Night Stalker

Don't let the unfortunate title fool you: There's plenty of daytime stalking during these hour-long ghost stories, too. The job of deciphering who or what is bumping off L.A. residents falls to Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend), a widowed reporter who drifts somewhere between Fox Mulder and Bob Woodward. Having just been assigned to the crime beat along side Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union), Carl recruits his new partner to help find the evil, wife-killing phenomenon before the enormous vein in his forehead pops. A loud soundtrack laced with soprano screeching comprises most of the show's scare tactics, without which Stalker is less horrifying than Elvira's cleavage. Elementary dialogue complements the show's supernatural premises, but only because it dumbs down what's happening rather than providing murky explanations for it. Prime time needs another paranormal conspiracy epic like Union needs facial reconstructive surgery, but if monsters that prey on the weak are your forte, then Stalker is for you. And so is Starbucks.