It was a sad day in my house when this series aired its farewell episode. It was a ritual for my dad and I to sit down every Saturday night and watch Walker, Texas Ranger. I was teased endlessly in high school for being a Chuck Norris fan, but this series made it all worth it. I got my weekly dose of uncynical, clean-languaged action and got to laugh at the sometimes too-good-to-be-true situations. It was nice to have a show out there that didn't feel like it had to use foul language and sexual innuendos every ten seconds to appeal to their audience. I love Chuck Norris' multi-cultural character and the way he mixes Native American wisdom with kick-butt martial arts. Clarence Gilyard's character, James Trivette, was perfectly cast. No one I have talked to could imagine anyone but Clarence Gilyard playing Trivette. He was good in Matlock, but he was sensational in Walker, Texas Ranger. Noble Willingham made for a perfect CD Parker--in fact, he reminded me more than once of my Uncle Jimmy. Sheree J Wilson could not have been cast more perfectly as Assistant DA Alex Cahill, Walker's courtroom nemesis at first, then later his love interest. My favorites, though, have to be the later addition of Judson Mills as Francis Gage and Nia Peeples as Sydney Cooke. Could there have been any more romantic tension between those two?!?!? Judson Mills added a certain almost school-boy charm when it came to bantering with Sydney and Nia Peeples was perfect in the way she let Gage know he was utterly clueless when it came to women. My dad used to say "You know, you can only take so many boots to the face before you just don't get up anymore and I think Walker has exceeded his limit." I was sad to see this show end, but I'm glad that USA Network and the Hallmark Channel air reruns of it, even though they are mostly older episodes from the early '90's.
Review of Walker, Texas Ranger
Walker, Texas Ranger
(1993–2001)
Kick butt action-adventure the whole family can enjoy!
10 August 2006