Walker, Texas Ranger

Main characters

• Chuck Norris as Texas Ranger Sgt. Cordell Walker, a former Marine and a modern-day Ranger who believes in the Code of the Old West. He is a decorated Vietnam vet and a martial arts expert. He is the show's main protagonist. Appeared in all episodes.
• Clarence Gilyard as Texas Ranger Sgt. James "Jimmy" Trivette, Walker's partner and best friend. Appeared in all but two episodes.
• Sheree J. Wilson as Tarrant County Assistant D.A. Alexandra "Alex" Cahill, whom Walker dates for a few seasons and finally marries. Appeared in all but five episodes.
• Noble Willingham (Gailard Sartain pilot) as retired Texas Ranger Captain C.D. Parker, Walker's buddy and ex-partner who owns a bar-restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, and is the only one to address Walker by his first name Cordell regularly. Appeared in 155 episodes.
• Nia Peeples as Texas Ranger Sydney "Syd" Cooke, a rookie Ranger who joins Walker in Seasons 7 & 8. Appeared in 47 episodes.
• Judson Mills as Texas Ranger Francis Gage, another rookie Ranger who joins Walker in Seasons 7 & 8. Appeared in 46 episodes.
• Floyd Westerman (Apesanahkwat, Season 2) as Walker's paternal uncle Ray Firewalker (also known as Uncle Ray), who raised Cordell after his parents – John and Elizabeth Firewalker – were murdered. Ray disappeared at the end of Season 2 and is revealed to have died a few seasons later. Appeared in 14 episodes.

Supporting characters

• Marco Sanchez as Detective Carlos Sandoval, a detective for Dallas PD. Best friend of Trent Malloy. Often teamed up with Walker and Trivette in cases. Appeared in 16 episodes.
• Jimmy Wlcek as Trent Malloy, son of a pastor and former martial arts student of Walker. Black belt in Karate and runs both his own Dojo and Protection Agency. Often teamed up with Walker and Trivette in cases. Appeared in 13 episodes.
• Cynthia Dorn as M.E. Mary Williams, a medical examiner in most of the murder cases that occurred on the show.
• Vanessa Paul as Josie Martin. Ran 'H.O.P.E.' center created by Alex after a near-death experience. One of Alex's bridesmaids at Alex and Walker's wedding. Did not play a major role in her appearances.
• Frank Salsedo as White Eagle, the spiritual leader of the Cherokee reservation Walker grew up on. Debuted during Season 3.
• Rod Taylor as Gordon Cahill, the once-estranged father of Alex. Also an Attorney.
• Eloy Casados as Sheriff Sam Coyote, the sheriff of the Cherokee reservation and a very good friend of Walker.
• James Drury as Texas Ranger Captain Tom Price. He only appeared during the pilot season.
• Peter Onorati as Sergeant Vincent Rosetti, a New York Police Sergeant with a strong New York accent and a little arrogance.
• Terry Kiser as Charlie Brooks, a clumsy and fast-talking informant for Walker and Trivette.
• Robert Fuller as Ranger Wade Harper, a retired El Paso Texas Ranger who came on board to work for Walker and Trivette.
• Julia Nickson as Dr. Susan Lee

Nielsen ratings

The show was quite successful in the ratings throughout its run, ranking among the Top 30 programs from 1995 until 1999, and ranking in the Top 20 in both the 1995–1996 and 1998–1999 seasons.

• 1993–1994: 11.7 rating, No. 41
• 1994–1995: 11.2 rating, No. 41
• 1995–1996: 12.3 rating, No. 18
• 1996–1997: 11.0 rating, No. 24
• 1997–1998: 14.4 million viewers, No. 21
• 1998–1999: 14.4 million viewers, No. 15
• 1999–2000: 12.2 million viewers, No. 34
• 2000–2001: 10.3 million viewers, No. 62

Critical reception

In October 1993, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a C+.^[10]

Television critic Joe Queenan wrote "Touched By a Ranger", a semi-humorous roast of the series for TV Guide. He denounced WTR as "Boring and predictable...With plotlines that were old when James Arness was young, music that's basically a lethal fusion of the Batman and Mannix scores, acting that makes William Shatner seem like Leslie Howard, and dialogue that could stop The Dukes of Hazzard dead in its tracks, Walker Texas Ranger is a throwback to an innocent era when producers assumed that everybody watching television was dumb...I'm not sure they're even using a DP; it seems as if they just mount a camera on a tripod, and tell Chuck Norris to start kicking people's faces in for a solid hour...There's a lot of slow-motion during the fight scenes, so that you can see the predictably-incompetent drug-dealers getting kicked in the face from various angles; such is a bad idea, since Walker Texas Ranger already seems to be in slow-motion...Although the series is all but unwatchable, it does have one redeeming quality: Most of the episodes are scripted so that Chuck Norris doesn't need to talk much."

Television movies

CBS broadcast the television movie Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire, produced by Paramount Network Television (now CBS Television Studios), on October 16, 2005. Chuck Norris, Sheree J. Wilson and Judson Mills reprised their roles, and Clarence Gilyard shot a cameo for the movie but was not featured due to the filming's conflict with a long-planned family vacation. To fill the void, Judson Mills, who was not in the original script, returned to reprise the role of Francis Gage. Nia Peeples, who played the role of Sydney Cooke for Seasons 7 and 8, was also not featured in Walker's return to prime-time television. The explanation given was that producers decided not to follow much of the original Walker Texas Ranger series, as to give the movie a fresh look. Even the show's original opening credits with the theme "Eyes of a Ranger" performed by Chuck Norris, was absent from the TV movie.

Although the return of Walker Texas Ranger did not garner the ratings CBS had hoped for, indications were that CBS was green-lighting future Walker Texas Ranger "movie of the week" projects. But as of spring 2006, both CBS and the Norris camp have been silent as to the future of the franchise, leaving many to wonder if it will return. Trial by Fire ended with Sheree J. Wilson's character the victim of a courthouse shooting, leaving many viewers to believe that there would be a follow-up movie.^[17]

When they announced their fall 2006 prime-time schedule, CBS 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.

On May 15, 2007, CBS announced its fall line-up, but this did not include the return of the "Sunday Night Movie of the Week."

Sons of Thunder

Most episodes were based on true stories. 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.^[18]

Novels

Three Walker, Texas Ranger books, written by James Reasoner, were published by Berkley Publishing Group in 1999. The books are now out of print.

• Walker, Texas Ranger (1998, ISBN 0-425-16815-8)
• Hell's Half Acre (1999, ISBN 0-425-16972-3)
• Siege on the Belle (1999, ISBN 0-425-17112-4)

In other media

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". He explained since NBC had recently purchased Universal, he could now show clips from Walker Texas Ranger without having to pay any money. The joke was that he would pull a giant red lever, causing a random and comically awkward scene to play. Random scenes included Walker jumping out of a plane and punching a woman in the face, or being shot in the back while proposing, or Haley Joel Osment playing a boy who is first meeting the rest of Walker's friends, and suddenly interjects "Walker told me I have AIDS". Conan would go on to riff at the bizarre nature of the scene out of context. He did this primarily on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, which prompted the show's star, Chuck Norris in character as Walker, to make a surprise guest appearance by acting out a skit in parody of the action scenes from Walker, Texas Ranger.