The Fugitive

This is one of the greatest TV series of all time, why is it not available on DVD? and I'm not talking about bootleg VHS copies from Ebay for $300.00.

An outstanding classic television series that needs to be presented in it's entirety in a DVD set. The movie version was a bunch of bloated, Hollywood tripe all to typical of whats been put out today.

Painstaking effort has been made to present DVD material of such crap as Full House, Saved by the Bell, etc, etc. I'll bet we'll see Love Boat come out next. Why no Fugitive?

This is absolutely unacceptable.

With each passing decade, we seem to descend further into lower and lower literary standards in prose, film, everything. Jumping back thirty or forty years, we see that even television could be deep at times. This and many other shows of the first twenty years or so of TV actually had believable premises, developed characters and strong supporting roles as foil to the lead (Barry Morse's lawman here). The good news is that cable will continue to unearth gems from the past such as "Fugitive" due to sheer need of programming.

As I watched this classic series recently, I found myself visiting the Internet Movie Database site frequently. Bruce Dern plays five different roles over the course of the show's four year run. Louise Latham and Diane Baker, two of Dern's co-stars from Hitchcock's film Marnie show up in the series finale. Robert Duvall appears in three episodes playing two unique characters, elevating both otherwise formulaic stories. Dozens of performers return to play new characters throughout the series run (not that unusual for a TV series of this vintage). Watched over the course of four years, viewers might not have noticed the returning actors. Modern binge viewers can check on Internet Movie Database to see how many times Telly Savalas, Shirley Knight, Michael Constantine and Sue Randall will appear (three). Look for Kurt Russell (as Philip Gerard Jr!) early in Season Two, as well as fellow kid stars Bill Mumy and brothers Clint and Ron Howard. A random episode cast: Pat Hingle, Dabney Coleman, Mary Murphy, Tom Skerritt, Dabs Greer, Burt Mustin. In most cases, if they are still alive, they are still working. Each of the four seasons has thirty episodes, with David Janssen on screen as Dr. Richard Kimble (The Fugitive) for most of the hour, often looking appropriately stressed or exhausted, a believable performance perhaps made easier by a frantic work schedule. Barry Morse as Lt. Philip Gerard, Kimble's nemesis, does not appear in every episode. Instead he pops up just enough to keep the main storyline of pursuit going. Series villain Bill Raisch as Fred Johnson (The One-Armed Man) is featured in just ten episodes, and is still (deservedly) ranked as one of TVs all-time greatest villains. Yes, some of the episodes are exceptionally good, others not quite so much, but every episode is watchable, even if you are just admiring the quality of the acting, or simply anxious to get to the end of the series. And the series finale is what sets the entire show apart from so many genre TV shows. The basic premise of the series can be summed up in a few questions. Those questions are answered in the two hour series finale, after a few twists and surprises, with a very satisfying conclusion. What are the cliffhanger resolutions for Flash Forward, Carnivale, Twin Peaks (okay, a great final episode, but it ends with multiple cliffhangers), X-Files, Invasion, Lost In Space, Land of the Giants, Vanished, The Dead Zone, Deception, Kyle XY, Stargate Universe, Alcatraz, Sliders, Las Vegas, The Border, Endgame (and dozens of other past, present and future TV shows)? Fifty years after The Fugitive's first broadcast, the entire series is still worth watching from the intriguing beginning, through an occasionally suspenseful middle, to the rewarding payoff at the end.

'The Fugitive' is a classic dramatic series I watch whenever I have an opportunity. David Janssen was (and still is) the best Dr. Richard Kimble (sorry Mr. Ford and Daly!). Barry Morse was equally effective as Lt. Philip Gerard, the man obsessed with capturing our hero. This classic lasted four years and 120 episodes. (The real reason I watch this show is because some of its elements would be later used in 'The Incredible Hulk,' which is my all-time favorite episodic TV series.)

Of course, the character of Richard Kimble was loosely inspired by Dr. Sam Sheppard. The major difference was that while Dr. Richard Kimble spent four years chasing the real killer (a one-armed man) of his wife Helen, Dr. Sheppard spent ten years in jail for the 1954 murder of his wife Marilyn.

It might be interesting to note that when Dr. Sheppard was acquitted in a second trial in November of 1966, 'The Fugitive,' which was then in the middle of its fourth season, began to slip in the ratings. For this reason, the producers were smart not to wait for the ax to fall and risk having the series cancelled without doing a finale.

"The Judgment," the two-hour series finale, aired in the summer of 1967. After four years of chasing and being chased, Kimble finally catches up with Fred Johnson, the one-armed man, who admits to having been Helen's real killer. He is then shot and killed by Lt. Gerard, who saves Kimble in the process.

While the finale was weak in some respects, it was generally a fitting conclusion to the 'Fugitive' series. Of course, it was also one of the highest rated TV finales of all-time.

I read a Roy Huggins novel called "Too Late For Tears" that was turned into a solid film noir movie. Huggins also is responsible for the western series "Maverick." With "The Fugitive" Huggins combines elements of noir (a man trapped in circumstances beyond his control) and the western (a loner wandering across the American landscape) for one of the best dramas in the history of television. David Janssen is perfectly cast as Doctor Richard Kimble -- fugitive. There's an aura of sadness that seems to cling to Janssen that feels just right for the situations the fugitive is always finding himself in. Despite his predicament Kimble is always putting the needs of others above his own. In the wrong hands such lofty morale aspirations might feel a bit forced, but The Fugitive manages to keep it well grounded.