Line #7 Trivia/UnsolvedMysteries


1	!!General Trivia
2	* Many of Stack's narrative segments were filmed at the [[http://pasadenamasonic.org/ Pasadena Masonic Temple]]. The old-fashioned exterior "suggested ghostly spirits" to the producers.
3	* Stack once said he viewed his narrative role as something like the stage manager in ''Theatre/OurTown''.
4	* Robert Stack had an "Unexplained" event in his own life. A very private person, he would never fully disclose details, but it may have had something to do with his mother. He was known to believe in an afterlife and in Ernest Holmes' Science of Mind philosophy. He did many segments on Catholic miracles including [[Film/TheSongOfBernadette Lourdes]] and Fatima. He was of Italian heritage on his mother's side and may well have remained a Catholic.
5
6	!!Specific Tropes
7	* BannedEpisode: In 2002, the show was going to air an episode focused on the disappearance of Sharon Davis. However the episode got pulled from airing due to the (suspicious) insistence of her husband, Ron Davis. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpxYIS0PTCM This video has more info.]]
8	* ChannelHop: From Creator/{{NBC}} (1987-1997) to Creator/{{CBS}} (1997-1999) to Creator/{{Lifetime}} (2001-2002) to Creator/SpikeTV (2008-2010) to Creator/{{Netflix}} (2020). 2008-2010 reruns currently air on Escape and Amazon and Hulu have begun streaming original episodes with updates on cases since solved. Most recently thanks to [=FilmRise=], [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzirOgADPOz0eapgwBcX9Gw every season of Unsolved Mysteries is now up on [=Youtube=] for free]] as of February 2019.
9	* {{Corpsing}}: Robert Stack is clearly trying not to laugh while discussing the bank robber, nicknamed [[https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Fumbles "Fumbles"]].
10	** For the segment on the disappearance (and possible murder) of Jeremy Bright, one of Jeremy's friends Cecelia Fish appears in an interview, telling of an incident where a strange man showed up in the lobby of her apartment building covered in blood. Cecelia mentions being frightened of this man, but the actress playing her in the re-enactment can clearly be seen smirking, and holding back laughter when the man comes sauntering in with blood on him.
11	* EditedForSyndication:
12	** The case of Andre Jones had the mother of the man, in the original broadcast, say that someone in the jail he was held in claim that police had referred to him by a derogatory term. In subsequent airings of the segment, the offensive word is blanked out.
13	** The case of the late Reggie White's church vandalism and bombing had racial epithets written on the wall which were completely censored in the Spike TV airings.
14	** In the Rachel Timmerman case, when recreating the scene when her body was discovered, initially the actress was portrayed as nude, like Timmerman was when she was found (albeit from a distance away). Later airings had the woman's barely visible nudity as blurred out.
15	** Terri [=McClure=] was murdered via a BoomHeadshot and was depicted as being found sitting upright in her car. Airings in syndication have completely obscured the gruesome sight of her bloody head.
16	** Similarly, the [[NightmareFuel gruesome]] death of Captain Jeffrey Digman (which is in all likelihood a homicide) shows the crime scene photo of his body, but later airings would blur out his blood-covered head/face.
17	* ExecutiveMeddling / ScrewedByTheNetwork: The show's ratings began to drop when it was moved from Wednesday to the dreaded FridayNightDeathSlot.
18	* GratuitousSpecialEffects: In the episode showing the Beatrice, Nebraska [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/choir-non-quorum/ West Side Baptist Church explosion]], they used a real church scheduled for demolition. The special effects expert got too enthusiastic and used 95 sticks of dynamite plus 30 gallons of gasoline, creating a massive explosion and fireball. Fortunately, the film crew had put wooden crates around the cameras and they were protected.
19	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Averted, now for the majority of the series. Much to the delight of fans, the original Robert Stack episodes of Unsolved Mysteries were finally made available for streaming, uploaded to Hulu and Amazon Prime. It's also on Pluto TV on continuous. However, several segments are missing due to legal reasons or not being able to have the segment restored. Missing segments include the Orange Sock murders, Mike Riemer/Diana Robertson, Luis Diaz, Dave Davis, the entire short-lived ''Final Appeal'' series, and more. The only way to ever see these segments are if anyone uploads old recordings on the Internet.
20	** The "Tallman's Ghost" segment (better known as the Haunted Bunk Bed segment) is absent from streaming, though it was included on the now out of print "Ghosts" DVD set.
21	** Some missing persons segments that are basically unsolvable at this point have been left off the Amazon Prime package. One example would be the George Owens segment, featuring the story of an elderly man who was 80 years old when he vanished in 1985 and would be 114 today. Given that all the subjects interviewed in the segment have long since passed away and that George is most certainly dead at this point, the story has been withheld from release.
22	** After years of segments being removed from [=YouTube=] for copyright violations, since February/March 2019, [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzirOgADPOz0eapgwBcX9Gw the show has its own YouTube channel]], thanks to Film-Rise, with every original episode from its first run uploaded, complete with updates when available-- for free! It's still not 100% exactly as it aired back in the day, as non-Update story reruns are cut and thus some of the Film-Rise episodes are a mix of stories that originally aired in different episodes. And the aforementioned segments are unfortunately still missing, but alternate uploads (i.e. from Creator/{{Lifetime}} reruns, like the Clifford Sherwood story) are seemingly being allowed for now.
23	** The ''Live From The Telecenter'' special that acted as a "behind the scenes" feature on how the show and its call center operated. It only aired once in 1992 and is also missing from the Film-Rise Youtube channel.
24	* RealLifeRelative: Creator/RobertStack's grandnephew Creator/TaranKillam played a WWII-era German boy in a 1993 episode.
25	* RecycledScript: The recaps of two SerialKiller segments--one in Connecticut, the other in New Orleans--both feature a victim fortunate enough to survive an attack by the still unknown assailant.
26	* SimilarlyNamedWorks: The series shares its name with a 1930's radio show, which also featured crime stories.
27	* TechnologyMarchesOn:
28	** New advances in DNA testing ended up solving some of the mysteries such as identifying murder victims, unknown dead people and even wanted criminals.
29	** Some of the cases featured on the show might have been solved nowadays with recent advances in technology. Take the nightmarish case of [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Bill_and_Dorothy_Wacker Bill and Dorothy Wacker]]. They were harassed and stalked for years by an unknown assailant or assailants. Had this happened today in the 21st century, things may have been different. For example, caller ID is a standard feature on phones and may have made it easier to identify their stalker. Also, digital camera technology has made said devices cheaper and smaller; hidden cameras might have ended up catching the face of their stalker. The same goes for poor [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Cindy_James Cindy James]], whose assailant was almost certainly Dr. James Tyhurst, a colleague of Cindy's ex-husband. Convicted in 1991, two years after Cindy's death, of sexually enslaving and brutalizing four of his patients in a similar fashion, he managed to get the case overturned on appeal. ''[[NightmareFuel He is still out there.]]''
30	* WordOfGod: Some family members of those involved in certain segments have stated online the outcome of some mysteries that weren't revealed during the Dennis Farina era of the show. For example, [[http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=139894 Jenny Pratt's sister revealed]] that Jenny's attacker (who left her with brain damage) was eventually found, but unfortunately, he committed suicide before he could be brought to justice.

Context Trivia / UnsolvedMysteries