When I was a kid, there were two shows I would watch that always scared the bejeesus out of me. There was “America’s Most Wanted,” and then “Unsolved Mysteries.” With the latter, CBS had created what is still considered one of the definitive series of the eighties and nineties. The precursor to the true crime documentary, “Unsolved Mysteries” was a series has often been imitated but never quite duplicated. While “Unsolved Mysteries” has been popularly known for dealing in true crime, “Unsolved Mysteries” reached for a lot more.
It was a series that often strived to tell stories about the paranormal, about lost loves, broken families, major disasters, and even cryptids like Bigfoot. Before it there was never really anything like it, and co-creators Terry Dunn Meurer and John Cosgrove were really able to hit on a formula that was not only big in the ratings but also a pop culture sensation. One of the first episodes I ever remember watching as a kid was the Jack the Ripper episode and it pretty much blew my six year old mind. It was my first time learning about the murders of Jack the Ripper and fostered my life long obsession with weird mysteries of the same kind.
The documentary “Behind the Legacy” really is a great buffer for hardcore fans of the series, it’s just too bad it’s so short. The documentary only clocks in at an hour in length, and feels like it speeds right through a lot of the segments. I wish the producers could have squeezed out twenty more minutes to explore a lot of the facets of the series more extensively. In either case, “Behind the Legacy” does touch upon every aspect of the series from where they acquired their material, to how they created their segments, the experience of working with Robert Stack, and how the show actually helped to solve so many cold cases and bring criminals to justice.
There’s also an interesting segment about how the series became a launch pad for big stars like Daniel Dae Kim, and Matthew McConaughey. While it’s not as exhaustive a documentary as I would have preferred, “Behind the Legacy” is still a very good look behind a very groundbreaking documentary series that continues to influence a lot of modern entertainment today.
Will Stream for Free beginning October 5th exclusively on Pluto TV, and then on All Major Platforms on October 19th in the U.S.; it will also have a one-time only theatrical release on October 4/5 at various Alamo Drafthouse locations across the nation.