In Search of... is a television series that was broadcast weekly from 1977 to 1982, devoted to mysterious phenomena. It was created after the success of three one-hour TV documentaries produced by creator Alan Landsburg: In Search of Ancient Astronauts in 1973 (based on the book Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Däniken), In Search of Ancient Mysteries and The Outer Space Connection, both in 1975 (later adapted into popular paperbacks written by Landsburg). All three featured narration by Rod Serling, who was the initial choice to host the spin-off show. After Serling's death, Leonard Nimoy was selected to be the host.
The program conducted investigations into the controversial and paranormal (e.g., UFOs, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster). Additionally, it featured episodes about mysterious historical events and personalities such as Anna Anderson/Grand Duchess Anastasia, the Lincoln Assassination, the Jack the Ripper murders, infamous cults (e.g. Jim Jones), and missing persons, cities, and ships (e.g., Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Hoffa, D. B. Cooper, the Mary Celeste, the Titanic, the lost Roanoke Colony). Because the show often presented offbeat subjects and controversial theories, each episode's opening credits included a verbal disclaimer about the conjectural nature of the evidence and theories to be presented:
This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
The production values were fairly typical of the period, with interviews, reenactments and scenic footage shot on film, all voiced over by Nimoy. The style was often more expository than explanatory. The music was composed by Laurin M. Rinder and W. Michael Lewis. A soundtrack album was released on AVI (American Variety International) Records in 1977.
Nimoy's popularity among science fiction fans (due to his role as Spock in the original Star Trek television series) won the show a following in fandom circles. Nimoy wrote an episode about the turbulent life of artist Vincent van Gogh, having earlier played the artist's brother Theo in a one-man show. As part of his research, Nimoy found records in the archives of the hospital where Van Gogh was treated that suggested that he suffered from epilepsy rather than insanity.
The show also spawned at least six spin-off books, all written by Landsburg with forewords by Nimoy: In Search of Lost Civilizations, In Search of Extraterrestrials, In Search of Magic and Witchcraft, In Search of Strange Phenomena, In Search of Missing Persons, and In Search of Myths and Monsters, with an additional book that collected the best segments from these existing volumes.
In 1978, Landsburg produced a Bigfoot documentary using portions of two In Search of... episodes ("The Monster Hunters" and "The Yeti") called Manbeast! Myth or Monster, based on his book In Search of Myths and Monsters. Though Nimoy had written the foreword to Landsburg's book, he did not narrate this documentary.
Reruns of the In Search of... series aired during the early 1990s on the A&E Network. In the later 1990s, the show aired on another of the A&E Television Networks' properties, The History Channel. The licensing agreement expired in the early 2000s, ending the show's run. When the show aired on A&E, a re-recording of the original theme music was used plus a new alternate theme.
A short-lived revival of the show, featuring Mitch Pileggi, aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074007/
In Classic Movies and TV folder Uploads
Replies
Great, Thanks! I will check to see what ones you have that I don't. I loved this show. It placed the bar so high that very few other shows have even gotten near it. ----------------------------------- R
I have more seasons of the show. If any interest will post.
I will look sometime this week. Both my wife and I are up to our ears in Doctors' appointments and tests. We are both worried about what the results will show. I am taking my mind off it by computing when I can, but that time is becoming less and less. I will let you know. I have quite a few but I haven't gotten to that book of disks yet. I have some old TV shows and stuff that I have not seen around lately. if it is a series I am going to post I will get with you to see if together we can make a big splash. ---------------------------- R