Possible segments denied by UM

[wiseguy182]

There's been some talk lately about ideas for segments that involved crime or missing persons that were denied by UM. I just now discovered that another missing person case was denied by UM, that of Michael Adams, although his case would make it to Missing: Reward, hosted by Stacy Keach, which I have heard is a show similar to UM.

http://www.findmikeadams.com/story.html

I must say, the fact that UM would turn down some cases on missing persons in order to air fluff pieces and/or cases that turned out to be phony, somewhat damages UM's reputation for me. Don't get me wrong, I still think UM was a great and important program, but this just kind of taints it a little bit for me.

Any thoughts on this?

[Jediknight1823]

That would have made for a nice little case. I think it has something to do with the theft he witnesses. I don't think his coworker had anything to do with it, but might know more than he's telling.

But it is disappointing to think what cases got passed over in favor of stuff like message in a bottle, child genius, Georgia Rudolph, UFO cures cancer, and Cokeville.

[justins5256]

I believe that someone at the Jacob Wetterling Foundation confirmed that UM declined to do a story on his abduction.

[Mastermind]

I must say, the fact that UM would turn down some cases on missing persons in order to air fluff pieces and/or cases that turned out to be phony, somewhat damages UM's reputation for me. Don't get me wrong, I still think UM was a great and important program, but this just kind of taints it a little bit for me.

Any thoughts on this?

UM is like any network televisions show. It has to deal with the demands of the network.


1. UM is not going top be of use if it's off the air. If they have to appease the networks every now and then, I think it;s worth it.

2. I personally think there were other reasons for why they declined segments. A big issue could be production schedules, budgets and legal matters.

3. I also think another issue is repetition in stories. If you look at the UM catalog there are a lot of cases that are similar. I'm sure UM might not want to run too many missing child or roberry cases in a row and put them off.

4. Personally I think there are very few bad episodes of UM. Even the Lost Loves cases tend to be very well done. In any show that runs this long, your bound to have a few episodes that a person will dislike. I really think it is personal taste rather than show quality.

I'm pretty sure AMW has the same issues.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

I personally think there were other reasons for why they declined segments. A big issue could be production schedules, budgets and legal matters.

Agreed. Although UM had its share of "fluff pieces", it would be a mistake for us (or anyone else for that matter) to presume that as the actual reason for why some more essential story ideas were declined. It could be very well that accepting a "fluff" story and declining another story was just a coincidence.

In any event, I recall reading a 1994 interview with show producer John Cosgrove in which Cosgrove acknowledged the impossibility of accepting every story idea offered to the show. He admitted that he wished they could do every one of them.

Sadly, no single TV series can profile every unsolved case. And I will admit that I pine for the days when we had at least two shows of that ilk in production. (In fact, during the late '80s and early '90s, there were no less than four of them in on the air at the same time: UM, AMW, Missing/Reward, and Crime Stoppers 800.)

[Mastermind]

The only thing I think you could blame UM for is that they may have taken less crime cases because they had to make room for UFO, Bizzare Legends, Mircles, Ghosts, Lost Loves cases.

I myself like the UFO, Legends and Ghosts cases, whiles some other's don't.

I don;t know if UM could have survived on only Crime cases. Anyone have an opinion on that?

[WishfulDreamer]

I believe that UM was a well-received show in the very fact that it differed from other broadcasts, absolutely. AMW and other crime shows basically only focus upon finding criminals and missing persons. UM had great variety with eerie crimes, baffling missing persons, strange legends, intriguing ghost and UFO segments, lost loves, etc. Even with its share of poor actors, I think UM pulled off the reenactments better than any show I've ever seen. The whole setup and style, the music, the overall format...in that, UM is so unique and I agree it garnered its popularity through variety as well as style.

[rhzunam]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

I believe that UM was a well-received show in the very fact that it differed from other broadcasts, absolutely. AMW and other crime shows basically only focus upon finding criminals and missing persons. UM had great variety with eerie crimes, baffling missing persons, strange legends, intriguing ghost and UFO segments, lost loves, etc. Even with its share of poor actors, I think UM pulled off the reenactments better than any show I've ever seen. The whole setup and style, the music, the overall format...in that, UM is so unique and I agree it garnered its popularity through variety as well as style.

Yeah I think this is key. Unsolved Mysteries was great because it concentrated on the mystery and wasn't a true crime show. It's bad that it couldn't cover all but that's the point of the show and it's not a total service. If some crimes needed to cover, there were shows that were just pure crime and criminals like AMW. UM was for a different niche.

[Apostapler]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

The only thing I think you could blame UM for is that they may have taken less crime cases because they had to make room for UFO, Bizzare Legends, Mircles, Ghosts, Lost Loves cases.

I myself like the UFO, Legends and Ghosts cases, whiles some other's don't.

I don;t know if UM could have survived on only Crime cases. Anyone have an opinion on that?

I loved the ghosts, UFO, and Legends. They upped the creepy factor for me when I was young (murder can only scare you so much, I guess!). I don't think I would have liked the show as much without them.

[Mastermind]

I loved the ghosts, UFO, and Legends. They upped the creepy factor for me when I was young (murder can only scare you so much, I guess!). I don't think I would have liked the show as much without them.

Totally agree . They other segments made the bizare murders even creepier in my opinion. Sort of set up the mood.

I tend to think the Lost Loves segments kind of hurt the mood of the show. Just too normal and optimistic for me.

[bell83]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

Totally agree . They other segments made the bizare murders even creepier in my opinion. Sort of set up the mood.

I tend to think the Lost Loves segments kind of hurt the mood of the show. Just too normal and optimistic for me.

I have to agree with the thinking that if it weren't for the wide spectrum of things covered, it wouldn't have been quite so successful. A perfect example is AMW. Personally, I'm not a fan of AMW, mostly because of the fact that it's always the same type of stuff. I like to have things changed up, a bit. Although there are some segments that definitely shouldn't have been made, like the child geniuses one. I can't begin to describe how much that segment annoyed me.

[unidentified]

I don;t know if UM could have survived on only Crime cases. Anyone have an opinion on that?

Would probably agree there.

It used to annoy me sometimes how we had to sit through Lost Loves cases, Ghosts and other cases with Crime cases (Wanted, Missing Persons, Fraud etc) placed between these, but I do think looking back now it helped break up the tension of such cases and also with the variety helped give the show its unique edge.

Some time ago I went back and watched some old VHS I had pieced together of only crime cases (maybe 1 hr or 2 hrs in length made up of only crime cases) - by the time they had finished I was seriously ready to cut my own wrists or even my own throat - the stuff is just so depressing and almost fills you with despair that there just seem to be so many psychopaths and maniacs out there! Then I had to remember, this is the noughties and not the 80's or 90's anymore, so no need to despair

[Mastermind]

Would probably agree there.

It used to annoy me sometimes how we had to sit through Lost Loves cases, Ghosts and other cases with Crime cases (Wanted, Missing Persons, Fraud etc) placed between these, but I do think looking back now it helped break up the tension of such cases and also with the variety helped give the show its unique edge.

Some time ago I went back and watched some old VHS I had pieced together of only crime cases (maybe 1 hr or 2 hrs in length made up of only crime cases) - by the time they had finished I was seriously ready to cut my own wrists or even my own throat - the stuff is just so depressing and almost fills you with despair that there just seem to be so many psychopaths and maniacs out there! Then I had to remember, this is the noughties and not the 80's or 90's anymore, so no need to despair

Arguably, there are as many psychopaths now as there were back then.

I'm a little puzzled why you watch UM if you so affected by this stuff. I guess it's the old horror movie thing.

[bell83]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

Arguably, there are as many psychopaths now as there were back then.

Personally, I would've left the "arguably" out. We never seem to run short on psychopaths. We just get new ones.

[unidentified]

Arguably, there are as many psychopaths now as there were back then.

I'm a little puzzled why you watch UM if you so affected by this stuff. I guess it's the old horror movie thing.

That's probably very true, but they are probably caught a lot more easily now.

I guess I should've explained myself, I'm referring to the original runs of UM when they were on TV years ago and also the re-runs with the updates on Lifetime (Robert Stack narrations).

At the time when they first aired they weren't so bad, but as I was explaining I think that the segments being mixed up with a combination of UFOs, Lost Loves, Crime etc helped to give variety to the show and ease the tough cases.

The difference was watching a number of cases straight for a couple of hours, just wanted to see what it would be like if the show had been like that when it actually aired.

I guess it's the old horror movie thing.

Am not quite sure what you mean here, could you explain?

I'm not a big fan of modern horror, I just don't find them scary at all. On most occasions they just bore me to death.

But UM was real life stuff.