By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, March 8, 2015
John Walsh's retirement was brief after hosting the long-running show "America's Most Wanted" for a quarter century on Fox, then Lifetime. About a year later in 2014, he signed on to do a similar show called "The Hunt" on Atlanta's CNN.
And now he's become a spokesman for the Justice Network, an Atlanta-based TV network that just debuted in January and can be seen in Atlanta on WXIA-TV's HD-3 channel and Comcast channel 213. The network apes the ID Network, focusing on recycled crime shows such as "Alaska State Troopers," "Body of Evidence" and "L.A. Forensics."
Walsh, 69, will come into Atlanta every few weeks and tape video talking about specific fugitives, PSAs that air hourly on the network along with photos of missing children.
"Nobody in the television business has the guts to commit time to show these pictures," he said recently while in Atlanta. After so much time on TV, he is a pro in front of the camera. He emotes just the right amount of anger, frustration and determination in his voice and facial expressions whenever he talks about criminals that disgust him, even when reading off a Teleprompter.
Walsh told me he's thrilled 'The Hunt" has worked on CNN. He admitted to being skeptical at first. It helped that one of the first featured fugitive ("a dirtbag child molester" as Walsh called him) was caught and killed thanks to the show. "I got to call the family [of the victim.] I got to say, 'You don't have to look over your shoulder anymore.' "
Ultimately, he said, four fugitives from the show's first eight episodes were captured or shot dead.
"The Hunt" has far better production values than "America's Most Wanted" and focuses on just one or two cases an hour. "Near the end, I thought 'America's Most Wanted' was feeling old and tired. It was getting formulaic," he said.
He also likes that CNN will repeat episodes, something Fox seldom did with 'AMW." That increases exposure.
"The Hunt" returns for a second season this summer after a successful eight-episode test run. CNN will give him 16 more episodes.
In the video below, I accidentally say Comcast Atlanta offers the Justice Network on 208. It's 213.
Walsh believes that even uncaught fugitives will get their due - after they're dead. "I believe in the Buddhist philosophy that you're held accountable for your actions," he said. Of course, he'd prefer they be held accountable in the here and now so they don't cause more destruction, especially pedophiles, rapists and serial killers.
He is very much a visible celebrity but not in a Kardashian way. People come up to him to talk about their own situations or to thank him for what he does.
On the other hand, he does get death threats. But Walsh said he doesn't live in fear of retribution by bad guys. "I believe it comes with the turf," he said. "People threaten cops. People threaten D.A.'s. I still believe these guys need to be caught and pay for what they've done."
He has to turn down a lot of cases offered to him. While he'll profile some of the FBI's most wanted, he also likes to help out small police departments in smaller towns who don't have the resources to chase down savvy fugitives. "We're like the court of last resort," he said.
The Justice Network is run by Steve Schiffman, former president of NatGeo. He now splits time between D.C. and Atlanta. He is familiar with the town: he worked at the Weather Channel in Atlanta from 1998 to 2002 as executive vice president for marketing and new media.
Lonnie Cooper, who runs the Atlanta-based marketing and talent agency CSE, wanted to create what is called in the industry a "multicast" network to use on the free digital channels the Federal Communications Commission opened up five years ago. Schiffman, who was consulting at the time, suggested a crime-oriented channel, noting how quickly ID Channel was growing on the cable side.
He figured Walsh was a no-brainer in terms of being their spokesman. Walsh's executive producer's child shared the same schools as Schiffman. He hooked Schiffman up with Walsh. And Walsh bought into the concept immediately.
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