame and rewards for his talent and his stories to be published, even resulting in hi superiors offering him Vincenzo’s job. Eventually, through subtle divine intervention, he catches on and banishes her to Hell with the help of some priests he enlisted. He demands to know why, and she replies that it’s much more fun to tempt a good man to compromise his principles; as the ritual goes on, she tries to offer him everything he ever wanted. His response:
  Kolchak: I already had everything I wanted. It was Hell for me.
• Intrepid Reporter: Kolchak will pursue any gruesome crime that yields a potential story, because of his desire to make his big break and because he has an innate belief that the public should always know the truth.
• Informed Attribute: The novels refer to him as being lazy, a description everything he does directly contradicts.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kolchak is very sarcastic and not exactly personable, but whenever a monster is around, he’s always putting his life on the line to stop it from claiming more victims.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Kolchak is extremely cynical and has (correctly) very little faith in the ability of the authorities to stop the monster, but he always puts saving lives as his top priority. Lampshaded in one episode where he has to write Miss Emily’s letters while she is on vacation, and the few responses he does write are absurdly cynical and Brutally Honest.
• Lazy Bum: A few episodes show he slacks off on his work on occasion, usually because he found a more interesting story, though once after a lead in a coastal town went bust, he spent the rest of the week fishing.
• Limited Wardrobe: He only wears his porkpie hat, tennis sneakers, and seersucker suit. Word of God is that he wore it to his first interview, and never bothered with getting another outfit.
• Morality Pet: Gail Foster and Miss Emily are the only people who he consistently treats with kindness and respect. Louise Harper used to qualify, though bu the end of The Night Strangler she hates his guts for ruining her life.
• Never My Fault: Kolchak tends to blame his problems on Vincenzo, when in reality they were caused by Kolchak’s personality quirks. In "The Devil’s Platform", Palmer reveals that Kolchak knows deep down that these problems are his own fault.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In The Night Stalker, after risking his life to kill Skorzeny and save a victim he had been using as a human blood bank, his reward is to be run out of Las Vegas and separated from his beloved girlfriend Gail, who he had just proposed to, and he’s left a destitute alcoholic living in a crally motel. And as we see in The Night Strangler, the book he wrote about the true events has not been published, with him looking like an unhinged Conspiracy Theorist to everyone he meets.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever Kolchak drops his usual hammy demeanor, it means he’s either in the throws of a Heroic BSoD or in the state of Tranquil Fury.
• Occult Detective: While he’s an investigative reporter rather than an actual detective, he still investigates bizarre crimes and battles monsters while seeking to expose the truth and get a good story out of it.
• Only Sane Man: Tales of the Night Stalker shows that Kolchak is literally the only person in the world who knows that accepting the truth, no matter how horrible, is the right course of action, and prevents a lot of deaths, while everyone else willfully blinds themselves to it or try to use it to their advantage.
• Pragmatic Hero: Kolchak is perfectly willing to blackmail people, lie, or steal information for the sake of pursuing the truth, stopping the monster, and saving lives.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Played with. The Kolchak Papers mentions he served in World War II, albeit as a copyboy behind enemy lines, but "Demon in Lace" implies he also participated in the Vietnam War, either as a soldier or as a war reporter, and he makes it clear he saw some very grisly things there while talking with a Vietnam veteran, during which he becomes uncharacteristically solemn. In the comics, he flat-out admits he served in Vietnam.
• Signature Headgear: His iconic porkpie hat, though ironically inverted In-Universe, since everyone he knows hates it.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: At the end of "The Trevi Collection", while he doesn’t get proof of the supernatural as per usual, his defeating an evil witch leads to him breaking a major story on extortion in the fashion industry that makes national headlines, and he doesn’t wind up arrested or saddled with false charges since the witch tried to kill him in public after he took away her powers.
• Tranquil Fury: In The Night Strangler, after Tony denies him the ability to finish his story on Malcolm, Kolchak drops his usual loud outrage and quietly growls “You know what, Tony? You're getting old.“
• Ungrateful Bastard: He never acknowledges the favors Vincenzo does for him, except when he’s angry about them. It’s especially noticeable since he clearly expresses gratitude to all his informants and allies.
• Ultimate Job Security: In the series, no matter how many times Kolchak pisses off the police or slacks off on his assignments to go chase after supernatural monsters, he still keeps his job. It’s implied that this is due to Vincenzo, who has a soft spot for Kolchak and protects him from his superiors and the cops the best he can, and that whenever he isn’t chasing after the Monster of the Week, Kolchak turns in regular stories.
• The Vietnam Vet: He is heavily implied to have served in Vietnam as a war reporter, and he becomes uncharacteristically solemn and quiet when asked by another Vietnam veteran if he knows "the stench of death". In the comics, he later admits to having been in Vietnam as a soldier, having apparently learned the perfect way to perform a Shovel Strike while there.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • With Vincenzo. The two are absolutely vicious when they get into an argument, but Vincenzo does his damndest to keep Kolchak around, and Kolchak will return the favor whenever Vincenzo’s in a jam. This is best exemplified at the end of The Night Strangler when, after the two have a particularly vicious argument after Kolchak is fired and swear off helping or even talking to each other, the second Vincenzo is fired, Kolchak immediately takes him along in his search to fin a new job.
  • Jane Plumm, who considers him to be completely unscrupulous, but is friendly and does have legitimate respect for him, and Kolchak likes her enough to be worried sick about her meeting with the Ripper and he tries to talk her out of it, later trying to rescue her.
• What You Are in the Dark: In "The Devil’s Platform", Palmer offers Kolchak everything he wants in exchange for selling his soul to the Devil and aiding Palmer. Kolchak looks tempted for a second, than refuses.
• Who You Gonna Call?: Of the "concerned citizen" variety.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: In the films, Kolchak believes that the authorities, no matter how obstructive, corrupt, or greedy, will let the truth see the light of day. Both times he gets run out of town, and his attempts to reveal the truth fail. By the series, he’s wised up, and won’t hesitate to insult the authority figures he knows will never believe or aid him.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • The ending of The Night Stalker. Kolchak is about to break the story of his career, and has proposed to his girlfriend Gail, and has killed Skorzeny and ended his killing spree for good. Then Jenks calls him to his office, and Kolchak is blackmailed with phony murder charges by Masterson and Butcher and forced out of Las Vegas, though not before learning that Gail has already fled after Butcher “suggested” it to her.
    • The novelization of The Night Strangler reveals he got a novel based off of it published, but he had to flee from goons sent by the authorities in Las Vegas to silence him before he got a cut of the profits.
  • One issue of Tales of the Night Stalker has him get a hot girlfriend, national acclaim, the ability to publish his bizarre stories, appreciation for his talents, and even an offer for Vincenzo’s job. Then it turns out his girlfriend is a demon using this to tempt him into evil; through a letter left by either an angel or God, Kolchak realizes what’s happening and banishes the demon back to Hell; two issues later, he burns through any goodwill this gained him from his superiors.

Tony Vincenzo

Tony Vincenzo

"What can I say? One either fishes, or cuts bait."

Played By: Simon Oakland

The hotheaded editor of INS.

• Adaptational Jerkass: The novelization of The Night Strangler depicts him as a selfish, cowardly jackass with only a few redeeming or likeable qualities.
• Agent Scully: He often tries to come up with a rational explanation for the supernatural occurrences Kolchak investigates. It is implied that he knows something supernatural is going on, he just doesn’t want to admit it.
  • Subverted in The Night Strangler, where he comes to believe Kolchak’s theory, but points out that the authorities have covered it up entirely, with the implication he tries to dissuade Kolchak from tackling the supernatural to avoid him ruining his career.
  • A couple of episodes show he is actually willing to print some of Kolchak’s bizarre stories, provided he leave out some of the more unbelievable details.
  • In Tales of the Night Stalker he admits that he cans Kolchak’s stories because they scare the shit out of him and give him nightmares, and he knows most people don’t want to know the truth.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don’t tell him he’s sold out.
  • Should a cop roughs up Kolchak, Vincenzo will be beyond pissed. The cop in question will be lucky if they merely end up fired.
• Boomerang Bigot: Several episodes have him insult the elderly, only for another character to point out he’s not so young himself.
• Butt-Monkey: Kolchak’s investigations cause him no end of headaches, and often times inconvenience him. The worst of this happens at the end of The Night Strangler, where he gets run out of Seattle as a result of Kolchak’s investigations.
• Characterization Marches On: Played with. In The Kolchak Papers and The Night Stalker he keeps his usual characterization as a decent, hardworking guy with a temper and a lack of guts, but he lacks much of the hamminess that would become his staple and he is played as a far more serious character.
• Composite Character: In the first film, he is a combination of all the higher ups at Kolchak’s paper who try to suppress the story, while also keeping his usual personality.
• Da Editor: He usually tries to get Kolchak to investigate normal stories and loudly tells him this.
• The Exile: The Night Strangler implies he was run out of Las Vegas after the events of The Night Stalker, and he winds up run out of Seattle too for going to bat for Kolchak.
• Flanderization: The movies implied he actually knew about the supernatural going-ons, but was reluctant to print them because he had lost his guts. The series has him genuinely not believe any of Kolchak’s stories, and his go-to reaction would to be to scream that Kolchak’s story was ridiculous and throw it in the garbage. That said, he would also attempt to publish Kolchak’s stories whenever he had any proof, and he is willing to publish the stories whenever they don’t get too bizarre.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn’t take much to set him off. Lampshaded in “The Werewolf”, where it turns out his anger issues have caused him to develop high blood pressure, causing him to miss out on a cruise.
• Hidden Depths: He used to be the head of a rock band which apparently won an award, and he considered joining the priesthood. Kolchak immediately starts ribbing him for it.
• Intrepid Reporter: He used to be this, but after several years he lost his guts and started cowing to the authorities,
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: There are several signs that he genuinely cares about Kolchak underneath all his bluster and yelling.
  • At the end of The Night Stalker, he compliments Kolchak's skills and calls him a “damn good reporter.”
  • In The Night Strangler, he hires Kolchak as a reporter after seeing his current condition. He also repeatedly defends Kolchak from the police and Crossbinder and makes sure he keeps his job, until he gets fired.
  • In "Horror in the Heights" he pays Kolchak’s bail after he is arrested and absolutely loses his shit when he thinks the cops interrogating him roughed him up, threatening them until Kolchak clarifies he was simply giving testimony. After Kolchak leaves, he continues to threaten the officers, clearly believing they cowed Kolchak into lying.
  • At the end of "The Energy Eater", he waits at Kolchak’s hospital bed until he wakes up and, rather than yell, he calmly tells Kolchak that one of his expensive cameras was ruined and that some other photos of Matchemonedo came out.
• Large Ham: He’s probably one of the hammiest newspaper editors in fiction, second only to J. Jonah Jameson.
• Misplaced Retribution: Whenever Kolchak offends someone high up in the government with his investigations, Vincenzo is usually the one they crack down on.
• Oh, Crap!: In "The Devil’s Platform", after Kolchak reveals one of his usual stories that happens to involve a Senatorial election, Vincenzo berates him, only to ask if Kolchak has put it on the wire and implicated any political parties, and Kolchak remains silent.
  Vincenzo: Great! Who’s gonna sue us now?!
• The Peter Principle: The Jeff Rice novels state that Vincenzo is a nice enough guy who is completely incompetent at news, and wouldn’t know a story if he saw one.
• Running Gag: Vincenzo's indigestion woes and ulcer, caused by both the stress of overseeing his oddball staff and his horrible diet of spicy food.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: While it might not always seem that way, he has a soft spot for Kolchak, and the two do look after each other whenever one of them needs to be pulled out of trouble.

Miss Emily

Emily "Miss Emily" Cowles

Played By: Ruth Mc Devitt

An elderly puzzles and advice columnist who is one of Kolchak’s few, of only friends.

• Berserk Button: The one thing guaranteed to piss her off is discrimination of the elderly.
• Cool Old Lady: The only coworker Kolchak completely likes, and she’s always willing to help him out. "Horror in the Heights" reveals he is the one person Kolchak completely trusts.
• The Ghost: For the first three episodes, she was mentioned a few times, but never appeared onscreen. Justified, as she was taking a vacation at the time.
• Hidden Depths: She took a job at INS to get experience for writing a mystery novel... and to steal office supplies to help her work on it.

Ron Updyke

Ron Updyke

Played By: Jack Grinnage

Kolchak’s arrogant rival, who is essentially his exact opposite.

• Ambiguously Gay: He has all the stereotypical mannerisms of being gay at the time the show was made, but the series never delved into his personal life.
• Berserk Button: Kolchak calling him "Uptight" never fails to get a rise out of him, which is why Kolchak does it so much.
  Updyke: It is Up-DYKE, not Uptight! UP-DYKE!
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. He’s this to Kolchak, but his friendly attitude is shown to be genuine with everyone else.
• Friendly Enemy: To Kolchak, on occasion. The two are shown to get along on very brief occasions, and in “Firefall” he tries to help Kolchak get some sleep while believing that Kolchak is suffering from sleep deprivation. In "Primal Scream", Karl snicker at Ron's "piecost" joke.
• Heroic BSoD: Played for Laughs. He dramatically tells Vincenzo that the Ripper’s murders were “horrible” and they clearly traumatized him, only for him to immediately admit he hasn’t actually seen the crime seen yet, and he got his information from another reporter. When he does see the crime scene, he winds up stopping the story he was writing about the Ripper altogether and instead does a puff piece about the inner workings of a massage parlor.
• Hidden Depths: A Running Gag is Updyke chiming in to a conversation to reveal his detailed knowledge on a random subject.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: If someone is in a higher position than him, Updyke will kiss their ass the second they step into the room. In fact, Updyke’s ability to kiss ass exceeds his talent at reporting, and Vincenzo keeps him around because he keeps INS in good terms with high society... and he likes having a butt kisser flattering him every day.

Monique Marmelstein

Monique Marmelstein

Played By: Carol Ann Susi

An enthusiastic, albeit incompetent intern who everyone believes got her job due to nepotism, as her Uncle Abe is high up in the department management.

• Informed Attribute: She claims to have studied at the Columbia Institute of Journalism, and then immediately after she manages to misspell the word nepotism and blunder into the middle of a firefight.
• Lethally Stupid: She has no sense of self-preservation whatsoever, and constantly puts herself in danger whenever she’s in the field.
• Pet the Dog: When she sees Kolchak desperately rummaging through her money, she simply replies that she would have loaned him the money.
• Too Dumb to Live: After forcing Kolchak to take her to a SWAT raid, she manages to blunder into the line of fire and nearly get her head blown off before Kolchak grabs her. He winds up having to shove her in the trunk of his car to keep her out of the line of fire.

The Hollywood Dispatch

Morgan Slate

Morgan Slate

A publisher at the Hollywood Dispatch. First appears in Kolchak: Tales of the Night Stalker.

• Bad Boss: To Vincenzo, who he frequently threatens to fire. He is not this to Kolchak, who he views as a potential star reporter held back by an idiotic editor. However, when he, Vincenzo, and Kolchak are trapped in a house with Bloody Mary, he immediately blames Kolchak for getting them to go to the house and lashes out at him.
• Foil: To Vincenzo. Vincenzo is a loud, aging, blustery guy who frequently tries to bury Kolchak’s bizarre stories, but truly likes him and goes above and beyond to help him and get him to keep his job, while Slate is a young, calm hardass who frequently threatens to fire Vincenzo for burying these stories and considers Kolchak’s stories to be brilliant, but only sees him as a potential money maker and has no real personal attachment to him. Vincenzo is also brave and, whenever he’s in a dangerous position, he keeps a cool head (well, as cool a head can be if it’s Vincenzo), while Slate turns into a sniveling coward at the first sign of danger. And while Vincenzo sticks with Kolchak through thick and thin, Slate just immediately stops defending him the second it has a negative impact on him.
• Never My Fault: He blames Kolchak for the death of Stalton, in spite of the fact that Bloody Mary was the one who killed him, and he and Stalton were the ones that decided to come along with Kolchak and Vincenzo to the Haunted House she was hiding in.

Eric Stalton

Eric Stalton

Slate's yes man subordinate and brother-in-law.

• Character Death: He bleeds out from the injuries he sustained from Bloody Mary:s attack.
• Nice Guy: In spite of being an incompetent Yes-Man, he was a pretty nice guy and everyone at the office liked him.

Daily Chronicle

Crossbinder

Llewellyn Crossbinder

Played By: John Carradine

Kolchak and Vincenzo’s superior at the Daily Chronicle.

• Bad Boss: He’s even more of a pushover than Vincenzo, and Schubert is able to get him to fire Vincenzo and stop the newspapers revealing the true story of Richard Malcolm’s killings.
• Benevolent Boss: Downplayed. He’s willing to give Kolchak the benefit of a doubt and is convinced by Vincenzo not to fire him multiple times, and when he realizes he never knew who Berry was despite him working for him for 35 years, he looks appropriately ashamed.
• Expy: He’s essentially an adaptation of Kolchak’s publisher Llewelyn Cairncross from The Kolchak Papers, who was Adapted Out in The Night Stalker.

Kolchak

Carl Kolchak

For more information, see his folder above.

Vincenzo

Tony Vincenzo

For more information, see his folder above.

Berry

Titus Berry

Played By: Wally Cox

A researcher who helps Kolchak investigate Richard Malcolm's killing. A shy, nerdy man who gets excited whenever he’s researching obscure information.

• Nice Guy: He’s sweet, dorky, and friendly with Kolchak and immediately helps him in his investigation.
• Shrinking Violet: He’s very shy, and while he doesn’t back down when Schubert starts yelling at him it clearly startles him.
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears after providing evidence backing up Kolchak’s theory to Schubert, Llewelyn, and Vincenzo.

Other Reporters

Plumm

Jane Plumm

Played By: Beatrice Colen

A reporter working at a tabloid and one of Kolchak’s colleagues.

• Agent Scully: Believes the Ripper murders are the work of a copycat of the original, caused by a contagious psychosis.
• Big Eater: She devours every food put in front of her, and she has a reputation for her tendency to eat three meals and five snacks a day, which she claims keeps her healthy.
• Horrible Judge of Character: She thinks Kolchak is trying to steal her story from her, and that the Ripper is perfectly harmless and won’t hurt her. She’s wrong in both counts.
• Killed Offscreen: It’s only revealed the Ripper killed her when Kolchak discovers her corpse in the Ripper’s house.
• Too Dumb to Live: She goes to a meeting with Jack the Ripper, alone, on the grounds he promised not too. To be fair, she did bring a gun, not that it helps her.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kolchak.

Swede

Jim "Swede" Bratowski/James Bryden

Played By: Larry Storch

A reporter who Kolchak and Vincenzo had worked with in Las Vegas who has become an anchorman.