MovieChat Forums > Unsolved Mysteries (1987) Discussion > The main thing that makes Unsolved Myste...

The main thing that makes Unsolved Mysteries different


In my opinion, it's the soberness and lack of over-dramatization.

So many shows today--both true crime and paranormal shows, and UM was both--feel that they need to make everything as dramatic as possible to hold the audience's interest. Unsolved Mysteries wasn't this way, though.

Instead of hyping everything up, UM had a very low-key, straightforward, old-fashioned documentary approach to the way it told stories and I think this is a style that is desperately needed in modern programs. In fact, I'm pretty surprised that no one has come along and just completely ripped off the Unsolved Mysteries formula. If UM is not going to produce anymore episodes, then someone else should come along and take the torch as the show's spiritual successor!

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Agreed. That plus the variety of stories. Well known and obscure cases of all kinds, murder, robbery, missing persons, fraud, even unidentified people, unclaimed inheritance. The occasional paranormal story ranging from ghosts to ufos to cryptids. They covered so much ground and made it all interesting. Many series like this are so one note. UM was always fresh.

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Yeah, considering how well-remembered the show is, and how successful it was, I really am surprised that the formula wasn't copied by other networks. It seems that we'd have seen at least a few UM copycats come along but that's not really the case.

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Bingo. That was my exact thought as I rolled my eyes whilst watching the trailer for Netflix's (ruinous) revamp of the series. They've WAY overly produced and dramatized everything. No thanks.

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ROBERT STACK...ANYTHING THEYVE DONE WITHOUT HIM HAS BEEN BORING.

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I agree. Stack was perfect.

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