The Netflix UM is just fine... why complain?

[comicbookwriter]

Wow. (after reading some of the complaints in another thread).

I remember how people were begging and screaming for an UNSOLVED MYSTERIES reboot or reimagining for many, many, many years on this board.

We wanted something - ANYTHING - better than the horrific Farina version and now that the world's largest streaming service has gathered not only a well-respected team of TV producers to helm the show, but also brought in the original creators of UM for a serious revival all some of you can do is complain.

The original UM spawned a sub-genre of true crime TV that has grown by leaps and bounds in the TV/cable marketplace with entire channels like INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY or long programming blocks with DATELINE reruns that all feel like imitations of the original UM format.

After over 25 years of true crime over-saturation, there was no way the original format could have worked in the short term because of the likely comparisons to all that has come since.

Newsflash - there are millions (count 'em), millions of people in the U.S. and abroad who have never seen the original UM.

People who don't know who Robert Stack is.

People who only know of UM from 80s retrospectives and pop culture references who decided to give the show a chance and lo and behold it was trending #1 on Netflix for days on end.

This UM sitcoms online community is generally thoughtful and well-intentioned, but we are a VERY SMALL COMMUNITY. TV is not made with small communities in mind, these shows are expensive to create and they need a return on investment and in 2020, that means appealing to the largest possible audience.

This means we cannot seriously expect the new UM to be "just like" the show from our collective haze of nostalgia - and let's face it, there were a ton of stinker episodes hosted by our beloved Mr. Stack.

IF they had hired a new host, there would have been endless complaints about how inferior they are compared to Robert Stack. Some would have complained that they should have experimented with a new format considering the streaming service and so on.

I don't get what some of you want. One of the absolute dumbest complaints I've ever read in my life was that the new UM has mysteries that cannot be solved.

All of these mysteries CAN BE SOLVED that's why they're featured on a show called UNSOLVED MYSTERIES.

Many of these cases require smarter investigators (Rivera) or a few more clues (Alonso Brooks) or a confession (Missing Witness).

The missing NYC kids can be solved because someone out there knows exactly what happened to those babies and it is likely at least one of those boys is still alive but don't know their true identity. Lester Eubanks (if alive) is still out there and could be retired from his sexual assault behaviors or extremely careful to not pop up on the radar.

The Oslo woman was either connected to the espionage game or a high-priced prostitute who simply knew too much or saw something she wasn't supposed to see and was executed. That kind of thing has occurred for years and this story just happened to pop up on the UM revival.

The French guy murdered his family for some reason and is likely still on the run.

In fact, all of the crime cases can eventually be unravelled. With the exception of the UFO material, I believe there is a solution on the horizon.

It's not like we're talking about stupid ghosts or psychic nonsense, these were crimes committed by human beings that can be prosecuted under the right set of circumstances. Sure, the cases are MYSTERIOUS but isn't that the point of the damn show?

Even in the original UM, there were a bunch of cases that seemed "unsolvable" even though the evidence pointed in a direction the police didn't want to follow or were incapable of following.

In my final analysis, I am happy I was exposed to a few new mysteries I had never heard about before. I do miss Robert Stack's narration but the man is gone (RIP) and we have hours of segments of the original UM to pour through whenever we like without having to go the internet bootleg route.

Obviously, if you don't like the series, the best thing to do is not watch it again. It's going to be a while before we get a Volume 3 because of Covid, etc., so all we've got for now is the old Robert Stack UM and the Netflix version (unless you happen to enjoy the Farina version which I couldn't deal with at all).

The 1980s and 1990s are long gone folks. Complaining about how things "aren't like how they used to be" won't bring back the world how we imagined it to be back then - aka - the rose-colored glasses of nostalgic hindsight.

CBW

[apwgk]

I agree that the level of complaining of the new UM is bordering on the absurd. Another "favorite" complaint I see, the show doesn't show all the info. It's a 40 minute show, you're not going to be able to.

It's not perfect, it never will be, deal with it.

[alistaircranium]

It’s called having an opinion. People are not required to nod their heads in agreement and simply take what is served to them. If I don’t like something, I will say it.

This weird sensitivity from folks who can’t handle a dissenting opinion is just bizarre. Works of art and entertainment are meant to be critiqued. If different opinions are so threatening to you, perhaps the internet is not the place for you.

[comicbookwriter]

Originally Posted by alistaircranium

It’s called having an opinion. People are not required to nod their heads in agreement and simply take what is served to them. If I don’t like something, I will say it.

This weird sensitivity from folks who can’t handle a dissenting opinion is just bizarre. Works of art and entertainment are meant to be critiqued. If different opinions are so threatening to you, perhaps the internet is not the place for you.

Not threatened or sensitive.

Just tired of the unrelenting negativity borne from entitlement and misplaced nostalgia (and also a lack of understanding of how the business of entertainment operates).

Fan whining and legit critique are two very different things.

[alistaircranium]

Originally Posted by comicbookwriter

Not threatened or sensitive.

Just tired of the unrelenting negativity borne from entitlement and misplaced nostalgia (and also a lack of understanding of how the business of entertainment operates).

Fan whining and legit critique are two very different things.

*yawn*

Time to add somebody to the good ol’ ignore list!

[drew790]

Originally Posted by comicbookwriter

Not threatened or sensitive.

Just tired of the unrelenting negativity borne from entitlement and misplaced nostalgia (and also a lack of understanding of how the business of entertainment operates).

Fan whining and legit critique are two very different things.

You could have just replied to the thread since you're clearly talking about me.

As far as "unrelenting negativity" and "misplaced nostalgia" I could go off on a big long winded post but you simply have no idea what you're talking about. There are countless posts of me defending the one segment per episode and hostless concepts and talking about keeping an open mind until they air, and numerous positive comments about a few of the Vol 1 cases. I don't need to defend anything to you. I watched the 12 episodes, I have an opinion, and I'm going to share that opinion because I can.

As far as a "lack of understanding", I'm not the one claiming in a thread that a victim is so fat that she couldn't be moved by water. So, yeah.

[comicbookwriter]

Originally Posted by drew790

You could have just replied to the thread since you're clearly talking about me.

As far as "unrelenting negativity" and "misplaced nostalgia" I could go off on a big long winded post but you simply have no idea what you're talking about. There are countless posts of me defending the one segment per episode and hostless concepts and talking about keeping an open mind until they air, and numerous positive comments about a few of the Vol 1 cases. I don't need to defend anything to you. I watched the 12 episodes, I have an opinion, and I'm going to share that opinion because I can.

As far as a "lack of understanding", I'm not the one claiming in a thread that a victim is so fat that she couldn't be moved by water. So, yeah.

To be 100% honest, I wasn't talking about you at all. I never actually look at the username most of the time and tend to respond to what I read.

My reaction was to the negativity toward a series that we all love and should be happy is back on the scene. I was not directing my message at YOU specifically and you're correct, there was no need for you to defend yourself since I had no desire to call you out.

In regards to your other comments, you seem to be lashing out defensively and bringing up my conclusions regarding the "lady in the lake."

I never said she was "too fat" to be moved by water, I said that it was highly unlikely that a shallow lake with little to no current could move a heavier person that far downstream without assistance or being placed in another location with stronger currents.

What that has to do with folks being unreasonably negative about a true crime documentary series is beyond me.

[Huskerz85]

Originally Posted by comicbookwriter

Not threatened or sensitive.

Just tired of the unrelenting negativity borne from entitlement and misplaced nostalgia (and also a lack of understanding of how the business of entertainment operates).

Fan whining and legit critique are two very different things.

The rest of us are so very fortunate to have you here to explain the difference then.

[comicbookwriter]

Originally Posted by Huskerz85

The rest of us are so very fortunate to have you here to explain the difference then.

Why thank you.

LOL

[Gottacallphelp]

I totally agree with OP. Nothing will ever replace the original UM for us old school fans. However, I will gleefully take this reboot any day over Psycho Wives From Hell or whatever drivel ID is serving up.

[vm]

Mmm-hmm das rite!

[TheCars1986]

If you like it, great. If you don't, that's great too. I haven't seen people being overly negative about it.

[xxxxmattxxxx69]

As consumers we watch things for the entertainment. We pay for netflix. If we think something we pay for sucks we can call it out. I think UM drags too much and should have been shortened to half hour featuring one case. I could do with or without a narrator.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

If you like it, great. If you don't, that's great too. I haven't seen people being overly negative about it.

I like to look at it as Unsolved Mysteries Jr. It's the son (the next generation) who is doing great things by broadcasting new material in hopes that these cases can be solved. But no matter what, he's never going to live up to the legend that his father was.

Bottom line, it's new material for us to discuss and theorize. And that's good enough for me.

[drew790]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

If you like it, great. If you don't, that's great too. I haven't seen people being overly negative about it.

Exactly. I haven't seen this alleged negativity either. It just seems like fragile egos can't handle people not liking everything they do.

If you look at the socials no one's talking about the original. The people taking about it have all been positive, most don't even seem to have a knowledge of the original.