I am just getting into Criminal Minds now, but if you enjoy crime dramas that push the envelope, you'll enjoy Unsub. Criminal Minds took a lot from Unsub, the terminology, the private jet, the criminal profilers, and it worked. I think at the time, Unsub was a little too raw, sadistic killers, child murderers, etc. and I wish it would have last longer, but if you find it on DVD, its worth your time. It was a dynamic cast of varied actors, each who brought something different to the show, the married couple who were both CSIs, a primadonna profiler who could adopt their mindset as easily as putting on a pair of shoes; an ex-cop from the old school; a timid yet caring investigator who always tried to help and a determined, self-sacrificing leader.
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firepants493432 June 2010
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scrapbuddy2-116 October 2014My husband and I still remember watching every one of the few episodes this series had which were very cerebral but fascinating.
Years later we have still to find one that is as focused as this. CSI has a lot of the forensics (which is much more advanced these days)
Criminal minds has a lot of the victimology they used, but I never understood why this didn't take off.
Guess TV series had to wait for people's fascination with technology to spark the craze.
I would like to see this show again, maybe will come to Amazon Prime someday, I think it will look like the original Star Trek does now-- very limited in up to date usage of computers, labs, the use of the internet and ability to track things on a more national level with national databases -
BabsbytheBeach1 August 2011I remember watching all 8 episodes of this brilliant show. David Soul did a stellar job not only heading up the cast, but his portrayal of John Grayson was a terrific follow up to Starsky and Hutch. As the other reviewers have noted, this show predates all the great crime TV shows: CSI, Criminal Minds, L&O, etc., and that was also the reason for its downfall.
During the Reagan-Bush era, the late 1980s when the show was on, Bible- thumping groups of Americans felt it was their God given right to ruin the fun for everyone else. They launched a campaign against Unsub and subsequently the sponsors pulled out. Thank Dog they didn't succeed with their narrow-minded attempt to also remove the Simpsons, unfortunately, Unsub could not sustain their wrath. My hope is that the shows are re-released on DVD. -
Ted_Parkinson22 March 2002My wife and I really loved this show when it was on, but it was cancelled far too soon. Only 8 episodes ran. It was too intelligent, too "ahead of its time," and too spooky. It basically turned Mann's "Manhunter" into a tv series. Now we get "special victims unit" which deals with similar crimes, but with less atmosphere.
My wife and I really like CSI now, which is a very good show, but it's basically "Unsub-lite". -
KSchmo71779 February 2007This television series of eight episodes was so far ahead of its time I am not surprised that it did not last more than a few episodes. I do not feel that it was the inspiration for the Crime Scene Investigation shows. I feel that the new series Criminal Minds might have been a clone - right down to the team plane. The one similarity to Crime Scene Investigation is the lab connection. Criminal Minds doesn't appear to show a lot of lab time. Unsub was a very dark show but excellent television. I got to watch old old taped copies and wish the series would come out on disk. David Soul had visibly matured from his Starsky & Hutch persona and was very believable as head of a country wide forensic team. Many parts of the show were much more realistic than Crime Scene Investigation (no blonde women with flowing locks gathering evidence at the scene of a crime) these people went in with booties and head coverings. Their cases were also much more grisly than the Crime Scene Investigation shows...comparable with Criminal Minds...not quite up to Bones. It was also made at a time when most television shows were still more eye candy than realism. David Soul showed his chops as an actor in this series.
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SnoopyStyle10 February 2021It's the Behavioral Analysis Unit in the FBI led by John Westley "Westy" Grayson (David Soul). M. Emmet Walsh, Jennifer Hetrick, and Richard Kind play three of his subordinates.
I love the forensics coveralls when they go into a crime scene. They even put on booties over their shoes. This is a 1989 TV show from 80's TV impresario Stephen J. Cannell. The forensics work is much more realistic than the flashier modern shows like CSI which would come a decade later. Quite frankly, this is much closer to Criminal Minds including the private plane flying the group to their investigations. I would look to do less with empathic profiling. It comes off as hokey on screen. The pilot is a bit of a mess but that does happen sometimes. It's filmed in Vancouver when those productions are still a step behind Hollywood. Overall, this show is well ahead of its time. David Soul is great but the star of this show has to be M. Emmet Walsh. -
wkozak2219 September 2015I agree with the other reviewers of this series. It was very well done. It seems the better written series do not last that long. Just like 'PROBE' this series disappeared in a flash. It was nice to see David Soul in something else other than 'Starsky and Hutch'. One episode I remember, I think it was the pilot, the crime scene was handled very differently. In this episode the team walked on a raised platform and wore zip up suits and booties. I think if the network got behind this series we might be discussing this series and not 'CSI'. I thought the characters were done very well. The cast was not that large. It helped to follow the plot lines much easier. I give it an 8 because of Richard Kind. Because I have never liked him. I find him annoying. IMO his character was unnecessary.
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biskwitsbaby7 July 2020Only recently found this show UNSUB on YouTube.. I think it's absolutely brilliant! It's clear that whoever created CRIMINAL MINDS was MASSIVELY influenced by this show... even down to them flying on a private jet.. It's basically an 80's version of CRIMINAL MINDS... it's a shame UNSUB wasn't allowed to carry for more series.. Brilliant actors/writers/directors/storylines the lot!
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DoctorMeticulous7 August 2021This show from 1989 was ahead of its time. It follows the investigations of the Behavioral Crimes Unit of the Justice Department and their encounters with disturbed criminals. It is the forerunner to programs like Criminal Minds (especially), Millennium, Profiler, etc.
The show is notable for its cast, featuring TV stalwarts David Soul, Kent McCord, and Richard Kind; character actor M. Emmett Walsh, and Jennifer Hetrick (who played a popular recurring character on Star Trek: The Next Generation a few years later). The stories are a little uneven. The cast is capable in those cases where they are given something interesting to play.
The general vibe is very much in key with Michael Mann's crime film "Manhunter," and the show's least successful character is a poor imitation of that film's protagonist. The show's cancellation after only eight episodes seems like a sad event in retrospect, considering the number of forensic procedurals that have crowded the airwaves in the last twenty years. Sometimes success is all about the timing. Unsub might have developed into something really good if it had been given some support from its network. -
cantrelayne3 October 2020It's hard to believe that with all the Forensic shows out there, true and dramatized; with all the acknowlegements toward John Douglas, Ann Burgess, Robert Ressler and their teams; and no matter how many times the shows mention it, people still don't get that the BSU was started in the early 1970's. This show was closer to the actual time frame, and was starting to show the real process of how Profiling came to be. The cases on this show, just like on Quincy M.E. (1976 - 1983, based on Dr Noguchi also more acurate as in closer to the time frame) Criminal Minds, and CSI {and all it's franchises}, and Netflix's ridiculous inaccurate version Mindhunter (continuity errors galore, she should be fired) are based on real cases and real processes. Just like the other shows, this show also has made up ones and hopes for what we could do in the future. For an example we did not have the capabilities to run DNA and DNA comparisons as this show tries to bring up in episodes 6 and 7, until many years later. No one entity, not even today, has all the gadgets and "technology" these shows portray. This show wasn't so much ahead of it's time (especially compared to Quincy M.E.) as it lacks chemistry between the characters, all though it did not have very much time to develop. Plus people were not interested in Drama, they were interested in The Simpsons, Baywatch and Seinfeld (unfortunately). It is definitly more accurate than MindHunter, however, Criminal Minds comes right out and tells you it's based on John Douglas, Robert Ressler, Ann Burgess and the BAU, this show does not, and for the record, the real BAU used helicopters and Cessnas, due to costs, Lear jets came much later. Even in this show, it would be one of those hope - for - the - future situations.
All that said, it would have been great if the show had a chance to develop and maybe got rid of the empath and brought up the hypnosis, which is more accurate at the time frame. Definitely a better show than the Simpsons, Baywatch and Seinfeld. -
Jonah1427 February 2001This was an excellent show from CBS's adult night time series. This show predates "The X Files" and "Silence of the Lambs" as a specialized FBI investigative forensic team that deals with serial murders, rapists, and other dark characters. The show is both wonderfully intelligent and creepily dark. If this ever re-airs, watch it. It's one of the best, most-overlooked crime drama in the history of film and TV.
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moviegirl7418 August 2003Talk about a show YEARS ahead of it's time...I caught this show one night when I was a freshman in high school and fell in love with it! It was so original and mysterious. Unfortunately, it was the only episode I ever got to see. It was sadly cancelled.
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mmarcuswarren12 February 2004UNSUB (Unknown Subject). This was one of the best of the Stephen J.Cannell Productions that ran in the 80's on NBC. David Soul's John Grayson was a far cry from his "Hutch" of years before and as the leader of the Justice Department Behavioral Science Lab, he and his crew used all the latest methods of scientific and intuitive discovery in order to hunt down the "unknown subjects" that performed the current week's gruesome crime. Just like other Cannell shows of the time (like "Stingray" and the first season of "Hunter" among others) it sported a stylish soundtrack of songs written and performed by composer Mike Post. The short lived series also featured fine performances by Kent McCord (formerly of "Adam-12"), M. Emmett Walsh, Richard Kind (later to co-star on "Mad About You" and "Spin City") as well as Jennifer Hetrick (who would later co-star as Captain Picard's love interest "Vash" on Star Trek: the Next Generation"). The similarities between this show and today's major hit "CSI" are astounding and really make me wonder if the creators of "CSI" may have been inspired by this short lived series which ran only 8 episodes. Another astounding fact is that the villain of the very first episode was played by none other than Paul Guilfoyle (a frequent Cannell villain back then) who would later co-star on "CSI" as Captain Jim Brass. IF you ever get the chance, this show is one that's worth catching, especially the 2 part episode (#6 & #7) which features Jason Bernard as a charismatic Bishop who proves to be just as evil as the Devil himself. Another quality show that was never allowed time to build an audience and just may have been 10 years or more ahead of its time. Just thankful, that like "Stingray" and "J.J. Starbuck", I was smart enough to get this one on tape during its original airing. Shows like this are few and far between and getting more scarce all the time, I just really wish it had ran a lot longer.
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myogenic28 January 2006This was one of my favorite TV series of the past 20 years. It was, perhaps unfortunately, too dark and too realistic for its time and did not run sufficiently long to gain a dedicated following. Some of the scenes showing crime victims were disturbing for that day, although they pale in comparison to what is shown on current crime dramas. The cast was great, Walsh and Soul were perfectly cast for their parts. Kent McKord and Richard Kind were also in the cast. Great music by Mike Post and definite Stephen Cannell-style directing touches. Excellent subplots and good character development. As I recall, most of the episodes dealt with serial killers and one of the best was a 2-part episode involving a clergyman. UNSUB certainly prepared the way for series such as CSI and Criminal Minds. There was nothing like it until CSI came out in its first incarnation (Las Vegas) in 2000.