Genres: Action | Drama
Language: English
Country: USA
Runtime: 45 min | Argentina: 60 min
He was a cop and good at his job, but he committed the ultimate sin, and testified against other cops gone bad -- cops that tried to kill him, but got the woman he loved. Framed for murder, now he prowls the badlands: an outlaw hunting outlaws, a bounty hunter ... a RENEGADE"
Along with Chuck Norris' Walker, Texas Ranger, Stephen J. Cannell's Renegade became popular back in the mid-1990s with stories of morality and good aganist evil, marking a return of the old-school Western genre since the days of television favorites like Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman, and Wanted: Dead or Alive.
Airing for five successful seasons (four in syndication, one on USA Network), Cannell created Renegade and co-starred with series lead Lorenzo Lamas in the recurring role of Donald "Dutch" Nixon, the corrupt and ambitious antagonist who framed former undercover cop Reno Raines for the murder of a fellow police officer that was also on the take. Raines teams up with Bobby Sixkiller (Branscombe Richmond) and his sister Cheyenne (Kathleen Kinmont) and becomes Vincent Black, operative for Sixkiller Enterprises, a bounty-hunting service.
Whereas Walker continues to cement Norris' iconic reputation as the John Wayne of martial arts, Renegade is a modern-day version of one of the greatest Western heroes and television shows of all time -- the Masked Man known as The Lone Ranger.
The main plot for every Renegade episode week after week is this: Reno Raines/Vincent Black travels throughout the United States as a bounty hunter dedicated to bringing criminals to justice. Sometimes, though, the people he's assigned to capture may not be guilty, and he sets out to prove their innocence because their situation is similar to his, as he continues to seek evidence that will restore his name and reputation while staying one step ahead of the law and Dixon. Still, wherever there's crime and corruption in any town or city, he is ready to hop on his Harley and ride to the rescue, for justice is his only reward.
There was no official resolution on Renegade, for it somewhat ended on a cliff-hanger in 1997 after 110 episodes with Reno and Bobby going after their biggest bounty of all: Donald "Dutch" Nixon. Still, it remains one of the fan favorites from the late Stephen J. Cannell, who died last fall from complications of melanoma at his Pasadena home; Saturday would have been his 70th birthday.
