America's Most Wanted Just Entertainment
It's funny. America's Most Wanted claims to be so serious in catching dangerous criminals. John Walsh in his book, "Public Enemies", talks about how the show and staff take every case seriously. That it's personal. That they are there to help victims, blah blah blah.
If you look at the Trademark for America's Most Wanted, it is described as an "entertainment" television show.
America's Most Wanted and John Walsh claim they would like to air all parent's cases where their child has gone missing, But they claim that they just can't air all of them. This is probably true.
However, I know a lady, who's child, Gayle Marks has been missing for years. She wrote to AMW and to John Walsh many times, asking them to air her child's case. In one of the letters, they told her, "Your case does not have enough twists and turns to put on our show."
Can you imagine how she felt? No, you cannot, unless your child is missing.
Yet, AMW can air the case below;
A man who helped make famous the songs `YMCA` and `In the Navy` will soon be featured on the television show `America's Most Wanted,'' after failing to appear in a San Mateo County courtroom for his sentencing in October, according to San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
According to Wagstaffe, a crew from the criminal-busting TV show has taped a segment on Victor Willis, 54, the original policeman from the musical group the Village People.
Willis was pulled over around 11 p.m. on July 11 in Daly City for an unspecified traffic violation in the area of Bayshore Boulevard and Geneva Avenue, according to police reports.
After being stopped, Willis was found to be in possession of 3.23 grams of cocaine. When questioned by officers, Willis reportedly gave a false name -- his brother's -- and had a fake license, the district attorney's office reported.
Willis previously accepted a plea bargain with a maximum 16-month term in state prison, and enrollment in a drug and alcohol treatment program, according to Wagstaffe.
According to Wagstaffe, America's Most Wanted staff indicated the show featuring the segment on Willis would air sometime in February.
Because this guy is famous, they will be featuring him, yet do not have time for someone's missing child! parents whose child has been featured on the show will certainly defend them and tell you how great they are, but ask those parents whose child is missing and AMW has told them that their case cannot be aired, what they think of this feature on one of the Village People.
This guy is wanted because he's a drug addict who didn't show up for court. Big deal. Not a dangerous criminal where we need to get them off the streets right away. Not a child sex predator that might harm children if he is not caught right away.
Instead, this segment is about ratings, even though the guy isn't much of a celebrity and it's doubtful he will increase their ratings much.
So, in February, the mother of Gayle Marks, who still has the letter from AMW telling her that her daughter's case isn't good enough material for their show, will be watching them air the case of the missing village idiot instead.
by Chris McElroy
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6 Comments:
That is really sad to hear about Americas Most Wanted. I know the market penetration would be much lower but have you ever thought about public access to help promote your organization.
Yes, we are doing a 6 part series on cabletap tv here in Miami and I regularly do interviews for cable tv here as well.
We've turned down a couple of pilots for tv shows because they were too much about entertainment and not enough about reality.
Reality tv isn't really reality tv if you get my drift.
Chris McElroy
http://www.kidsearchnetwork.org
good site
good site
good site
You know, at the very least AMW could post pictures of missing children/adults at the end of every show with a brief description of the circumstances. Someone somewhere knows something and if they see it on national TV they might get a conscience or start feeling paranoid and turn themselves in. It's only fair Gayle's mom finds out what happened to her daughter. It's been way too long.
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