The
first commonly-recognized use of the term 'Sightings'
in the media was the successful 1990s tv series of the
same name.
Sightings
is an American paranormal documentary and news television
series that originally aired from April 17, 1992 to August
1, 1997. The program began as a special titled The UFO
Report: Sightings on October 18, 1991. The original Concept
Creator and Supervising Producer of that hour special
produced by Paramount for Fox TV was Linda
Moulton Howe, an Emmy Award-winning TV
producer and documentary filmmaker of TV specials about
science and the environment. One of her Emmy award-winning
broadcasts was A Strange Harvest (KMGH-TV in May 1980),
about the worldwide animal-mutilation mystery linked by
law enforcement to extraterrestrial biological entities.
After
the special broadcast to high ratings, it went forward
into weekly TV production as the series 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, and Paramount Domestic Television.
One of its executive producers was Henry Winkler.
The
series began on Fox in 1992 (the first Paramount Television
production ever to air on that network), 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
2002, one of the stories featured on Sightings became
the subject of a television movie, 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.
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 series.
Sources:
http://www.sightings.com/1pages/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sightings_%28TV_series%29