Unsolved Mysteries
Episode #39
TV Flash files “Episode #39” as a desk essential hour — Unsolved Mysteries (1987–2002) on NBC/CBS, season 2, episode 1, aired 1989-09-20, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E01: listed hour 39 of 554 in the Unsolved Mysteries guide, first listed hour of season 2. It aired 1989-09-20 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Episode #38” (S01E38). Next is “Episode #40” (S02E02). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Essential hour: “Episode #39”. Episode #39: living-room séance as weekly public service — missing persons still the actual assignment.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Episode #39 sit in the Unsolved Mysteries guide?
S02E01 is listed hour 39 of 554 — first listed hour of season 2, season 2 episode 1.
When did Unsolved Mysteries S02E01 air?
Episode #39 aired 1989-09-20 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is it only murders?
No — unsolved crimes, missing persons, lost loves, and supernatural segments shared the hour. The mix is the dread.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Robert Stack’s trench coat and that theme song are still a nervous-system event. True-crime television before the binge era: reenactments, 1-800 tip lines, and cases that followed you to bed. Living-room séance as public service — missing persons, UFO asides, and the dread that the story might still be happening down the street.
Flash: Robert Stack's trench coat and that theme song, already a nervous-system event, a 1-800 tip line waiting like a source who will not hang up. John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer's series had a major network run from 1987; the Stack 1990s era is the brand most people mean. Reenactments, lost loves, UFO asides, the dread that the story might still be happening down the street. **Appointment dread as public service.** True-crime television before anyone called it a queue.
Filed against
- Robert Stack as Host
Robert Stack’s Eliot Ness granite-stared through The Untouchables — Capone’s Chicago, Walter Winchell’s newsreel bark, machine-gun morality in sharp suits — then put on Unsolved Mysteries’ trench coat until the theme song became a…