When UM Went Downhill

[Wamisto]

Being new to the board, I am not sure if this issue has been addressed yet. But here goes:

UM began in 1987 as a show that primarily presented crime stories, with the occasional lost loves segment. It was apparent that the producers were into solving the unsolved. The murder mysteries and crime stories are what made this show so good. I remember seeing UM in the list of top 10 TV shows on the ratings many times around 1989-90 or so. However, a few years later, UM starting shifting their focus, to what I like to call the "unsolvable mysteries"--you know, ghosts, the paranormal, alien abductions and UFO sightings, miracles, etc. Now these were alright in small doses, but it got to the point that each show would carry three segments along these lines, and only one crime story. I know this is when I began to lose interest, and it wasn't long before NBC pulled the plug on UM. They tried to resurrect the show a year later, but kept making the same episodes, and unfortunately struck at the heart and soul of the show--Robert Stack--by relegating him to two segments, while Keely Shae Smith? did the other two. Lifetime, however, got back to the show's roots when bringing it back, focusing again on crime stories. Once again, I am interested, just as I was when I was a kid, faithfully watching every episode from ages 10 (in 1987) to about 15 (when I lost interest). Does anyone share my opinion?

[Blackout]

i love the ufo segments and the legends/documentries they do

the thing i dislike is the lost loves.

although they may be mysteries, nobody else gives a crap about them and I'd rather see murder stories instead

[Makoto_4]

I can't say too much about this since I started watching UM last October 2002. What I can say is that I'm impartial to the ghost stories, alien abductions/UFOs, legends, miracles, lost loves, unexplained phenomena. I'm much more into the wanted criminals, missing persons, and unexplained deaths. Those, to me, seem to be more solvable than the ones I'm impartial to.

As for the show going downhill, could that be why NBC cancelled UM around 1997-1998? If so, was that also the same reason CBS cancelled the show around 1999? (CBS ran UM on and off from 1998 to 1999.)

I don't know why UM had shifted its focus to the "unsolvable" mysteries. Could it be that they started to run out of telling more "solvable" mysteries? If that's so, that would be strange since crimes are happening all the time, enough to fill an hour's worth of UM.

-Makoto_4

[Wamisto]

I am not sure why UM shifted focus, but I am convinced that was the reason why people tuned out, and why NBC in turn cancelled the program as a result of a drop in the show's ratings. Certainly there were more than enough crime stories to portray, but the producers for some reason wanted to shift focus.

[Mijada]

I agree that the show changed alot. I started losing interest around 1994. I would still watch it but it wasn't something I looked forward to every week like I had in the previous seasons.

[Reotwo]

I liked the scientific ones and such. I think maybe one of those a show is o.k. I don't think there should be 3. The show really has helped catch criminals and such, and has reunited families. I think that is cool!

[Vintage Dork]

those ufos/ghosts segments freak the crap out of me. probably the most enjoyable too

[dynoguy88]

I think the crime stories have always been the most interesting. And I agree with most here that I look forward to seeing them the most.

However, I am kind of a fan of the lost love cases too. It just REALLY feels good to see family members and friends reunited.

But I agree, the show has taken on way too many Ghost stories over the years. And the treasure stories bore me so much, I have to change the channel until the next case comes on.

I'm glad the show has taken a turn back to crime related stories. Although, I think the crime stories from the late 80's and early 90's seemed scarier, maybe it was because of all the freaky background music.

"Wanted," "Unexplained Death," "Missing Persons," and Lost Loves are my favorites.

The "Sci-med," "The Unexplained," and "Treasure" cases I can do without.

[crystaldawn]

I tend to agree that UM went downhill when it focused on the "unsolvable cases". I know that ufo and legend stuff might interest some people, but the other cases can actually catch criminals and reunite lost loved ones. I emailed Lifetime a week ago and urge you other fans to do so. I wanted to let them know that I appreciated them airing Unsolved Mysteries and also suggested that maybe they should start airing some of the older ones they haven't shown in a while and stop showing the same ones over and over, most of which have been solved. (I got the standard thank you for your comment email in return). If enough of us email lifetime and tell them that we are faithfully viewing Unsolved Mysteries hopefully they'll never take it off the air!

[Panther Woman]

Originally posted by dynoguy88
I
However, I am kind of a fan of the lost love cases too. It just REALLY feels good to see family members and friends reunited.

.

You should have really enjoyed last night's Lifetime broadcast.: Three Lost Loves, 2 of which were solved, and a wanted/murder case-also solved.

The first Lost Love was a horrible one : The one in which that horrible, whiney **%$& kidnapped a newborn baby at gun point, after complaining to her victim,"I spent all day waiting outside for you!" Unbelievable. I was really saddened that that case is still an UM.

The next one was a LL , in which a Hungarian refugee family wanted to reunite with the GI that helped them over 40 years ago . They got their wish. And then a segment on the 'orphan trains'. Two very old men-brothers-that had been separated in 1910 !!!!! found each other, as did a 70 year old woman and her brother. Very touching.


A few of the Lost Loves are interesting, but for the most part, I prefer the crime cases. Some of the ones that really haunt me-I'd die happy if these were solved-are the Missing ones. There's been a crime, but no body, so no way of knowing what happened,who did it....The awful story of Amy Billig....The FLA beauty queen who had a nervous breakdown at 17, walked away from her boyfriend's car barefoot, and vanished*.....and the case of the family vacationing out west (WY? MT?), their little girl disappeared, no body ever found-and then some psycho starts phoning them pretending that he has her and is taking her round the world to "educate" her : "no one ever questions the passport of a man traveling with his daughter".That there are sickos out there that prey on children is bad enough ; that other sickos like to torment the family is just as horrible (a psycho also tormented Amy Billig's mother, but at leats he was caught.) Has anyone seen an update on the kidnapping of the little girl from a national park ?


* It was from lurking here that I learned that Tami Lynn Leppart (?) is considered to be dead, a probable victim of Christopher Wilder. I hope so, because her dying the same day she disappeared is a much kinder fate than the fate I imagined for her. I thought she might have had a psychotic break with reality, and became a mute catatonic somewhere in a state-run facility, not necessarily in FL. I used to work in a mental institute, and while I was there I found a woman who entered it when she was 16...and then she just stayed, having spent over half her "life"in a mental institution. Now that is truly a living death. Very tragic.

[Panther Woman]

Oh, I forgot to mention the solved murder case on the 02/13 Lifetime PM showing : It was the Micki Jo West case. Marvin Lee Ervin (sp?) was arrested and convicted of the crime years after she disappeared. The update never mentioned if her body had been recovered, AFAICR. The killer had spent several months leaving weird unsigned notes about the murder all of malls in KC and St Joseph,MO.

[Makoto_4]

Originally posted by Panther Woman


You should have really enjoyed last night's Lifetime broadcast.: Three Lost Loves, 2 of which were solved, and a wanted/murder case-also solved.

The first Lost Love was a horrible one : The one in which that horrible, whiney **%$& kidnapped a newborn baby at gun point, after complaining to her victim,"I spent all day waiting outside for you!" Unbelievable. I was really saddened that that case is still an UM.

The next one was a LL , in which a Hungarian refugee family wanted to reunite with the GI that helped them over 40 years ago . They got their wish. And then a segment on the 'orphan trains'. Two very old men-brothers-that had been separated in 1910 !!!!! found each other, as did a 70 year old woman and her brother. Very touching.

I too saw those cases last night. I was angered that the woman kidnapped the newborn baby at gunpoint. I was like "What was that woman's problem?!"

On the lighter side of things, I was touched and happy to hear that the GI and the Hungarian refugee family were reunited many years later. That and some of the children from the orphan train. It's very good to see family and friends reuntied, especially after they had not seen each other for so long.

Originally posted by Panther Woman

A few of the Lost Loves are interesting, but for the most part, I prefer the crime cases. Some of the ones that really haunt me-I'd die happy if these were solved-are the Missing ones. There's been a crime, but no body, so no way of knowing what happened,who did it....The awful story of Amy Billig....The FLA beauty queen who had a nervous breakdown at 17, walked away from her boyfriend's car barefoot, and vanished*.....and the case of the family vacationing out west (WY? MT?), their little girl disappeared, no body ever found-and then some psycho starts phoning them pretending that he has her and is taking her round the world to "educate" her : "no one ever questions the passport of a man traveling with his daughter".That there are sickos out there that prey on children is bad enough ; that other sickos like to torment the family is just as horrible (a psycho also tormented Amy Billig's mother, but at leats he was caught.) Has anyone seen an update on the kidnapping of the little girl from a national park ?

I too prefer the crime cases (missing persons, wanted criminals, unexplained deaths, etc) though I'm impartial to cases like lost loves (some of which I found touching like the ones mentioned earlier in this post), the unexplained, etc. I'm interested in any case profiled on UM but I tend to lean on to crime cases.

As for Amy Billig's disappearance and the kidnapping of the little girl, I haven't seen any updates as far as I know.

Originally posted by Panther Woman

* It was from lurking here that I learned that Tami Lynn Leppart (?) is considered to be dead, a probable victim of Christopher Wilder.

I don't know if I had seen that case before. What was it about?

-Makoto_4

[Panther Woman]

As for Amy Billig's disappearance and the kidnapping of the little girl, I haven't seen any updates as far as I know.

They actually ran the latter case on tonight's episode. Sadly, no leads have surfaced in the case of Nyleen Kay Marshall, who disappeared from MT in 1983. I believe she was molested and murdered that same day she vanished, and the guy calling and writing is simply a psycho who saw the missing posters and thought he'd have some fun.

Originally posted by Makoto_4


I don't know if I had seen that case before. What was it about?

-Makoto_4

That's the case of the 17 year old beauty pageant winner/aspiring actress who became paranoid and violent after attending a wrap party for Spring Break, in which she had a bit part. She thought people were trying to kill her, and at one point she said something about seeing "something terrible" that involved money laundering. (Later, many arrests were made in her area for money laundering. If I had to guess, I'd say she walked in on a suspected stoolie being persuaded of the error of his ways....That might have involved a beating, mutilation, or even murder, though no proof of that has ever been found.) In any case, after months of increasingly erratic and even violent behavior, she went out on a ride with her boyfriend, they argue, she gets out of the car barefoot and walks away, and has never been seen again.

[Makoto_4]

Originally posted by Panther Woman
That's the case of the 17 year old beauty pageant winner/aspiring actress who became paranoid and violent after attending a wrap party for Spring Break, in which she had a bit part. She thought people were trying to kill her, and at one point she said something about seeing "something terrible" that involved money laundering. (Later, many arrests were made in her area for money laundering. If I had to guess, I'd say she walked in on a suspected stoolie being persuaded of the error of his ways....That might have involved a beating, mutilation, or even murder, though no proof of that has ever been found.) In any case, after months of increasingly erratic and even violent behavior, she went out on a ride with her boyfriend, they argue, she gets out of the car barefoot and walks away, and has never been seen again.

Thanks. I did see that case before; I just forgot the girl's name.

-Makoto_4

[Ninjaman]

I respect the opinions presented, but I disagree with most of them. The wanted, missing persons, and lost love cases are good and important, but the unexplained segments have made the show what it is. To me, a good episode starts off with an alien/ghost/legend segment, goes to a missing person segment, has a wanted segment, followed by a brief lost love case. I would also somewhat dissagree with the idea that the focus of the earlier shows was on crimes. Some of the most memorable unexplained segments come from earlier episodes.