After CBS ran the prime time special "Monsters! Mysteries or Myths?", Bigfoot, overnight, became a pop culture sensation. Reports of encounters (even one of an alleged kidnapping committed by the forest giant) increased receiving major media attention. Indeed, "Monsters..." became the highest-rated television documentary ever broadcast (a record that was still intact as recently as the early 1990's and may possibly even hold to this day).

In addition to Bigfoot, the hour-long program also took a look at the ongoing search for two other elusive creatures: the Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman. Personal accounts by eye witnesses were included as well as lots of interesting photos- though, curiously, the famous 1967 Bluff Creek film of an alleged Sasquatch was not among the evidence presented. In response to the public's now rabid fascination with Bigfoot, the documentary was re-edited and released a couple years later in theatres under the title "The Mysterious Monsters". While this version did include additional actor recreations, alleged audio recordings of the creature and, best of all, the Bluff Creek film blown up to 35mm glory for the big screen, it was still largely the same material shown in the TV version. Also, a particular disappointment about the re-tooled movie release is the absence of original host Rod Serling.

Of course, "Monsters! Mysteries Or Myths?" didn't prove the existence of anything. It only presented the cases for and against the possibility that missing links and lake monsters were alive and among us in the 20th century. The featured experts who expressed doubt in these theories were, predictably, not as much fun to listen to as were the true believers. One especially entertaining re-creation of an alleged encounter featured actor Richard Kiel playing a sasquatch that crashes a boyscout camping trip.

As documentaries on crypto-zoology go, "Monsters! Mysteries Or Myths?" is one of the best ever made-- even if it IS now dated in spots. For example, the famous "Surgeon's Photo" offered as evidence in support of Nessie's existence has since then been exposed as a fake. Overall though, it holds up pretty well and clearly served as the template for similarly themed shows that followed in it's tracks like "In Search Of" and "Unsolved Mysteries".