Walker, Texas Ranger

Walker, Texas Ranger was a television show that ran from April, 1993 to May, 2001 during primetime on CBS. The show emphasized values such as abstaining from the use of drugs and participation in community service; it was also once considered to be the most violent show on television. Martial arts are shown prominently as the primary tool of law enforcement (albeit falsely) and occasionally as a tool for Walker and company to reach out to the community. It had about one pilot season and eight regular seasons although many fans consider the pilot season to be the first season which therefore gives the show nine seasons. Although it remained popular throughout much of its run, it was also criticized by some who found it unrealistic, melodramatic, and sappy.

Overview

The show stars Chuck Norris as a Texas Ranger named Cordell Walker, who lives in modern Dallas, Texas. The police unit he works in is the Department of Public Safety, the real-life name for the Texas state police force, the agency responsible for the modern Texas Rangers division. Ranger Walker shares values with the sheriffs from the Wild West, and was raised by a Native American named Ray Firewalker; Walker also fought in the Vietnam War as a part of the United States Marine Corps. He works with a partner, a former player for the Dallas Cowboys football team named James Trivette (played by Clarence Gilyard), who does things the more modern way. He works closely with the County Assistant District Attorney Alexandra "Alex" Cahill (played by Sheree J. Wilson), with whom he shares a mutual attraction. In the past, he worked with former Ranger C.D. Parker (played by the late Noble Willingham), now the owner of a small restaurant and bar.

Related Topics:
Chuck Norris - Texas Ranger - Dallas, Texas - Wild West - Native American - Vietnam War - United States Marine Corps - Dallas Cowboys - Football - Clarence Gilyard - Sheree J. Wilson - Noble Willingham

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Walker, Texas Ranger was known for formulaic plots characteristic of television shows in previous decades. Deus ex machina was used liberally and often in each episode, especially towards the climactic scenes when Ranger Walker and his posse would arrive wherever the culmination of the antagonist's plans took place just as their plans would be completed only to quickly thwart these plans. Walker was an extremely popular show for CBS on Saturday night. The following were notable events in the series:

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• Alex Cahill, Cordell Walker's girlfriend, was often kidnapped.
• In one episode, a one-million dollar bounty was placed on Cordell Walker's head.
• After Walker could not stop a middle-school boy from committing suicide, he single-handedly drove gang violence out of said boy's school and pressured the school's administration to make sweeping reforms, including a school uniform policy.
• In one episode, Ranger Walker was murdered by weapon smugglers after being chased by them in a sting operation gone bad for an entire episode, only for it to be revealed that the whole episode was a dream.
• Walker engages in undercover operations in various episodes. Walker always goes to get evidence to convict the actual leader of the antagonists so there is no chance for that their illegal activities could start up again elsewhere.
• Walker had a crossover episode with the series Martial Law. In part 1 (on Martial Law), Walker goes to LA and teams up with Sammo Law (played by Sammo Hung) and his Major Crimes unit to take down a hate crime leader named Cliff Eagleton, after Eagleton murdered a fellow Texas Ranger. In Part 2 (on Walker), when the Eagleton Crew frees their leader from custody shortly after Walker brings him back to Texas, Sammo Law comes to Texas to assist the rangers in bringing Eagleton down.
• Every major character of Walker has been put in the hospital, including Walker himself.
• The climactic Walker storyline, containing 4 parts, involves Walker heading a taskforce to bring down an infamous criminal known as the Chairman, who has been aiding crime lords through various activities such as exposing and killing undercover federal agents and tracking down and killing witnesses in the witness protection program. The taskforce is composed of Walker, Trivette, Sydney, and Gage along with Vincent Rosetti, a New York cop (temporarily assigned as Trivette's partner), and Buzz Lee, a computer hacker.
• Only two Walker antagonists, Victor La Rue and Caleb Hooks, would come back to get revenge on Walker in later episodes.
• Occasionally when the antagonists learn that the law is on them, they try to leave town or close down their illegal operations for awhile before they are discovered.
• Walker over numerous occasions has used the same line "Yeah I Know" when he agrees with someones point or suspicion.
• In various episodes the plot centers around Hayes Cooper a legendary Texas Ranger from the Old West, who is also played by Chuck Norris in a dual role. The other major actors of Walker have also done dual roles as characters in these Hayes Cooper stories, although some of the actors were only able to appear in them just once.
• Several episodes include Walker talking to or interacting with animals, either coercing them to disengage an attack by staring them down (in one case, a large bear), directing them to do complex tasks (having his horse remove scorpions from his chest) or using their knowledge for his benefit (a soaring hawks aerial sight).
• Walker interacts with a sentient computer in one episode, using the machine to direct him to a kidnapped boy. The computer, although fabricated in the mid-1990's, could comprehend emotions and display them itself.
• On vacations, Walker (or an associate of Walker) inadvertently stumbles upon an illicit enterprise (i.e. drugs, arms smuggling), which requires Walker's intervention and ultimate destruction of said enterprise. Usually, the climax happens the day before Walker returns to his post in Dallas.
• Walker usually shows up in the nick of time to stop the antagonist when he/she is about to commit a cruel or immoral act (ex. Alex who once was going to get horsewhipped).
• Only one Episode had a reference that Walker was previously engaged to a woman named Ellen Garrett, whom liked to call Cordell Walker "Cord". She was murdered by a man named Vince Pike because Walker and CD (Who was Walker's partner at the time) were getting too close to his illegal operations. Walker took it personally and took Pike down and then it took awhile for Walker's mental state to return to normal. Ten Years later Pike came back and tried to get revenge on Walker by targetting his friends. As a result CD and Trivette were put in the hospital and Alex was nearly killed in the same way as Ellen. But in the end Walker took down Pike again.
• Actor Marshall R. Teague has appeared in a couple of episodes in various seasons as the main antagonist that Walker usually has to take down. One unique fact is that this has included the main antagonist in both the original pilot episode and the series finale episodes.

Changes Over the Years

Over the years the show ran, many changes were made:

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• In the first episode of the pilot season "One Riot, One Ranger" which was two hours (Later condensed into two parts) the role of CD Parker was played by Gailard Sartain. Noble Willingham joined the cast at the beginning of the second season (aka the first regular season).
• In early episodes, Ranger Walker drove a GMC truck, and in later episodes, he drove a Dodge Ram.
• After much criticism for the amount of violence shown in the show over the years, the number of violent acts in each episode was reduced.
• An increased use of Christianity symbolism and family issues, sometimes focusing on children with Walker assisting them through a crisis. This has also included Alex opening up the H.O.P.E (Help Our People Excel) Center during the seventh season, which lasted for the remainder of the show.
• For the last two seasons, two young characters, Rangers Sydney Cook (played by Nia Peeples) and Francis Gage (played by Judson Mills), were added to the cast.
• Mid-eighth season, Noble Willingham left the show to purse a career in Congress. As a result all future episodes after his removal from the Opening credits only resulted in references to his character CD, whom would never appear again (This also includes the references to CD's death).
• In the last season of the series, Cordell Walker weds Alex Cahill and the two of them have a daughter named Angela.