Darren McGavin

Birth Name:

William Lyle Richardson

Birth Place:

Spokane, Washington, United States

Profession

Actor, Director, Soundtrack, Writer, Producer

Boo! Supernatural Scares and the Night Stalker Stalks Again!

Before we get started, lemme just say that I got a new tattoo last night and its quite fetching. Red circle with a star in the center on the inside left forearm. Even the artist dug it. My buddy Jake got an anchor on his biceplittle jealous, not gonna lie. Hurt like a mofo, though. Kids, dont try this at home.OK, now that we got that out of the way, its time for a little more sharing: I love the scary. Horror movies. Haunted houses. Hell, I yelped like a girl at those Burger King commercials with the wooden-faced whatever-that-is. And to anyone who was sitting near me during Rob Zombies Halloween remake, I apologize. Welbutrin make me all better now.Honestly, I have willingly chosen to have the bejebus freaked out of me for like, the last 7 years, spending almost every night in October watching some scream gem or another (ask me about The Boogens, please!). So, in honor of my inner scaredy-cat and the glorious approach of my personal High Holy Day of Ha...

Wed, Oct 3, 2007

A Night Stalker Secret Is Revealed

We are in the thick of it now. While viewers at home get ready to watch Episode 3 of Night Stalker (tonight at 9 pm/ET, on ABC) — it's a very scary show, by the way — we are already editing shows that will air in November, filming ones that will air in December and writing shows that will be broadcast after that. When production on a TV series begins, it's like an assembly line that can't stop. You have to keep feeding it new scripts every eight business days to make the air dates. That's a pretty tight schedule, of course, so you draw on as many talented people as you can to make it happen. On Night Stalker, I'm blessed to have a lot of collaborators whose names you might recognize. There's Daniel Sackheim, of course, who directed the pilot and is an executive producer of the series.  Dan worked with me, not onl

Thu, Oct 13, 2005

Conjuring the Ghost of Kolchak Past

I was watching last Thursday night, as I know a lot of you were. In what is arguably the toughest time slot in prime time, Night Stalker [airing at 9 pm/ET] had a strong premiere, drawing 7.1 million viewers and giving ABC its best numbers at that hour in more than five years. That, along with great reviews from some major newspapers like the New York Times and New York Post, made for a very encouraging start. For me, it was also the climax to a long journey.  If you read the article in TV Guide (and TVGuide.com) a few weeks back, you know that this project began for me in the summer of 2004, when Touchstone Television called to ask if I'd be interested in developing a new series based on the original The Night Stalker TV-movie from 1972. To my mind, that was 

Thu, Oct 6, 2005

How Cult-Fave Night Stalker Was Revived

FADE INOur story opens on a muggy July 2005 afternoon in Hollywood, where a handsome reporter stumbles from a dark, dingy cave clutching a scared young girl. After a last fearful glance over his shoulder, he struggles down a dirt path, desperate to outrun an unseen, unspeakable evil. Suddenly, a voice yells, "Great! Cut!" and crew members scurry in to fix the set for ABC's spooky new Night Stalker (premiering Sept. 29 at 9 pm/ET). It's only the first day of shooting, but that perilous trek along a rocky road is the perfect metaphor for the show's journey to prime time. As executive producer Frank Spotnitz and star Stuart Townsend huddle near the cave to discuss the next scene, we flash back to a year earlier, when it all began.... LATE SUMMER 2004Spo

Wed, Sep 28, 2005