Hello,

Some of these Robert Stack-hosted episodes on YouTube seem different than when I watched them years ago.

2 examples:

Amelia Earhart - I remember one witness saying “I swear on my Purple Heart that it was her”
John Branion: at the end of the segment, Mr. Stack said something like “by dying, John Branion was now a free man” with a slight grin on his face.

These 2 examples do not appear in the episodes on YouTube. Any idea why not?

Hello,

Some of these Robert Stack-hosted episodes on YouTube seem different than when I watched them years ago.

2 examples:

Amelia Earhart - I remember one witness saying “I swear on my Purple Heart that it was her”
John Branion: at the end of the segment, Mr. Stack said something like “by dying, John Branion was now a free man” with a slight grin on his face.

These 2 examples do not appear in the episodes on YouTube. Any idea why not?
I think you may be misremembering the John Branion quote because Branion was still alive when his segment originally aired on 12/20/89.

I know the 'Attacker of Debbie' segment was edited to remove something Stack said when he was introducing it but I don't remember exactly what it was.

I know the 'Attacker of Debbie' segment was edited to remove something Stack said when he was introducing it but I don't remember exactly what it was.

It was something along the lines of people thinking differently of the attack due to a black man attacking a white woman. I don't remember the exact words.

This reminds me of the thread a few years back where we talked about all of the endless Lifetime cuts.

Lifetime edited about 70% of the segments, many times cutting out minutes of footage, in order to make room for more commercials. When the episodes were uploaded by filmrise, we finally got to watch them as they were presented originally on NBC.

This reminds me of the thread a few years back where we talked about all of the endless Lifetime cuts.

Lifetime edited about 70% of the segments, many times cutting out minutes of footage, in order to make room for more commercials. When the episodes were uploaded by filmrise, we finally got to watch them as they were presented originally on NBC.

It's interesting, because while FilmRise restored a ton of these scenes, they also excluded some for seemingly no reason.

For example, in the Mac MacDonald segment, the reenactment of Mary Helen's mother reacting to her daughter being on the motorcycle with Mac is cut. In the segment about Heck family, a scene of them sweeping grain out of boxcars because they were so desperate is cut (I found that one particularly poignant because the men guarding the train felt so bad for them that they would look the other way).

There are other moments that definitely make sense to cut or you could guess why (such as mentioning the statute of limitations expires in a month, etc.). Sue Billig's sad speech about putting her daughter to rest next to her father if found dead was cut, likely because the preceding scene mentioned that Mr. Billig had died "last year" (though I think they should have kept this to show the impact on her family).

For reasons unknown, they removed the Tony Miller full segment (Farina version) as well as the updates for it on the Stack versions.

As part of my long term project to try and build a definitive restored series I am working on a database of UM segments, etc.

One thing I am tracking for this database is Film rise episodes with suspected cuts. Although I don't have the originals to compare to, my rough guess is that over 50% of segments featured have been edited.

Unfortunately, people are being told that these episodes are the "original Robert Stack Unsolved Mysteries" when that is patently false. Many segments are missing, and many more still are edited from the originals.

Probably the most obvious edit I have seen is the removal of information about suspects that were later captured as this seems to have been a consistent practice while captured fugitives typically have such information included. However it goes without saying that the original broadcasts are needed to make a definite comparison and to provide restoration sources.

Two of my favorite segments I remember watching as a kid with my grandparents have been removed from the series.

The one about the UHaul owner's daughter-in-law being murdered and the one about the guy on the motorcycle who was run down on the freeway. He rolled into a ditch and pretended to play dead. Two truck drivers stopped and threw his bike in the ditch to try and cover up the crime. He was fearful they would have killed him if they found him. I always thought that was such a good segment I cold almost feel his fear. Isn't it something how you can sense you are in harm even during a traumatic event. He said something just told him to not let them find him because they would kill him.

the one about the guy on the motorcycle who was run down on the freeway. He rolled into a ditch and pretended to play dead. Two truck drivers stopped and threw his bike in the ditch to try and cover up the crime. He was fearful they would have killed him if they found him. I always thought that was such a good segment I cold almost feel his fear. Isn't it something how you can sense you are in harm even during a traumatic event. He said something just told him to not let them find him because they would kill him.

Jay Durham. I....still struggle big time with this segment. It's probably pointless to torture yourself wondering about the specifics but I desperately want to know WHY the trucker did this. And I'd like a little something more than he was just plain evil and decided to try to kill a person. It's a very frustrating segment to watch, especially knowing the driver was never caught...

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jay_Durham

Jay Durham. I....still struggle big time with this segment. It's probably pointless to torture yourself wondering about the specifics but I desperately want to know WHY the trucker did this. And I'd like a little something more than he was just plain evil and decided to try to kill a person. It's a very frustrating segment to watch, especially knowing the driver was never caught...

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jay_Durham

A lot of truck drivers use different drugs to keep them alert for long periods of times. An accident like that would have caused them to be drug tested perhaps it was that. I always felt that was more to that segment.

Perhaps the Jay Durham segment was omitted because LE felt his claim of events was false. Maybe there was strong suspicion that Jay's version of the accident didn't match up

Additionally, railroad people could have complained about children wandering around an active train yard- not promoting safety and taking anything without consent is considered theft.

There's a couple of Forensic Files (or Medical Detectives) episodes that are not part of the Film Rise package. One involves a teacher who attempts to frame another teacher- Sealed with a kiss. Very bizarre case that makes schools, the police and the court system look foolish. I think this particular case is excluded because the institutions have requested it no longer be readily shown.


I find it disturbing that the pleas/threats of institutional actors can keep material like this out of the hands of the public even when it was previously broadcast on national television. At best it is a clear illustration of chilling effects on free speech. In effect, an iron triangle forms between the rights holders, the institutions, and congress who collectively discourage or prevent people from seeing the material in question. Its particularly bad in this instance since the material is of a documentary nature and should be available for research.

I thought the Jay Durham segment was omitted because he's now deceased?

I find it disturbing that the pleas/threats of institutional actors can keep material like this out of the hands of the public even when it was previously broadcast on national television. At best it is a clear illustration of chilling effects on free speech. In effect, an iron triangle forms between the rights holders, the institutions, and congress who collectively discourage or prevent people from seeing the material in question. Its particularly bad in this instance since the material is of a documentary nature and should be available for research.

See this is what irks me so much - and I know I'm not alone - since these were originally broadcast on free to air TV wherein anyone could freely record the episodes - even the FBI were encouraged to do so! And ever since it ended fans were forced to hunt down to trade or buy original episodes that had previously aired on TV. Now FilmRise releases a stash of Robert Stack hosted segments and has them arranged into "episodes" - all under the guise of being "original episodes." So fans are misled into assuming they're as originally aired on TV when in truth they're not! They've been heavily redacted with many entire cases or parts of a segment omitted, and with "new" updates appended to them not unlike the Dennis Farina series (which were basically the original Stack hosted segments redubbed by Farina and with the latest "new" updates appended). What do fans have to do to be heard and get what we've always really wanted?! - aside from stealing and murder of course!😂 Idk it's just all so disingenuous to me~

I thought the Jay Durham segment was omitted because he's now deceased?

All the more reason then for such cases to remain unredacted IMHO kinda like a book whose author dies and after a length of time it becomes public domain. It doesn't all of a sudden disappear never to see the light of day again🤔🤷

Wasn't there a longer version of the Cindy James segment?

Wasn't there a longer version of the Cindy James segment?
No. The original broadcast and the Filmrise segment have the same runtime, almost 16 minutes. I'm sure the Farina version likely chopped it up and made it shorter.

Wasn't there a longer version of the Cindy James segment?

The Filmrise version is the full segment. It was Lifetime that cut out the audio recorded police interview, the scene where she was taking a polygraph and further interviews with her therapist and father where they dismissed the theory of her having multiple personalities.

The Filmrise version is the full segment. It was Lifetime that cut out the audio recorded police interview, the scene where she was taking a polygraph and further interviews with her therapist and father where they dismissed the theory of her having multiple personalities.

Thanks for the clarification. I remember a big Cindy James thread from like 10 years ago where there was a lot of confusion about the "missing" scenes.

Someone explained that there was a YT upload that had "more scenes" but I could never confirm it.

All the more reason then for such cases to remain unredacted IMHO kinda like a book whose author dies and after a length of time it becomes public domain. It doesn't all of a sudden disappear never to see the light of day again����

The problem is that copyright terms are extended repeatedly at the behest of large corporations that wish to maintain monopoly rents on their creations in perpetuity.
The original concept of copyright was a power granted to congress in an era when most books would have been the work of one or a handful of authors, and no other media existed. But for documentaries there is almost always a corporation rather than an individual who is around to keep extending the copyright indefinitely. Hence the creator/congressional leg of the aforementioned iron triangle.

While I would love to watch original, unedited segments (right down to the 1-800-876-5353) as much as the next person, I’m just really freakin’ grateful for the embarrassment of UM riches that’s freely available now compared to the Dark Ages.

When I first started visiting this board, Lifetime had stopped airing the Stack episodes, the (god-awful) Farina episodes were rapidly disappearing from even late-night hours, and any low-quality segments that popped up on YouTube were quickly pulled down. The FilmRise episodes might not be perfect, but they have been a great source of entertainment and nostalgia for me, and I’m delighted to have them.

What’s wrong with the Farina episodes? Ok, he’s no Robert Stack.

While I would love to watch original, unedited segments (right down to the 1-800-876-5353) as much as the next person, I’m just really freakin’ grateful for the embarrassment of UM riches that’s freely available now compared to the Dark Ages.

When I first started visiting this board, Lifetime had stopped airing the Stack episodes, the (god-awful) Farina episodes were rapidly disappearing from even late-night hours, and any low-quality segments that popped up on YouTube were quickly pulled down. The FilmRise episodes might not be perfect, but they have been a great source of entertainment and nostalgia for me, and I’m delighted to have them.

I understand the sentiment, but there is an unfortunate flip side to the episodes being available like that.
Because people perceive them as being "readily available" there is going to be far less interest amongst the public in preserving the original material, which in the long run is a detriment to fans, television history, and the public as a whole.
Think of it this way, if the episodes were entirely unavailable there would be a strong incentive for people to find, collect, share, and preserve them. Releasing a badly butchered set and mislabeling it "the original episodes" acts as a release valve on that demand and destroys much of the impetus for real preservation efforts. Many times and places when I have looked for the original episodes I have had multiple replies from well meaning but unknowing people telling me "They are on Netflix!" which is of course not true. But you can see how this makes it much more likely that the original series ends up as lost television.
A counter example would be Doctor Who, which has an army of fans searching for its missing episodes, with some success, because they are truly unavailable and no substitute exists.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think that fans of the show will ever give up on documenting its history to the greatest extent possible, regardless of what’s available on YouTube.

In any event, this is an issue that long predates FilmRise. NBC and later Lifetime were removing/shortening/re-ordering segments years ago.

What’s wrong with the Farina episodes? Ok, he’s no Robert Stack.

My biggest criticism of the Farina “update” is that it just feels…unnecessary.

The terrible music (I remember reading a complaint about the “can banging around” in the background and couldn’t agree more), dated visuals, etc. just make matters worse.

What’s wrong with the Farina episodes? Ok, he’s no Robert Stack.

Farina always sounded like he was reading from a cue card and for some reason that made him feel mildly inconvenienced. :crazy:

Did they also get rid of the segment about Tara Calico? I have vague memories of watching that on UM, along with another case about the "ghost car" which fled from a police unit by passing through a fence intact.

What’s wrong with the Farina episodes? Ok, he’s no Robert Stack.

I’ve mentioned this before but I think the Thanksgiving comparison works perfectly.

Imagine I have set out a glorious Thanksgiving Day feast. Look at the beautiful table. This is the Stack version of UM.

Now imagine I go to the table and take away the turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, gravy, corn, pumpkin pie (and other various desserts.) Look at the table now. All that’s left is cranberry sauce and rolls. This is the Farina version of UM.

It’s nothing personal. I’d just rather spend the holiday with Mr. Stack.

Did they also get rid of the segment about Tara Calico? I have vague memories of watching that on UM, along with another case about the "ghost car" which fled from a police unit by passing through a fence intact.

The Tara Calico segment seems to exist in its own universe. Not only did it not go to Filmrise, it never went to Lifetime when UM was in syndication for all those years. No reason was ever given for that either.

I very vaguely remember seeing the segment on NBC when I was 9 years old. I didn’t see the segment again until I was in my mid 20’s when Crystaldawn released a best of DVD, transferred from old VHS tapes.

I’ve mentioned this before but I think the Thanksgiving comparison works perfectly.

Imagine I have set out a glorious Thanksgiving Day feast. Look at the beautiful table. This is the Stack version of UM.

Now imagine I go to the table and take away the turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, gravy, corn, pumpkin pie (and other various desserts.) Look at the table now. All that’s left is cranberry sauce and rolls. This is the Farina version of UM.

It’s nothing personal. I’d just rather spend the holiday with Mr. Stack.
The Farina version is like the leftovers - little bits and pieces of everything that no one wants.

The Tara Calico segment seems to exist in its own universe. Not only did it not go to Filmrise, it never went to Lifetime when UM was in syndication for all those years. No reason was ever given for that either.

I very vaguely remember seeing the segment on NBC when I was 9 years old. I didn’t see the segment again until I was in my mid 20’s when Crystaldawn released a best of DVD, transferred from old VHS tapes.
I think the Tara Calico segment was omitted because Michael Henley's body was found in June 1990. After that the show could have just re-edited the segment and taken out the scenes with him and had Stack do an updated narration that didn't mention Michael, but oh well.

The Farina version is like the leftovers - little bits and pieces of everything that no one wants.

Yeah, its more like thanksgiving with a turkey carcass on the table, picked clean, some olive pits, raw potato peelings, and a big vat of grease from under the turkey. Oh, and the table is a plastic folding table with a plastic folding chair and no cloth, and you get a red solo cup with a plastic spork to eat dinner with.

Meanwhile the edited episodes are on a proper table with proper instruments, but everything is incomplete. The stuffing is just bread, the mashed potatoes have no milk/cream/butter and are hard as a rock, the rolls had no yeast so they never rose, the wine is non-alcoholic, and the desert has the sugar left out. Its technically food, you will get calories from it, but don't pretend its the real thing.

As to Tara Calico, like every edited episode I think the preferred version is to present the original broadcast in its entirety, followed by any updates, and if required a post script of text. The fact that the boy's body was found is not an issue, just put it at the end like so many others have.

Yeah, its more like thanksgiving with a turkey carcass on the table, picked clean, some olive pits, raw potato peelings, and a big vat of grease from under the turkey. Oh, and the table is a plastic folding table with a plastic folding chair and no cloth, and you get a red solo cup with a plastic spork to eat dinner with.

Meanwhile the edited episodes are on a proper table with proper instruments, but everything is incomplete. The stuffing is just bread, the mashed potatoes have no milk/cream/butter and are hard as a rock, the rolls had no yeast so they never rose, the wine is non-alcoholic, and the desert has the sugar left out. Its technically food, you will get calories from it, but don't pretend its the real thing.

As to Tara Calico, like every edited episode I think the preferred version is to present the original broadcast in its entirety, followed by any updates, and if required a post script of text. The fact that the boy's body was found is not an issue, just put it at the end like so many others have.
I think there are foreign versions of the Filmrise episodes that still have some of the segments that were removed from North American versions. I came across a video on Youtube that shows a still from the Tara Calico segment which has an update with Spanish text. The video was titled 'Unsolved Mysteries - Update music synth version (extended)'. The still is shown around 6:18 in the video.

I think there are foreign versions of the Filmrise episodes that still have some of the segments that were removed from North American versions. I have not compared UM to be sure, but in general this is a pretty realistic possibility.

A different disturber might hold the rights for airing outside North America. That company might have been able to negotiate for different versions, seasons, or so on.

An example of this is Cops. Langley Television Distribution has the rights in the USA, but internationally a company called Rocket Rights handles the show. This has lead to Pluto TV in both the US and UK streaming the show. However the UK version streams seasons that are not available on the USA version.

Edits are a part of UM lore. The most extreme example that I can think of is there are at least 3/4 different version of the Doreen Picard segment that made air as either broadcast or syndication.

Generally speaking while of high standard in regards to video/audio quality, the UM streams regardless of which platform you view them on are not representative of the original broadcasts. While they do indeed include far more content then they heavily compromised Lifetime syndication of the nineties or the Spike TV/Farina edits, edits do abound nonetheless as many of the streams had to be frankensteined together necessitated by the deletion of a multitude of segments that were originally part and parcel of source episodes that the streams emanate from.

As an aside I viewed the "Tony Miller" segment last week but I believe that was on Peacock. Additionally the Tara Calico segment was broadcast at least once as part of a nineties "Lifetime" syndication. It was one of those Saturday-afternoon specials as I recall back when "Lifetime" would randomly drop UM into their programming block in the middle of the afternoon on weekends or concurrently in the early morning/waking hours. These were usually half hour broadcasts as opposed to the standard hour-long transmission they would broadcast initially in prime-time and much later on during weekday afternoons.

I looked on the episode list Wikipedia page. Tara Calico was mentioned as being featured in season two episodes one and seventeen. Does that line up with the Filmrise order, or are the episodes where the segments would have been/were edited out of listed differently?

Edits are a part of UM lore.

Even when the show was on NBC, this was true.

I remember the first time the orange sock killings segment aired. (I recorded it on my dad’s old VCR.) 5 months later when that segment was rerun for the first time on NBC, there was about 2 extra minutes of footage, mostly of extended interviews with one of the detectives describing Annette Schnee’s crime scene. Why this didn’t air when the segment was originally broadcast is beyond me. Sadly this entire segment never got transferred to FilmRise and no logical explanation was ever given for why.

As for Lifetime, the segment that was cut up the most was the Shane Stewart / Sally McNelly murders. Lifetime cut out nearly 6 minutes of footage, including a scene where Shane’s father confronts one of the cult members. Filmrise put everything back, thankfully.

As an aside I viewed the "Tony Miller" segment last week but I believe that was on Peacock.

The entire segment or just the 500th update?

The entire segment or just the 500th update?

Hi Cars,

Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you on this. Been busy-busy. It was the entire Farina segment as originally broadcast on Spike TV around a decade or so ago, not to be confused with the Robert Stack narrated segment that was original broadcast as part of the "Final Appeal" spin-off series (that broadcast has never surfaced to my knowledge as part of the streams or otherwise)

DD

Hi Cars,

Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you on this. Been busy-busy. It was the entire Farina segment as originally broadcast on Spike TV around a decade or so ago, not to be confused with the Robert Stack narrated segment that was original broadcast as part of the "Final Appeal" spin-off series (that broadcast has never surfaced to my knowledge as part of the streams or otherwise)

DD

That's so bizarre that they would keep it on certain platforms and remove it from others. It's gone from YouTube.

The Farina version is like the leftovers - little bits and pieces of everything that no one wants.



I once posted on here (under my old username) that watching the Farina episodes when the Stack episodes are available is like playing golf with a range ball when you have a bag full of new Pro V1's.

The Tara Calico segment is available on YT.

I once posted on here (under my old username) that watching the Farina episodes when the Stack episodes are available is like playing golf with a range ball when you have a bag full of new Pro V1's.

I respectfully disagree. For die-hards, the Farina episodes still hold some (however small) intrinsic value. For example it's the only place that you can readily view segments from the Pre-Stack Specials that were hosted by Raymond Burr and Karl Malden unless you *ahem* have other means of viewing those segments. Additionally as somewhat referenced above it is still the only place that you can view the majority of segments that were included in the spin-off series "Final Appeal", segments that were never assimilated into UM episodes and therefore not included in the Robert Stack narrated streams. The Farina re-cuts of these segments are by their very nature heavily edited ("Final Appeal" as originally broadcast was a 60 minute broadcast featuring one case/segment per episode) but they are better than nothing. There are also a few segments that are exclusive to the Farina episodes either because they were not assimilated into the Robert Stack narrated streams or in one case (The Final Appeal of Thomas Drake) perhaps never made broadcast outside of the Farina narrated segment.

I looked on the episode list Wikipedia page. Tara Calico was mentioned as being featured in season two episodes one and seventeen. Does that line up with the Filmrise order, or are the episodes where the segments would have been/were edited out of listed differently?
Episode 17 of Season 2 is completely omitted from Filmrise since two of the segments (Tara Calico and Roswell) are repeats from a previous episode. Mark Groezinger and the missing child roll call are both missing segments.