If you had the chance to pick someone to host UM besides Stack...

[Zlatko]

Who would it be, and why? We've had posts on this before, but I don't think we've had a thread.

Anyway, I'd pick Keith David. He has a enigimatic presence, and a creepy voice to boot. He's somewhat similar to Stack, but he'd bring his own distinctive qualities to the show.

[UM Zealot]

Stacy Keach
Bill Kurtis - Liked him on C.C.F., but I don't know if he's mysterious enough for U.M.
Brian Dennehy - I have never heard him narrate a documentary, but I imagine he could summon the proper tone.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by UM Zealot

Brian Dennehy - I have never heard him narrate a documentary, but I imagine he could summon the proper tone.

Well, he did host a show called Arrest and Trial. It aired in first-run syndication from 2000 to 2002. Believe it or not, he was also once considered for the hosting job on America's Most Wanted.

As for Zlatko's hypothetical question, well, besides Robert Stack (or Dennis Farina)? I would have to say Robert Davi.

His credentials: Despite a history of playing bad guys (such as those in The Goonies and Licence To Kill), Davi played an FBI profiler on the NBC TV show Profiler. He also played an FBI man in the original Die Hard movie. In 2000, the Los Angeles FBI named him their "Man of the Year." He is also a spokesman for the safety organization, I-Safe.

He has a presence that I believe would have been beneficial to UM.

[MissFit29]

I liked the investigator from the Anna Anton case profile - Jerry Kreiger. I remember the way his interview was shot - he looked kind of dark and mysterious. And he had a great voice.

Is Keith David the man who narrated Ken Burns' Jazz?

[UMLongtimefan]

This seems like a topic we've done before.

My short list:

Peter Thomas: "The Voice" of Forensic Files whom I bet most of us have heard

Will Lyman: The outstanding voice of PBS Frontline and other work.
Visit his website at
http://www.whitethroat.com/
He has samples if you are unfamiliar with his work.

The draw back of both is they are not usually front men (introducing the segment) but why do we need someone to stand in a fake call center?

All due respect Kane.. I don't see much difference in Farina and Davi they both look similiar and have similiar persona's. Although if you are looking for the next Untouchable, both have played cops as RS did.

[kadrmas15]

Hmm, my shortlist:
David Caruso
Gary Sinise
Larry Hagman
Dennis Franz
Andy Griffith

[Zlatko]

Originally Posted by MissFit29

I liked the investigator from the Anna Anton case profile - Jerry Kreiger. I remember the way his interview was shot - he looked kind of dark and mysterious. And he had a great voice.

Is Keith David the man who narrated Ken Burns' Jazz?

Yes, that was him.

He also narrated the newer City Confidential episodes before it was canceled.

[Apostapler]

Another vote for Bill Kurtis...he's a great narrator.

Not that he has the time or needs the job, but how about Morgan Freeman? That's a nice voice for narrating.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by UMLongtimefan

All due respect Kane.. I don't see much difference in Farina and Davi they both look similiar and have similiar persona's. Although if you are looking for the next Untouchable, both have played cops as RS did.

Well, with all due respect, Robert Davi has a voice that sounds like the kind that would fit right into the show. If I weren't sufficiently convinced that Davi would be a plausible choice for UM, I wouldn't have named him.

Answering this hypothetical question about an ideal choice for an UM host is really more difficult than it seems, and for good reason. Robert Stack fit into the show very well in more ways than one, and was so well-liked by so many people who worked with him that I can't recall having heard anyone say anything unpleasant about him. Stack appeared to be the kind of person who was easy to get along with, easy to work with, and easy to like. I stand by my belief that there aren't enough people of his ilk.

When a new host was being sought, I remember reading that they had a "short list" of candidates. When you the words "short list", that is also telling. It tells me that they were not seeking to hire just anyone, but only someone who closely matches what they were looking for.

They could have hired Clancy Brown, since they wanted him. But unfortunately, he was unavailable to commit to the show. I think he would have been a good host. (But of all the people on Kadrmas15's short list, the one that I believe comes the closest to being a good fit for UM is Gary Sinise.)

[kadrmas15]

Hey Kane, well I actually agree with you, out of the people on my shortlist, Sinise would be best. I dont know he just has that voice and he does not ham things up for the camera much. To be honest, the biggest problem out of all on my list would be Caruso, he would host it a lot like Farina does. I do not have a beef with Farina in terms of his acting but the problem with Farina on UM is he hams things up for the camera too much which is exactly what Caruso would do and already does on CSI Miami.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

Hey Kane, well I actually agree with you, out of the people on my shortlist, Sinise would be best. I dont know he just has that voice and he does not ham things up for the camera much. To be honest, the biggest problem out of all on my list would be Caruso, he would host it a lot like Farina does. I do not have a beef with Farina in terms of his acting but the problem with Farina on UM is he hams things up for the camera too much which is exactly what Caruso would do and already does on CSI Miami.

Well, to be fair, I watch CSI: Miami and I think David Caruso does a good job in the role of Lt. Horatio Caine. Plus, it's a good comeback role for him after going through an eight-year career slump following his departure from NYPD Blue in the fall of 1994.

However, I realize that he has his flaws. Specifically, Caruso has been known to be accused of being demanding and difficult to work with. For this reason, one would have to wonder if the folks at UM would be willing to take a chance with someone like him.

While Gary Sinise is no Robert Stack, he clearly has a lot of the likability that Robert Stack had. (By the way, Sinise recently called in to my favorite radio show, The Savage Nation, to discuss a recent film called Brothers at War, for which he is one of the producers.) He is a very good character actor, and I like his performance at Det. Mac Taylor on CSI: NY. Also, he has never struck me as egotistical or narcissistic.

While there is still the debate on who would be an ideal host for UM, the one thing I believe we can all agree on is that we would want someone who is both compatible with the show and likable. The way I see it, a person who possesses both qualities tend to carry a lot more weight than a person who possesses only one of them without the other.

[Corky Kneivel]

These are all hosts I wouldn’t mind seeing, and hearing, if Unsolved Mysteries was brought back and done the way they did it with Robert Stack. I could care less who hosts the new train wreck, which is so bad even Dennis Farina’s nasal intonations are a welcome respite from the cheesy effects and execrable soundtrack.

As I was considering my choices, and this list is by no means a complete one, I was considering what I thought would make an efective host (acting ability, presence, quality of voice, quality of narration) and I realized something I had never considered before. The original choices for hosts: Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, & Robert Stack, were all not only well established actors but had each had a popular role as an authority figure. I was forced to consider how much that had to do with them being choices to host the program.



Dennis Haysbert - he has that combo of a great voice and a commanding presence
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371660/



Sharon Gless has a very pleasing style of delivery and her narration would be much appreciated. She can also get creepy when need be. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002102/



JK Simmons - I heard him on a couple of Louis L'Amour audiobooks and he has a very resonant speaking voice when he wants to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0799777/



Sean Astin - Not really much of a choice, however he has a natural and effective narrator voice on the fantastic Meerkat Manor http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000276/



Jessica Walter – Before her amazingly funny turn as Lucille Bluth, she had a long voice-over career and is such a complete actress I think she’d make a great host. Might be a bit to willowy to host an AMW type segment but she’d be awesome in the Ghosts, Lost Loves, and Unexplained segments. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910055/



Daniel J Travanti - Character actor with lots of cop/authoritarian roles. Didn't he once host a similar type show? Somewhere in my dark and dullened memory banks I seem to recall that he did. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0871240/



Diane Lane – Because she is gorgeous and any reason to look at her is a good enough reason for me. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000178/



I think Leslie Nielsen would make a good host if he played it straight like he used to. He has a great voice. He was so much funnier when he played Frank Drebin straight and didn’t realize the screwball antics all around him. Once he started mugging and clowning around in every single role he ceased being funny, but also ceased being so effective as an actor. I don’t know if younger people even know there was a time when Leslie Nielsen was a serious and straight-laced character actor. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000558/

[kadrmas15]

Ha, Corky, no, when I think of Leslie Nielsen I think of him more in Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Mr. Magoo, Spyhard and the Naked Gun movies, he was best in Airplane and the earlier Naked Gun movies before it got out of hand like most sequels do. I mean why do people insist on remaking a movie to death? Whether it be Naked Gun, Rocky, Back to the Future, Lethal Weapon, the Godfather, etc. Like okay, with Rocky for instance, the first one was good, a classic, from there it just started falling down, in fact the original Rocky is the only one I could watch all the way through. Back to the Future, all three of these movies were good to a degree, I actually thought the 3rd one was better than the 2nd one. I will admit it is funny to see how people in the late 80's thought it would be in the year 2015.

Lethal Weapon, out of the movies that were made over and over, I would say the Lethal Weapon series worked best mainly because there were different plots introduced to each one. However even that series tired, the first two movies were best, the third one was decent, and the series should have been ended after that one although all four movies were box office successes. Supposedly there are talks of a Lethal Weapon 5 although the original director Richard Donner, who directed the first four movies would not be involved and both Mel Gibson and Danny Glover have expressed lack of interest, in fact Gibson said he would not reprise his role of Martin Riggs unless Donner was involved in the project.

Most people also do not realize that U.S. Marshals was actually a sequel to the Movie, The Fugitive. In fact they wanted Harrison Ford to be in it and reprise his role as Dr. Richard Kimball however Ford had zero interest in doing a sequel thus a lot of the plot had to be changed and re-written to make the new story work.

[kadrmas15]

Hmm, Kane, I am glad you like Sinise. I like him too, both for his acting and his overall down to earth nature but also the fact he is a loyal conservative, something rare in Hollywood these days.

As for Caruso, well I like Caruso but after looking at the UM hosting job if he were offered it and if he accepted it would not be the best thing for him or the people he had to work with. From what I have read, Caruso has become a bit more tolerant in recent years and a little easier to work with, especially compared to his NYPD Blue days.

Of course Caruso is well known for that flap of leaving NYPD Blue, supposedly at the end of the first season when the show turned out to be a huge hit, it went to Caruso's head, he had been a jerk to people during the first season too but it really went to his head at the end of that first season and supposedly he was demanding like half a million dollars an episode and things like that and when he did not get what he wanted he was basically fired, he and the producers came to an agreement he would leave after the first four episodes of the 2nd season and his character would be written out of the show. Of course Caruso thought he was going to go off and be this big movie star and it did not happen, remember such flops as Jade and Kiss of Death? After he left NYPD Blue, it took 8 years for Caruso to build his career back up when he was cast in CSI Miami.

Ironically, Jimmy Smits, who replaced Caruso on NYPD Blue was actually the original choice to be the partner of Dennis Franz but Smits passed and the role went to Caruso. Ironically, Smits was offered the lead role on CSI Miami and also turned it down and it went once again to Caruso.

However Caruso's on set blow ups are legendary, throwing a trash can at Dennis Franz, yelling at other cast members because they did not get their lines right the first time, nearly getting into physical brawls with members of the cast and production team, etc. In fact, the last scene he did on NYPD Blue, he did it in one take. He went down and walked out of the station house, to a waiting limo and drove off without telling the cast, they were going to re-shoot the scene and they found Caruso had taken off. Caruso also had similar problems early on in CSI Miami, in fact that is a big reason why Kim Delaney was quietly dismissed from the show very early on, as her and Caruso's characters had virtually zero connection and in fact she and Caruso did not like each other personally as Delaney's alcoholism was in full swing at that time and it was taking her over 20 takes on average to get her lines right and this was driving Caruso crazy to the point to where he would storm off and go sit in his trailer and say he would not come out until Delaney got her lines straight. In fact, it is rumored that Caruso was so fed up that he said he would quit the show if Delaney was not fired.

[browneyes106]

Originally Posted by Corky Kneivel

These are all hosts I wouldn’t mind seeing, and hearing, if Unsolved Mysteries was brought back and done the way they did it with Robert Stack. I could care less who hosts the new train wreck, which is so bad even Dennis Farina’s nasal intonations are a welcome respite from the cheesy effects and execrable soundtrack.

As I was considering my choices, and this list is by no means a complete one, I was considering what I thought would make an efective host (acting ability, presence, quality of voice, quality of narration) and I realized something I had never considered before. The original choices for hosts: Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, & Robert Stack, were all not only well established actors but had each had a popular role as an authority figure. I was forced to consider how much that had to do with them being choices to host the program.



Dennis Haysbert - he has that combo of a great voice and a commanding presence
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371660/



Sharon Gless has a very pleasing style of delivery and her narration would be much appreciated. She can also get creepy when need be. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002102/



JK Simmons - I heard him on a couple of Louis L'Amour audiobooks and he has a very resonant speaking voice when he wants to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0799777/



Sean Astin - Not really much of a choice, however he has a natural and effective narrator voice on the fantastic Meerkat Manor http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000276/



Jessica Walter – Before her amazingly funny turn as Lucille Bluth, she had a long voice-over career and is such a complete actress I think she’d make a great host. Might be a bit to willowy to host an AMW type segment but she’d be awesome in the Ghosts, Lost Loves, and Unexplained segments. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910055/



Daniel J Travanti - Character actor with lots of cop/authoritarian roles. Didn't he once host a similar type show? Somewhere in my dark and dullened memory banks I seem to recall that he did. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0871240/



Diane Lane – Because she is gorgeous and any reason to look at her is a good enough reason for me. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000178/



I think Leslie Nielsen would make a good host if he played it straight like he used to. He has a great voice. He was so much funnier when he played Frank Drebin straight and didn’t realize the screwball antics all around him. Once he started mugging and clowning around in every single role he ceased being funny, but also ceased being so effective as an actor. I don’t know if younger people even know there was a time when Leslie Nielsen was a serious and straight-laced character actor. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000558/

I think Sharon Gless and Jessica Walter could be great hosts. For some reason I think Jessica could be sort like a female Stack.