HBO To Produce All New Episodes of Unsolved Mysteries
Damn, this could be the best news I’ve heard all month. Back in the late 80’s, one of my favourite TV shows was a program called Unsolved Mysteries, which ran between 1987 and 1997, exploring real stories of various paranormal phenomena such as UFO sightings and ghosts, combined with unsolved crimes. In a way it was one of the precursors to modern reality TV, with each story told in a documentary style that featured re-enactments and interviews with the real people involved where possible. Heck, you could probably even credit the show as laying the groundwork for The X-Files. Of course, in the years that followed, many similar shows have emerged, none of which (in my opinion) captured the same dramatic style and eerie atmosphere of Unsolved Mysteries, which was helped largely by the narration of host Robert Stack.
Anyway, from what I hear Lifetime has been airing re-runs of the show for quite a while now, and they even released some DVD box sets , but Lifetime’s deal expires in 2008. This is where HBO comes in. Apparently they’re looking to not only snap up the rights for old episodes, but they want to completely refurbish the series and create brand new episodes that will feature new mysteries, along with updates on old ones. The pilot episode was hosted by Carnivale’s Clancy Brown (Brother Justin), although he reportedly has not made himself available as the regular host. You may find it odd that HBO is involved in this, but I believe they are merely helping with the production — the show will not air on their own cable network. Clearly it would be too low brow for their standards. At any rate, I am pumped… the only thing that could be better is the resurrection of Rescue 911 hosted once again by William Shatner! Now that’s classic television.
Comments (4)
Great to hear!
Perfect timing cause I just purchased the 25-DVD megaset last week!
Posted by Matt on June 27th, 2007oh man, i miss that show. i used to scare myself senseless watching that,
Remember the episode where there was that kid ghost who just bounced a ball against a wall for like ever. and a ghost that was sit at a bar, spinning this glass around her finger or something. *Shudder* chills bro,. i’m gettin chills just thinking about it.
Posted by Daniel on June 28th, 2007An October article at the Broadcasting & Cable web site has confirmed that Spike TV has picked up the show. Spike is slated to put the show on the air next fall!
No word yet on the host-to-be, but a decision will be made sometime soon. The new article said that Clancy Brown is not available to commit to the show. No other names were given, but the article said there is a “short list” of prospective hosts.
Posted by Michael on November 15th, 2007i can’t wait that is my all time favorite show.
Posted by aaron on February 9th, 2008Leave a Reply