He was dead serious. Oh, shouldn't have said the "D" word.

But anyways, watch the segments like "Scared To Death", "Whistleblown" and there are a few others.

Note that he can change tones from segment to segment. Remember, on a given show their could be a missing persons, wanted, lost love, unexplained. Again, I know they were filmed on different locations, and on different dates, but still...we can't accuse him of having a one track tone.

In unexplained he could smile, which has always lead me to believe that after a scary, unnerving case, was good for the viewer.

Remember the case where there was that comedy club that dated back to the early 1920's, you have some hauntings, and other incredible things.

End of segment, Stack says "There have been 60 recorded cases of strange and unusual activities here!" (Chair in background just glides across the stage, Stack turns around for a second, back to camera smilling). "Perhaps you should make that, 61"

I know that wasn't incredibly funny, but nothing like that ever happend with any other case, Stack and co. playing up on the haunting and humour at the same time at the end of a segment.

After watching him speak in the same deadpan tone w/the same muted expression........seeing him crack a smile scares the daylights out of me......:eek:

When he did smile it kind of gave you the shivers but I can't imagine anyone
else hosting the show, he just has the knack for it.

Yeah the case of "The Comedy Club" is a rare exception where they allowed an obvious dose of ironic humor into the show. I'm not disputing anything you mentioned, but this was a very, very rare case in which Stack and UM decided to have a little bit of fun with their audience and because it was done so rarely (and because Stack had always been portrayed as somewhat stoic) it was done here to great effect.

The Virginia Madsen co-hosted episodes typically opened with a joke. It was beyond lame.

The Virginia Madsen co-hosted episodes typically opened with a joke. It was beyond lame.

I guess this was one of the reasons why Virginia Madsen didn't click with a lot of UM viewers. She's not a bad actress by any means (in my opinion, she did a terrific job in Sideways). It's just that she generally didn't seem to have as much credibilty on the show as Robert Stack did, and I think that was why it didn't work out with Madsen.

I always thought they should have done at least one pure spoff episode, maybe when Wednesday or later Fridays fell on April 1. Come up with some over the top bizarre segments and then some subtle dry ones.

You couldn't do that with murders but something lesser, maybe phony robberies. Endless possibilities. Like giving clues and they are obviously pointing to a famous person. Then let tens of thousands of viewers call in to solve it. Hell, I would have done something like that almost every week. So what if when you resume with real cases no one takes you seriously. Part of the game.

Didn't Dean Cain - host a show just like that where he would present four or five mysteries and you had to guess which ones were real and which were hoaxes? It might have been in conjunction with "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" now come to think of it.

It was kinda stupid...but good for an occasional viewing.

Yeah, I saw an episode or two but the hoaxes and real were too similar. I suppose that was the idea for guessing purposes, but IMO it sucked. If you're going to make something up, then make it bizarro in one direction or the other, over the top or subtle. I guess that's why I hate sitcoms the last decade or more, too mainstream and that equates to not funny. Where's an Arnold the Pig when you need him?

Am I allowed to say I hate sitcoms on a website with this title?

As long as you don't hate THIS sitcom! :lol:

Hey remember, "And I'm Micheal Jordan and I play basketball for the Chicago Bulls", that make unsolved mysteries a sitcom, now doesn't it? ;)

Didn't Dean Cain - host a show just like that where he would present four or five mysteries and you had to guess which ones were real and which were hoaxes? It might have been in conjunction with "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" now come to think of it.

It was kinda stupid...but good for an occasional viewing.


No, it was Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It did air on the Sci/Fi channel, and I think the show was called something like "Fact or Fiction?"

In any case, it was lame. ;)

I think Robert Stack would make a great stand-up comedian. Matter of fact, I recall a beautifully constructed opening to one of the segments:

"Such and such person had everything and thought he had found the perfect woman when he met such and such. (slight pause) He was wrong." (implying murder or some such thing). Man, that would kill in the clubs.

Charlie Sigmin :lol: - thats classic!

No, it was Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It did air on the Sci/Fi channel, and I think the show was called something like "Fact or Fiction?"

In any case, it was lame. ;)


Yep, it was called, "Beyond Belief: Fact Or Fiction?"

Robert Stack WOULD have made a decent stand-up comedian. He would have been KILLER at deadpan comedy... :lol:

He has a few good lines in the Aphrodisiac segment........

He has a few good lines in the Aphrodisiac segment........
I saw that one a few weeks ago, that smile he cracks at the end creeped me out more than most of the crimes profiled on the show :P

His role in BASEketball is pretty good.

Robert Stack: According to Mrs L.C. Welcher, a neighbour, who asked not to be identified, Joe Cooper left his house 2 weeks ago. According to Angelique Bowles, a nosey b*tch who lives up the street, he took with him only a toothbrush, a wallet, a steamer truck and a plane ticket to Calcutta.

Robert Stack: The police have pieced together numerous theories on Coop's whereabouts.
Douglas "Swish" Reemer: I have no f**king clue where the hell he is. For all I care he could be hanging by his neck in his f**king closet!
Robert Stack: Scenario One: He's hanging by his neck in his f**king closet.
Jenna Reed: You want to know where Coop is? Just look for where the most heinous, vile, horrible exploitation of children takes place.
Robert Stack: Scenario Two: Coop is at Disney Land.

Robert Stack: Joe Cooper is a great man. If I was a girl I would sure love to be his girlfriend, walking hand in hand, our hearts beating in unison, cuddling in the spoon position (gets splashed with a cup of water)

Robert Stack: We still have no f**king clue where this guy is.

Robert Stack was awesome. LOVED him in Airplane, too, btw. I remember years back he did a skit spoofing UM on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I forget what happened in the bit, but I still remember his exit line: "Join us next time when we go in search of a town without a Starbucks or Gap store." :lol:

Remember the case where there was that comedy club that dated back to the early 1920's, you have some hauntings, and other incredible things.

End of segment, Stack says "There have been 60 recorded cases of strange and unusual activities here!" (Chair in background just glides across the stage, Stack turns around for a second, back to camera smilling). "Perhaps you should make that, 61"

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s16/AVERMAN84/ComedyStoreGhostClosing.jpg