OT: AMW

Tonight's America's Most Wanted on Fox is the last for the weekly crime-fighting series, but it's not the end of AMW.

The weekly AMW newsletter says four two-hour specials will be aired next season.

Four specials a year? That will take a lot of pressure off of the bad guys who have been looking over their shoulders weekly for the 24 years John Walsh has been hosting the show.

The AMW newsletter says:

"As you may have heard, this Saturday night will be the final series episode of America's Most Wanted. The show, however, is planning to produce four specials throughout the next year, so the quest for justice is not over yet.

"We thank all of you who have watched us week after week over the past 24 seasons. It has been a pleasure to serve this country as well as you, the viewer."

Nothing lasts forever, but AMW, a series that assisted police forces around the world with unsolved crimes and manhunts, including Canada, is needed now more than ever.

Four times a year just doesn't cut it.

Take a read of online stories for the mood of viewers and police and a campaign to keep AMW on air weekly at Fox, or another network. Here or here.

"I'm fighting hard to keep this franchise going," Walsh, 65, told the Associated Press. "It's a television show that gets ratings AND saves lives, and we'll find somewhere to keep going. We're not done."

No word from Fox on the fate of the AMW website.

As for Walsh, the father of a murdered six-year-old boy, if he can't save AMW, he should be hired by the Obama administration for a role in the fight against crime.

Meanwhile, Fox will no doubt fill the Saturday night AMW slot with mindless - and cheaper - fluff.