Say what you like about its moralizing, politics, and stance on the use of powerful side kicks and elbow drops in the pursuit of justice, but Walker, Texas Ranger was a rerun and syndication beast. Running for 203 episodes (and a movie), the Chuck Norris series solidified its star as one of TV’s true marathon runners, well before he became the stuff of the internet’s most tired and primitive memes.
Now, though, Norris is claiming he isn’t getting his due for the series’ enduring appeal; according to Page Six, he’s suing Sony TV and the show’s original network, CBS, for as much as $30 million, claiming that the distributors failed to pay him “past and future license fees” for their usage of the show. The lawsuit also claims that the companies intentionally shunted the series onto on-demand streaming networks, rather than TV or DVDs, as a way to cheat Norris out of the associated licensing money. (A claim that possibly ignores the fact that 3 a.m. Netflix bingeing is really the ideal way to take in Chuck Norris repeatedly kicking evil drug dealers in the face.)
Luckily for fans of lever-based comedy everywhere, though, Norris doesn’t appear to have any beef with NBCUniversal; thus, we can continue to enjoy these clips of Conan O’Brien, and his old, reliable Walker, Texas Ranger lever, guilt-free and in peace: