Does Lifetime do a crappy job with UM?

[themaninblack]

in my opinion lifetime does a pretty sorry job with the show.

[Brent88]

It could be worse... airing twice a day(10 times a week) is a big positive. It's been on the network THIRTEEN years. No show I know of gets that treatment after all those years.

Sure... the out of order is annoying, but it could not be airing at all.

[U.M. Fanatic]

It could be worse... airing twice a day(10 times a week) is a big positive. It's been on the network THIRTEEN years. No show I know of gets that treatment after all those years.

Sure... the out of order is annoying, but it could not be airing at all.


I have been thinking long and hard on this. Lifetime deserves praise for keeping Unsolved Mysteries on the air for so long, but the way they show some episodes is more than annoying, it seems like they treat the show now as filler, until they can land the rights for another show.

If you watch the other series that has been on Lifetime for awhile, The Golden Girls, you know they treat it much differently than Unsolved Mysteries. The Golden Girls is shown in complete chronological order every time it airs on Lifetime. One episode leads to the next, in order, until they have run through an entire season, then its on to the next season. Unsolved Mysteries, on the other hand, is shown haphazardly. Different seasons mixed together, no logical order or progression from one show to the next.

Maybe its because Lifetime has the episodes of The Golden Girls in better order than Unsolved Mysteries, but I do seem to recall another poster on this board stating that when Lifetime first got the rights to UM, they did show it in much better order. Lifetime could also feel that it really doesnt matter how Unsolved Mysteries gets shown, since each episode is pretty much the same (lost loves, crimes, legends, some shown in greater proportion than others) Here until recently, Lifetime had been showing the same stories over and over again. Now they have started showing some older shows, but who knows how long that will last.

I also feel that if, for whatever reason, Lifetime decided to drop Unsolved Mysteries from its lineup, another cable network would purchase the rights to show it again. It was and still is a popular show, that still gets decent ratings whenever its on. A&E or Crime TV would probably be interested in having a show like this on their channels, IF Lifetime ever decided to drop the show, which I dont see them doing for the foreseeable future. Sorry for the long post, but this topic hits a nerve with me. ;)

[Brent88]

Well... I think they have a certain restriction on the number of times a certain episode can be shown. That may be why the older episodes aren't airing as much now, because they were the episodes aired during the first few years. That's also probably why we see a lot from the Post 1996 era.

The Golden Girls doesn't have that problem since it's only been on the network for, what, a couple of years?

[U.M. Fanatic]

Well... I think they have a certain restriction on the number of times a certain episode can be shown. That may be why the older episodes aren't airing as much now, because they were the episodes aired during the first few years. That's also probably why we see a lot from the Post 1996 era.

The Golden Girls doesn't have that problem since it's only been on the network for, what, a couple of years?


Lifetime first acquired the rights to The Golden Girls back in 1997. So its been on for at least seven or eight years.

[Brent88]

Lifetime first acquired the rights to The Golden Girls back in 1997. So its been on for at least seven or eight years.

WOW... and they have less than half the episodes UM does.

[U.M. Fanatic]

WOW... and they have less than half the episodes UM does.


I know, thats why you can tell how Lifetime shows The Golden Girls. So far as I can remember, they haven't done to The Golden Girls what they do to Unsolved Mysteries. For 7 or 8 years straight, its been one episode after another for TGG in complete chronological order. Lifetime could mix the seasons together for The Golden Girls like they do for UM, but they have decided not to. I wonder why? Both shows are distributed by the same company, Buena Vista Entertainment, a division of Disney.

[Kemistry]

I'm just glad they air the show period. I figure it has something to do with the fact that Lifetime produced the last few seasons so ofcourse they would want to "pimp" their produced episodes more than the others. It's also for that reason why I believe the show will always be on Lifetime, I doubt they will sell the rights anytime soon.

[Brent88]

I'm just glad they air the show period. I figure it has something to do with the fact that Lifetime produced the last few seasons so ofcourse they would want to "pimp" their produced episodes more than the others. It's also for that reason why I believe the show will always be on Lifetime, I doubt they will sell the rights anytime soon.

Exactly.

[Awsi Dooger]

I'm just glad they air the show period. I figure it has something to do with the fact that Lifetime produced the last few seasons so ofcourse they would want to "pimp" their produced episodes more than the others. It's also for that reason why I believe the show will always be on Lifetime, I doubt they will sell the rights anytime soon.

That's where I am. Another one of my favorites is The Fugitive. A&E showed it daily, in fact a couple of times per day, in the early '90s and I sort of took it for granted. But before I taped the episodes it went off the air and hasn't returned. We're fortunate UM has maintained its current run on Lifetime with only brief outages and weird programming decisions.

[DarkDante]

that first off as many have said we should be happy that "Lifetime" continues to air a show that has been on their network for such a long standing time. For a long time it was their flagship show before they really became a "tv movie" network and began producing their own shows. Ironically however a number of shows they tried to put in UM former prime timeslot of 8 PM all fell flat on their face basically ("Providence", "I Married A Princess") and were regulated to less "glorious" timeslots with now an evening movie usually taking up the timeslot. Lifetime stated when promoting "Providence" that UM was no longer bringing in the ratings it once did to mantain that 8 PM-9 PM timeslot. I do find it funny however that none of the shows that Lifetime has put in that slot however have done any better than UM has which for a longtime I'm sure had a "core" audiance viewing the show during that time.

Speaking of "core" audiances in my mind two factors are key in this issue. The members of this board represent the "core" audiance or at least a portion of it that still watches a show which is basically a "dead brand" (no new shows are produced and it is regulated to a timeslot where Lifetime doesn't even have to promote it anymore) - Lifetime is also very receptive to its audiance as long as the requests a reasonable. I doubt even an influx of emails (or snailmails) will get UM returned to the 8 PM slot (even if they wanted to because of money spent aquiring all these movies restoring UM to that slot would probably be a very stupid and costly move for Lifetime to make) but we might be able to get them to air the episodes in the correct order.

There is little doubt in my mind that the emails from this board a few months back was what caused Lifetime to stop airing their "re-editted" versions of the broadcasts. So many we can try that again and see if they can start airing them in order. Be polite as you always attract more bees with honey than anything else.

Later.

[U.M. Fanatic]

that first off as many have said we should be happy that "Lifetime" continues to air a show that has been on their network for such a long standing time. For a long time it was their flagship show before they really became a "tv movie" network and began producing their own shows. Ironically however a number of shows they tried to put in UM former prime timeslot of 8 PM all fell flat on their face basically ("Providence", "I Married A Princess") and were regulated to less "glorious" timeslots with now an evening movie usually taking up the timeslot. Lifetime stated when promoting "Providence" that UM was no longer bringing in the ratings it once did to mantain that 8 PM-9 PM timeslot. I do find it funny however that none of the shows that Lifetime has put in that slot however have done any better than UM has which for a longtime I'm sure had a "core" audiance viewing the show during that time.

Speaking of "core" audiances in my mind two factors are key in this issue. The members of this board represent the "core" audiance or at least a portion of it that still watches a show which is basically a "dead brand" (no new shows are produced and it is regulated to a timeslot where Lifetime doesn't even have to promote it anymore) - Lifetime is also very receptive to its audiance as long as the requests a reasonable. I doubt even an influx of emails (or snailmails) will get UM returned to the 8 PM slot (even if they wanted to because of money spent aquiring all these movies restoring UM to that slot would probably be a very stupid and costly move for Lifetime to make) but we might be able to get them to air the episodes in the correct order.

There is little doubt in my mind that the emails from this board a few months back was what caused Lifetime to stop airing their "re-editted" versions of the broadcasts. So many we can try that again and see if they can start airing them in order. Be polite as you always attract more bees with honey than anything else.

Later.




I was trying to remember the show Lifetime had tried to put in Unsolved Mysteries place some time back. Thanks for jarring my memory Dark Dante. :wave:


I agree that if we are polite, but insistent to Lifetime about our feelings for this show, we will get results. Like I said, we should be thankful and they do deserve praise for keeping Unsolved Mysteries on the air for this long, but we do have the right to tell them that maybe they could be handling this show a little bit better then they are.

[Brent88]

Unsolved Mysteries has aired at 11am, Noon, and 1pm(it used to only air in one of the slots) and had a primetime airing at 8pm(when the Lifetime-produced episodes aired, they were shown there). MANY MANY MANY(I'm getting old) years ago it used to air on Saturday or Sunday Afternoons around 2 or 3pm. I can just barely remember that. It's also aired late at night(1am Sunday back in 2003 was the ONLY showing for a few weeks) and back a few years ago they were showing half-hour episodes on Weeknights around that hour(before the paid programming started).

[MadKow]

I'm glad Lifetime airs UM, however I think the show is a bad fit for the network. What worries me is that for every e-mail 1 of us sends to Lifetime asking for older episodes to re-air, there are probably 5 scared little housewives who complain that they would rather watch the lost love and miracle episodes, i.e. the episodes they keep showing over and over and over. That's probably why we seldom see the Tara Calico-esque episodes but instead are bombarded with the school-explosion & Resurrection Mary cases.

(BTW, I've nothing against housewives, being one myself, I just NEVER watch Lifetime outside of UM.)

Family Guy said it best..."Lifetime, television for idiots!" :lol:
(not counting members of the UM forum, of course) ;)

[Kemistry]

Some of the programming on Lifetime isn't that bad at all but Unsolved Mysteries is by far the best program on that network.

[DarkDante]

I think that UM gave "Lifetime" a kick in the @$$ when it came to programming. Lifetime used to have really lame shows back in the early 90s (so lame I can't even remember them) I think they had this really stupid gameshow for awhile and maybe even had "The 700 Club" for a short spell but after UM started becoming such a success they started producing their own dramas one of which "Missing" is a total rip off of UM - I mean come on searching for missing people, one of the main characters is a psychic? - They are playing to the same demographic that watches UM and "Cold Cases" and the like.

The only thing is since Lifetime is a "C" (and the C is not for cable) network for the most part they can only afford "C-List Actors" - In fact although I must admit I don't really watch their programming the most notable star I can think of to star in one of their original programs is Patricia Richardson who was Jill Taylor on "Home Improvement". There may be a few others but I can't remember them which shows you how forgettable their programs can be.

Later.

[Awsi Dooger]

I'm glad Lifetime airs UM, however I think the show is a bad fit for the network. What worries me is that for every e-mail 1 of us sends to Lifetime asking for older episodes to re-air, there are probably 5 scared little housewives who complain that they would rather watch the lost love and miracle episodes, i.e. the episodes they keep showing over and over and over. That's probably why we seldom see the Tara Calico-esque episodes but instead are bombarded with the school-explosion & Resurrection Mary cases.

(BTW, I've nothing against housewives, being one myself, I just NEVER watch Lifetime outside of UM.)

Family Guy said it best..."Lifetime, television for idiots!" :lol:
(not counting members of the UM forum, of course) ;)

Jeez, even a newcomer in her 2nd career post is unmercifully ripping my gal Resurrection Mary :(

Frankly, and I'm probably alone in this assessment, I've looked at that picture from the van carefully over the years and I don't think it's Tara Calico. The relationships and angles regarding the eyes/nose other facial features don't seem to match perfectly. Yeah, I understand the book supposedly is via her favorite author.

And I kind of like those C-list Lifetime movies. It's always a vulnerable woman who refuses to back down and she dominates the final 15 minutes of the 2 hour show. You know, like a stretchrunning filly at Santa Anita.

[U.M. Fanatic]

I'm glad Lifetime airs UM, however I think the show is a bad fit for the network. What worries me is that for every e-mail 1 of us sends to Lifetime asking for older episodes to re-air, there are probably 5 scared little housewives who complain that they would rather watch the lost love and miracle episodes, i.e. the episodes they keep showing over and over and over. That's probably why we seldom see the Tara Calico-esque episodes but instead are bombarded with the school-explosion & Resurrection Mary cases.

(BTW, I've nothing against housewives, being one myself, I just NEVER watch Lifetime outside of UM.)

Family Guy said it best..."Lifetime, television for idiots!" :lol:
(not counting members of the UM forum, of course) ;)


:welcome: :wave: Were glad you decided to join us, MadKow.


Love your Family Guy reference, I'm a big fan of the show.

[george ramos]

I love Family Guy. Especially the Colonel Sanders episode. "The COLONEL"

[PrettyinPink55]

I'm just glad they air the show period. I figure it has something to do with the fact that Lifetime produced the last few seasons so ofcourse they would want to "pimp" their produced episodes more than the others. It's also for that reason why I believe the show will always be on Lifetime, I doubt they will sell the rights anytime soon.

Amen to that Echoes of Fear! I'm just glad I can watch the show...twice a day!
But I'd like for them to show it at night again! :eek:

[Kemistry]

I remember when it used to air really late with 30 minute episodes. Some of those were pretty creepy.

[U.M. Fanatic]

We all get fatigued by the constant showing of certain episodes, just because Lifetime has decided to show some of the older episodes again, doesnt mean they will keep doing so. Their track record is not good when it comes to this. Yes we should be glad they show Unsolved Mysteries at all, but Lifetime is a business, and as such is captive to the whims of its viewers/customers. If said viewers speak up and tell them that we dont like how they handle the show, they will pay attention. A friendly email or two or three letting them know how we feel is certainly justified, considering that the first couple of seasons of UM almost never get played on a regular basis. Whats the point of owning the rights to a show, if you never show ALL the episodes it has produced? Even if they dont respond, I think Lifetime would be more surprised if its viewers just gave up and didnt give them feedback anymore.

I agree, Lifetime would probably want to show more of the shows they produced, but that still doesnt explain the erratic behavior with regards to the episodes they show. I know some of you are more afraid that UM will get dropped and will never see the light of day again, but I dont think that is realistic. As others have stated, Unsolved Mysteries still gets good ratings for Lifetime and repeated efforts to replace it with something else have not worked.

[MadKow]

Jeez, even a newcomer in her 2nd career post is unmercifully ripping my gal Resurrection Mary :(

Frankly, and I'm probably alone in this assessment, I've looked at that picture from the van carefully over the years and I don't think it's Tara Calico. The relationships and angles regarding the eyes/nose other facial features don't seem to match perfectly. Yeah, I understand the book supposedly is via her favorite author.

And I kind of like those C-list Lifetime movies. It's always a vulnerable woman who refuses to back down and she dominates the final 15 minutes of the 2 hour show. You know, like a stretchrunning filly at Santa Anita.

Oh No!!! You got me all wrong, Awsi! I actually love the Resurrection Mary episode and I could happily watch that, or most any other UM episode for that matter, over and over again...but I usually like to space my viewings. Seeing the same episode twice in one week is a little redundant for my taste. Nothing personal against Lifetime...but when UM's not on I'd rather be watching my Classic VH-1!!! :D

[Awsi Dooger]

Oh No!!! You got me all wrong, Awsi! I actually love the Resurrection Mary episode and I could happily watch that, or most any other UM episode for that matter, over and over again...but I usually like to space my viewings. Seeing the same episode twice in one week is a little redundant for my taste. Nothing personal against Lifetime...but when UM's not on I'd rather be watching my Classic VH-1!!! :D

My fault, MadKow. I tend to drift here after heated discussions at a political site I frequent and it takes me a while to throttle down. But also realize I'm not the fluff pillow type who welcomes with a waving smilie. Jolts can be fun. You weren't the only recent victim. A few days ago someone used their first post to initiate a thread and inquire about Joan Gay, leaving off the last name Croft for some reason, maybe intentional. It struck me as incredibly brief, just a few words. Normally first posts ramble. I planted a semi-offbeat reply and the poster never responded. Oh well.

My viewing habits must be whacko or weirdly imbalanced because I almost never see the Resurrection Mary or school bomb or cab driver segments and those seem to be the ones highlighted in the threads regarding oft-repeated cases. Off the top of my head the segments that inspire an immediate click are Tina Resch, the statues that supposedly influence pregnancy, and other ridiculous stuff like the face of a human on Mars.

[pjpiazza]

Yes!

They are completely oblivious to the fact that segments are shown and shown again. It's probably some intern who plays the tapes. Imagine if one of us was in charge of the same job. It would be a lot different.

[U.M. Fanatic]

Yes!

They are completely oblivious to the fact that segments are shown and shown again. It's probably some intern who plays the tapes. Imagine if one of us was in charge of the same job. It would be a lot different.


I've had that same thought. Oh, the dream of going through their tapes and playing the ones we all want to see. :D