First of all, I want to say that I am a huge fan of "Unsolved Mysteries" (the original NBC version). Forgive me for asking, but I was wondering if we could talk about some of the differences of the 1987-1988 Pre-Stack Specials compared to when UM became a series in 1988. I never seen or knew the PSS episodes (except that Raymond Burr and Karl Malden were hosts). Some questions to consider would be like...

1. The disclaimer ("This program is about unsolved mysteries..."), how was that different compared to the disclaimier when UM became a series?

2. When UM became a series, Stack would introduce the stories that were going to be told for the program, was that ever done on the PSS (where they just showed brief clips or snippets of the stories)?

3. Was the same chilling opening and closing theme music that we all know and love used in the PSS?

4. Were the same intro graphics (the subjects like wanted, sci-med, etc. rolling down the bars, or the black marble background, etc.) the same in the PSS (including the "Hosted by..." credit?)

5. What about the locations where Burr/Malden hosted? Was it the same as Stack with the dark hallways or foggy areas, etc?

Anyway, those are some of my questions. Feel free to discuss any similarities or differences you may have found as well.

Interesting question. I think there are a lot of similarities. I did notice as far as the disclaimer its worded a little different. Danny Dark says at the end on PSS "a news broadcast or a news documentary" and news documentary wasn't mentioned in the series disclaimer. They did at least part of the time during the PSS show the disclaimer before every segment which I don't really understand. Yes the hosts did also appear at locations. I remember Raymond Burr standing in a dark alley which always stuck in my head. I also Karl Malden being at a boat dock for the Wanda Jean Mays segment.

Some compelling questions here. The "pre-Stack" (Raymond Burr and Karl Malden) and the Stack hosted "pre-series" specials are probably still my favorite episodes. Naturally, I couldn't let this opportunity pass without adding my two cents.

1. The wording of the disclaimer was changed slightly a few times. On the Raymond Burr special, the disclaimer ended with the line "this is not an NBC News production". This was changed (possibly on the second special) to "this is not a news broadcast or a news documentary". This eventually morphed into the familiar "this is not a news broadcast".

I have no clue why they deemed it necessary to change it so many times. I could understand the first change, so as not to align themselves with NBC or NBC news. I suppose "this is not a news broadcast" is more direct and less clumsy a sentence as "this is not a news broadcast or a news documentary". "This is not a news broadcast"...Bang, straight to the point, enough side.

As CD noted, the disclaimer was presented before individual stories, although I don't believe it was before every single story. Strangely, this continued on into the first few weeks of the actual show. Perhaps the producers wanted the disclaimer there in the event someone tuned in half way through the program and didn't fully comprehend what UM was all about. Remember, it was a relatively new concept back then.

2. I believe they did do this to some degree, but it varied. There were previews at the beginnings of specials 1, 3, 4, and 7.

Special 2 opened immediately with the story about Wanda Jean Mays.
Special 5 opened immediately with the story about Jerry Strickland.
Special 6 opened immediately with the story about Dorothy Allison.

Even though these stories started immediately, there was a commercial break before the story was continued, and the respective hosts may have commented on the other stories that would be presented during the program.

3-4. Sort of. The openings were the same, but shortened versions of what they would later use. For example, after the categories scrolled, the "Solved" dissolve wasn't used. I can't recall exactly when that came into play; perhaps it was after the show became a weekly event. There was music over the end credits, but it varied. For instance, the familiar "update" music was played over the credits of the Raymond Burr special. Kinda funny.

5. It seems that they tried to put the host in locations that pertained to the story being presented. For instance, Malden was on a boat dock while he narrated the Wanda Jean Mays segment, inside a barn for Jon Burns, sitting on a park bench for Kyra Cook, outside a posh apartment/condo complex for the Rolex Robbers, and outside a restaurant for the Robert Weeks segment. Having the host "on location" was phased out as the series went on, and that was when you started seeing more of the generic dark alleys, dark bridges, dark staircases outside of nondescript buildings, etc.

I remember Karl Malden being in a park sitting on a park bench in one episode and I've got one with Raymond Burr walking using a cane (maybe walking dramatically out of the fog in the scene, not sure).

Unfortunately, I can't really answer a lot of the questions because even though I have a few of these episodes on dvd, they were made off of old VHS tapes by a friend of a friend of a friend and even arrived to me from half way around the world. Since these were homemade and not professionally produced, a 90s eppy might be shown right before or after the PSS segment.

There's no continuity, credits are cut off, sometimes a new segment might start up right in the middle of the current segment, before it ends, etc. And none of the DVDs contains a full episode from first segment through the last, but hey, I can't complain, at least I've got my favorite show on DVD. :O) I love it!

While we are on the same subject of the Pre-Stack Specials, anyone agree that the music at the beginning of the Dorothy Allison episode when Stack is narrating the fates of the three people is so creepy. Although it was shown on the original 1988 broadcast and not on the DVD, that is one example to
the kind of music that we all love.