What would your ideal UM look like today? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

huge · 11-09-2017, 12:42 PM

If the show were to come back, what changes would you want? Aside from resurrecting Robert Stack (tough shoes to fill!), what would you change? Me personally:

1. Less "Lost Loves" segments. I found some of these nice (the enemy soldiers who held an armistice in order to spend a peaceful Christmas together), but in general, these I found the most boring.

2. Less "Unexplained" segments. I'm not averse to UFO stories, but please have some interesting footage or a credible witness. No more Loch Ness Monsters please!

3. Could do without the "call center" shots. Always seemed kind of cheesy to me--Like a star trek scene where it's just a bunch of flashing lights that did nothing (you can't fool me!). Could probably save some money here, though I know they shot a lot of scenes at the same time. P.S. I know they had an FBI agent standing by every night it would air, and this resulted in a few fugitives being caught immediately. Nice!)

4. Always loved the host and the music. Host's voice would have to have as much Gravitas as Robert's for sure! And a re-vamping of the music.

Todd Mueller · 11-09-2017, 12:59 PM

You hit on a lot of good points. I like your list so far. I would add:

- Segments of the original length (10-20 minutes, depending on the case)
- No jumpy, cheesy graphics or camera angles
- Good cinematography with accurate details and props
- Mostly true crime segments, especially bizarre murder or missing cases
- No fluff stories at all (magic rock, haunting, etc.)

drew790 · 11-09-2017, 01:23 PM

I think you still need the supernatural stories to distinguish it from the plethora of cheesy true crime shows pumped out by ID.

Lost Loves would seem mostly irrelevant in the social media era. I found a lot of these segments stalkerish, like the single man seeking the married nurse who cared for him. They would really need to limit these, if they do them at all.

No rock music, no fake command centers, no google maps.

huge · 11-09-2017, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

Magic Rock

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew790

Google Maps

LOL! Agreed. I was also thinking how it would differentiate itself from the current shows out there. There are some pretty bad ones, from what I remember. I stopped watching most but 48 Hours Mysteries and Datelines.

cdr369 · 11-09-2017, 05:11 PM

The ideal UM to me today would also include bonus episodes with segments of interviews that were never aired. So if you interviewed Jo Blow, but only used two minutes of his interview on air, it would be nice to see the remainder of the interview unaired somewhere else.

Can you imagine, somewhere, there has to be hours long interviews from various seasons with suspects/ families/ law enforcement, that were never aired on television due to the timing or content? That's what I want to see!

Kane · 11-10-2017, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew790

No rock music, no fake command centers, no google maps.

I agree. Showing the actual call center is fine, but the fake command center watered down the show, as did the rock music and google maps. The google maps were okay for America's Most Wanted, but not for Unsolved Mysteries. It's sad when people feel they need to revamp something just so that it wouldn't be rejected as antiquated. In my humble opinion, they stand on the same level as those who refuse to say or do something because they fear they might "offend" someone.

wiseguy182 · 11-10-2017, 12:23 PM

Unexplained Death
Missing Persons
Final Appeal
Wanted

(with me eating a meat lovers pizza throughout the whole thing.)

wiseguy182 · 11-10-2017, 12:53 PM

Resurrection Mary. At least once per episode. Anything less than once per episode will be a total failure.

huge · 11-10-2017, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Resurrection Mary. At least once per episode. Anything less than once per episode will be a total failure.

Haha, total FLUFF!

Awsi Dooger · 11-11-2017, 03:19 AM

Easy cases

unsolved1981 · 11-11-2017, 06:53 AM

1. Cases that can actually be solved. So no Lost Loves or Unexplained cases. Unexplained were always hit or miss (there are some that I like, and several that are classics), but even when I was a kid and UM was brand new, I hated Lost Loves. To this day, I skip 95 percent of them. I think the Lost Loves segments are very much something of a pre-internet era thing. Just imagine how fast some of the those cases would be solved now with a 30 second internet search.

One other type of segment that I don't think bodes well for a future UM are the unexplained deaths. There were several cases that were excluded from the Amazon sets due to UM accusing someone of an unproven serious crime (Aimee Willard, John James Irwin, several others).

I also think they should avoid parental kidnapping cases. Those have been the number one causality of the Amazon sets...I dont think even one made it on them.

Janel "Jaycee" Miller · 11-11-2017, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Unexplained Death
Missing Persons
Final Appeal
Wanted

(with me eating a meat lovers pizza throughout the whole thing.)

Plus 1. Except maybe a veggie lovers pizza instead.

wiseguy182 · 11-11-2017, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Love A Good Mystery

Plus 1. Except maybe a veggie lovers pizza instead.

I can dig it!

alistaircranium · 11-11-2017, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew790

I think you still need the supernatural stories to distinguish it from the plethora of cheesy true crime shows pumped out by ID.

I agree. The supernatural cases are a must.

Guardian · 11-11-2017, 03:49 PM

Model it closely to the first seasons (probably 1-4) of the Stack era. That’s all I’d really care about in the end.

11-09-2017, 12:42 PM	#1
huge Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 23, 2017 Location: AZ Posts: 14	What would your ideal UM look like today? If the show were to come back, what changes would you want? Aside from resurrecting Robert Stack (tough shoes to fill!), what would you change? Me personally: 1. Less "Lost Loves" segments. I found some of these nice (the enemy soldiers who held an armistice in order to spend a peaceful Christmas together), but in general, these I found the most boring. 2. Less "Unexplained" segments. I'm not averse to UFO stories, but please have some interesting footage or a credible witness. No more Loch Ness Monsters please! 3. Could do without the "call center" shots. Always seemed kind of cheesy to me--Like a star trek scene where it's just a bunch of flashing lights that did nothing (you can't fool me!). Could probably save some money here, though I know they shot a lot of scenes at the same time. P.S. I know they had an FBI agent standing by every night it would air, and this resulted in a few fugitives being caught immediately. Nice!) 4. Always loved the host and the music. Host's voice would have to have as much Gravitas as Robert's for sure! And a re-vamping of the music.

11-10-2017, 12:23 PM	#7
wiseguy182 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 11, 2006 Location: Wendy's salad bar Posts: 7,030	Unexplained Death Missing Persons Final Appeal Wanted (with me eating a meat lovers pizza throughout the whole thing.)
	__________________ "Dottie had said, in the event I got transferred that she was not interested in going with me. I wasn't expecting her to go with me. And wouldn't have even wanted her to I guess."

11-11-2017, 03:49 PM	#15
Guardian Member Forum Regular Join Date: May 19, 2010 Location: WA Posts: 522	Model it closely to the first seasons (probably 1-4) of the Stack era. That’s all I’d really care about in the end.
	__________________ For every mystery there is someone, somewhere, who knows what happened. Perhaps... it's you...

11-09-2017, 12:59 PM	#2
Todd Mueller Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 1,626	You hit on a lot of good points. I like your list so far. I would add: - Segments of the original length (10-20 minutes, depending on the case) - No jumpy, cheesy graphics or camera angles - Good cinematography with accurate details and props - Mostly true crime segments, especially bizarre murder or missing cases - No fluff stories at all (magic rock, haunting, etc.)

11-09-2017, 01:23 PM	#3
drew790 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jul 17, 2017 Posts: 847	I think you still need the supernatural stories to distinguish it from the plethora of cheesy true crime shows pumped out by ID. Lost Loves would seem mostly irrelevant in the social media era. I found a lot of these segments stalkerish, like the single man seeking the married nurse who cared for him. They would really need to limit these, if they do them at all. No rock music, no fake command centers, no google maps.

11-09-2017, 05:11 PM	#5
cdr369 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 13, 2015 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 227	The ideal UM to me today would also include bonus episodes with segments of interviews that were never aired. So if you interviewed Jo Blow, but only used two minutes of his interview on air, it would be nice to see the remainder of the interview unaired somewhere else. Can you imagine, somewhere, there has to be hours long interviews from various seasons with suspects/ families/ law enforcement, that were never aired on television due to the timing or content? That's what I want to see!

11-10-2017, 12:53 PM	#8
wiseguy182 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 11, 2006 Location: Wendy's salad bar Posts: 7,030	Resurrection Mary. At least once per episode. Anything less than once per episode will be a total failure.

11-11-2017, 03:19 AM	#10
Awsi Dooger Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 18, 2003 Location: Miami Posts: 1,537	Easy cases

11-11-2017, 06:53 AM	#11
unsolved1981 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 28, 2012 Posts: 166	1. Cases that can actually be solved. So no Lost Loves or Unexplained cases. Unexplained were always hit or miss (there are some that I like, and several that are classics), but even when I was a kid and UM was brand new, I hated Lost Loves. To this day, I skip 95 percent of them. I think the Lost Loves segments are very much something of a pre-internet era thing. Just imagine how fast some of the those cases would be solved now with a 30 second internet search. One other type of segment that I don't think bodes well for a future UM are the unexplained deaths. There were several cases that were excluded from the Amazon sets due to UM accusing someone of an unproven serious crime (Aimee Willard, John James Irwin, several others). I also think they should avoid parental kidnapping cases. Those have been the number one causality of the Amazon sets...I dont think even one made it on them.