# So long to "the old man"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-long-to-the-old-man/346149>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 26, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-long-to-the-old-man/346149 "2006-02-26T04:44:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-long-to-the-old-man/346149/1 "2006-02-26T04:44:13Z")

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First Don Knotts, now **Darren McGavin** has died.

[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11570390/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11570390/)

Grumpiness will never be the same.

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-long-to-the-old-man/346149/2 "2006-02-26T04:46:16Z")

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What the?! #&$&#@!! Bumpasses!!!

☹

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**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-long-to-the-old-man/346149/3 "2006-02-26T05:11:41Z")

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Damn, I was just watching him in an X Files episode, and thinking he was still pretty fun to watch.

RIP, Kolchak.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-long-to-the-old-man/346149/4 "2006-02-26T05:22:50Z")

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When I was a kid I had a hammock strung between two posts of the patio. I’d take my little 9" B&W TV I got as a birthday present and put it on the little raised area between the sliding glass doors and the rest of the patio. There, in my sleeping bag (which I still have) I would lie in my hammock and watch _Kolchak: The Night Stalker_ in the dark. Being outside, in the dark, with only the feeble light from the TV, and watching Kolchak battle mysterious monsters scared the hell out of me. I did it every week. (The scariest one for me was the one with the swamp monster.)

I watched a few episodes a couple of years ago. In retrospect, they were often laughable. But they were great when I was a kid. If I’d ever paid attention to the schedule, I would have watched all of them again. And would there have been a Mulder, if not for Kolchak?