UM History and DVD Question

[Thiussat]

I have a couple of questions, actually.

First: Why does Lifetime rearrange episodes and put segments together that were not originally aired together? Do they ever show the ORIGINAL broadcasts as they were shown by NBC?

Second: Someone here said that Lifetime actually had some original UM episodes that did not air on NBC. Is that true? I find this hard to believe.

Third: Are there episodes that Lifetime does not have access to? People keep saying things like "Lifetime never showed that episode." Do they know this for a fact, or are they just saying that because they happened to miss it?

Fourth: I see that UM DVD's have been released, but they are done by category and a lot of people complain that good episodes are left off the DVD's. Do the producers of UM have a plan to ever release ALL episodes on DVD? I would love a season by season DVD set. Why don't they do this like every other show does?

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by Thiussat

I have a couple of questions, actually.

First: Why does Lifetime rearrange episodes and put segments together that were not originally aired together? Do they ever show the ORIGINAL broadcasts as they were shown by NBC?

Second: Someone here said that Lifetime actually had some original UM episodes that did not air on NBC. Is that true? I find this hard to believe.

Third: Are there episodes that Lifetime does not have access to? People keep saying things like "Lifetime never showed that episode." Do they know this for a fact, or are they just saying that because they happened to miss it?

Fourth: I see that UM DVD's have been released, but they are done by category and a lot of people complain that good episodes are left off the DVD's. Do the producers of UM have a plan to ever release ALL episodes on DVD? I would love a season by season DVD set. Why don't they do this like every other show does?

1. There have been updates to a lot of cases, so splicing of segments from different shows is required to make sure the show fits in with time restraints.

2. Lifetime eventually acquired the show after NBC cancelled it, so it does have several segments that didn't air on NBC. However, I think you might have meant to say "Does Lifetime have segments that aired on NBC but they never showed them on Lifetime." I don't know if Lifetime actually has them in their possession, but there are a couple dozen or so segments that have aired on NBC and not Lifetime reruns.

3. Certain episodes of different shows are left out of syndication packages, so it's possible. These are for a garden variety of reasons. Probably the same with UM. Some are widely speculated to be hoaxes, one had a police officer who didn't like how he was portrayed, so these could be the reasons. There are some diehard fans on here, so I doubt cases like the ever-elusive Todd McAfee would have been missed.

4. I doubt highly there would ever be plans to release UM on a season by season set. I would imagine they did this to sell copies to those who don't like UM per se, but are fans of particular genres, like UFO's.

[crystaldawn]

I have acquired a lot of complete episodes recorded off NBC so I can definitely say there are quite a few segments I've seen on there that no one remembers ever seeing on Lifetime. Not only that a lot of the more common segments talked about on here that regularly air on Lifetime have been edited. I am always coming across deleted scenes in watching the NBC episodes. Many times its not even on ones that have updates so the only thing I can imagine is there are more commercials now and Lifetime has to keep editing these segments to make room for their sponsors.

There really is no logic to some of the ones that Lifetime never airs unless they're only allowed to air a certain number. The segment on Charles Horvath would have been a great one for Lifetime to air IMO. Very compelling missing persons case and he's still missing so someone today could possibly see that segment and maybe even have some information. You never know.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by Thiussat

I have a couple of questions, actually.

First: Why does Lifetime rearrange episodes and put segments together that were not originally aired together? Do they ever show the ORIGINAL broadcasts as they were shown by NBC?

Look at this way: say a given NBC episode carries 5 stories. 3 of the 5 were solved after the original broadcast. There isn't enough time in that hour timeslot to show all five stories with updates, so they drop one of the stories completely. I think the problem was that by the time Lifetime acquired the rights to the show in 1992, a lot of the cases had been solved and now had updates that needed to be tacked on to the individual segments. So Lifetime had to do a lot of cutting and mixing and matching to make it all work.

Originally Posted by Thiussat

Second: Someone here said that Lifetime actually had some original UM episodes that did not air on NBC. Is that true? I find this hard to believe.

It seems doubtful as UM was not cutoff mid-season as some canceled shows often are. I believe the last season was on NBC from the fall of '96 and through the spring of '97. Re-runs continued over the summer.

Originally Posted by Thiussat

Third: Are there episodes that Lifetime does not have access to? People keep saying things like "Lifetime never showed that episode." Do they know this for a fact, or are they just saying that because they happened to miss it?

I know, for a fact, that there are numerous stories that did air on NBC but that never aired on Lifetime. I think we can safely say that the infamous Burr/Malden specials never aired. The "Live from the Telecenter" episode never aired. The 90 minute Alcatraz special never aired in it's entirety. There are a lot of individual segments that never aired and we can debate the rationale for this till the cows come home. I know there was a lawsuit over UM's portrayal of one of the cops in the Doyle Wheeler segment, so I would suspect this legal action barred it from syndication. There was another story I read about on the internet (sorry can't remember details) in which a man was contemplating suing UM because he resembled a fugitive profiled on the program and his friends, neighbors, co-workers etc. were harassing him. I have suggested before that perhaps a lot of the solved/resolved parental abduction cases (Aprille, Fontes, Moss, Rhodes etc.) were not repeated out of respect for the families. I don't think there is any one correct answer.

Originally Posted by Thiussat

Fourth: I see that UM DVD's have been released, but they are done by category and a lot of people complain that good episodes are left off the DVD's. Do the producers of UM have a plan to ever release ALL episodes on DVD? I would love a season by season DVD set. Why don't they do this like every other show does?

Here we go again

If cases were solved after the DVDs were released how would updates be handled?

Even during it's run on NBC there was a ton of repeating and "spliced together" episodes made for summer re-runs that contained one new story and several old stories too. How would they handle that on DVD? Too much material would be repeated.

Despite not being a "news broadcast" there is a lot of time sensitive material on UM. Hell, I think most special alerts fall into this category. I told crystaldawn once that watching old NBC airings was not unlike opening a time capsule. For instance, on the Relando Cruz segment, Stack kept saying things like "Cruz is scheduled to be executed in two weeks". Dr. Browning's predicted earthquake was coming in "one month" or some such.

Finally, I think the fact that the previous sets didn't sell well is a good indicator of why they aren't going to do season sets. UM is such an eclectic show with a wide array of topics that won't necessarily interest everyone. Even if YOU think that season sets are a good idea and would pay for them there aren't enough "yous" out there for it to be profitable to First Look/Cosgrove/whoever.

[asmitty]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I am always coming across deleted scenes in watching the NBC episodes. Many times its not even on ones that have updates so the only thing I can imagine is there are more commercials now and Lifetime has to keep editing these segments to make room for their sponsors.

That's not just true of UM. Every TV show that is sold into syndication has to be edited to allow for around 2 extra minutes of commercials for like every half hour or something like that. If you watch the Friends DVDs vs. the syndication there are scenes that are cut shorter in syndication. All syndication adds more commercials than network original broadcast.

It seems doubtful as UM was not cutoff mid-season as some canceled shows often are. I believe the last season was on NBC from the fall of '96 and through the spring of '97. Re-runs continued over the summer.

This is not true according to what I have learned. According to what I've read the show was on NBC for the season nine during 96-97 as you mentioned. However CBS picked it up for season 10 and produced 11 episodes, then Lifetime produced seasons 11 (6 episodes, not really a season), 12 (55 episodes), and 13 (51 episodes). I can't say that these seasons on Lifetime were composed entirely of new episodes and segments as I did not watch all of it but they were billed as new seasons according to the info I have found.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by asmitty

However CBS picked it up for season 10 and produced 11 episodes, then Lifetime produced seasons 11 (6 episodes, not really a season), 12 (55 episodes), and 13 (51 episodes).

Actually, CBS carried the show for season 11, in addition to season 10. Only seasons 12 and 13 were produced for Lifetime.

[Thiussat]

Confusion runs amuck.

There has to be a way that an interested person could obtain ALL episodes of UM without having to resort to crappy quality VHS tapes recorded in '87.

I realize what you people are saying about complete seasons and Updates being a problem. But, one can mix and match segments on a DVD set (just like Lifetime does for syndication). My complaint about the current DVDs is not the quality or how segments were mixed and matched, but rather the fact that they were subjective in which stories each category contained. They left GOOD stories out. This is ridiculous.

I also realize that some fans of UM will never, ever, be able to see certain episodes ever again (unless you work for NBC and have access to their tape archives). This sucks.

It's sad when you can get shows from 1964, that were cancelled after two seasons, on DVD, but you can't get a show as recent as UM on DVD (not in its entirety).

I guess I will have to break down and start paying for some boot legged DVDs from people here. If NBC Universal or whoever doesn't want to provide a product for a price, then I will be happy to be a patron of the bootleggers.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by Thiussat

I realize what you people are saying about complete seasons and Updates being a problem. But, one can mix and match segments on a DVD set (just like Lifetime does for syndication).

And who is going to foot the bill for this? If the demand/interest isn't there why would First Look go through the trouble? If you think First Look is interested in anything but profit you're a fool.

Originally Posted by Thiussat

My complaint about the current DVDs is not the quality or how segments were mixed and matched, but rather the fact that they were subjective in which stories each category contained. They left GOOD stories out. This is ridiculous.

And every time crystaldawn cranks out another DVD there are those who ask why she didn't include certain "good" stories. Everyone's idea of a "good" story is subjective. The First Look folks released DVDs they thought would interest the public at large and turn a profit.

It's kind of like asking for season sets of the news. Just ain't gonna happen.

[Thiussat]

Obviously, Justin, they figured there was interest or they wouldn't have released the partial DVD sets. No, I am no fool, I realize the $$ is the driving factor.

I wouldn't make the analogy that this is like having "DVD sets of the news." This was a TV drama show, with a designated time slot of one hour each week, and with named episodes. That's a little different from asking for every Dan Rather nightly news broadcast from 1960 onward. Sure, UM ran for 12 seasons, but I know there are complete DVD sets to other shows that ran for a similar amount of time.

I realize all the complaining in the world wont make it happen. It will never happen. We will just have to face the fact that there are episodes of UM that are lost forever. It sucks because there are a few episodes I keep hearing about that I would like to see and the prospects of seeing them seem low (because I have already seen all of Lifetime's episodes).