Shadow Chasers

Anthropology professor Jonathan MacKensie has a bright academical future ahead -- unfortunately he is blackmailed by his department head, professor Julianna Moorhouse, into investigating paranormal occurrences. Along the way, he meets tabloid newshound Edgar Benedek and they get involved into weird cases involving hauntings, possessions, curses, vampires, werewolves, a hospital "death angel", aliens and even time travelers. And a dragon.

Easily the least successful series ever thought up by major TV Creator Kenneth Johnson, Shadow Chasers (1985-1986) didn't even get a full broadcast of its thirteen-episode first (and only) season. Fairly understandable, since it was going against powerhouses of the moment like The Cosby Show and Magnum, P.I. Still, it is interesting if only because its formula of a straight-laced academic skeptic paired with a fast-talking, worldly believer investigating paranormal activities predated The X-Files by a decade. The show also had a proper wrap-up last episode, something somewhat unusual for series at the time.


 * Agent Mulder: Should this series have been a success, this trope would have been called The Benedek.
 * Agent Scully: Ditto for this trope. How does The MacKensie sound?
 * Alien Impregnation
 * Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word
 * British Stuffiness: Straight-laced professor? British, of course!
 * Buried Alive
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Fairy Tale
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: For such a short series, they surely touched a lot of fantasy and parapsychology staples.
 * Deal with the Devil
 * Ghostly Goals
 * Grand Finale
 * I Want My Jetpack: By 2016 Parapsychology is a formal science and you can take training on Psychic Powers.
 * In-Series Nickname: Benedek's nickname is Benny.
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: The only commercial release is a VHS tape of the pilot.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
 * Naked First Impression
 * Our Monsters Are Different
 * Out of Body Experience
 * Psychic Power
 * Scooby-Doo Hoax: The series followed this formula during the first episodes, and then a little detail without rational explanation. It went weirder and weirder as the series progressed.
 * Shout-Out: Time Travel can only work on living organic matter, so clothes don't survive the travel
 * Signature Device: The Shadow Chasers' Swords.
 * Skeptic No Longer: MacKensie eventually embraces Parapsychology. Exty Years From Now, at least.
 * Teacher-Student Romance
 * The Eighties: The hair. Oh, the hair.
 * They Fight Crime: Often they end up as Occult Detectives.
 * Time Travel: To Set Right What Once Went Wrong