America’s Most Wanted, with John Walsh hosting alongside his son Callahan, is back on Fox Monday, January 22. Every episode will see John and Callahan analyze the most harrowing criminal cases in the nation, and ask viewers to share any information they may have.
America’s Most Wanted debuted on Fox in 1988 and ran for 24 seasons. The show has helped capture nearly 1,200 criminals, according to Fox, and brought home over 50 missing children. Walsh, who refers to the show as “my life’s work,” told B+C the missing children are what moves him the most.
“My heart is torn apart by the abduction of children,” said Walsh, who was inspired to launch AMW when his son Adam was abducted from a Florida mall in 1981, and was murdered.
Walsh had been working on In Pursuit With John Walsh on Discovery when Fox and the FBI reached out about bringing back AMW. He dissolved his contract with Discovery, which he said was “wonderful” about letting him go. “They said, Fox wants you back, the FBI and the marshals want you back, you’ll be in primetime with millions of viewers,” he said.
America is facing a vastly different crime problem than it was during the show’s earlier iteration, Walsh said. “I know people know crime is rampant, but I don’t think they know to what extent,” he said.
He mentioned online crimes and the fentanyl issue as matters that “changed the whole dynamic” of crime in America. Walsh also mentioned movements to defund police, which he called “the craziest idea of all time” and our nation’s porous borders as factors in crime.
“It’s a much more violent country, much more violent,” he said. “The world has become a different place. I think we can make a serious contribution.”
When the show was announced late last year, Fox Entertainment unscripted president Allison Wallach called Walsh “a singular voice in a lifelong crusade to bring justice to victims and their families. It’s an honor to have America’s Most Wanted and John, along with Callahan, return to his original home at Fox, to continue this important work by empowering viewers to help capture some of the country’s most dangerous fugitives.”
Following His Father
Callahan is a child advocate for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Walsh said his son has worked for his production company for years, and is a co-host on In Pursuit with John Walsh, too. He works out of Palm Beach, Florida, Monday through Friday, then hops a plane to California to shoot the show.
Walsh described his son as “battle-tested.”
“He’s a hard-working guy who’s been exposed to it all,” Walsh added. “He knows the whole drill — how brutally tough it is to have a missing child.”
Walsh also schlepps from Florida to California to shoot America’s Most Wanted. He said he’d like to spend more time with his grandchildren, but there are bad guys to catch.
“When the FBI and the marshals call, and when Fox calls, it’s like being in the major leagues,” he said.
