‘Unsolved Mysteries’ Returns as a Video Podcast and Brings Its Cold Cases to YouTube

For nearly 40 years, the dread-filled theme music of ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ has been a staple of true crime television. The documentary series has lived through almost every era of the TV business, from network primetime to cable reruns to streaming. It has now set its sights on a new frontier, and the move says a lot about where the industry is headed.

The franchise started in January 1987 with a special on NBC hosted by Raymond Burr, and it became a full series in October 1988 with Robert Stack at the helm. Created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer, it ran for 9 seasons on NBC and 2 seasons on CBS before a final stretch on Lifetime that ended in 2002. By the creators’ count, it has profiled more than 1,300 mysteries across over 230 episodes.

Now ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ is returning as a video podcast. According to reports, the weekly show will launch next week in partnership with the audio and entertainment company Audacy, and it will be available on YouTube and on all podcast platforms.

New episodes begin on October 29, and each one will explore cases such as mysterious deaths and unexplained disappearances. The official listing describes Jordan Murphy as the new host, who will examine murders, strange disappearances, wanted fugitives, unexplained deaths and updates on past cases. The tagline stays the same as ever: someone knows the truth.

The YouTube channel describes the show as created by Meurer, the co-creator of the original series, and says the weekly episodes continue the legacy that began in 1987. Murphy is expected to bring in exclusive interviews, evidence and firsthand accounts from investigators, witnesses, law enforcement and families.

The move reflects a deliberate strategy. The people behind the show want to expand the brand and follow where the industry is going, and they see YouTube as the biggest audience out there. That matters for more than viewership numbers, because the show’s goal has always been to help solve cases, and the more viewers who see an episode, the better the chances that someone holds the missing piece.

That mission has a track record. By the creators’ account, half of the cases featuring wanted fugitives have been solved, more than 100 families have been reunited with lost loved ones, and 7 people who were wrongly convicted have been exonerated and released. Meurer has previously said that the original series and its licensed spin-offs helped solve 260 of the 1,300 cases it featured.

This is not the first time ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ has reinvented itself. Netflix revived it in 2020 with a reboot that dropped the host and used the classic theme in a new way, with Volume 1 arriving on July 1, 2020. The streamer went on to release additional volumes, including Volume 4 on July 31, 2024, and the show leaned into viewer participation by creating an accessible dossier of materials to help close cases.

The brand also made the leap to audio in February 2021, when the first official podcast launched in partnership with Cadence13. That series was hosted by Steve French, and it ended up running for 91 episodes with weekly cases and regular updates on developments. The new video podcast is a continuation of that audio legacy, now with a camera pointed at the host.

For longtime fans, the shift is also a reminder of how much true crime consumption has changed. Viewers who once gathered around the television on a weeknight now follow cases on their phones and laptops, and the call to action at the end of each episode can travel much further online. If the new format works, it could give the franchise yet another long chapter.

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