It's been nearly a decade since the program has been off the air, “America’s Most Wanted” returns to its home network, Fox, with an Elizabeth Vargas-hosted revival.
And while the show is returning at a time when we’ve hit peak true-crime TV, the new face of “America’s Most Wanted” says it’s bringing one thing to the table that none of those other shows can: offering “viewers the chance to actually do something” — and in real-time, too.
Does “America’s Most Wanted” have a place in 2021? The TV program debuted in 1988 drawing on viewers’ fears of rising murder rates and promising a way to help police find fugitives from justice.
The producers are rebooting the show, with a different host and new technology, including 3D avatars utilizing decades-old arrest mugshots. They are confronting new questions: Will this new and improved program promote misidentification and vigilantism? And how will the American viewer react to this artifact of a different cultural moment?
