Unsolved Mysteries

Unsolved Mysteries is an American true crime reality television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, the show began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack, beginning on NBC on January 20, 1987, becoming a full-fledged series on October 5, 1988, hosted by Stack. After nine seasons on NBC, the series moved to CBS for its 10th season on November 13, 1997. After adding Virginia Madsen as a co-host during season 11 failed to boost slipping ratings, CBS cancelled the series after only a two-season, 12-episode run on June 11, 1999. The series was revived by Lifetime in 2000, with season 12 beginning on July 2, 2001. The series aired 103 episodes on Lifetime, before ending on September 20, 2002, an end that coincided with Stack's illness and eventual death. After a six-year absence, the series was resurrected by Spike in 2007, to begin airing October 13, 2008. This new, revived-version was hosted by veteran actor Dennis Farina, who mainly tied together repackaged segments from the original episodes. Farina hosted 175 episodes before the series ended again on April 27, 2010. Lifetime currently airs the Farina episodes in reruns. Cosgrove-Meurer Productions maintains a website for the show, featuring popular accounts and ongoing cold cases (murder or missing persons), with a link to an online form should a viewer have information on an unsolved crime. As of 2017, the show maintains a YouTube page where viewers can submit their own mysteries. If accepted, Unsolved Mysteries posts a video of the viewer describing the mystery. FilmRise acquired worldwide digital distribution rights to the series and announced its intent to release updated versions of its episodes in 2017. These shows are currently streaming on Amazon Prime and Tubi TV in the United States and the United Kingdom. Since February 2017, the Spike episodes have been officially posted on YouTube, split into eight seasons. In July 2017, the series began streaming on Hulu in the United States. On June 22, 2018, Terror Vision Records released the official soundtrack to Unsolved Mysteries. Creators Cosgrove and Meurer are looking into reviving the series for television, or possibly Netflix.