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TV ratings declining for crime reality shows
Record, The (Kitchner, Ontario, Canada)
July 14, 1997
Edition: EntertainmentFINAL
Canadian Press
Section: Entertainment
Page: B7
Record Number: 19970714KR0044
Five years ago, the TV airwaves were filled with American-based
crime reality shows, the kind that urge viewers to play armchair sleuth
by phoning in tips to police after seeing reports and re-enactments of
crimes.
The programs were ratings grabbers and cheap to make. But their
popularity has steadily waned.
Long gone are the likes of Final Appeal, Secret Service, Likely
Suspects and What Happens. NBC's Unsolved Mysteries with host Robert
Stack is the latest import to get the axe.
The show leaves the airwaves after playing a role in the legal
nightmare of Toronto's Matthew Stuparyk, 29, who spent five months in a
Los Angeles jail.
Stuparyk saw himself identified on the program earlier this
year as a murder suspect. He decided to travel to California to clear
his name but was instead locked up and accused of assault with intent
to rape, burglary and stalking.
A paranoid schizophrenic, Stuparyk, was finally released in
early July when the charges were dismissed. He returned to Toronto and
a few days later attempted suicide.
Unsolved Mysteries was carried in Canada by Baton Broadcasting
stations. BBS programming vice-president Bev Oda says the show was not
in the Top 20 but was "doing fine" here.
"I think it's cyclical," Oda says.
"All of those shows have really diminished on a series basis
and the networks are going more to editions of 48 Hours, Dateline and
20/20."
The Fox Network's America's Most Wanted, which debuted in 1988,
was dropped by Global TV three years ago.
Repeated calls to the NBC publicity department in Burbank and
to Unsolved Mystery's executive producer John Cosgrove for comment
weren't returned.
But most observers suggest it's police who must accept
responsibility when an innocent person is snared by the vigilante
mentality generated by such true-crime shows.
Tim Danson, a Toronto-based victims rights lawyer, says the
programs have produced far more good than bad and says there's no
evidence a lot of innocent people have been fingered by them.
But he allows the shows "sometimes tend to sensationalize.
"And this kind of story really should remind those people who
produce those shows that they have a pretty serious responsibility to
their audience and the people they may name."
Mary-Jo Leddy, a theology professor at the University of
Toronto and a former journalist, says she knows of a recent case in
which an American woman was wrongly arrested in Canada after exposure
on Unsolved Mysteries.
In another incident in 1994, a five-year manhunt for an
American fugitive wanted for the grisly murder of his wife ended in
Montreal when police, operating on TV tips, first arrested the wrong
guy, then the right one.
"It's incredibly effective but the question is, of course,
whether it's accurate," says Leddy.
Media critic Barry Zwicker says the programs have mixed goals
-- to entertain, get ratings and perform a public service -- and that
the outcome may not always be what was intended.
"They become partly responsible -- and I don't think they can
evade it -- for what happened to (Stuparyk)."
Zwicker says that overall the shows are "a good thing."
But he is not surprised they've declined in popularity with all
the copycat versions and only a finite number of unsolved mysteries to
dramatize.
Copyright (c) 1997, The Record. All rights reserved.
==================================================
Canadian released after nearly five months in California jail
Record, The (Kitchner, Ontario, Canada)
July 7, 1997
Edition: FrontFINAL
Canadian Press
Section: Front
Page: A3
Record Number: 19970707KR0101
toronto - A Canadian man who spent almost five months in a
California jail protesting his innocence returned home Sunday after
being cleared of all charges.
Matthew Stuparyk, 29, arrived at Pearson International Airport
for a joyful reunion with his brothers, then headed home to Scarborough.
"All the charges against me were dropped," he told CFTO News in
Toronto.
Stuparyk's ordeal began earlier this year when he was
identified on the U.S. television show Unsolved Mysteries as a murder
suspect in the mysterious death of Patrick Kelly.
Authorities thought Stuparyk had been seen with Kelly on a
California store surveillance video the day before Kelly's death in
Mexico in May 1996.
His family knew Stuparyk was in a Toronto hospital at the time,
being treated for paranoid schizophrenia. And his brother Russell said
Sunday that Matthew "hasn't been to Mexico in the last 10 years."
But after he saw the broadcast, Stuparyk -- who had been a
student at the University of Southern California in the early 1990s --
headed to Los Angeles to seek some answers.
He was arrested in Missouri, then transported to Los Angeles to
face charges of breaking and entering, stalking and attempted rape,
charges listed on warrants dating back to 1992.
Officials made no mention of the Kelly death and Stuparyk was
never charged. However, bail was set at $2 million on the earlier
charges.
But Matthew was at a Club Med resort in St. Lucia with Russell
when two of the crimes were committed, his brother said.
Charges were dropped shortly before the case was to go to
trial, Russell said.
Copyright (c) 1997, The Record. All rights reserved.
==================================================
Metro man freed from U.S. jail
Toronto Star, The (Ontario, Canada)
July 7, 1997
Edition: NEWS
Henry Stancu Toronto Star
Section: NEWS
Page: A4
Record Number: 970707TS1818800052
A 29-year-old Scarborough man who spent nearly five months in
Los Angeles county jail accused of attempted rape, stalking and
assault, was released Saturday without explanation or apology.
Matthew Stuparyk's ordeal began in December, 1993, when he was
suspended from medical school in St. Lucia after the dean was contacted
by Los Angeles police in connection with an alleged attack on a woman
Stuparyk had dated while at the University of Southern California.
Stuparyk returned home and, during the next four years, he and
his family spent $40,000 trying to prove his innocence.
Stuparyk had witnesses who could prove he was nowhere near Los
Angeles when the woman claimed she was attacked.
Copyright (c) 1997, Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights
reserved.
==================================================
TV ratings declining for crime reality shows
Record, The (Kitchner, Ontario, Canada)
July 14, 1997
Edition: EntertainmentFINAL
Canadian Press
Section: Entertainment
Page: B7
Record Number: 19970714KR0044
Five years ago, the TV airwaves were filled with American-based
crime reality shows, the kind that urge viewers to play armchair sleuth
by phoning in tips to police after seeing reports and re-enactments of
crimes.
The programs were ratings grabbers and cheap to make. But their
popularity has steadily waned.
Long gone are the likes of Final Appeal, Secret Service, Likely
Suspects and What Happens. NBC's Unsolved Mysteries with host Robert
Stack is the latest import to get the axe.
The show leaves the airwaves after playing a role in the legal
nightmare of Toronto's Matthew Stuparyk, 29, who spent five months in a
Los Angeles jail.
Stuparyk saw himself identified on the program earlier this
year as a murder suspect. He decided to travel to California to clear
his name but was instead locked up and accused of assault with intent
to rape, burglary and stalking.
A paranoid schizophrenic, Stuparyk, was finally released in
early July when the charges were dismissed. He returned to Toronto and
a few days later attempted suicide.
Unsolved Mysteries was carried in Canada by Baton Broadcasting
stations. BBS programming vice-president Bev Oda says the show was not
in the Top 20 but was "doing fine" here.
"I think it's cyclical," Oda says.
"All of those shows have really diminished on a series basis
and the networks are going more to editions of 48 Hours, Dateline and
20/20."
The Fox Network's America's Most Wanted, which debuted in 1988,
was dropped by Global TV three years ago.
Repeated calls to the NBC publicity department in Burbank and
to Unsolved Mystery's executive producer John Cosgrove for comment
weren't returned.
But most observers suggest it's police who must accept
responsibility when an innocent person is snared by the vigilante
mentality generated by such true-crime shows.
Tim Danson, a Toronto-based victims rights lawyer, says the
programs have produced far more good than bad and says there's no
evidence a lot of innocent people have been fingered by them.
But he allows the shows "sometimes tend to sensationalize.
"And this kind of story really should remind those people who
produce those shows that they have a pretty serious responsibility to
their audience and the people they may name."
Mary-Jo Leddy, a theology professor at the University of
Toronto and a former journalist, says she knows of a recent case in
which an American woman was wrongly arrested in Canada after exposure
on Unsolved Mysteries.
In another incident in 1994, a five-year manhunt for an
American fugitive wanted for the grisly murder of his wife ended in
Montreal when police, operating on TV tips, first arrested the wrong
guy, then the right one.
"It's incredibly effective but the question is, of course,
whether it's accurate," says Leddy.
Media critic Barry Zwicker says the programs have mixed goals
-- to entertain, get ratings and perform a public service -- and that
the outcome may not always be what was intended.
"They become partly responsible -- and I don't think they can
evade it -- for what happened to (Stuparyk)."
Zwicker says that overall the shows are "a good thing."
But he is not surprised they've declined in popularity with all
the copycat versions and only a finite number of unsolved mysteries to
dramatize.
Copyright (c) 1997, The Record. All rights reserved.
==================================================
Canadian released after nearly five months in California jail
Record, The (Kitchner, Ontario, Canada)
July 7, 1997
Edition: FrontFINAL
Canadian Press
Section: Front
Page: A3
Record Number: 19970707KR0101
toronto - A Canadian man who spent almost five months in a
California jail protesting his innocence returned home Sunday after
being cleared of all charges.
Matthew Stuparyk, 29, arrived at Pearson International Airport
for a joyful reunion with his brothers, then headed home to Scarborough.
"All the charges against me were dropped," he told CFTO News in
Toronto.
Stuparyk's ordeal began earlier this year when he was
identified on the U.S. television show Unsolved Mysteries as a murder
suspect in the mysterious death of Patrick Kelly.
Authorities thought Stuparyk had been seen with Kelly on a
California store surveillance video the day before Kelly's death in
Mexico in May 1996.
His family knew Stuparyk was in a Toronto hospital at the time,
being treated for paranoid schizophrenia. And his brother Russell said
Sunday that Matthew "hasn't been to Mexico in the last 10 years."
But after he saw the broadcast, Stuparyk -- who had been a
student at the University of Southern California in the early 1990s --
headed to Los Angeles to seek some answers.
He was arrested in Missouri, then transported to Los Angeles to
face charges of breaking and entering, stalking and attempted rape,
charges listed on warrants dating back to 1992.
Officials made no mention of the Kelly death and Stuparyk was
never charged. However, bail was set at $2 million on the earlier
charges.
But Matthew was at a Club Med resort in St. Lucia with Russell
when two of the crimes were committed, his brother said.
Charges were dropped shortly before the case was to go to
trial, Russell said.
Copyright (c) 1997, The Record. All rights reserved.
==================================================
Metro man freed from U.S. jail
Toronto Star, The (Ontario, Canada)
July 7, 1997
Edition: NEWS
Henry Stancu Toronto Star
Section: NEWS
Page: A4
Record Number: 970707TS1818800052
A 29-year-old Scarborough man who spent nearly five months in
Los Angeles county jail accused of attempted rape, stalking and
assault, was released Saturday without explanation or apology.
Matthew Stuparyk's ordeal began in December, 1993, when he was
suspended from medical school in St. Lucia after the dean was contacted
by Los Angeles police in connection with an alleged attack on a woman
Stuparyk had dated while at the University of Southern California.
Stuparyk returned home and, during the next four years, he and
his family spent $40,000 trying to prove his innocence.
Stuparyk had witnesses who could prove he was nowhere near Los
Angeles when the woman claimed she was attacked.
Copyright (c) 1997, Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights
reserved.