America's Most Wanted
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- 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.
The program was conceived by then-Fox executive Stephen Chao and Executive Producer Michael Linder in the summer of 1987 and 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.
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. The 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 July 8th, 2006, 896 fugitives have been captured and 50 missing persons (including children) have been recovered alive. 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 was cancelled for a month and a half in the fall of 1996 when Fox decided to air a Saturday night sitcom block consisting of Married with Children and new series Love and Marriage. 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. 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.
The main premise of the show is based on the German show Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst (File XY... Unsolved), which has been airing since 1967, and the BBC's Crimewatch UK.
Partial Spin-offs
- On Fox 25 (WFXT-TV, Boston), They periodically air a feature "Massachusetts Most Wanted" on their 10:00 news after AMW.
- 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), They air a segement during their 10:00 newscast after AMW called "Capital Region's Most Wanted"
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.External links
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