The Unsolved Mysteries reboot is already generating some promising leads from viewers who binged the first 6 episodes to hit Netflix.
Producers revealed that they have received what they feel are 20 credible tips toward solving some of the cases featured in the episodes released last Wednesday. Since the premiere, Executive producer Terry Dunn Meurer, who co-created the series, said “we have received tips. When they seem credible, we pass them to the appropriate authorities. We’re hoping there’s a lot of people who still haven’t watched and maybe this weekend they’ll sit down and binge episodes and we’ll get more leads.”
The new Unsolved Mysteries is also proving to be a popular choice for binging. The show ranked as the No.1 TV show on Netflix in the U.S. a day after its launch. People clearly missed the show, which originally ran on NBC, CBS, and Lifetime from 1988-2002. More than 260 mysteries from the original were ultimately resolved with the help of tips and other factors, such as increasingly sophisticated DNA testing.
The new Unsolved Mysteries Netflix series doesn’t completely follow the style of the original show. The creepy musical theme is very much present but the voice-over narration, provided by the late Robert Stack, is missing in action. The updated show also covers one case per episode lasting 38-51 minutes without commercials, rather than the three or four unresolved cases previously featured during each network hour. The difference is a little jarring at first but the cases featured across the 6 episodes are very intriguing and definitely worthy of their showcase.
Of the tips the new series has received, Meurer says they passed three tips on to the FBI related to the death of Alonzo Brooks, whose body was found a month after he disappeared following a party in rural Kansas in 2004. Tips also came in relating to the cause of death of Rey Rivera, whom Baltimore police said died of suicide, and the disappearance of Lena Chapin, who was supposed to testify against her mother in her stepfather’s death.
True crime documentaries and series have become all the rage the last few years and even though they are a source of binge-worthy entertainment for some, they can lead to cracking some cases that have gone cold for years. Get a new set of eyes on a case, even if it's a casual Netflix viewer, and it can result in something significant to crack a case. Netflix will be premiering 6 more episodes of Unsolved Mysteries later this year and I'm sure they will lead to more amateur crime sleuths trying to solve cases that have baffled even the most seasoned detectives.
Have YOU watched the new Unsolved Mysteries?