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''America's Most Wanted'' is a long-running TV Show produced by 20th Century Fox . Its purpose is to profile and assist law enforcement in the apprehension of Fugitive s wanted for various crimes, including Murder , Rape , Child Molestation , White Collar Crime , Armed Robbery , Gang Violence , many of which who are currently on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. HISTORY The idea for America’s Most Wanted originally came from a German show '' Aktenzeichen XY... Ungelöst '' ( Ger. ''file number XY... unsolved'') that first aired in 1967, and the British show '' Crimewatch UK '', first aired in 1984, 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. Within four days of the first broadcast, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive David James Roberts was captured as a direct result. He was a convicted killer who had recently escaped from prison. This demonstrated the effectiveness of the show's ''"Watch Television, Catch Criminals"'' premise to skeptical law enforcement agencies. Ten weeks later, the program premiered nationwide on the Fox network and became the fledgling network's first hit series. Since its debut, it has become the longest-running series on the Fox Network. ''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 much lower than that, but the show's reality-style format and nearly instantaneous captures (some fugitives were captured before the episode's final credits rolled) contributed to its success. After the program’s pilot aired, a lengthy search was conducted, and John Walsh was selected as the host of the show. Walsh gained publicity after his six-year-old son, Adam Walsh , was kidnapped and murdered in 1981, and he parlayed that into the creation of the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children . 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 September 9 , 2007 , 959 fugitives have been captured and 53 missing persons (including children) have been recovered alive as a direct result of viewer tips. Some of the most notorious captures include suspected killers Shawn Windsor and Michael Brashar, the Texas Seven , as well as Elizabeth Smart’s abductors Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. The show was canceled for a month and a half in the fall of 1996 when Fox decided to air a Saturday night sitcom block consisting of '' combination has made 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 2002, the show did a special episode focusing on the Serial Sniper Shootings in the Washington, D.C. area. In the new millennium, America’s Most Wanted has seen continued success. Currently in its 21st season, AMW is closing in on 1000 captures. LOCAL VERSIONS OF ''AMW''
In addition to Fox affiliates, KZTV , A CBS affiliate in Corpus Christi, TX runs a segment called "Corpus Christi's Most Wanted" each Monday. The logo for this segment bears a resemblance to that of the one for ''AMW'', though the background is that of One Shoreline Plaza in Downtown Corpus Christi. 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, which, coincidentally, was what the number had originally been in 1988). AMW DIRTY DOZEN The AMW Dirty Dozen is a list of the most notorious fugitives that have been reviewed on the show that are currently at large. It is similar in function, though not analogous, to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, though three of the Dirty Dozen are on the FBI list. These are the current Dirty Dozen. They are in order as presented on the AMW website; the list is not ranked.
15 SECONDS OF SHAME 15 Seconds of Shame is a segment (approximately one minute in length) where the show features three or four fugitives that are currently on the run, each in their own 15-second briefing. The run-up shows the charges against the fugitives, and where they might be. Aliases, tattoos and character quirks are also mentioned in the profiles. TRIVIA Cases that are international or have some international connection Many of the series' cases have some connection outside the United States or have not taken place in the United States at all. The first show that aired after September 11, 2001 was 2 hours and focused mainly on Terrorism . The series' first international capture was in Nova Scotia in 1989. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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