History Series / AmericasMostWanted

* PointOfDivergence: A real-life version of it. Because one man (Ottis Toole) killed Adam Walsh, his father John Walsh would go onto host a show that would lead to the capture of more than twelve hundred criminals and recover more than sixty missing persons.

In January 2020, Fox (who retained ownership of the ''America's Most Wanted'' intellectual property after its former parent's merger with Creator/{{Disney}}) announced plans to revive the series, with a new host and a global reach versus the original series. A year later, it was announced that Elizabeth Vargas, formerly of ABC News, hosts the new revival which premiered on March 15, 2021.

In the fall of 1996, Fox cancelled the show; this would prove to be a short cancellation. Low ratings of the shows that replaced it -- combined with a massive effort from fans, numerous law enforcement and government officials, and ''the governors of 37 states'' -- successfully persuaded Fox to [[UnCanceled uncancel]] the show just six weeks later. The program was rechristened ''America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back'' upon its return, and the program resumed its regular Saturday night timeslot, paired with reality show ''Cops''; the two-hour ''Cops'' and ''AMW'' block was the longest unchanged primetime schedule in the history of American television.

* ForWantOfANail: A real-life version of it. Because one man (Ottis Toole) killed Adam Walsh, his father John Walsh would go onto host a show that would lead to the capture of more than twelve hundred criminals and recover more than sixty missing persons.

** Not really a jingle, but most anyone can recall 1-800-CRIME-TV as the show's call-in tip number. From 1988 to 1993 "TV" was the year number until enterprising people grabbed most of the numbers corresponding to the following years (also, it made more sense to keep the same number no matter the year rather than force tippers to remember yet another new number at the turn of the new year).

Later in 2013, Lifetime aired a one-shot special called ''John Walsh Investigates''. On July 13, 2014, John Walsh returned to television on a regular basis again with an all-new series on Creator/{{CNN}} entitled ''The Hunt with John Walsh''. ''The Hunt'' follows in the footsteps of ''AMW'' in giving criminals unwanted exposure to the public, though it does differ significantly from its predessessor; the series has a much slower pace to it and is presented in a documentary style, with each episode dedicating the entire hour to just one criminal profile (two at the most in some episodes). Like ''AMW'', ''The Hunt'' too has a toll-free hotline where viewers can leave tips regarding the whereabouts of the criminals featured, and one can still remain anonymous if they wish to.

* PhoneNumberJingle: Not really a jingle, but most anyone can recall 1-800-CRIME-TV as the show's call-in tip number. From 1988 to 1993 "TV" was the year number until enterprising people grabbed most of the numbers corresponding to the late 90's (also, it made more sense to keep the same number no matter the year rather than force tippers to remember yet another new number at the turn of the new year).

* PopStarComposer: The original theme was composed by The Other Two, the husband and wife team of Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris, of Music/NewOrder.

* CatchPhrase: "Remember, you ''can'' make a difference." And how true that is.
* CrimeReconstruction
* DareToBeBadass: See the CatchPhrase above.
* PaterFamilicide: John List, instead of admitting to his family that he lost his job and that they were in dire straits financially, murdered them, went into hiding under an alias, remarried and stayed on the run until 1989, when ''AMW'' ran a special on him. The special featured an aged bust of List that looked uncannily like the real deal, down to the glasses, by the late forensic sculptor Frank Bender, who'd studied personality profiles and pictures of List's aged parents.

* TrueCrime

In January 2020, Fox (who retained ownership of the ''America's Most Wanted'' intellectual property after its former parent's merger with Creator/{{Disney}}) announced plans to revive the series, with a new host and a global reach versus the original series. A year later, it was announced that Elizabeth Vargas, formerly of ABC News, will host the new revival, which has been set to premiere in March.

In January 2020, Fox (who retained ownership of the ''America's Most Wanted'' intellectual property after its former parent's merger with Creator/{{Disney}}) announced plans to revive the series, with a new host and a global reach versus the original series. Elizabeth Vargas, formerly of ABC News, will host the new revival, which will premiere in March.

In January 2020, Fox (who retained ownership of the ''America's Most Wanted'' intellectual property after its former parent's merger with Creator/{{Disney}}) announced plans to revive the series, with a new host and a global reach versus the original series. While it's expected to follow the original format closely, it is unknown if past cases will be touched upon (given that Disney [[ScrewedByTheLawyers owns the footage to the original program and Lifetime revival]]).

* PhoneNumberJingle: Not really a jingle, but most anyone can recall 1-800-CRIME-TV as the show's call-in tip number. In the first few years "TV" was the year number until enterprising people grabbed most of the numbers corresponding to the late 90's (also, it made more sense to keep the same number no matter the year rather than force tippers to remember yet another new number at the turn of the new year).

-->[[SigningOffCatchPhrase Until next time I'm John Walsh and remember, you CAN make a difference.]]!'''

-->[[SigningOffCatchPhrase Until next time I'm John Walsh and remember, you ''can'' make a difference.]]!"'''