When I was a little girl, I had to be in bed before The Fugitive came on. It was my parents' favorite show and they tried never to miss it, so every week I heard the theme music through the bedroom wall. I knew Dr. Richard Kimble was wrongly convicted of a murder he didn't commit -- like the Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island, the show opened each week by restating the premise (though not in song).
A local TV station has begun airing reruns and I am my mother's daughter -- I've become hooked on the adventures of Dr. Richard Kimble. Unlike the Harrison Ford movie, this series concentrates on Kimble's day-to-day adventures as a fugitive, always on the run, taking menial jobs, working hard to fit in and not be noticed, as he simultaneously looked over his shoulder for Lt. Gerard -- the dogged detective he escaped -- as well as the one-armed man he believed killed his wife.
I love Janssen's horrible weariness, and his voyeurism. Every week he finds himself drawn into the lives of everyday citizens: a mother and son, abused by the man of the house … a stewardess who has just discovered the man she loves is married … farmworkers who are exploited by land owners … Kimble is sure he could help and he's tempted to stay, except he's got Gerard behind him and a date with the one-armed man ahead of him.
There's an interesting class dynamic at work on this show. Richard Kimble may be a convicted murderer, but he's also a surgeon -- which in TV land makes him smarter and more sophisticated than the food servers and fruit pickers he now moves among. Since the show aired in the early-mid 1960s, everyone smoked and drank. I love the back-combed hairdos, the enormous rotary dial phones, and how the men all wear suits and ties, even to go to the movies or a ball game.
And then there's the basic tension of the show: How long can he stay in one place? How long must he keep running? Can he find the one-armed man before he kills again?
Like my mom, I love this show.
