Walker, Texas Ranger is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis.
The show is centered on Sergeant Cordell Walker (Norris), a Dallas–Fort Worth–based member of the Texas Rangers, a state-level bureau of investigation.
Parker (Gailard Sartain, pilot season; Noble Willingham, seasons 1–7), a veteran Ranger (later inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame) who worked with Walker (and is the only character on the show to address Walker by his first name Cordell on a regular basis) until retiring to operate a small restaurant and bar called "CD's Bar and Grill", a restaurant widely known in the series for its chili.
In season 7, two rookie Texas Rangers, Sydney Cooke (Nia Peeples), and Francis Gage (Judson Mills), are assigned under Walker and Trivette's command.
[13] Critic "Average Joe" Queenan thoroughly roasted the series, particularly over targeting a wider audience than suited for its late-night timeslot.
He called the show "...so corny and predictable that it appears to be in slow-motion even when it's not...With plotlines that were old when George Burns was young, acting that makes William Shatner seem like Marlon Brando, and dialogue that could stop The Dukes of Hazzard dead in its tracks...Most episodes of the series are completely unwatchable -- although, to the producers' credit, many are scripted so that Chuck Norris doesn't need to talk much...While Norris indeed has a number of successful and well-received screen projects under his belt, here is the first and only time I recall that he was trusted with performing his own theme music.
He is no Roy Orbison...I'm not sure they're even using a DP on this show; it seems that they just mount a camera on a tripod and tell Chuck to start kicking people's faces in for a solid hour, which he seems more than willing to do.
Even the show's original opening credits with the theme "Eyes of a Ranger" performed by Chuck Norris, was absent from the TV movie.
Trial by Fire ended with Sheree J. Wilson's character the victim of a courthouse shooting, leading many viewers to believe that there would be a follow-up movie.
[23] However, when CBS announced their fall 2006 prime-time schedule, they said that they would no longer be producing "Sunday Night Movie of the Week" projects, which severely impaired any hopes of Walker's return to television in the foreseeable future.
[citation needed] In June 2018, cast members Clarence Gilyard and Sheree J. Wilson expressed interest in reprising their roles in a potential revival of the series, particularly to address the cliffhanger at the end of the post-series film.
A short-lived series, Sons of Thunder, featured recurring character Carlos Sandoval, who resigns from his post with the Dallas police and teams up with childhood friend Trent Malloy (a protégé of Walker's), to start a private investigation firm.
[25] In September 2019, it was announced that a reboot of the series titled Walker was in development at CBS Television Studios from writer Anna Fricke, with Texas native Jared Padalecki attached to star.
Like the original, the reboot, in which Walker would get a female partner, will explore morality, family, and rediscovering our lost common ground.
The logline reads: "At the center of the series is Cordell Walker (Padalecki), a man finding his way back to his family while investigating crime in the state's most elite unit.
In a nod to the original series, Walker and his new partner — one of the only women in Texas Rangers' history — are the modern day heroes our world needs, following their own moral code to fight for what's right, regardless of the rules.
[29][30][31][32][33] In March 2020, Jeff Pierre, Violet Brinson and Kale Culley were cast as Trey Barnett, an Army medic and Micki's boyfriend and Stella and August, Walker's teenage kids.
The show has garnered a particular cult appreciation among Conan O'Brien fans, from one of his most popular segments called the "Walker Texas Ranger Lever".