Lifetime is showing old episodes again!!

[crystaldawn]

Maybe those of us who wrote to Lifetime did help because they did show old ones today!! In fact they showed the 2nd episode after UM became a regular series that originally aired 10/12/88. D.B. Cooper, boys on the tracks and the missing memorabilia (one that I hadn't seen in years).

It seems like they when they show the old ones, there isn't a description on Lifetime's website and I noticed they don't have a description for UM's until April 15th so maybe thats a good sign.

Way to go Lifetime!! Lets just hope they keep it up!

[Melanie85]

I'm not sure if they do this, but I'm guessing they are starting over at the beginning of the series after just ending the last of the final episodes. Last week they were showing new UM (the latest being 2001) so now that those are over they are going back to the beginning.

[Awsi Dooger]

It's terrific to see the old episodes, but it's probably just a lazy sequential order. Not completely chronological from when they first aired, just based on old to new in whatever order some young intern or newcomer slotted the individual tapes recently. I used to work on TV. Believe me, it's no more complicated than that.

That's the first time I've seen the sports memorabilia or D.B. Cooper segments in years. I must say the D.B. Cooper segment was much more detailed and impressive than I remembered. I had no idea UM mentioned -- and showed photos of -- Richard Floyd McCoy as early as 1988. I'm convinced McCoy is D.B. Cooper and it's not an unsolved mystery at all. A two hour Discovery Channel program on the Cooper/McCoy likelihood a couple of years ago caused me to buy the book "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy", and I detailed the string of specific similarities of the two skyjackings in this forum. My job is in the statistics field. Based on the identical methods used, the odds two different people committed those skyjackings is beyond calculation, almost in the realm of DNA numbers.

There was one major and misleading error in the UM segment, however. They showed authorities carefully dusting the D.B. Cooper plane for fingerprints and indicated every attempt was made to isolate his identity. Ha. In truth, they didn't even save or examine the magazine D.B. Cooper handled and flipped thru throughout the flight. He wasn't wearing gloves. Those magazine fingerprints could have verified the Cooper/McCoy connection, or led to Cooper's identity otherwise.

[U.M. Fanatic]

All I have to say is

If we as a group keep a concerted effort going, Lifetime should continue to listen to us.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by Awsi Dooger

I'm convinced McCoy is D.B. Cooper and it's not an unsolved mystery at all. A two hour Discovery Channel program on the Cooper/McCoy likelihood a couple of years ago caused me to buy the book "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy", and I detailed the string of specific similarities of the two skyjackings in this forum. My job is in the statistics field. Based on the identical methods used, the odds two different people committed those skyjackings is beyond calculation, almost in the realm of DNA numbers.

While I'll admit I have not read the book, do you suppose it is possible McCoy was just a copycat? The story of Cooper's flight was widely reported at the time. I used to have photocopies of the New York Times from the days after the skyjacking. If I remember correctly, it made front page news the day after, and follow-ups were reported for the next three or four days. It's not like the details of Cooper's hijack were not known to the public at large.

Just a thought.

Also, Cooper smoked Raleigh cigarettes, a fact not mentioned in the UM broadcast. I've often wondered about the possibility of getting DNA off the butts, if they still exist. It could be used to rule out potential suspects.

FWIW, the money and the notice sign were not the only clues found after the skyjacking. A part of one of the parachutes was discovered in the woods around 1979 or 1980.

I never thought Cooper survived, truthfully.

Justin

[DeeeNah]

It would be a miracle if Cooper was still alive. All this time and other then those wad of notes that the young boy found, there are no traces of the other money bring found or circulated.

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by justins5256

While I'll admit I have not read the book, do you suppose it is possible McCoy was just a copycat? The story of Cooper's flight was widely reported at the time. I used to have photocopies of the New York Times from the days after the skyjacking. If I remember correctly, it made front page news the day after, and follow-ups were reported for the next three or four days. It's not like the details of Cooper's hijack were not known to the public at large.

Just a thought.

Also, Cooper smoked Raleigh cigarettes, a fact not mentioned in the UM broadcast. I've often wondered about the possibility of getting DNA off the butts, if they still exist. It could be used to rule out potential suspects.

FWIW, the money and the notice sign were not the only clues found after the skyjacking. A part of one of the parachutes was discovered in the woods around 1979 or 1980.

I never thought Cooper survived, truthfully.

Justin

Richard McCoy was from Raleigh, North Carolina. That type cigarette accounted for less than 1.5% of all cigarettes sold at the time. The theory is that McCoy nervously bought and smoked cigarettes at the Portland airport before and during his "D.B. Cooper" flight, and naturally chose the brand with a name that meant something to him. That's a good point about DNA. The book was printed in the early '90s, before DNA was in vogue, and makes no mention of the possibility.

I posted many of the Cooper/McCoy similarities in this forum two years ago, after reading the book. You might be able to locate the thread via search. I'm embarrassed I got a bit snippy with one or two posters who disagreed with the Cooper/McCoy connection in that thread. There is almost zero McCoy-as-Cooper info on the internet, none of the main points. It's almost like people want to believe and maintain the legend, and not just one guy doing it twice because he lost almost all the money during the first jump after not securing it properly.

I got the book from the University of Utah Press, which published it. The author is Bernie Rhodes. There were too many similaries/identical methods for me to dismiss McCoy as nothing but a copycat. In particular, his method of sending notes and what they said, the precise positioning of the fuel truck in each case as demanded by the skyjacker, where he sat and what he ordered the crew members to do. Both men said and wrote the exact phrase: "no funny stuff." Both Cooper and McCoy used small aircraft FAA flight plan forms to send instructions to the cabin designating flight path, altitude, flap settings and speed. But McCoy couldn't have known that Cooper used FAA forms, bacause that info was never released.

The basic theory according to the book: Richard McCoy drove to Las Vegas from Provo, Utah on the early morning of the D.B. Cooper flight, checked his car at Las Vegas' McCarron airport, then flew to Portland and executed the D.B. Cooper skyjacking late in the day. He made it back to Las Vegas one day later, but with only the $8000 to $10,000 he had stuck in his pockets before the jump. The remainder of the cash was lost during his jump. That would account for the money found on the creek bed years later. Frustrated by his failure, he repeated the process 5 months later, identified and captured after a suspicious friend tipped authorities.

There is one old codger "expert" who is regularly quoted on TV as saying McCoy was eliminated as Cooper because he was in Los Angeles at the time. THAT IS RUBBISH. McCoy was in the National Guard but it was voluntary with great leeway. Credit card receipts, including his signature, place McCoy (and his car, including license plate written down by a gas station employee) purchasing gas halfway to Las Vegas on the morning of the Cooper skyjacking, then purchasing gas one night later at the closest gas station to the Las Vegas airport. There is a collect phone call made from the Tropicana Hotel, closest hotel to the airport, to McCoy's residence in Provo at 10:41 PM one night after the Cooper skyjacking. Remarkably (heavy sarcasm), there is no other activity on the credit card between the morning of the previous day and that collect phone call. So we are supposed to believe McCoy drove to Las Vegas one day, bought gas and called home the next night, but spent absolutely nothing via credit card in between, including no hotel room. I think, like the authors of the book, he somehow made it back to Las Vegas then drove home as planned. McCoy's wife and relatives claimed he never left town that weekend. Why lie unless they had something to conceal? Even they didn't assert he was in Los Angeles.

One highlight aspect: D.B. Cooper did leave two pieces of physical evidence on board the plane, never revealed for 20+ years. Before jumping, he removed a dark narrow tie and a white mother-of-pearl tie clasp. After the second skyjacking, McCoy's mother-in-law and sister-in-law were shown the items, without being told they came from the D.B. Cooper episode. Both of them immediately and matter-of-factly identified the items as belonging to Richard McCoy, and asked where the authorities got them. The sister-in-law broke down in tears when she was told where they came from.

I don't think it's even close.

[Blackout]

i have vacation from school next week so i can tape these when im at work

too bad i missed DB Cooper, that was a favorite. i guess i gotta dig out my old VHS with that one on it someday

[crystaldawn]

Hopefully they will go back to the old ones next week, but last week they were showing the new ones again. For some reason the old ones were only shown for about a week.

[U.M. Fanatic]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Hopefully they will go back to the old ones next week, but last week they were showing the new ones again. For some reason the old ones were only shown for about a week.

Why do you do this to us Lametime? After I noticed they were showing the newer episodes again, I finally wrote them a letter. I also directed them to this board so they could see the devotion we have to this show. What more can we do?

Unless...someone wants to get a job as an intern at Lifetime so they would be able to right this wrong.

[Blackout]

I pray they show the son of sam episodes this week, i need to get those on tape, i dont wanna have to wait till the summer

[Pirate-Todd]

Sorry to tell you this, but the Son of Sam Episodes were shown on Tuesday April 5th on Lifetime. Parts 1 & 2.

[Blackout]

Originally Posted by Pirate-Todd

Sorry to tell you this, but the Son of Sam Episodes were shown on Tuesday April 5th on Lifetime. Parts 1 & 2.

dammit, i hate high school. only 2 more months till i graduate though, maybe theyll get around to showing it in the summer

[Awsi Dooger]

http://www.ldsfilm.com/movies/DBCooper.html

It is not ideal, because this is a site that focuses on McCoy's Mormon faith, as opposed to the aspects linking McCoy as D.B. Cooper. However, at least there are lengthy excerpts from the book plus the pictures of McCoy, on the book's cover and in a Salt Lake City newspaper after he was arrested for the second skyjacking. You will notice the distinct similarities between McCoy and the Cooper sketches. McCoy was only 29, much younger than most witnesses pegged D.B. Cooper. However, if you look at the pictures, especially the one from the Salt Lake paper near the bottom of the link, McCoy was hard looking with thinning hair, appearing much older than his 29 years. Also notice the prominent ears in each case. McCoy was nicknamed Dumbo at one point.

I'm really annoyed at that old codger Ralph Himmelsbach for appearing on TV so often and insisting Richard McCoy was positively traced to Los Angeles on the day of the D.B. Cooper skyjacking, eliminating him as a suspect. It is an out-and-out falsehood. Even McCoy didn't claim to be in Los Angeles. Here is his related quote from the book (and the link):

"If you can," I began softly with what Calame and Theisen felt to be their second strongest piece of evidence, "and I know this was a while back, Richard, but try to remember where you were last Thanksgiving. November 25th," I said, "and the day before Wednesday, November 24th, 1971."

His complexion turned the color of potted ham and his head turned toward the drawing of Cooper -- but his small blue eyes stayed on me.

"Thanksgiving? Well, let's see, Mr. Rhodes. Thanksgiving is still a holiday, isn't it, so naturally I would have been around the house. 1 didn't have school and I didn't have guard, so" -- he's onto me, I thought, and then he said -- "I was home. Why?"

"Careful now," I tell him, "about how you answer these next few questions. Any one of them could cause you a whole lot of trouble."

My next few questions would come very slowly, in deliberate whispers. This was a questioning technique I used to control the rhythm, the opposite of a rapid-fire, staccato approach used generally by two or more interrogators capable of keeping track of the answers. Mine was a simple litany of short questions that shifted the suspect's attention to hearing what was said -- followed back and forth by a series of nervous rejoinders.

"Cook or clean," I asked, "or help Karen with anything she might remember, Richard?"

"Yes," his voice was low like mine; he cleared his throat. "1 cooked, yes, and helped Karen with Thanksgiving dinner."

"What time of day was this you helped Karen and Denise around the house?"

"Most of the day I'd say, Mr. Rhodes. I'm sure I was home until after six o'clock."

"What rime did you eat?" I asked.

"Two o'clock?" he answered, with a rising inflection, as though he were asking a question, "two or two-thirty?"

Unfortunately, the website did not exerpt the remainder of that topic, or most of the segments of the book detailing the specific McCoy-as-Cooper evidence. It does mention the narrow tie and tie clasp that Cooper left on the plane and McCopy's relatives identified as belonging to McCoy. I emailed the webmaster and he has agreed to provide an additional page with the info linking McCoy as Cooper if I send him the specific page numbers and excerpts.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by U.M. Fanatic

Why do you do this to us Lametime? After I noticed they were showing the newer episodes again, I finally wrote them a letter. I also directed them to this board so they could see the devotion we have to this show. What more can we do?

At this point, I'm not sure what more we can possibly do.

However, I doubt that Lifetime would care that UM fan sites exist. It won't easily persuade them to be more devoted to the show. Besides, in general, networks prefer to hear from average viewers, not fans (no matter how devoted). While there is nothing wrong with telling Lifetime that you like UM, mentioning this fan site (or any other UM-related site) could be counter-productive. It might lead the network to believe, rightly or wrongly, that you are contacting them as a favor to the people affiliated with site. Therefore, as a rule of thumb, give the network the impression that you are contacting them on your own.

Some people might think I'm making this all up, but there happens to be a good amount of truth to it.

By the way, UM Fanatic, I hope you didn't call Lifetime "Lametime" (or say anything negative or hostile) in your letter.