Unsolved Mysteries

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Infobox television Unsolved Mysteries is an American TV show starring the late Robert Stack. It documents real-life homicides and/or abductions and other crime. It is sometimes credited as one of the first television programs to endorse the documentation of real-life crime scene investigating, which resulted in a thriving genre with top shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation still getting large audiences. The show aired on NBC from 1988 – 1997, then from 1997 – 1999 as The New Unsolved Mysteries on CBS. In 2001, the program was briefly revived on the Lifetime cable television network, where new episodes aired sporadically until Robert Stack's death in 2003. It still runs in syndication on Lifetime, among other North American television stations today.

Unsolved Mysteries segments, all of which involved actual events, fell into one of four categories:

criminal activity — accounts of abductions, suspicious deaths, murders, robberies and other miscellaneous unsolved cases, where either the suspects were unknown or could not be located. The viewer was invited to call or write (later episodes also featured an Internet address) if they had information concerning the cases shown. According to the show, about 40 percent of the stories shown involving fugitives generated tips leading to the capture of those individuals.
lost loves — accounts of individuals trying to reunite with someone from their past, usually involving children given up for adoption where either the child or the parent was searching for the other. The same address and phone number used to report fugitives was used for reunions.
unexplained history — accounts of paranormal activity and other mysterious events, purported miracles, and "alternative" theories of history (among them the theories that outlaws such as Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy did not die as history recorded it, that the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov survived the 1918 regicide that killed her entire family, that the assassination of Louisiana senator Huey Long may have been an accident, and that the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr was in fact a conspiracy ).
paranormal matters - accounts of miracles, UFO/alien encounters, the Roswell UFO Incident, the Phoenix UFO Incident, ghosts, Bigfoot, other inexplicable phenomena.

The show would also feature updates on success stories, where criminals were brought to justice and loved ones reunited.

Viewers were invited to call in tips to a toll free number. The number, 1-800-876-5353 (U.S.), and website (shown below) are still active today although the show is long out of production.

Image:Robert Stack-UM.jpg Six 4-disc DVD sets were released on June 21, 2005. Each DVD has a different theme. The themes for each 4-disc DVD set are ghosts, legends, UFOs, psychics, miracles, and bizarre murders. Actor Matthew McConaughey appears in the last DVD as a victim in a murder re-enactment, dating from the days when he was an unknown actor.

Disclaimer: Before an episode begins, the following message is used: "This program is about unsolved mysteries. Whenever possible, the actual family members and police officials participate in recreating the events. What you are about to see is not a news broadcast."

[edit]

Criticism

Due to the notion that Unsolved Mysteries aims to put forth events with an "unsolved" bias, there are questions surrounding the level of investigative reporting. The show does not submit to the philosophy of Occam's Razor and as a result puts forth complex stories that have more reasonable explanations. For example, the Roswell UFO incident was not critically assessed with US government reports on Project Mogul, but rather the TV show used a weather balloon argument as a straw man. This makes the case seem more mysterious, and this more fitting for the show.

[edit]