Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries was an
American TV show starring the late
Robert Stack. The show also featured, in many of its later episodes, journalist
Keely Shaye Smith and television host
Lu Hanessian as correspondents in the show's telecenter, where they provided information on updated stories, and actress
Virginia Madsen as Robert Stack's co-host. It documents real-life homicides and/or abductions and other crime. It is sometimes credited as one of the first television programs to endorse the documentation of real-life crime scene investigating, which resulted in a thriving genre with top shows such as
still getting large audiences. The show aired on
NBC from
1987 –
1997, however, by then the show started to lose the popularity it once had, and from 1997 –
1999 it ran as
The New Unsolved Mysteries on
CBS. Despite the network switch, the ratings continued to fall.
Unsolved Mysteries slowly faded, but in
2001, the program regained some popularity with a somewhat new audience, when it was revived on the
Lifetime cable television network, where new episodes aired sporadically until Robert Stack's death in
2003. It still runs in syndication on Lifetime, among other television stations today, including ones in
U.S.,
Canada, and
Australia.
Unsolved Mysteries segments, all of which involved actual events, fell into one of four categories:
*criminal activity â€" accounts of
abductions, suspicious
deaths,
murders,
robberies and other miscellaneous unsolved cases, where either the suspects were unknown or could not be located. The viewer was invited to call or write (later episodes also featured an Internet address) if they had information concerning the cases shown. According to the show, about 40 percent of the stories shown involving fugitives generated tips leading to the capture of those individuals.
*lost loves â€" accounts of individuals trying to reunite with someone from their past, usually involving children given up for adoption where either the child or the parent was searching for the other. The same address and phone number used to report fugitives was used for reunions.
*unexplained history â€" accounts of paranormal activity and other mysterious events, purported miracles, and "alternative" theories of history (among them the theories that outlaws such as
Billy the Kid and
Butch Cassidy did not die as history recorded it, that the Russian Grand Duchess
Anastasia Romanov survived the 1918
regicide that killed her entire family, that the assassination of
Louisiana senator
Huey Long may have been an accident, and that the assassination of
Martin Luther King, Jr was in fact a conspiracy ).
*paranormal matters - accounts of miracles, UFO/alien encounters, the
Roswell UFO Incident, the
Phoenix UFO Incident, ghosts,
Bigfoot, other inexplicable phenomena.
The show would also feature updates on success stories, where criminals were brought to justice and loved ones reunited.
Viewers were invited to call in tips to a toll free number. The number, 1-800-876-5353 (U.S.), and website (shown below) are still active today although the show is long out of production.
Before an episode begins, the following message is used: "This program is about unsolved mysteries. Whenever possible, the actual family members and police officials have participated in recreating the events. What you are about to see is
not a news broadcast."
Six 4-disc
DVD sets have been released, each with a different theme.
*
UFOs (
September 7,
2004)
*
Ghosts (
September 14,
2004)
*
Miracles (
October 26,
2004)
*
Psychics (
January 25,
2005)
*
Bizarre Murders (
January 25,
2005)
*
Strange Legends (
February 15,
2005)The sets were rereleased on
June 21,
2005 with a lower suggested retail price. On
March 21,
2006, a compilation set called
The Best of Unsolved Mysteries was released, which contained selected segments from each of the earlier DVD sets along with some new content. A special boxed set featuring the first six sets along with the new content from the
Best of collection was also produced.
Actor
Matthew McConaughey appears on the Bizarre Murders set as a victim in a murder re-enactment, dating from the days when he was an unknown actor.
When it first appeared on television,
Unsolved Mysteries was a smash hit for several reasons. For example, many people recognized host
Robert Stack as
Eliot Ness from the 60's television hit
The Untouchables. The show is also famous for its eerie theme song. In
1992, NBC aired a short-lived spin-off series called
Final Appeal. However, by the late 90's the show started to lose the popularity it once had. Many viewers blamed the decline on the addition of co-hosts
Keely Shaye Smith and
Virginia Madsen. Others blamed the shows new 'makeover', which invloved the 'watering down' of the shows theme song and putting its telephone center on camera. Ratings also declined when the program moved from its original Wednesday evening to Friday evening (which is less popular for television viewing. See:
Friday night death slot) beginning in the Fall 1994 season. Despite these changes,
Unsolved Mysteries still remains a favourite amongst its audiences, and is rerun regularly on cable.
*
Unsolved Mysteries official site*[
1]
Unsolved Mysteries on
Lifetime (TV network)*
Community website about the unknown
