Sightings (TV series)

Last updated
Sightings
Sightings Title Card.PNG
Genre Paranormal
News
Presented by Tim White
Theme music composerBill Bodine
ComposersChristopher L. Stone
Michael Tavera
Alan Ett
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes114 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time30 minutes (seasons 1-2, 1996 behind the scenes special)
60 minutes (seasons 3-5, 1991–92 specials, 1996 home videos)
120 minutes (1998 In Depth and Beyond specials)
Production companiesWinkler/Daniel Productions (1991–93) (seasons 1-2, 60-minute specials)
The Berkeley Group (1991–92, specials only)
Paramount Network Television (1991–92) (60-minute specials)
Sather Gate Productions (1992–93) (season 2)
Wilshire Court Productions (1992–93) (season 2)
Ann Daniel Productions (1994–98) (seasons 4-5, 120-minute specials)
Fair Dinkum Productions (1994–98) (seasons 4-5, 120-minute specials)
Triage Entertainment (1996–98, season 5, 120-minute specials)
Original release
Network Fox
ReleaseOctober 17, 1991 (1991-10-17) 
May 21, 1993 (1993-05-21)
Network First-run syndication
ReleaseSeptember 11, 1994 (1994-09-11) 
May 12, 1996 (1996-05-12)
Network Sci-Fi Channel
ReleaseSeptember 19, 1996 (1996-09-19) 
December 23, 1998 (1998-12-23)
Network Showtime
ReleaseOctober 27, 2002 (2002-10-27)
Related

Sightings is an American paranormal and news television show that first aired in the 1990s. The show began on October 17, 1991, as a special titled The UFO Report: Sightings. It was followed by the follow-up reports, Ghost Report and the Psychic Experience. The creator and supervising producer of the initial episode, produced by Paramount for Fox TV, was Linda Moulton Howe. One of her episodes was A Strange Harvest, about the worldwide animal-mutilation mystery linked to extraterrestrial beings.

Contents

Show history

After the special broadcast to high ratings, it went forward into weekly TV production as the program Sightings. The show featured everything from UFOs to ghosts to Bigfoot in an investigative news format and was hosted by reporter Tim White. The show was created by Ann Daniels Productions, Fair Dinkum Productions (Winkler-Daniel Productions from 1991 to 1993), and Paramount Domestic Television (Wilshire Court Productions from 1992 to 1993). Its executive producers were Henry Winkler and Ann Daniel.

The program began on Fox in 1992, in a 30-minute-long format that aired on Friday nights. When the show was put into syndication in 1994, it was extended to an hour-long format and was on at various times. In 1996, it was picked up by Sci Fi Channel. Sightings was cancelled in 1997, although five special episodes aired in 1998, and reruns continued on the Sci Fi Channel until April 2003.

In 1998, the producers made a new UFO special that aired on UPN, called Danger in Our Skies: The New UFO Threat hosted by Jim Forbes. [1] [2]

In 2003, a program called Unexplained Mysteries debuted in syndication. Although it did not have the same hosted news format like Sightings, it was produced by many of the same individuals involved with Sightings, and sometimes reused footage and graphics from the earlier program.[ citation needed ]

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
Fox specials 3October 17, 1991 (1991-10-17)April 24, 1992 (1992-04-24) Fox
1 11April 17, 1992 (1992-04-17)August 21, 1992 (1992-08-21)
2 24September 18, 1992 (1992-09-18)May 21, 1993 (1993-05-21)
3 26September 11, 1994 (1994-09-11)May 21, 1995 (1995-05-21) Syndication
4 24September 10, 1995 (1995-09-10)May 12, 1996 (1996-05-12)
5 20September 19, 1996 (1996-09-19)September 11, 1997 (1997-09-11) Sci-Fi Channel
Specials 6September 20, 1996 (1996-09-20)December 23, 1998 (1998-12-23)
Film October 27, 2002 (2002-10-27) Showtime

Home media

There have been three home video releases of the Sightings television show: Sightings: The UFO Report, Sightings: The Ghost Report, and Sightings: The Psychic Experience. The videos were repackaged segments from season one and two of the television show. All three videos were originally released in 1996 on VHS tapes.

Merchandise

Sightings: Heartland Ghost

In 2002, one of the stories featured on Sightings became the subject of a television movie on the Showtime network, called Sightings: Heartland Ghost. The movie tells the story of a Sightings crew sent to investigate a poltergeist haunting, eventually becoming victimized by the ghost themselves. The movie was later released on DVD. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> American television series

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired from September 28, 1987, to May 23, 1994, in syndication, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, it was inspired by Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the latter third of the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Alpha quadrant and Beta quadrant in the Milky Way galaxy.

<i>Unsolved Mysteries</i> American true crime television series

Unsolved Mysteries is an American mystery documentary television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack, beginning on NBC on January 20, 1987, becoming a full-fledged series on October 5, 1988, hosted by Stack. After nine seasons on NBC, the series moved to CBS for its 10th season on November 13, 1997. After adding Virginia Madsen as a co-host during season 11 failed to boost slipping ratings, CBS canceled the series after only a two-season, 12-episode run on June 11, 1999. The series was revived by Lifetime in 2000, with season 12 beginning on July 2, 2001. Unsolved Mysteries aired 103 episodes on Lifetime, before ending on September 20, 2002, an end that coincided with Stack's illness and eventual death.

Reno 911! is an American comedy television series created by Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver for Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically Cops, with comic actors playing the police officers. Lennon, Garant and Kenney-Silver all starred in and are billed as creators of the series.

<i>UFO</i> (British TV series) 1970 British TV science fiction series

UFO is a 1970 British science fiction television series about the covert efforts of an international defence organisation to prevent an alien invasion of Earth. It was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.

<i>Little House on the Prairie</i> (TV series) American western drama television series

Little House on the Prairie is an American Western historical drama television series about the Ingalls family, who live on a farm on Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s–90s. Charles, Caroline, Laura, Mary, and Carrie Ingalls are respectively portrayed by Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson, and twins Lindsay and Sydney Greenbush. The show is loosely based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick at Nite</span> Nighttime programming block on Nickelodeon

Nick at Nite is a nighttime programming block on the American basic cable channel Nickelodeon. The programming broadcasts from prime time to late night. The block initially consisted of syndicated sitcoms and films from the 1950s to the 1970s. Nick at Nite gradually shifted its programming to primarily airing sitcoms as recent as the mid-1990s to the 2010s.

<i>The Alvin Show</i> American animated TV series

The Alvin Show is an American animated television series that aired on CBS in the early 1960s. This was the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Alvin Show aired for one season, from October 4, 1961, to September 12, 1962 and was originally sponsored by General Foods through its Jell-O gelatin and Post Cereal brands. Although the series was created in color, it was initially telecast in black and white. It was later rebroadcast in color from 1962-65 for Saturday mornings on CBS and again Saturday mornings on NBC in 1979.

Sandy Frank is an American television producer, distributor, and marketer of TV shows to US networks.

<i>The Twilight Zone</i> (1985 TV series) Television series (1985-1989)

The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series which aired from September 27, 1985, to April 15, 1989. It is the first of three revivals of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1959–64 television series, and like the original it featured a variety of speculative fiction, commonly containing characters from a seemingly normal world stumbling into paranormal circumstances. Unlike the original, however, most episodes contained multiple self-contained stories instead of just one. The voice-over narrations were still present, but were not a regular feature as they were in the original series; some episodes had only an opening narration, some had only a closing narration, and some had no narration at all. The multi-segment format liberated the series from the usual time constraints of episodic television, allowing stories ranging in length from 8-minutes to 40-minute mini-movies. The series ran for two seasons on CBS before producing a final season for syndication.

<i>The New Scooby-Doo Movies</i> American animated television series (1972–74)

The New Scooby-Doo Movies is an American animated mystery comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. It is the second television series in Scooby-Doo franchise, and follows the first incarnation, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! It premiered on September 9, 1972, and ended on October 27, 1973, running for two seasons on CBS as the only hour-long Scooby-Doo series. Twenty-four episodes were produced, sixteen for the 1972–73 season and eight more for the 1973–74 season.

<i>The Woody Woodpecker Show</i> American TV series or program

The Woody Woodpecker Show is a 30-minute American television series mainly composed, of the animated cartoon shorts of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, The Beary Family and Inspector Willoughby all released by Walter Lantz Productions. The series was revived and reformatted several times, but remained popular for nearly four decades and allowed the studio to continue making theatrical cartoons until 1972 when it shut down. It also kept the Walter Lantz/Universal "cartunes" made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN.

Cops is an American reality legal television documentary programming series that is currently in its 36th season. It is produced by Langley Productions and premiered on the Fox network on March 11, 1989. The series, known for chronicling the lives of law enforcement officials, follows police officers and sheriff's deputies, sometimes backed up by state police or other state agencies, during patrol, calls for service, and other police activities including prostitution and narcotic stings, and occasionally the serving of search/arrest warrants at criminal residences. Some episodes have also featured federal agencies. The show's formula follows the cinéma vérité convention, which does not consist of any narration, scripted dialogue or incidental music/added sound effects, depending entirely on the commentary of the officers and on the actions of the people with whom they come into contact, giving the audience a fly on the wall point of view. Each episode typically consists of three self-contained segments which often end with one or more arrests.

Proof Positive is a paranormal investigation reality television show broadcast by the SciFi Channel beginning on October 6, 2004, through December 8, 2004. It was shown as part of the "SciFi Wednesday" evening schedule line up in the United States along with other reality television programs as Scare Tactics and Ghost Hunters. Proof Positive ran for ten episodes.

<i>Robotech</i> (TV series) 1985 animated series

Robotech is an American 85-episode adaptation of three unrelated Japanese anime television series made between 1982 and 1984 in Japan; the adaptation was aired in 1985. Within the combined and edited story, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific island. With this technology, Earth developed giant robotic machines or mecha to fight three successive extraterrestrial invasions.

<i>Truth or Scare</i> American TV series or program

Truth or Scare is an American television series on the Discovery Kids network. The show aired from October 25, 2001, to January 1, 2003. It was hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg in a style similar to Maila Nurmi as horror host "Vampira" and Cassandra Peterson as horror host "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark." The series first aired on Discovery Kids as a part of the network's Scary Saturday Night Sleepover lineup. After the series ended, reruns of the show aired on The Hub until October 29, 2012.

<i>TVs Bloopers & Practical Jokes</i> American TV series or program

TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes is an American television series. Debuting as a weekly series, new episodes have been broadcast as infrequent specials during most of its run. It premiered on NBC in 1984, moved to ABC in 1998, and was revived in syndication in 2012. The NBC run of the series was co-produced by Carson Productions and Dick Clark Productions, and the ABC and syndication runs have been produced solely by Dick Clark Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBS Productions</span> Production arm of American CBS television network

CBS Productions was a production arm of the CBS television network, now a part of Paramount Global, formed in 1952 to produce shows in-house, instead of relying solely on outside productions. One of its first productions was Studio One, a drama anthology series.

<i>UFO Hunters</i> American television series

UFO Hunters is an American television series that premiered on January 30, 2008, on The History Channel, produced by Motion Picture Production Inc., and ran for three seasons. Jon Alon Walz was the executive producer of the show and was responsible for selling the series to History Channel after a bidding war for the rights to the show broke out between History Channel and Sci-Fi Channel.

<i>Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories</i> American TV series or program

Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories was an American paranormal anthology television miniseries that originally broadcast from May 15, 1991 to November 28, 1995, on CBS and UPN. This short-lived program comprised three primetime specials that featured re-enactments of ghost stories told by real people who experienced alleged paranormal activity. The docudrama series used actors and special effects, and then introduced the witnesses who reported such phenomena.

Sightings: Heartland Ghost is a 2002 film that originally aired on Showtime based on the TV series Sightings and inspired by true events. The film was written by Phil Penningroth and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith.

References

  1. "Danger in Our Skies: The New UFO Threat (TV Special 1997)".
  2. "Sightings".
  3. "Sightings: Heartland Ghost". IMDb . 27 October 2002.