Unsolved Mysteries is an American mystery documentary television series created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. The show explores unsolved crimes and strange events. It first started as seven special episodes on NBC, hosted by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack, beginning on January 20, 1987. It became a regular series on October 5, 1988, with Stack as the host. The show aired for nine seasons on NBC before moving to CBS for its 10th season on November 13, 1997. When ratings dropped, CBS added Virginia Madsen as a co-host for season 11, but this did not help. CBS canceled the series after only two more seasons, ending on June 11, 1999.

Lifetime television revived the show in 2000, and season 12 began on July 2, 2001. The series aired 103 episodes on Lifetime before ending on September 20, 2002. This ending happened around the same time as Stack’s illness and death.

After a six-year break, the show returned in 2007, hosted by Spike Television. It began airing on October 13, 2008, with Dennis Farina as the host. Farina connected repurposed segments from earlier episodes. He hosted 175 episodes before the series ended again on April 27, 2010.

Cosgrove-Meurer Productions, the show’s creators, keep a website with information about ongoing unsolved crimes and links for viewers to report clues.

In 2017, FilmRise bought the rights to show the series online worldwide. Updated versions of the episodes are now available on Amazon Prime, Tubi TV, and a Pluto TV channel in the United States and United Kingdom.

On January 18, 2019, Netflix announced a new version of the show. It began airing on July 1, 2020. As of May 2025, five seasons of this reboot have been made.

Overview

Unsolved Mysteries was a TV show that used a documentary style to explore real-life mysteries. It included reenactments of unsolved crimes, missing persons cases, conspiracy theories, and unexplained paranormal events like alien abductions, ghosts, UFOs, and secret history theories.

The idea for the show began with three special episodes created by John Cosgrove and Terry-Dunn Meurer. These episodes were shown on NBC in 1986 with the title Missing… Have You Seen This Person? The success of these specials led Cosgrove and Meurer to expand the series to cover all types of mysteries.

The first version of what became Unsolved Mysteries aired on NBC on January 20, 1987, with Raymond Burr as the host and narrator. During the 1987–88 season, six more specials were shown. The first two were hosted by Karl Malden, and the last four by Robert Stack. Because the show included paranormal mysteries, NBC News said it did not own the series and required a disclaimer before each episode to clarify that it was not a news broadcast.

In 1988, the show became a weekly program on NBC. Ratings decreased after the 1993–94 season. Robert Stack hosted the show until 2002. In 1999, when the show moved to CBS for its second season, Stack was joined by co-host Virginia Madsen. Episodes from 1995 to 1997 featured journalists Keely Shaye Smith and Lu Hanessian as correspondents in the show’s “phone center,” where they provided updates for “special bulletin” segments. A March 14, 1997, episode included journalist Cathy Scott in a reenactment of rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996 unsolved murder. This aired one week after the murder of Biggie Smalls. The series was canceled by Lifetime in 2002. In 2008, the network Spike revived the show with Dennis Farina as host; the revival ended in 2010.

The show was known for its eerie theme song composed by Michael Boyd and Gary Remal Malkin, and for Robert Stack’s serious tone and narration. The theme music changed seven times in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2008, and 2020. The 2020 version of the theme was arranged, performed, and recorded by West Dylan Thordson.

Updates

Sometimes, viewers received updates about cases where criminals were caught and families were brought back together. The program is believed to have helped solve some cases by drawing more attention to them. In one episode, a video showed a person setting fire to an unknown house while making unusual remarks. After the video was shown on the program, viewers identified the house, and two people were arrested.

Broadcast history

The show first aired on NBC from 1987 to 1997. The first episode was hosted by actor Raymond Burr. Karl Malden and Robert Stack were also hired to host additional specials. When the series became a regular television program in 1988, Stack became the full-time host. Unsolved Mysteries was one of the few prime-time shows of its time that appealed to fans of the supernatural and used special effects to help tell stories about unexplained events. In 1992, NBC aired a short-lived drama series called Final Appeal: From the Files of Unsolved Mysteries, also hosted by Stack. This program aimed to help people who were wrongly accused by giving them a final chance to seek justice. The first episode focused on the Jeffrey MacDonald case. The show was canceled after a few episodes due to low viewership.

Viewership for Unsolved Mysteries began to drop after the show was moved from its original Wednesday evening time slot to Friday evenings in the fall of 1994. At the end of the 1996–97 season, NBC canceled the show. After being canceled by NBC, CBS took over the series for a tenth season. The first episode of this season aired in November 1997 as a special. When CBS canceled its Block Party lineup in the spring of 1998, the show was moved to a Friday 9:00 pm time slot. During its time on CBS, the series was limited to six-episode seasons and aired only occasionally. Reruns of the show aired in the summer of 1998 with heavy promotion of the upcoming 1998 NFL season on CBS. When the show returned for its shortened 11th season in the spring of 1999, Stack was joined by actress Virginia Madsen as a co-host to attract more female viewers. This effort did not work, and CBS canceled the show soon after. Later, cable reruns of segments originally narrated by Madsen were re-dubbed with Stack’s voice.

Lifetime Television, which had aired reruns of the NBC episodes since the early 1990s, ordered two new seasons of the show that began airing in 2001. These episodes included a mix of new and old cases and were produced between 2001 and 2002. They usually aired on weekdays between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The program stopped making new episodes when Stack was diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2002. He passed away from heart failure in May 2003.

After Stack’s death, old episodes continued to air on several networks in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. During some broadcasts, viewers could call a toll-free number to provide tips to the show’s team. When the show was actively being produced, the number was shown on the screen at the end of each segment. After the show went into reruns following Stack’s death, the number was removed and replaced with a P.O. box address.

In 2007, HBO Distribution announced plans to revive Unsolved Mysteries when Lifetime’s contract expired in 2008. The show featured a new set, logo, and music, along with updates on old cases. Actor Dennis Farina became the new host, as Stack had died five years earlier. The show debuted on Spike on October 13, 2008.

This version of the show was criticized by fans for only presenting past cases without adding new ones. The existing segments were also shortened to allow the show to cover five cases in an hour instead of four. Most of the cases were between 20 and 40 years old, and the segments often did not mention the years when the events originally occurred. When updates on solved cases aired, Dennis Farina’s voiceover would refer to cases as “in a recent broadcast,” even if the case had already been solved during the show’s original run or during the series’ hiatus from 2002 onward. Unsolved Mysteries ended its run on Spike on April 27, 2010.

A 12-part reboot was announced on January 18, 2019, by Deadline Hollywood. The series is being produced by Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy and his company 21 Laps Entertainment, along with Cosgrove-Meurer Productions and Netflix. Cosgrove and Meurer are the showrunners, with Levy and Josh Barry as executive producers. Robert Wise is a co-executive producer, and Dunn Meurer is a showrunner. Each episode focuses on a single mystery. Cosgrove stated the reboot would be “pure documentary style” and would have no host or narrator, though an image of longtime host Robert Stack appears in the title sequence as a tribute. The first six episodes of the new season became available to stream on July 1, 2020. In August 2020, it was reported that 13.7% of Netflix subscribers watched the series in its first month. On September 1, 2021, Netflix announced an additional season set to launch in the summer of 2022. On September 6, 2022, Netflix announced a third volume of nine new episodes, described as a “three-night event,” to begin streaming on October 18, October 25, and November 1, 2022. In February 2024, Netflix announced a fourth volume of episodes would air later that year. On June 20, 2024, it was confirmed that the fourth volume would begin streaming on July 31, 2024. A fifth volume consisting of four episodes premiered in October 2024.

Notable actors and celebrities

Famous actors and celebrities have appeared on the show in different ways. Some acted in episodes before becoming famous, and others were involved in stories related to their own experiences.

In 1992, the show Unsolved Mysteries filmed in Texas and cast Matthew McConaughey to play a murder victim. This was one of McConaughey’s earliest roles on television. Cheryl Hines, Stephnie Weir, Bill Moseley, Ned Bellamy, Scott Wilkinson, Daniel Dae Kim, David Ramsey, Diane Franklin, Steve Reevis, Donna Mitchell, and Taran Killam also appeared on the program before becoming more famous in Hollywood. Hill Harper appeared in an episode about a woman searching for a childhood friend, who later turned out to be her sister.

• Comedian Blake Clark appeared in an interview about the "Comedy Store Ghosts" mystery.
• Author James Ellroy appeared in an episode about his search for the man who killed his mother.
• Football player Reggie White appeared in an episode about finding the people who set fire to his church.
• The musical group New Kids on the Block appeared in an episode about the disappearance of teenager Kari Lynn Nixon; a girl who looked like her was seen at one of their concerts.
• Musician Henry Rollins and actor Dennis Cole appeared in an episode about finding the people who killed Cole’s son, Joe.
• Musician Ron Bushy appeared in a story about the disappearance of his bandmate, Philip Taylor Kramer, from the group Iron Butterfly.
• Musician Jon Bon Jovi appeared in an interview about the death of his personal manager’s daughter, Katherine Korzilius.

U.S. television ratings and awards

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Unsolved Mysteries.

The numbers shown from the 1988–89 season to the 1996–97 season represent the total number of households that watched the program. Beginning with the 1997–98 season, the viewer count reflects the total number of individual viewers.

The original NBC broadcast was nominated for an Emmy Award six times for outstanding informational series during the years 1989–1993 and 1995. The series received the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Award for Top TV Series twice, in 1992 and 1993. Both times, the award was given to Michael Boyd and Gary Malkin for their work on the show’s music theme.

Home media

First Look Studios released six DVD sets with different themes in Region 1 during 2004 and 2005. These sets were released again on June 21, 2005, at a lower price. On March 21, 2006, a collection called The Best of Unsolved Mysteries was released. It included chosen parts from the earlier DVD sets and some content that had never been on DVD before. A special boxed set that included the first six sets and the new content from The Best of Unsolved Mysteries collection was also made.

Soundtrack

In 2018, Terror Vision Records entered into an agreement with program creator John Cosgrove to release the show's official music on vinyl records, titled Unsolved Mysteries: Ghosts/Hauntings/The Unexplained. Two different vinyl records were released on June 22, 2018. The first set included three vinyl records containing music composed for the show's ghost and missing/wanted segments, along with three theme songs. The second set was a single vinyl record featuring 34 selected tracks from the first set. The music cues were taken from the show's original DAT tapes. A second collection, named Unsolved Mysteries Volume Two: Bizarre Murders/UFOs/The Unknown, was released in December 2019.

Podcast

On October 21, 2020, it was announced that Cosgrove/Meurer Productions made a deal with Entercom-owned Cadence13 to create an official Unsolved Mysteries weekly podcast. The podcast is narrated by voice-over artist Steve French.

Documentary

A documentary special titled Unsolved Mysteries: Behind the Legacy, celebrating its 35th anniversary, was officially announced on September 7, 2023. Produced by FilmRise, the film was shown at Alamo Theaters across the country on October 4, 2023. The AVOD premiere occurred the next day, on October 5, 2023.

Spin-offs

• On September 18, 1992, NBC began a short-lived 6-episode series based on Unsolved Mysteries, hosted by Robert Stack, titled Final Appeal: From the Files of Unsolved Mysteries.
• In 1993, NBC aired a two-hour primetime movie called Victim of Love: The Shannon Mohr Story.
• On January 23, 1995, NBC aired a two-hour primetime movie called Escape from Terror: The Teresa Stamper Story.
• On April 22, 1996, NBC aired a two-hour primetime movie special titled From the Files of Unsolved Mysteries: Voice from the Grave.
• On April 28, 1997, NBC aired a new primetime movie called From the Files of Unsolved Mysteries: The Sleepwalker Killing.