7 ms·

> would he be remembered anywhere as well? You underestimate how popular Walker, Texas Ranger was. It wasn't pulling ratings like Seinfeld, ER, or Friends, bu

by petcat 7mo ago

> would he be remembered anywhere as well? You underestimate how popular Walker, Texas Ranger was. It wasn't pulling ratings like Seinfeld, ER, or Friends, but it was a solid primetime staple for almost a decade. I never watched it myself, but the 50+ demo loved it.

MBCook 7mo ago
And he would be known by those people. I remember him being famous in the 90s. Would the people who grew up in the early 2000s, or especially 2010s, know much of anything about him? I mean how much do younger people know about Scott Baio or the Corys or Candice Bergen these days?
- spencerflem 7mo ago
  Haha haven’t heard of either of those but I do know that when Chuck Norris does pushups he pushes the Earth down
  - leephillips 7mo ago
    We all do. That’s the only way you can do a pushup. It would be more impressive to say that when Chuck Norris does pushups, he violates conservation of momentum and the Earth does not move.
- ben7799 7mo ago
  You might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any of them. His career lasted far longer. He had big movie appearances for 30 years, none of those people accomplished that. Norris' first movie role was in 1968, first big credited appearance was 1972, Walker Texas Ranger finished in 2001.
  - allturtles 7mo ago
    > You might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any of them. I think that's a hard argument to make. Candace Bergen's career was just as long. Her first movie role was 1966, she was nominated for an Oscar in 1979, and she was on a popular sitcom from 1988 to 1998 that won her five Emmies and attracted national commentary after criticism from the Vice President. I was a kid in the 80s and 90s and to me even then Chuck Norris was a B-movie self-parody joke character. He was not an A-list "action star" in the sense that Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or even Van Damme were.
- kakacik 7mo ago
  The dude was a badass, 6 time undefeated karate world champion (!!!), created his own variant of karate mixed with korean martial arts, was a good friend with Bruce Lee and that scene in Colloseum - probably the coolest thing I saw as a kid growing up behind iron curtain... not many actors can have such a resume on top of their acting career. Those who cared would/will know him regardless. But obviously those people would be relatively few and far apart.
  - smartmic 7mo ago
    An immense amount of time, dedication and talent must have went into all those achievements. This requires mastery of body and mind at an exceptional level. Putting aside all jokes and acting roles, the martials arts is where he earned my full respect and that will also stick in my memory about him.
  - beAbU 7mo ago
    He had is own line of denims, with extra stretchy crotches. Makes roundhouse kicking baddies in the face easier.
  - lern_too_spel 7mo ago
    "World champion" is an embellishment, but he was a strong point fighter within North America. His six championships were for a tournament that crowned self-titled "Professional [weight class] Karate Champions", with the "World" embellishment added later. To be fair, people from other countries did occasionally appear at these tournaments, but there weren't Japanese fighters there, and Japan dominates the gold medal count for the WKF World Karate Championship that started in 1970.
    - pamcake 7mo ago
      Reminds of King of Kong and those arcade and video game "World Championships" in 80s/90s basically only involving Americans.
rayiner 7mo ago
I loved that show! I was a teenager. Peak 1990s.
PoignardAzur 7mo ago
Maybe for people in the US. Internationally? I haven't watched a single episode of WTR, I don't know anyone who has, but everyone knows who Chuck Norris was.
- pingou 7mo ago
  It was quite popular in France.
- flagos10 7mo ago
  In France, it was popular enough that everybody knew Texas ranger before the Chuck Norris jokes.
  - johnisgood 7mo ago
    Same in Hungary.
  - trizoza 7mo ago
    Same in Slovakia
  - riffraff 7mo ago
    Same in Italy, it was prime time TV for a few years. Not overly popular, but many people already knew him from the Bruce Lee era, so it had a following by default.
  - RajT88 7mo ago
    Lots of fans in the Philippines, apparently.
  - sameerds 7mo ago
    India too!
  - mmmuhd 7mo ago
    We used to watch lot's of chuck Norris films back then here in Nigeria, I can't even remember the titles, but all we knew was chuck Norris alone can defeat a whole country's army. We used to think one American soldier can defeat a whole army.
beAbU 7mo ago
Any person from South Africa from that era will have a certain tv announcement permanently etched in their memories. It goes something like: "Friday night is action night with Walker Texas Ranger"
UncleOxidant 7mo ago
The only time I ever saw Walker,Texas Ranger was when I was living in Italy for a few months in the aughts. It was dubbed in Italian. Apparently it was popular there.
calmbonsai 7mo ago
Somehow, I don't think he'll be remembered for Karate Kommandos ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6hb602588 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6hb602588
BrandoElFollito 7mo ago
Never heard about this series in France. I discovered him through the jokes. I am 55
TheGRS 7mo ago
Personally I was at a prime age watching a lot of Conan O'Brien's Late Night show and one of his best skits was the Walker Texas Ranger Lever. They would pick the most ridiculous clips from the show and just run them out of context. IIRC Chuck Norris even showed up on the show one time to give him a "stern talking to". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8 Also, he fought Bruce Lee! One of my favorite face-offs ever filmed, esp in the martial arts movie genre. Not many actors who could say that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTyJhbTxxo&pp=ygUZY2h1Y2sgbm9ycmlzIHZzIGJydWNlIGxlZQ%3D%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTyJhbTxxo&pp=ygUZY2h1Y2sgb...
jcmfernandes 7mo ago
It was super popular in Portugal.
agumonkey 7mo ago
I can report that french reddit thread all mention Walker Texas ranger all along the page. These Sunday lunch shows hit different.

by petcat 7mo ago

MBCook 7mo ago

And he would be known by those people. I remember him being famous in the 90s. Would the people who grew up in the early 2000s, or especially 2010s, know much of anything about him? I mean how much do younger people know about Scott Baio or the Corys or Candice Bergen these days?

spencerflem 7mo ago
Haha haven’t heard of either of those but I do know that when Chuck Norris does pushups he pushes the Earth down
- leephillips 7mo ago
  We all do. That’s the only way you can do a pushup. It would be more impressive to say that when Chuck Norris does pushups, he violates conservation of momentum and the Earth does not move.
ben7799 7mo ago
You might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any of them. His career lasted far longer. He had big movie appearances for 30 years, none of those people accomplished that. Norris' first movie role was in 1968, first big credited appearance was 1972, Walker Texas Ranger finished in 2001.
- allturtles 7mo ago
  > You might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any of them. I think that's a hard argument to make. Candace Bergen's career was just as long. Her first movie role was 1966, she was nominated for an Oscar in 1979, and she was on a popular sitcom from 1988 to 1998 that won her five Emmies and attracted national commentary after criticism from the Vice President. I was a kid in the 80s and 90s and to me even then Chuck Norris was a B-movie self-parody joke character. He was not an A-list "action star" in the sense that Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or even Van Damme were.
kakacik 7mo ago
The dude was a badass, 6 time undefeated karate world champion (!!!), created his own variant of karate mixed with korean martial arts, was a good friend with Bruce Lee and that scene in Colloseum - probably the coolest thing I saw as a kid growing up behind iron curtain... not many actors can have such a resume on top of their acting career. Those who cared would/will know him regardless. But obviously those people would be relatively few and far apart.
- smartmic 7mo ago
  An immense amount of time, dedication and talent must have went into all those achievements. This requires mastery of body and mind at an exceptional level. Putting aside all jokes and acting roles, the martials arts is where he earned my full respect and that will also stick in my memory about him.
- beAbU 7mo ago
  He had is own line of denims, with extra stretchy crotches. Makes roundhouse kicking baddies in the face easier.
- lern_too_spel 7mo ago
  "World champion" is an embellishment, but he was a strong point fighter within North America. His six championships were for a tournament that crowned self-titled "Professional [weight class] Karate Champions", with the "World" embellishment added later. To be fair, people from other countries did occasionally appear at these tournaments, but there weren't Japanese fighters there, and Japan dominates the gold medal count for the WKF World Karate Championship that started in 1970.
  - pamcake 7mo ago
    Reminds of King of Kong and those arcade and video game "World Championships" in 80s/90s basically only involving Americans.

rayiner 7mo ago

I loved that show! I was a teenager. Peak 1990s.

PoignardAzur 7mo ago

Maybe for people in the US. Internationally? I haven't watched a single episode of WTR, I don't know anyone who has, but everyone knows who Chuck Norris was.

pingou 7mo ago
It was quite popular in France.
flagos10 7mo ago
In France, it was popular enough that everybody knew Texas ranger before the Chuck Norris jokes.
- johnisgood 7mo ago
  Same in Hungary.
- trizoza 7mo ago
  Same in Slovakia
- riffraff 7mo ago
  Same in Italy, it was prime time TV for a few years. Not overly popular, but many people already knew him from the Bruce Lee era, so it had a following by default.
- RajT88 7mo ago
  Lots of fans in the Philippines, apparently.
- sameerds 7mo ago
  India too!
- mmmuhd 7mo ago
  We used to watch lot's of chuck Norris films back then here in Nigeria, I can't even remember the titles, but all we knew was chuck Norris alone can defeat a whole country's army. We used to think one American soldier can defeat a whole army.

beAbU 7mo ago

Any person from South Africa from that era will have a certain tv announcement permanently etched in their memories. It goes something like: "Friday night is action night with Walker Texas Ranger"

UncleOxidant 7mo ago

The only time I ever saw Walker,Texas Ranger was when I was living in Italy for a few months in the aughts. It was dubbed in Italian. Apparently it was popular there.

calmbonsai 7mo ago

Somehow, I don't think he'll be remembered for Karate Kommandos ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6hb602588 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6hb602588

BrandoElFollito 7mo ago

Never heard about this series in France. I discovered him through the jokes. I am 55

TheGRS 7mo ago

Personally I was at a prime age watching a lot of Conan O'Brien's Late Night show and one of his best skits was the Walker Texas Ranger Lever. They would pick the most ridiculous clips from the show and just run them out of context. IIRC Chuck Norris even showed up on the show one time to give him a "stern talking to". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8 Also, he fought Bruce Lee! One of my favorite face-offs ever filmed, esp in the martial arts movie genre. Not many actors who could say that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTyJhbTxxo&pp=ygUZY2h1Y2sgbm9ycmlzIHZzIGJydWNlIGxlZQ%3D%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTyJhbTxxo&pp=ygUZY2h1Y2sgb...

jcmfernandes 7mo ago

It was super popular in Portugal.

agumonkey 7mo ago

I can report that french reddit thread all mention Walker Texas ranger all along the page. These Sunday lunch shows hit different.