The Hitchhiker Season 1

The Hitchhiker is an anthology series that ran from 1983-1991 on HBO initially and then finished its run on the USA Network.  Episodes ran from twenty to thirty minutes.  Every episode has a wandering hitchhiker, almost always played by Page Fletcher, who introduces the main character of the story, what kind of issue they are/are going to be dealing with, and who we see at the end of the episode to wrap it all up.  The episodes have a horror, supernatural or suspense tone to them.  Being that this show started on HBO, most of the episodes have some form of sexual content/nudity along with some amount of violence.  Like many anthology series, these episodes are all stand alone episodes and can be watched in any order.  

Season One was only a short three episodes.  While it was billed as a season, these episodes felt more like a concept for the network to show what the series was going to be about.

Episode 1:  Shattered Vows - A man who is about to marry a wealthy woman finds her step daughter more attractive.

This wasn’t bad for the first episode.  The episode revolves around a guy who is about to marry a wealthy woman.  When you combine her flirty, attractive stepdaughter and the strange connection he and his soon to be wife have to a wedding ornament, you know things are not going to end well.  The episode set the tone for the series with its sexual content and supernatural themes.

Episode 2:  When Morning Comes - A guy finds a beautiful woman in his cabin.  He learns right around that time a woman escaped from a mental hospital who likes to kill men.

Another decent episode showcasing what this series was going to be about.  A ladies man heads up to his cabin to find a random, attractive woman already there.  At the same time, there is a search for an escaped woman from a local mental hospital who likes to kill men.  Things get interesting after the guy finds out about the missing woman.

Episode 3:  Split Decision - A realtor works with two identical twins to sell the house they lived in with their father.

I found this to be the weakest of the three episodes of the season.  Here we have a dorky real estate salesman who meets two odd twin sisters looking to sell their home after the death of their father.  It’s made pretty clear that the twins like to share everything and when both sisters separately throw themselves at him, it leads to an interesting result.

Even though it’s only three episodes, the season does a good job to show the viewer what this series is about.  The episodes vary between supernatural, horror and suspense elements.  Along with all of that, they each have a dose of sexual situations and nudity. With that said, nothing in this season was particularly memorable.