The Hitchhiker

When I was living in Barbados, CBC used to carry this anthology series in its late night (and by late, I mean around 10:30) Tuesday slot - they definitely didn't show all the episodes of this, or "Tales From The Darkside" (which replaced it). Not a patch on "The Twilight Zone," this anthology of tales about people who either got what they deserved or met their doom - and the two weren't always the same - was still effectively creepy, if a bit morbid, viewing.

Some of the most notable tales topped and tailed by Page Fletcher's wandering man: a story with Michael O'Keefe's dog getting revenge on his enemies, and driving him to his death when his girlfriend told him he was his own worst enemy; a tale with a man who thought his girlfriend was an escaped mental patient, and ended up getting killed by the real loony; "One Last Prayer," with Lisa Blount as a singer who invented an image for herself that was guaranteed to succeed, but worked TOO well and ended up replacing the singer in real life; and an episode with Harry Hamlin as a developer under a curse, which stood out as one of the few stories with a happy ending.

And yes, that music is very memorable. But Home Box Office's reputation was not built on this show.

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.

Until the past few years, the only thing I had remembered about this series was the haunting opening theme song. I have since watched many of the episodes, and I have a mixed review. For me, the show seemed to lose some creativity after the second season. The early episodes were often great, and almost every episode was clever, imaginative, and at times, somewhat creepy. For whatever reason, the later episodes just don't interest me the same way. But whether you watch an early show or a late one, this is a program that should be checked out, if only to hear that theme song...

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" had it all mixed into every episode a little suspense, drama, terror, revenge, sex, and fun. This series always kept you on the edge of your seat you never knew what was going to happen, every episode was well written and the acting was clever the series featured many movie stars and stars of other series. I remember watching most of my episodes of "The, Hitchhiker" in the early 90's on the USA Network it became an every Friday and Saturday night thing with me that was to tune in and watch "The, Hitchhiker". I remember that HBO originally started this series in the mid 80's and it lasted until 1989. Each episode starts out with the eerie theme music which in my opinion was one of the best in TV history. Then Page Fletcher who was just great as the hitchhiker starts each episode off with an introduction speech and then summarized the story with a closing speech in the end. Each episode was full of mystery and suspense one of my favorite was "The, Legendary Billy B." with Kirstie Alley as a nosy reporter who gets what she deserves. Almost every episode featured beautiful women and it's bulk of sexy moments. My favorite and most remembered was "Videodate" with the hot and sexy Shannon Tweed. I miss this series so much I wish that some network would once again start showing reruns. To my knowledge no network shows "The, Hitchhiker" reruns, I was told that certain episodes are available on VHS volume tape I wish I could find the tapes or someone would let me know where I could find the tapes at. "The, Hitchhiker" was one of my favorite series of all-time I suggest you watch many episodes if you haven't, you will be glad you did.