I've come across an original CBS recording for season 11, episode 1.

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Pretty underwhelming, IMO. I know an episode featuring Madsen was seen as a holy grail of sorts for UM fans, but after seeing it...it's literally Virginia Madsen's voice reading what should have been Stack's.

Pretty underwhelming, IMO. I know an episode featuring Madsen was seen as a holy grail of sorts for UM fans, but after seeing it...it's literally Virginia Madsen's voice reading what should have been Stack's.

Agreed. It's more of a mild curiosity than much else.

Feels like they were going for a Mulder and Scully thing with her. This was about a year after the movie. I couldn't get into her segments.

The other interesting thing is finally getting to see the full CBS narration and intro. Even though that theme came first it feels like it was made to fit the Lifetime one so much more than the CBS one.

I got that Mulder and Scully vibe too.

I've come across an original CBS recording for season 11, episode 1.

I'm amazed! You are the Indiana Jones of Unsolved Mysteries.

Pretty underwhelming, IMO. I know an episode featuring Madsen was seen as a holy grail of sorts for UM fans, but after seeing it...it's literally Virginia Madsen's voice reading what should have been Stack's.

I thought the holy grail was good-quality Final Appeal episodes?

I thought the holy grail was good-quality Final Appeal episodes?

All of those were repackaged for the Farina reboot, and all of them (except maybe Jeffrey MacDonald, I can't remember) are available on Youtube. I've seen a fairly good quality of the Paul Ferrell episode, and when they were repackaged for the Farina show, they did not cut a ton of information out. There really isn't much missing.

All of those were repackaged for the Farina reboot, and all of them (except maybe Jeffrey MacDonald, I can't remember) are available on Youtube. I've seen a fairly good quality of the Paul Ferrell episode, and when they were repackaged for the Farina show, they did not cut a ton of information out. There really isn't much missing.

Just FYI, I traded the original NBC MacDonald broadcast to a few people on here last year. It has a few mins in the beginning missing and didn't have the Chicago Port segment (edited that segment in from LifeTime airing). I found it from an estate sale so that was quite an insane find.

The ratings were awful the last year on NBC and they were worse on CBS so Virginia Madsen was UM jumping the shark

Pretty underwhelming, IMO. I know an episode featuring Madsen was seen as a holy grail of sorts for UM fans, but after seeing it...it's literally Virginia Madsen's voice reading what should have been Stack's.

I remember watching a few of the Madsen-era episodes as a kid, her segments just didn't give me that "creepy" vibe that Bob's always did.

Together in unsolved dreams.

I definitely appreciated seeing this. I had completely forgotten about the wacky CBS era UM intro music too!

Need to watch, need to watch, need to watch....

For me, it's the same thing-- I don't expect the Madsen episodes to be good. I just want to see them because I've never seen them before. UM is like pizza-- even when it's terrible, it's still pizza.

I remember watching a few of the Madsen-era episodes as a kid, her segments just didn't give me that "creepy" vibe that Bob's always did.

To be fair, the show was already significantly less creepy at this point thanks to the lesser production value. And CBS ditching the iconic theme song and replacing it with a new one was the equivalent of trading a fresh off the grille steak for a green bean casserole with expired green beans.

I remember seeing the very first Virigina Madsen episode and wondering if Stack's health was in decline and the producers were trying to ease in a new host to replace him.

Also, the show being moved to Friday night was too weird for my taste. I was a teenager at this point who had just gotten his drivers license. I was rarely home to watch it.

To be fair, the show was already significantly less creepy at this point thanks to the lesser production value. And CBS ditching the iconic theme song and replacing it with a new one was the equivalent of trading a fresh off the grille steak for a green bean casserole with expired green beans.

I remember seeing the very first Virigina Madsen episode and wondering if Stack's health was in decline and the producers were trying to ease in a new host to replace him.

Also, the show being moved to Friday night was too weird for my taste. I was a teenager at this point who had just gotten his drivers license. I was rarely home to watch it.

Hopefully one VM episode will show up on the forbiddent site someday. I vaguely remember, but it's been 20 years.

I don't get the fascination. I remember watching as a kid with my grandpa and we were both perplexed and hated those episodes. Stacks is the show he never needed a sidekick.

To be fair, the show was already significantly less creepy at this point thanks to the lesser production value. And CBS ditching the iconic theme song and replacing it with a new one was the equivalent of trading a fresh off the grille steak for a green bean casserole with expired green beans.

I remember seeing the very first Virigina Madsen episode and wondering if Stack's health was in decline and the producers were trying to ease in a new host to replace him.

Also, the show being moved to Friday night was too weird for my taste. I was a teenager at this point who had just gotten his drivers license. I was rarely home to watch it.

Actually, NBC ditched the iconic theme song in the fall of 1995 for Season 8. You can call me crazy but I thought the 1995 revamp and the CBS revamp of the theme song was pretty good. It's the Lifetime one that I think is lacking.

The ratings were awful the last year on NBC and they were worse on CBS so Virginia Madsen was UM jumping the shark

Ratings were awful in Seasons 7 & 8, after NBC moved the show to Friday nights. Of course, NBC had to do something after 2 seasons of declining ratings going from #13 in Season 4
#21 in Season 5
#36 in Season 6 (last season on Wednesday Nights)

They did rebound in Season 9 (last year on NBC), the beginning of the season they were placing #2 to Family Matters & Boy Meets World on ABC, by the end of the season they were usually #1 in the 8 PM Friday Night timeslot.

NBC canceled the show more so because of weak demo scores, (not enough younger viewers 18-49 watching) not total viewers
-and most primetime shows get maybe 6 or 7 seasons, UM was getting towards 10.

CBS acquired the show to throw pasta at the wall and see what sticks, they were slowly coming out of their mid-90's depression, but they gave UM a horrible timeslot, Friday's at 9 PM and aired the episodes in late spring/early summer.

Adding Virginia Madsen in the 1999 season was a hail mary pass by a network that just didn't respect the show as much as they should have, which is funny because 20 years later it seems that CBS airs nothing but crime-related shows!!!

Where did you find it?

Need to watch, need to watch, need to watch....

For me, it's the same thing-- I don't expect the Madsen episodes to be good. I just want to see them because I've never seen them before. UM is like pizza-- even when it's terrible, it's still pizza.

SO true, LooksLikeCRicci.

*me and friend opening a large bottle of wine*

me: *takes first sip*

friend: how's it taste?

me: not that good, but there's a LOT!

Ratings were awful in Seasons 7 & 8, after NBC moved the show to Friday nights. Of course, NBC had to do something after 2 seasons of declining ratings going from #13 in Season 4
#21 in Season 5
#36 in Season 6 (last season on Wednesday Nights)

They did rebound in Season 9 (last year on NBC), the beginning of the season they were placing #2 to Family Matters & Boy Meets World on ABC, by the end of the season they were usually #1 in the 8 PM Friday Night timeslot.

NBC canceled the show more so because of weak demo scores, (not enough younger viewers 18-49 watching) not total viewers
-and most primetime shows get maybe 6 or 7 seasons, UM was getting towards 10.

CBS acquired the show to throw pasta at the wall and see what sticks, they were slowly coming out of their mid-90's depression, but they gave UM a horrible timeslot, Friday's at 9 PM and aired the episodes in late spring/early summer.

Adding Virginia Madsen in the 1999 season was a hail mary pass by a network that just didn't respect the show as much as they should have, which is funny because 20 years later it seems that CBS airs nothing but crime-related shows!!!

Thanks for posting this. Yeah, 48 Hours Mystery always has a lot of case that are similar to Unsolved Mysteries. Some 48 Hours Mysteries have even been on Unsolved Mysteries (Jodi Huisentruit for example).

To be fair, the show was already significantly less creepy at this point thanks to the lesser production value. And CBS ditching the iconic theme song and replacing it with a new one was the equivalent of trading a fresh off the grille steak for a green bean casserole with expired green beans.

I remember seeing the very first Virigina Madsen episode and wondering if Stack's health was in decline and the producers were trying to ease in a new host to replace him.

Also, the show being moved to Friday night was too weird for my taste. I was a teenager at this point who had just gotten his drivers license. I was rarely home to watch it.

Wednesday was the perfect night for it. Friday was hit or miss.

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Oooh ooh lemme see