| Show Name: | The Hitchhiker |
| Genre: | Anthology |
| Starring: | Page Fletcher Nicholas Campbell |
| Composer: | Shuki Levy Michel Rubini Haim Saban |
| Country: | |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 4 |
| Num Episodes: | 85 |
| Executive Producer: | Lewis Chesler (1986-1987) Riff Markowitz (1986-1987) Boudjemaa Dahmane Jeremy Lipp Jacques Methe David Perlmutter |
| Sup Producer: | Wendy Grean (1989-1990) |
| Co-Producer: | Jon Andersen Alan Simmonds |
| Runtime: | 30 mins. (approx) |
| Channel: | HBO (1983-1987) First Choice (1983-1987) USA Network (1989-1991) |
| First Aired: | 1983 |
| Last Aired: | 1991 |
The Hitchhiker is a mystery anthology series that aired from 1983 to 1987 on HBO and First Choice in Canada. The series later moved to the USA Network from 1989 to 1991.
Each episode is introduced and concluded by a mysterious wanderer known only as "The Hitchhiker," and explores the foibles of humanity and its dark spirit. The title character was played by Nicholas Campbell from 1983-1984 (3 episodes), and Page Fletcher from 1984-1991 (82 episodes). There were a total of 85 episodes over six seasons (39 first runs on HBO & 46 first runs on USA).
The series was a Canada/United States/France co-production. It was filmed in Vancouver and Toronto, Ontario, Canada and France. The show was produced by Corazon Productions (Season 1 for a total of three episodes), Quintina Productions (Seasons 2-4 for a total of thirty-six episodes), and Atlantique & Quintina Productions (Seasons 5-6 for a total of forty-seven episodes).
The Hitchiker was created by Lewis Chesler.
Like the much earlier Twilight Zone series, with which it had a lot of other commonalities, The Hitchhiker served as starting point for many actors, some of whom would go on to gain greater recognition elsewhere. Notable cast members (in alphabetical order):
In 1996, The Hitchhiker entered syndication and was re-edited (to remove the violence and/or nudity/sexuality that were featured on the HBO runs). The series was also re-shot the first three Nicholas Campbell episodes with Page Fletcher to preserve continuity during the syndication runs. The Hitchhiker was syndicated by Rysher up until 2000.
The series is available on DVD, with two different versions on the market. The HBO 2-disc sets for sale in the US contain episodes that are out of sequence to the order that they appeared in. The Alliance Atlantis DVD box sets for sale in Canada show the episodes in the same order in which they were broadcast in Canada.
| Year | Award | Result | Category | Recipient | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan=4 | 1987 | rowspan=4 | CableACE Awards | rowspan=3 | Nominated | Actress in a Dramatic Series | Jenny Seagrove (For episode "Killer") |
| Actress in a Dramatic Series | Kirstie Alley (For episode "Out of the Night") | ||||||
| Actor in a Dramatic Series | Michael O'Keefe (For episode "Man's Best Friend") | ||||||
| Won | Actor in a Dramatic Series | Gary Busey (For episode "WGOD") | |||||
| 1999 | Gemini Award | Nominated | Best Sound in a Dramatic Program or Series | Tim Archer, W. Michael Beard, Rick Ellis, Thomas Hidderley, and Anthony Lancett |