Since the brutal abduction and murder of his son in 1981, John Walsh has been laser focused as a victim rights advocate, using his groundbreaking Fox show "America's Most Wanted" to capture more than 1,200 fugitives and find 61 missing children over a quarter century.
After Fox cancelled "AMW" in 2011 year, Lifetime tried it for a year but it wasn't a good fit.
Walsh's show was dead again. But his pursuit of criminals has resumed under a new name ("The Hunt") on a new network (CNN) debuting Sunday at 9 p.m.
He took a year off from TV for the first time since 1988. But he quickly got antsy as law enforcement and victims'' families would constantly approach him asking him to keep fighting the good fight. And TV networks were still interested.
"I had a lot of offers," Walsh said. But CNN president "Jeff Zucker has been a friend of mine for years." Zucker suggested Walsh do a version of "America's Most Wanted" for CNN, with potential global reach.
Walsh respected Zucker and CNN so he bit. Television, Walsh said, remains a powerful medium to capture eyeballs and hopefully capture criminals, too. And given that it's 2014, he said CNN will include social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook to assist in the hunt.
"The Hunt" uses the same production company (Zero Point Zero) as CNN's top-rated Emmy-winning program "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown."
As a result, "The Hunt" is stylistically more refined and contemplative than "America's Most Wanted." There are re-enactments but they err on the side of subtle. And instead of profiling five to 10 criminals an hour, CNN's weekly program will do just one or two.
"I always believe you can make television with dignity and integrity, not salacious, not gratuitous," Walsh said. "We walk that fine line. The whole objective is to get people off their couches. 'Hey, I think I know that guy. He cut my lawn last week!' We want them to pick up the phone, but we're not there to terrorize them."
Tipsters, he notes, can always be anonymous: "Cops don't answer the phone - only our trained hotline operators and webmasters."
Ultimately, Walsh hopes fans of "America's Most Wanted" will come over to CNN and try this new-fangled version. "I love this partnership," he said. "I hope it works. I hope people who are fans of CNN can deal with some interesting reality television."
The first episode Sunday focuses on fugitive Shane Miller, who allegedly murdered his wife and two daughters in a small town in California after a long history of domestic violence, then disappeared last year. Walsh provides occasional commentary. "Every woman should be respected," he says on the program with his signature bluntness. "If you hit or abuse women, you are not brave. You are a coward."
Walsh isn't shy expressing his opinion on the sensitive issue of gun control either. In a press conference Monday, he said he isn't a fan of the NRA despite being a gun owner and hunter.
"We have a serious problem with guns in this country, and we refuse to address it," Walsh said to reporters. "The NRA solution to arm every grammar school 80-year-old teacher with a gun is absolutely ludicrous."
TV preview
"The Hunt," 9 p.m. Sundays, CNN, starting July 13, 2014
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