Shadow Chasers debuted around the same time as Misfits of Science, and ran on TV opposite some of the biggest names at the time, which explains its amazingly low ratings and short life. Nothing could have competed with the cosby show, back in 1985.
It was not a serious horror show, not even as dark as Kolchak, and certainly nothing like the Xfiles - two shows which bracket it neatly, from roughly a decade on either side - but it had its own charm.
The classic buddy movie format, with the stuffy professor forced to work with the charming but borderline jackass reporter worked, for the most part, and though the relationship was never deeply explored, the characters were reasonably believable (for the 80s).
Each episode's plot was not too bad - some were even pretty good - and centered on some kind of phenomena which they eventually debunked in some way - though always with a slight twist at the end to hint that maybe something supernatural HAD occurred.
A highlight of every show was Benny's friend of the week - every episode, just about, brought in some fringe psychic or alternative medicine practitioner (painted in broad comic strokes), to aid the investigation in some way.
The sad part (from my teenage recollection of watching) was that Misfits disappointed me so much as a superhero shows, and still got a second season, while this showed a lot of potential and we never even got to see almost a third of the episodes.
It was not a serious horror show, not even as dark as Kolchak, and certainly nothing like the Xfiles - two shows which bracket it neatly, from roughly a decade on either side - but it had its own charm.
The classic buddy movie format, with the stuffy professor forced to work with the charming but borderline jackass reporter worked, for the most part, and though the relationship was never deeply explored, the characters were reasonably believable (for the 80s).
Each episode's plot was not too bad - some were even pretty good - and centered on some kind of phenomena which they eventually debunked in some way - though always with a slight twist at the end to hint that maybe something supernatural HAD occurred.
A highlight of every show was Benny's friend of the week - every episode, just about, brought in some fringe psychic or alternative medicine practitioner (painted in broad comic strokes), to aid the investigation in some way.
The sad part (from my teenage recollection of watching) was that Misfits disappointed me so much as a superhero shows, and still got a second season, while this showed a lot of potential and we never even got to see almost a third of the episodes.
