America's Most Wanted

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America's Most Wanted
Genre
Running time	60 min.
Starring	John Walsh
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	FOX
Original run	February 7, 1988–present
No. of episodes	800+
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

AMW redirects here; for other uses of that term, see AMW (disambiguation). For the professional wrestling tag team, see America's Most Wanted (professional wrestling). For the Ice Cube album, see AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted.

America's Most Wanted is a long-running TV show produced by 20th Century Fox and running on Fox that profiles fugitives wanted for violent crimes, often including those currently on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The fugitives' crimes include rape, white collar crime, murder, armed robbery, gang violence, terrorism, drug trafficking, and child molestation. To date, the program is responsible for the capture of 911 fugitives.

The program was based on the German show Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst (ger. file number XY... unsolved), first aired in 1967, with the US version conceived by then-Fox executive Stephen Chao and Executive Producer Michael Linder in the summer of 1987. It premiered on February 7, 1988, on seven Fox-owned stations. The first broadcast led to the capture of FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitive David James Roberts (an escaped multiple murderer) in Staten Island, New York within four days and demonstrated the effectiveness of the show's "Watch Television, Catch Criminals" premise to skeptical law enforcement agencies. Ten weeks later, the program premiered on the entire Fox network and became the fledgling network's first hit series. Currently, it is the longest-running series in the history of the Fox network.

Contents 1 History 2 Local Versions of AMW 3 AMW's hotline number facts 4 Trivia 4.1 Cases that are international or have some international connection 5 External links

[edit] History

America's Most Wanted reinvented the economics of prime time television with its low-budget reenactments of crimes. A typical hour of prime time programming in 1988 cost $1 million to produce. AMW's initial budget was $115,000 per episode, but the show's reality-style format and near-real time captures (some fugitives were captured before the episode's final credits rolled) contributed to its success.

Unlike its British equivalent, which has always steered a cautious line on matters of taste, the US program has been cited for sensationalizing crime and, with its "re-enactments", for blurring the line between law enforcement and entertainment.

The host of the show, John Walsh, was selected after the program's pilot had been completed and after a lengthy search. Walsh gained publicity after his six-year-old son, Adam Walsh, was kidnapped and murdered in 1981. Other potential candidates included former Marine Corps Commandant General P.X. Kelly and victims advocate Theresa Saldana.

The show began profiling missing persons, especially children, in 1991. As of November 8th, 2006, 911 fugitives have been captured and 51 missing persons (including children) have been recovered alive as a direct result of viewer tips. Among the most famous examples is John List, a mass murderer who was on the run for 18 years, but was captured on June 1, 1989, 11 days after his case was broadcast. The show also drew the tips that led to the capture of the Texas Seven, a group of violent criminals who escaped from a maximum security prison in December 2000; and the recovery of Elizabeth Smart, a Salt Lake City teenager who was kidnapped from her home in June 2002 and held for nine months.

The show was cancelled for a month and a half in the fall of 1995 when Fox decided to air a Saturday night sitcom block consisting of Married with Children, 'Martin and two new series Love and Marriage and 'The Preston Episodes'. However, protests from the public, law enforcement, and even government officials (along with low ratings for the shows replacing AMW) encouraged Fox to bring the show back. The Preston Episodes and Love and Marriage were cancelled. Martin and Married with Children were moved back to Sundays. Producers rechristened the show America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back. Since this time, the show has followed two episodes of COPS to strong and consistent ratings, making Saturday evening Fox's most stable night.

The show expanded its focus to also cover criminals in the War on Terrorism when, on October 12, 2001 an episode aired featuring 22 most wanted al Qaeda men. The show was put together due to a request by President George W. Bush, who had presented the same list of men to the nation two days earlier. In October of 2002, the show did a special episode focusing on the serial sniper shootings in the Washington D.C. area.

In 1995, a half-hour spin-off of AMW called America's Most Wanted: Final Justice aired in syndication. The show was mainly a re-cap of stories that had previously aired on AMW. However, poor ratings, mainly caused by most markets airing the show late at night, resulted in this show being cancelled after only one or two seasons.[1]

[edit] Local Versions of AMW

• On Fox 25 (WFXT-TV, Boston), They periodically air a feature "Massachusetts Most Wanted" on their 10:00 news after AMW.
• On Fox 11 (KTTV-TV, Los Angeles), They periodically air a feature "L.A.'s Most Wanted" on their 10:00 news after AMW, it is presented by Tony Valdez.
• On Fox 5 (WNYW-TV, New York), They periodically air segment "New York's Most Wanted" during their 10:00 newscast after AMW.
• On Fox 2 (WJBK-TV, Detroit), They run "Michigan's Most Wanted" every Thursday night at their 10:00 newscast.
• On Fox 17 (KDSM-TV, Des Moines) They run a short spot during the commercials of America's Most Wanted called "Metro's Most Wanted" featuring one locally wanted fugitive. The spot lasts about 25-40 seconds.
• On Fox 23 (WXXA-TV, Albany, New York), They air a segment during their 10:00 newscast after AMW called "Capital Region's Most Wanted"
• On Fox 8 (WGHP-TV, High Point, North Carolina), they periodically air the feature "Piedmont's Most Wanted" on their 10:00 newscast after AMW.
• On Fox 13 (KSTU-TV, Salt Lake City, Utah), a "Utah's Most Wanted" feature airs periodically on the 9:00 newscast, particularly after AMW airs.
• On Fox 26 (KMPH-TV, Fresno, California), a FOX affiliate airs a segment during it's "Ten O'Clock News" entitled "The Force" twice a week, usually on Monday and Friday nights, featuring the Fresno Police Department. Reporter, Steve Yocum rides along with a Fresno Police unit on calls, usually ranging from traffic stops gone bad, to the police catching three suspects in the process of trying to cash forged checks. These segments are also provided on their website.
• On Fox 5 (WAGA-TV, Atlanta, Georgia), a "Georgia's Most Wanted" segment airs on their Saturday 10:00pm newscast.

[edit] AMW's hotline number facts

When America's Most Wanted debuted, the show's original toll-free hotline number was 1-800-CRIME-88 (1-800-274-6388). The last 2 digits of the hotline number changed each year (1-800-CRIME-89, 1-800-CRIME-90, and so on) until 1995, when it was permanently changed to its current number, which is 1-800-CRIME-TV (1-800-274-6388). Ironically, the last 2 digits of AMW's current hotline number (shown above in this section) were also used as its original toll-free number.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Cases that are international or have some international connection

Many of the series's cases have some connection outside the United States or have not taken place in the United States at all. As a matter of fact, the first show after September 11, 2001 was 2 hours and focused mainly on terrorism. The series's first international capture was in Nova Scotia in 1989.

[edit] External links

• Official site