America's Most Wanted Gets Canceled—Again

John Walsh's crime-fighting reality series is not being renewed by Lifetime

By Shawna Malcolm Mar 29, 2013 7:15 PMTags
America's Most Wanted, John WalshTwentieth Century Fox Film Corp

America's Most Wanted is no longer on Lifetime's most-wanted list.

The cable network, which has aired the show since 2011, has opted not to renew AMW, E! News has confirmed. TV Guide magazine first reported the cancellation.

It's not all bad news for John Walsh, though: Lifetime is currently developing a pilot for another potential crime-fighting series, tentatively titled John Walsh Investigates, with the AMW host and executive producer. 

This is not the first time AMW has met with cancellation. Launched in 1988 on the then-fledgling network Fox, AMW ran for 24 seasons there before getting the ax and being revived by Lifetime. Throughout its groundbreaking run, the series used its reality-show powers for good, ultimately leading to the capture of 1,202 fugitives worldwide.

While still considered a valuable tool by law enforcement in helping to find fugitives, AMW had not recently captured a large audience on Lifetime. The series' final episode, which aired in October 2012, averaged just 807,000 viewers.