Future of UM...How I think it changed today.

[ILikeTurtles]

Alright, I'll be the ********* to bring this up within 24 hours after Dennis Farina's death, but it’s show business and it must go on. In addition, I made a post about this around a year ago so some of this is copy/paste but it's pertinent to the discussion. And finally, if Cosgrove/Meurer Productions happens to come across this, I’d love a job, please and thanks.

Clearly they never had actual plans to do new cases under the UM name with Dennis as host. In truth, I actually think Farina would have been an acceptable host on fresh new cases. He had the look, voice, character ability as well as former law enforcement experience. I would have loved to see him by himself walking down a foggy, dark alley way with a suit and trench coat on talking about a recent case. Instead, we got him standing in church clothes inside a fake call center that looks like a NASA Control Center from 1967 and making him give an uninspired reading off a teleprompter with background extras on a sound stage out in LA. They dropped the ball on him and the show’s rebirth and legacy.

Despite that, I feel Unsolved Mysteries officially ended in 2002 when they stopped making new episodes and it died in 2003 when Robert Stack did. The fact that they reproduced all the old episodes with Farina as host speaking verbatim what Stack said back in the original one still makes me laugh. What a waste of money. Complete failure. They butchered the old segments to modernize them with a cookie-cutter mind sight to be similar to other current crime shows. The revamp of the show from 2008-2009 is universally hated and rightfully so. They are rarely, if ever, aired on Lifetime anymore and haven't on Spike for years.

Something tells me with Farina's passing, the airing of these episodes has ended with it. I'm pretty sure it was a 5 year contract in 2008 to get the airing rights and I don't know if Lifetime has structured another deal to have exclusive rights in 2013. We all know that they have been very active in removing UM videos off of the internet lately. It seems at this point the only use the UM digital archive has these days is to rot away in the Burbank office.

I have to ask…is now the time for the resurrection of Stack episodes through a paid medium?

I don’t think Unsolved Mysteries has life left on cable television. There's so many more crime shows now that it's a saturated market, which in part is why UM failed with the reproduction of the old episodes. Even if they had stuck with Farina and done new cases, I still think people would be very disappointed had the show ended up similar to the production of the 2008 episodes. Society has changed a lot since the late 80’s-early 90’s as well. In fact, NBC cancelled Unsolved Mysteries all the way back in 1996-1997 because of declining ratings. I think as a culture we've become more inclined to be geared towards mindless entertainment and programming on television as opposed to something thought provoking. People on a whole want to be able to get away from life for a few hours every night and forget their worries. Unsolved Mysteries, as a weekly TV show, doesn't fit that mold anymore.

But the popularity of this show on the internet and through video sharing sites is clearly present.

If I was in power of the Unsolved Mysteries archive, I'd take every episode from 1987 to 2002 and organize them in the original order they were aired. Put them on Netflix and Hulu Plus as if they were any other TV shows with the Seasons, Episode Numbers, and original airing listed. You could then go in and add additional updates to cases up until 2012 that may not have been updated before then. For cases that were already updated, then no need to worry.

Who cares if most of the cases were solved or statute of limitations past? What difference does it make if the cases were solved? It doesn't make them less interesting to watch. If anything, watching the story be told in old episodes and then seeing them come to a conclusion is half the fun in watching them. People love watching the original Unsolved Mysteries because it's compelling storytelling. It's entertainment. It’s nostalgic. It’s informative. If no one cared, no one would be on this forum.

Then you let people enjoy the glory days of the show. End of rant.

[kinghere1]

This is a great idea!

I'm sure everyone here reads the wiki from time to time, so many cases have been solved that they should make at least two or three seasons of the updates and call it "Solved Mysteries"!

They could play snipets of the old original case and original airing, then do an update segment that covers interviews with people previously featured in the old case, as well as recreations of the investigation, arrest, and court proceedings of the updates.

There has to be at least 3 seasons of just solved stuff, and there are probably more if you want to do a show just about new leads, etc.

As for a host, call me creepy but I'd like Robert Vaugn or Bill Kurtis

[Far Off Promise]

I don’t think Unsolved Mysteries has life left on cable television.

I disagree with this. I don't think it has life left on NBC/CBS/ABC-type networks, but it could find a home on a cable channel. The most perfect fit? Lifetime. Other channels, like History, Discovery, Chiller, and even some of the lesser known channels could probably pick UM up for a reasonable price, assuming C-M have interest in producing the show for modest profits versus the payloads of the original Stack run. UM is different enough from other true crime shows. Isn't Unsolved Mysteries the #1 requested show on Netflix? That says something about its lingering popularity.

I'd take every episode from 1987 to 2002 and organize them in the original order they were aired. Put them on Netflix and Hulu Plus as if they were any other TV shows with the Seasons, Episode Numbers, and original airing listed.

I definitely agree with this, but they also need to be placed up for purchase on iTunes and Amazon. I think a lot of seasons, theme sets, and even individual episodes/segments would be sold, and the cost to do this is minimal. There's no reason for them to take them down off of YT other than they are being prepared for release in some sort of paid format.

Maybe C-M could take pre-orders for a "Collectors Edition" box set that includes all the Stack and Farina episodes, as well as other UM swag (for lack of a better word) that diehard UM fans would appreciate. I realize this would be a massive and expensive set, which is why I say take pre-orders and only produce what's sold. I can't imagine a ton of sets moving in stores if the price is $300+.

Take a look at the different classic media that has been resurrected as a result of Kickstarter. Obscure video games that never had half the fans that UM still has are getting an update after raising $900,000. I certainly think we could raise the funds to produce a new season and hire a decent host, but I think that C-M would need to either agree to produce it beforehand (as long as X amount of dollars are raised) or actively participate in the campaign. Without that, we run the risk of raising a lot of money and then having to cancel the campaign. It's a serious idea, and while Kickstarter is all the rage, it would be good to ride the wave of popularity in hopes that our efforts would create a healthy reboot of the series.

The "Solved Mysteries" series is a cool idea, too. I also think that a tribute episode would be nice, if the series is rebooted. They could show a segment from each of the 4 hosts, with the new host providing a segue into their respective segments.