El caminante

This series played on Friday and/or Saturday nights through my youth and so it shaped me every bit as much as Tales From the Darkside, Ray Bradbury Theater, Friday the 13th the Series, Monsters, and other such programs. To my surprise, I recently found season one and two of The Hitchhiker on DVD at a local video store. I rented and re-watched them after more than a decade and found them to be not only happily nostalgic, but generally very entertaining (some, of course, being much better than others). There isn't much available on television any more that has the offbeat, cathartic campiness of every episode being taken from some short story of the horror or thriller genre. The Outer Limits is still on, but that's about it. While we're all in this dry spell of such programming, it is wonderful to find something like The Hitchhiker return on DVD (if not on TV).

The Hitchhiker was a television series that was truly imaginative with every episode. Each episode was unique in that you as the viewer did not know what to expect. One episode you could be scared as hell and next could leave you in a state of bewilderment. This series also launched many successful acting careers such as Helen Hunt, Gary Busey and others. "The Hitchhiker" was a series that was ahead of its time. It is certainly one of the most underrated shows that I know of....not to mention the most frightening opening songs which helped set the tone for the viewer and the "hitchhiker's" journey in each episode.

The Hitchhiker, a man of mystery traveling the land and being the Rod Sterling of the 1980's introducing stories that have great twists. I love HBO's first series that titillated and terrified. Great writing and one of the eeriest theme songs of all time.

I remember being eight years old and would wait till my mother went to bed. I really like the show. I use to get goosebumps just listening to the intro. Page Fletcher was the best doing the intros. The stories would keep you on your seat. Second guessing. Best show on USA Network next to La Femme Nikita, USA Saturday Nightmares, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Swamp Thing. Best thing about these shows was the fact they were made in the 80s. Best decade ever.

This old 1980's show from HBO is 10 times better than the stuff the studio puts out today, like Sex in the City and Sopranos. The problem is it was well ahead of its time as proven by the success of a similar show, the X-Files.

The series was basically a set of independent shows, the only common them was the pre- and post-show dialogue from a mysterious hitchhiker who passes through each episode. Creepy and sexy, each show had its own moral as some (usually more than one) character would get their come-upance in the end. All sorts of Hollywood stars signed up for guest appearances, Gary Busey, Harry Hamlin, Kirstie Alley, Willem Dafoe, even KISS lead singer Gene Simmons, and many many more.

I've caught rebroadcasts recently on one of the gazillion HBO channels now being broadcast (HBO Zone is what I think it is called), so it is out there someplace. The last poster and I agree on one episode "The Legend of Billy B." was my favorite too. If I remember right, it starred Kirstie Alley as a reporter trying to track down an Elvis-like rock star who was supposedly dead.

Catch this show if you can.