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Warning: Avoid Links to Evade Spoilers
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Even after a half century+, this now in his late sixties man still views producer and screenwriter Roy Huggins’ The Fugitive as my all-time favorite, nineteen sixties era TV drama. This won’t be the first time I’ve blogged about this superbly scripted and convincingly cast show and won’t likely be the last; mainly due to fresh, compelling, discussion angles frequently presenting themselves
When The Fugitive made its ABC (American Broadcasting Company) network debut, its Tuesday 10 p.m. slot was way past my bedtime. However, approximately midway thru its four-season run, I did manage to “grow into the show” (as it were) and, in a heartbeat, become a fast fan.
Who could not feel instant sympathy for the protagonist, Dr. Richard Kimble; i.e., considering how, while still in deep mourning, re the tragic death of his wife, Helen, he’d been wrongfully accused of being her murderer and, worse yet, convicted. True, his incarceration would only be brief, but that was due to his new “home” being situated on death row.
Only the en route to Indiana’s Big House, train derailment could pop open the handcuffs that conjoined Kimble and police Lt. Philip Gerard; offer the courtroom railroaded doctor an abrupt stay of execution; free him to pursue the actual killer (the one-armed man later identified as Fred Johnson), whom Richard had actually eye-witnessed fleeing the scene of the crime.
And, right then and there, the oft hot pursuit begins; Johnson fleeing Kimble; Kimble fleeing Gerard.
Even tho all of this intrigue does play out in TV land, with art renowned for frequently imitating life, the glaring ramifications could “only” serve to WISELY and WIDELY open my youthful eyes.
Most viewers could sense Huggins also taking a stand against real life imprudent jurisprudence and, via extension, showcasing capital punishment, already inhumane, in itself, as morphing into something even more contemptible, when (no spoiler re that link –>) judicial travesties condemn, to death, the falsely accused.
Hell, were such wrongful death jury trials ever convened, it’d be tough not to return a guilty verdict re each errant arresting officer, negligent crime scene investigator, overzealous district attorney and thoughtless juror.
Transitioning, now, to our second and last discussion angle….
Yesterday, the MeTV Network had aired Season 4’s Episode 28; Titled: The Shattered Silence; the very storyline that had ALMOST condemned Kimble to a “life” on the lam; i.e., till he EITHER died of old age OR Gerard wound up recapturing / dispatching him to death row’s doorstep. The following quotation will fill in the rest of the particulars…
“The [ABC] network was simply going to end the series with a regular episode without any kind of denouement, as network executives were totally oblivious to the concept that a television audience actually tuned in week after week and cared about the characters of a TV series. The timing of the broadcast was unusual. Rather than ending the regular season, the finale* was held back while suspense continued through the summer reruns.”
Fugitive Producer Leonard Goldberg / *original finale air dates 08/29 and 09/05/1967
Fortunately, the ABC (empty?) suits / bean counters, eventually funded the filming of the tie-up-the-loose-ends, two part episode, titled The Judgment; resulting in an advertiser’s bonanza; statistical data below:
“Part two of the finale was the most-watched television series episode up to that time. It was viewed by 25.7 million households (45.9 percent of American households with a television set and a 72 percent share), meaning that more than 78 million people tuned in.”
Wikipedia
Oh, btw, a reminder, just to keep viewers, new to the Fugitive Franchise, guessing; the airing of a finale does not, necessarily, guarantee a screenplay with a storybook ending.
However, for those of you, who are really, Really, REALLY content to settle for yesterday’s S 4 Ep 28, epilogue; i.e. when/where Kimble was last seen heading off into the Oregon hills; still desperately and doggedly hunting down the one-armed man Johnson, you’ll need to avoid watching The Judgment; slated to air on 4/11 & 4/18/2022 @2 a.m. Daylight Savings Time in the Eastern U.S. time zone (for some viewers, temporal adjustments will likely be necessary).
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Related Reading: The Fugitive’s Fascinating Facts
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