Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ On Netflix, A Reboot Of The Classic True-Crime Docuseries

Netflix has resurrected Unsolved Mysteries, which ran on NBC, CBS, Lifetime and Spike TV on and off from 1987-2010, to fit nicely within their ever-expanding slate of true-crime docuseries. The new edition, produced by the show’s creators, John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer, doesn’t have a host (though we see a tip of the cap to Robert Stack in the intro, which has a variation of the familiar theme song) but utilizes the format of interviews interspersed with reenactments and archival footage that the show introduced more than 3 decades ago, just updated to 2020 sensibilities. Does it work, and does it remind people of Stack’s version?

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A home video of Rey Rivera on his wedding day, talking about how excited he is to be getting married.

The Gist: The first episode is about Rey Rivera, the aspiring screenwriter whose body was found at Baltimore’s Belvidere Hotel in 2006, eight days after he disappeared. There was a small hole in the roof of a conference annex, and Rivera’s body was found under that hole. The police rushed to deem the death a suicide, but physical circumstances along with the knowledge of people who knew Rey best highly doubt that conclusion. Significantly, the medical examiner also ruled that Rivera’s death was “Undetermined,” which it remains to this day.

In the episode, we see interviews with Rey’s mother and brother, a WBAL reporter that followed the case, and the BPD detective that had the most doubts about the suicide ruling. Rey’s wife Allison takes the bulk of the screentime, revisiting places like their house in Baltimore and the parking lot where his car was found, days after he disappeared. And while no one comes out and says it, the fact that Rey’s best friend and boss, Porter Stansberry, put a gag order on his stock trading company and never talked to the police makes them wonder if Rey uncovered something he shouldn’t have uncovered.

Our Take: We’re on the fence about this new version of Unsolved Mysteries. On the one hand, having an anthology-style docuseries where various unsolved murders and other cases are presented, and viewers are given a chance to leave comments and perhaps new tips on the show’s website, is something that should always be welcomed in the streaming world. If it gives the families of these victims some answers and closure, all the better.

And, because of Netflix’s global reach, the cases in this new season will not just take place in the U.S., which will also make the show interesting to watch. The production is very well-done, invoking the best of the true-crime series that have been on the various streaming and cable services of late, which try to take a higher-brow approach than shows like, well, Unsolved Mysteries took in the past, where reenactments are wordless and gauzy, never showing the faces of the actors playing the real-life people in the stories. The episodes let the real-life victim and their families and friends, as well as the investigators and reporters investigating their deaths and disappearances, stay in the spotlight.

But that slickness is also the problem. The original Unsolved Mysteries, the one we remember on NBC starring the craggy visage of Robert Stack, had a spooky air about it that almost bordered on campy. The episodes used foreboding narration, dark lighting, and reenactments that were more or less dramatic retellings of the mysteries, complete with dialogue and a plot. That’s what we were looking forward to seeing with this new version.

We didn’t get any of that. We especially don’t get many episodes about the paranormal and supernatural or legends like Bigfoot, which the old series had. The only thing this new version has in common with the old one is that it’s about unsolved mysteries. Maybe Cosgrove and Murer felt the need to update the show’s style to what they consider modern storytelling standards. But in doing so, it loses what makes the show such a nostalgia trip for the people who used to watch it without fail through the late ’80s and the entire ’90s.

Sex and Skin: We didn’t see any.

Parting Shot: We see a clip of Rey and Allison coming back down the aisle after being pronounced husband and wife, and we freeze on a shot of Rey. Viewers are then prompted to go to the show’s website if they have any information, and the website address lingers on the screen as the picture goes to black.

Sleeper Star: Allison Rivera has the determined look of someone who still wants answers. She resolutely set up an investigative unit consisting of friends and family as soon as they realized Rey was missing, and 14 years later, she gives her account of how things went down with an admirable combination of emotion and detachment.

Most Pilot-y Line: Again, we were disappointed that the reenactments weren’t more involved; they looked like the hazy reenactments most true-crime shows do these days.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Although the show really won’t remind anyone of the Unsolved Mysteries they watched when they were kids, the mysteries this new version discusses are fascinating and the episodes are well-researched with good storytelling. We just wish they named it something else.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Unsolved Mysteries On Netflix