America's Most Wanted, the longest-running program in the history of Fox, will no longer air as a regular series. Fox has canceled the show after 23 years. AMW will keep presence on the network next season via 4 quarterly two-hour specials. During a conference call this morning Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly said that "economically, it didn't make sense" to continue the show, which had not made money for awhile. Additionally, "for bueisness reasons we want to have a place for repeats," he said. Fox has been the only network to run a schedule of all-original series, with the other Big 3 nets airing encores on Saturday. AMW is produced by Fox TV Stations, and Reilly said the show's host and producer John Walsh is in talks with other divisions of News Corp. about ways to continue it elsewhere. So far, AMW has led to the capture of 1,151 fugitives.

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/

NO!!!!!

Too many people forget about this, but FOX originally cancelled AMW in September 1996. Then, just two months later (in Nov. 1996), after FOX saw a massive letter-writing campaign to save the show and weak ratings for the two sitcoms that had replaced it, FOX immediately brought AMW back on Saturday nights (this was when the "America Fights Back" subtitle started). I can only speculate if this same scenario will happen again eventually.

This is a great day....for criminals!! :eek: :rolleyes: :mad:

I hope John Walsh can shop the show to another network. The fact that it's owned by Fox will make it hard, though.

Has anyone seen a commercial for America's Most Wanted in the last several years? They haven't been advertising it!

This show is such a community service, it's a shame they plan to cancel it.

I hope John Walsh can shop the show to another network. The fact that it's owned by Fox will make it hard, though.

Unless, of course, it's a Fox-owned network. However, first-run syndication may not be out of the question. The Fox studio arm that John Walsh is talking to about the show's future is Twentieth Television, which is also a syndication company. Walsh recently remarked that AMW "could go into syndication big-time."

There are some TV shows that went from primetime to first-run syndication. Baywatch, Too Close For Comfort, Hee Haw, and Charles In Charge are just a few examples. Of course, whether AMW will join that list remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I have a feeling that first-run syndication may actually be the most realistic alternative outlet for the show.

By the way, I have already written to the Fox network to protest the cancellation of AMW.

In a follow-up to my post above, I have also written to my local Fox affiliate (WFXT Fox25) and the Fox network's studio arm 20th Television.

Too many people forget about this, but FOX originally cancelled AMW in September 1996. Then, just two months later (in Nov. 1996), after FOX saw a massive letter-writing campaign to save the show and weak ratings for the two sitcoms that had replaced it, FOX immediately brought AMW back on Saturday nights (this was when the "America Fights Back" subtitle started). I can only speculate if this same scenario will happen again eventually.


I definitely remember that campaign as if it were yesterday. And I certainly hope that the show will be saved again this go-round.

I definitely remember that campaign as if it were yesterday. And I certainly hope that the show will be saved again this go-round.

Same here on both counts. In 1996, I was among the many AMW viewers who wrote to protest the cancellation. In the three months since Fox's recent decision to cut the show and relegate it to a series of quarterly two-hour specials (the first of which will air on Saturday, October 29), I have written to them twice: First in May, second just a few days ago.

There been talks amw may move to Fox News

There been talks amw may move to Fox News

I've heard about that, too, but so far nothing has come of it. Admittedly, however, due to Fox's ownership of AMW, there is a restriction as to what channels could feasibly pick up the show. According to John Walsh, a stipulation is that AMW cannot be sold to NBC, ABC, or CBS. Hopefully, AMW will eventually come back as a regular weekly series somewhere (whether it's Fox again, another network, or first-run syndication), but in the meantime we'll have to settle for the quarterly 2-hour specials, the first of which is scheduled to air on Saturday, October 29.

One of the many things that I have learned about "save our show" campaigns is that writing to the network only once is not enough. It is generally advised that you write to the network again (maybe every three to six weeks, depending on whom you ask), so that the network doesn't assume that you have given up or that you no longer care about the TV show you are trying to save. And that's exactly why I wrote to Fox again last week.