"America's Most Wanted" (1988) TV series 1988-????

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Directors:

David H. Butler
Kenneth A. Carlson

Writers:

Carl Buehl (writer)
Steve Klayman (story)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | unknown

Release Date:

7 February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

America's Most Wanted is where America Fights Back

Plot:

True crimes are dramatized in hopes that viewers can give information leading to the capture of the criminals.

Plot Keywords:

Criminal | Fugitive | True Crime | Law | Kidnapping

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 25

9:00 PM

Fox

Cast

John Walsh	...	Himself / ... (165 episodes, 1988-2009)
Don LaFontaine	...	Announcer (70 episodes, 1991-2008)

Also Known As:

"A.M.W." (USA) (short title)
"America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back" (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

60 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Aspen, Colorado, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The show's most spectacular success was the case of John List, a man who murdered his entire family in cold blood nearly twenty years earlier and was never caught. Using the standard dramatization and an amazingly accurate forensic sculpture to account for his age since his last known photograph, the show was instrumental in the identification and capture of the fugitive within one week of broadcasting the segment. List was captured on June 1, 1989 after having lived under the pseudonym Robert Clark in Denver, Colorado and Midlothian, Virginia. On April 12, 1990, he was convicted in a New Jersey court of five counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to five life terms in prison. On March 21, 2008 List died at age 82 in a Trenton, New Jersey prison from complications of pneumonia.

Quotes:

[Repeated Line]
John Walsh: And remember, you can make a difference.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "John Doe: Idaho (#1.8)" (2002)

One of the best shows you could watch today.

This show is truly one of the best, John Walsh must be one of the hardest working people in television today. The basic idea is to help capture criminals by profiling their cases and give facts about their habits in hopes of having a viewer see the person. I watch this every week, just in case I see one of the people profiled. Also profiled are missing children, which Walsh obviously put there on his own since his own son was murdered. It's hard to match this show, it's truly a great series. It's great that it's still broadcasting new episodes since its debut in 1988, a real sign of excellence.