Well, now I've seen it all

[GentlemanJim]

With MeTV's showing last night, of Season 2 Episode 2....I can now say that I've seen the complete series, cover to cover. Something that even 20 years ago I'm not sure I even knew I would ever want. But,thank you MTV for making it possible. Now I won't have to stay up for that dreadful timeslot once a week just to "collect" each episode.

My assessment overall: Very good TV. David Janssen succeeded in putting a pleasant face on one of life's ugly realities (the system gone wrong) I commend in particular the way the series portrays the reality of how once one is on the "outside"... you lose the basic protections of the law in your other, every day affairs. I also thought it was pretty realistic how it is shown that once one is on the run, every siren you hear, every cop on the beat, or squad car rolling down the street...is a threat.

They did a really good job on that aspect.

I also enjoyed the portrayals of how no matter how big a mess your own life is, you are bound to bump into people suffering even bigger demons than your own.

One plot device that I grew weary of over the course of the show, is the repeated entertwining with "mentally challenged" youth and/or adults where Kimble inserted himself in the role of protector, placing his own freedom at risk. I just don't see someone having so much to lose putting themselves in that risk...time and again.

The guest stars were a treat throughout the entire series, I believe many of them only grew into stars after their performance on this series, so there was a "oh boy, here so-and-so is before they were anybody" opportunity.

I think my favorite episodes were the one that had the moonshiners who took a personal dislike to Lt. Gerard, the one called "A Clean and Quiet Town" with it's mysterious evil puppeteer pulling the strings that actually ran the town, the ones featuring Jacqueline Scott (because Kimble was usually in his home woods, intensifying the danger), and "No one Loses All the Time" (Joanna Moore)

Those are the eps I'm gonna be sure to catch the next time through the rotation.

[GentlemanJim]

One mystery I still need to tweeze out is in the season one opening credits....there are only a handful of episodes that show the actual frog in the swamp that Kimble hides in during his initial excape.

I need to figure out if that's just a fluke of METV's time rationing, or if the presence of the frog is somehow significant with that particular episode's contents. (a flag, of sorts)

My guess is the former....but one never knows.

[SarahBellum]

I was just a youngster when The Fugitive aired on ABC and I wasn't able to stay up late enough to watch it. Although my mom let me stay up to watch the finale.

My local library has all four seasons on DVD and over the last couple years I have watched almost every episode.

Another often used plot device which I disliked was that of Kimble being incarcerated in a small town run by a corrupt sheriff or mayor.

As for the season one opening credits, I believe they got condensed a bit after the first few episodes.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by SarahBellum

I was just a youngster when The Fugitive aired on ABC and I wasn't able to stay up late enough to watch it. Although my mom let me stay up to watch the finale.

My local library has all four seasons on DVD and over the last couple years I have watched almost every episode.

Another often used plot device which I disliked was that of Kimble being incarcerated in a small town run by a corrupt sheriff or mayor.

As for the season one opening credits, I believe they got condensed a bit after the first few episodes.

My mom was REALLY into this show, and I think it was a desire to try and understand her fascination with the show that motivated me to watch the entire series.

And, I'm glad that I did, just for the connection. One reservation that I still have to this day, one that I share for shows as diverse as Route 66, Time Tunnel, and even The Invaders, is that I think they go too far into the personal details of the peripheral cast. I watched Route 66 wanting to see the highway, and the landmarks alongside it, not to delve into the reasons the boyfriend of the waitress in the diner is unfaithful. I watched Time Tunnel to see people traveling through time periods foreign to me, not to delve into why King Maximillian's daughter feared dogs. And I watched The Fugitive to see cops chasing bad guys, not to try and understand some librarian's heartbreak over the only man she's ever loved, not caring enough to spend the rest of his life with her.

LOL, maybe I'm a misanthrope? But I always thought shows like Peyton Place were the shows for emotional turmoil?

As far as my frog in the opening credits, it's more sporadic than that. You'll go along like 8-10 episodes and never see it, the allasudden "boom" there he is for one episode.

So,I figure it's gotta either just be METV butchery to make room for their commercial load.....or perhaps some kind of intentional telltale, such as (example) perhaps a particular writer contributing to that episode, or maybe Gerard appearing in it....something like that

Need to see if my library has the series available to borrow, so I can develop a cross reference of "froggie" episodes, I guess.

It never really struck me as potentially any item worth interest until I noticed the intro changes starting with season 2....so now wondering in there is some significant association to be discovered.....or not.