Pilot Episode by Frank Spotnitz

Eighteen months ago, a sudden attack on a deserted highway left Kolchak injured but alive. His wife wasn't so lucky. Since then, the reporter's determination to find out who - or what -- killed her has led him to track other unexplained, violent deaths, all touched by the supernatural. But he's trying to piece together a puzzle that keeps changing shape. How are the crimes related? And why do some victims end up with a strange red birthmark on their wrists?

Kolchak is convinced that something terrible is happening, but the authorities don't seem to agree with him, especially the FBI -- in their eyes, Kolchak is the number one suspect in his wife's death.

A murder shockingly like his wife's leads Kolchak to Los Angeles, where he has signed on as a reporter with the L.A. Beacon newspaper. The crime: A pregnant woman is attacked and murdered. Her husband is accused in her death, but Kolchak senses there's more to the story.

Kolchak's colleague, senior crime reporter Perri Reed is just as eager to get to the bottom of things, but she's skeptical of his wild theories. Young and ambitious photographer Jain McManus is a little more ready to go along with Kolchak. Together, they'll aid him as he tracks down the bizarre and the inexplicable, the stories you won't find printed in any newspaper.

Stuart Townsend (Carl Kolchak), Gabrielle Union (Perri Reed), Eric Jungmann (Jain McManus), Cotter Smith (Tony Vincenzo), David Denman (Henry Gale), Ele Keats (Emily Gale), J. Marvin Campbell (Deputy), Timothy McNeil (Coroner), Clay Wilcox (Ed Medlock), Sarah LaFleur (Trish Medlock), Madeline Carroll (Julie Medlock), John Pyper-Ferguson (Agent Bernard Fain), Susan Misner (Irene)

Directed by Dan Sackheim
Executive producers Frank Spotnitz and Dan Sackheim

TX (US): 29th September, 2005

Notes:
*Reintroducing Carl Kolchak, and introducing Perri Reed, Jain McManus and Tony Vincenzo