Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › TV on DVD and Blu-ray › "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

"The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works! - Page 10

post #271 of 707
8/7/07 at 8:25pm

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve...O
Do any of the well connective "Fuge" fans know what CBS's plans are for releasing this series? I'd hate to think it's going to be done "PERRY MASON" style, which is essentially one season per year which means that it will be 2011 or 2012 before it wraps up (assuming it gets that far). For those of us who've never seen much of the show, that's a long time to wait.

I'd still like to know what some hour long shows like HAWAII Five -0 and Diagnosis Murder get full season releases and others get split. Makes no sense unless those shows sell that much better.

I wish I knew something definitive, Steve. Right now it simply looks like Paramount will treat THE FUGITIVE like it does PM, THE UNTOUCHABLES, and RAWHIDE. Looks to me like the determining factor as to whether a particular classic series gets released in full season vs. half season sets is twofold:

1) How many episodes per season? If the show is an hour long, and has over 28 episodes per, then it's getting split.

2) The dreaded "black & white" issue does seem to be in play here. If you eliminate the episodes per season thing out of the equation, and just look at the color vs. b&w issue, then it seems painfully obvious to me that the older, black & white shows are getting the shaft. WWW, MI, and Hawaii Five-0 are all color episodes and getting the better full season release treatment. Conversely, FUGITIVE, PM, RAWHIDE, UNTOUCHABLES are all getting half season treatment.

I believe it's a combination of the two factors I listed. There are some exceptions to the color/b&w issue, but the length of a season (# of episodes) seems to be a big factor.

Gary "I'm hoping THE FUGITIVE does well enough to merit perhaps 3 releases a year (4 a year is too much to ask for), which would get us done a little quicker" O.
Reply
post #272 of 707
8/7/07 at 10:16pm

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

"The Streets of San Francisco" eliminates both # 1 and # 2 of the above given theories as to the reason for hour-long season sets being split up.

I believe the real reason is simply because Paramount has more confidence in some series selling than they do in others.
Reply
post #273 of 707
8/8/07 at 12:54am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Regarding the episode order of season one, it really is out of whack.

For instance, in episode #2, "The Witch," the narrator (William Conrad) says: "Now ten months after his escape...."

Then, in the very next episode, #3, "The Other Side of the Mountain," the narrator says: "Another dreary point in time for Richard Kimble, eight months a fugitive."

There are other examples as well.

But the great thing about having a show on tape (and soon, DVD!) is the power to view them any way you wish. When I get the DVD, I'm going to view "The Girl from Little Egypt" after "Fear in a Desert City" (my episode #2, if you will). I'm also going to view the episodes in an order that follows the timeline accurately, as provided by the narrator. One can also "spread out" the romantic, character, and action stories so things don't get "bogged down". I heartily recommend Ed Robertson's terrific book, The Fugitive Recaptured, as a great companion to guide you through the episodes for maximum enjoyment. Can't wait till next week!
Reply
post #274 of 707
8/8/07 at 2:25am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by beatlejam
For instance, in episode #2, "The Witch," the narrator (William Conrad) says: "Now ten months after his escape...."

Then, in the very next episode, #3, "The Other Side of the Mountain," the narrator says: "Another dreary point in time for Richard Kimble, eight months a fugitive."

...I'm also going to view the episodes in an order that follows the timeline accurately, as provided by the narrator. ... I heartily recommend Ed Robertson's terrific book, The Fugitive Recaptured, as a great companion to guide you through the episodes for maximum enjoyment.

Unfortunately, two facts are working against you here. Episode #2 was both filmed and aired before episode #3, according to the book you cite - it was just carelessness on the part of the producers/writers that no-one caught the mistake. Also, the countdown of months pretty much disappears after these early episodes anyway, with only an occasional mention of how long Kimble's ordeal has been going on. It's not as "neat" in that respect as, say, the Stardates on STAR TREK in trying to figure out an episode order.

Still, the beauty of DVD's, as you say, is the ability to play them in any order you'd like - and I do recommend "The Girl From Little Egypt" be played early if one is so inclined. Back in 1963, we didn't have that option. ABC aired them, and we watched them.

Harry
...now six days till THE FUGITIVE escapes the "warehouse", online...
Reply
post #275 of 707
8/8/07 at 5:24am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

I don't think anything is "working against me".

I'm aware of the things you mentioned because (1) I'm a big fan of the show whose seen every episode multiple times and (2) obviously, I've read Robertson's book.

The point I was trying to make is that it just seems more logical to view the early episodes in a manner that jibes with the info provided by the narrator (despite when episodes were filmed and any other behind-the-scenes facts), and it's nice that we can do that.
Reply
post #276 of 707
8/8/07 at 6:46am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by beatlejam
I don't think anything is "working against me".

I'm aware of the things you mentioned because (1) I'm a big fan of the show whose seen every episode multiple times and (2) obviously, I've read Robertson's book.

The point I was trying to make is that it just seems more logical to view the early episodes in a manner that jibes with the info provided by the narrator (despite when episodes were filmed and any other behind-the-scenes facts), and it's nice that we can do that.

My goodness, people are certainly a bit sensitive in this thread!

The phrase, "working against you" is just that, a common usage phrase that I pulled out of my brain to impart the fact that your idea of watching the series in some kind of correct chronological order will fall apart very quickly. My apologies if you thought I meant anything negative toward you.

Looking through the narrations for the first two seasons, only the following episodes give any such time frame indications:


E# - time given
#1 - 6 months
#2 - 10 months
#3 - 8 months
#6 - 11 months
#8 - more than a year
#15 - two years
#21 - countless weeks and months
#26 - past two years
#34 - 26 months
#39 - two years from the night of the murder
#49 - two years ago he was Richard Kimble

My point was simply that out of sixty episodes (that I've perused here), only eleven mention any kind of time frame, and some of those are pretty vague. In your earlier post you said that you were going to "view the episodes in an order that follows the timeline accurately, as provided by the narrator." And my point was just to state for anyone out there who hasn't seen the series that it's not really possible to do that, since a time frame isn't given at all in most episodes.

If your intention was merely to correct the order of episodes #2 and #3 based on the official narrative time given, so be it. There's no harm in that. Indeed in my post I re-iterated your idea that on DVD we have the freedom to watch these in any order we'd care to.

Even the time frames mentioned have a good deal of vagueness about them. "Two years from the night of the murder" - are we to believe that Kimble had some kind of rushed trial and days later was sentenced to death? Or, realistically, can we assume that at least a year or two went by for arrest, trial, conviction, and the train wreck. If that's the case, then this episode should be placed fairly early in the order of things, if it's only two years from the night of the murder.

Again, my point is that these narrations need to be taken with a grain of salt. They were done without real thought as to what "reality" might be. They were simply mentioned to impart the long stretches of time that have passed by in Richard Kimble's ordeal. Months/years on the road, running, is something not many of us can relate to. By stressing it, the narrator's jop is to give us a sense of the "way it is with him."

Again, feel free to watch these in any order you'd like. They weren't filmed with any real order in mind - they were simply hours of episodic television, meant to be entertaining, each in their own right.

Harry
...with no malice intended at all, online...
Reply
post #277 of 707
8/8/07 at 7:06am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

The mention of the A&E telecasts brings up a question in my mind:

to those of you who have seen this set already: are these the truly uncut and untampered versions, with the original tonight's episode narration and title card intact?

I seem to remember that the version shown on A&E removed these (perhaps to remove the reference to tonight, in case some idiot got confused about the time of day) and replaced them with newly-created episode titles that were keyed-in on top of the live action.
Reply
post #278 of 707
8/8/07 at 7:39am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyMcKinney
The mention of the A&E telecasts brings up a question in my mind:

to those of you who have seen this set already: are these the truly uncut and untampered versions, with the original tonight's episode narration and title card intact?

I seem to remember that the version shown on A&E removed these (perhaps to remove the reference to tonight, in case some idiot got confused about the time of day) and replaced them with newly-created episode titles that were keyed-in on top of the live action.

I wish I knew the answer to that one, Andy. I'm hoping the original title cards are intact. While I didn't mind the A&E openings (they were actually very well done, all things considered) nothing compares to the original "tonight's episode" narration after the opening.

Gary "just a few more days, folks!" O.
Reply
post #279 of 707
8/8/07 at 7:43am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Andy, Your memory of the A&E modifications is correct (never understood that either). I've not received my copy yet, but I'd bet the original title cards will be intact. Maybe Colin will step back into the snake pit and let us know. Harry, you are spot on about the level of touchiness WRT this thread. Odd, eh?
Reply
post #280 of 707
8/8/07 at 7:46am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff#
"The Streets of San Francisco" eliminates both # 1 and # 2 of the above given theories as to the reason for hour-long season sets being split up.

I believe the real reason is simply because Paramount has more confidence in some series selling than they do in others.

I knew someone would bring up "Streets." It's literally the only show in Paramount's rotation that throws my theory around. But I believe the two points I mentioned are still in play, and that "Streets" is just an anomaly. It was released at the same time as "The Untouchables" and it probably was the least well known of the Paramount titles (not up there with MI, Hawaii Five-0, or WWW). Therefore it's not surprising that it would get the half-season treatment.

Your point about Paramount basing these decisions on what they think will sell best is surely correct. But I believe a part of their thinking ties back into the old "b&w won't sell like color will" mentality. There's just too much evidence to the contrary for me to believe otherwise, "Streets" not withstanding.

Gary "if Paramount was ever going to give an hour long, black & white classic the full season treatment, it would have been THE FUGITIVE - it's got to be the highest profile b&w drama in their stable" O.
Reply
post #281 of 707
8/8/07 at 8:25am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry-N
There was indeed a general "overall" continuity. The theme was Kimble chasing the one-armed man while Gerard chased him. Writers were apparently given those parameters - the rest was made up by them as they went along. Kimble's family, for instance. Until "Home Is The Hunted", we knew really nothing about his family back in Stafford. That episode established a few things, like his sister and her family. Those characters remained relatively constant.



I do agree, but even this series had its share of continuity lapses. Take Kimble's family again as an example. In "Home Is The Hunted" we meet his father and brother Ray. While we do hear of his father passing away later on, we never hear about Ray again. He just drops off the face of the Earth. OK, it's possible that a person can exist and not be referred to. Still, you'd think they would have at least mentioned him again somewhere. Then there's Kimble's fathers wife. She's not mentioned at all in "Home Is The Hunted", yet in the finale, Kimble's brother-in-law mentions something about sister Donna dropping the kids off with her "mother". Divorce is certainly a possibility, still it seems just a little like a continuity lapse - one writer not knowing what another had established.

Even the home state was questionable early on. The show's creator originally established Kimble's home state as Wisconsin - and in "Home Is The Hunted" we see Kimble arriving on a bus that clearly states Madison as its destination. Yet it was learned early on that Wisconsin didn't have a death penalty in effect, so they had to move the setting to Indiana, which did. The shot of Kimble exiting the bus was probably part of a large second-unit bunch of shots with him going and coming in various ways, and whoever inserted it into "Home Is The Hunted" didn't realize that the bus's destination was clearly visible - or they just figured no-one would notice or care about such things - especially forty-odd years later!



Yeah, but we know where to find it!

Harry


There were a slew of gaffs in the final two-parter and the mention about Donna Kimble's mother was the biggest head scratcher as it had been established that she was deceased long ago. For all of the drama, there were many Fugitive fans who were quite unhappy with how the final show was written. I believe that Alan Armer left after the 3rd season to work on The Invaders and that led to a very different fourth season with more one-armed man appearances than in the prior three seasons combined.

As for Fugitive airings, it had a spotty syndication record. MSG network ran it in the mid-80s and also the great channel 44 from Scranton-Wilkes Barre had it as well. By this time, they were only sending out the timesped versions. Later on, A&E picked it up for a nice run. Can't comment on WOR as living in the NY area, we never got the good shows WOR ran.
Reply
post #282 of 707
8/8/07 at 8:40am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hank Dearborn
There were a slew of gaffs in the final two-parter and the mention about Donna Kimble's mother was the biggest head scratcher as it had been established that she was deceased long ago. For all of the drama, there were many Fugitive fans who were quite unhappy with how the final show was written. I believe that Alan Armer left after the 3rd season to work on The Invaders and that led to a very different fourth season with more one-armed man appearances than in the prior three seasons combined.

Yeah, the fourth and final season did take a dip in quality, IMHO. The first 3 are all gold in my book, but the fourth was spotty. I didn't mind that Johnson was thrown into the mix more in that final season. Kinda made sense, albeit after the fact for the writers, seeing as how the show ended that season. Now, I don't think the writers knew for sure that was going to be the case, and there clearly was some sloppy, lazy writing that probably just took advantage of displaying the one-armed man to garner ratings. But his presence in a number of episodes didn't bother me that much.

As for the finale, yes there were folks that didn't like how it turned out. But I had no problem with it. Frankly, I thought they did a good job with Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
the twist at the end of the first part, making us believe there might be more to the story than we had believed for so long. Of course ultimately that couldn't be the case, as it would have made Kimble out to be a fool for chasing the wrong man for 4 years!
But it was a decent finale in my book.

Gary "not that it couldn't have been better, because it certainly could have - but it was still pretty good in my book in spite of some of the continuity gaffs" O.
Reply
post #283 of 707
8/8/07 at 9:05am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

As I've said before, the fourth and final season was better in terms of us seeing more of Fred Johnson (the one-armed man), that they started filming in color, and a lot of Dominic Frontiere's Outer Limits music revitalized the show.

The issue that some people have with that last season though were at least two behind-the-scenes changes: Wilton Schiller replaced Alan Armer (since Armer was reassigned by Quinn Martin to produce THE INVADERS series), and Schiller wanted more action-oriented stories. I actually had no problem with that, because there was always room for drama. The Invaders had a good mix of action and drama, and The Fugitive was no exception.

The other change was their losing one of the more dramatic writers...although he returned several episodes later.

None of those things hurt The Fugitive's ratings however, since it was star David Janssen's exhaustion from the intense work the series required of him that led to it ending when it did.
Reply
post #284 of 707
8/8/07 at 9:13am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS
...there clearly was some sloppy, lazy writing that probably just took advantage of displaying the one-armed man to garner ratings. But his presence in a number of episodes didn't bother me that much.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
The wildest gaffe regarding Bill Raisch (the one-armed man) is that in an early fourth season episode, "A Clean And Quiet Town", he gets billed in the credits as playing "Cramer", when we clearly knew from earlier episodes that his name was Fred Johnson.


I decided we should be posting spoiler warnings about this stuff...

Harry
Reply
post #285 of 707
8/8/07 at 9:17am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff#
As I've said before, the fourth and final season was better in terms of us seeing more of Fred Johnson (the one-armed man), that they started filming in color, and a lot of Dominic Frontiere's Outer Limits music revitalized the show.

I agree with you on point #1 about Johnson. I had no problem with his increased appearances. And I'd agree about point #3 as well. As for #2, concerning the show going to color... I'm kinda blah to that being a "good thing." I feel the show lost a little "Noir" feel to it when it went to color. So I don't consider that a strong point for the 4th season at all. Of course, your mileage may vary on that opinion.

Gary "just my two cents" O.
Reply
post #286 of 707
8/8/07 at 9:21am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
As I've said before, the fourth and final season was better in terms of us seeing more of Fred Johnson (the one-armed man), that they started filming in color, and a lot of Dominic Frontiere's Outer Limits music revitalized the show.

Call me strange, but those would all seem to be detractors to the series' dramatic quality. This series lost it's starkness and edginess when it went to color as many of the show's own production staff have stated and the increased frequency in appearance of Johnson IMO is a clear case of "more is less".

The drop down in episodic quality according to Ed Roberton's companion book to "The Fugitive" purportedly occurred somewhere in the latter half of the third season (Alan Armer departed company before season's end) and rises again approximately half way through the 4th season, though (obviously) never quite achieving the level of the first two seasons.
Reply
post #287 of 707
8/8/07 at 9:58am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

I don't agree with the film noir point at all, because if that were the case then NAKED CITY would been a lot bigger than it was. It didn't go down in history as one of the most remembered TV series the way Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits did. And although there are a lot of enjoyable and well-produced shows in monochrome...unless you're color blind, real life isn't in black & white.

I have no problem with black & white since as it was back then since it was more affordable for the networks. It wasn't an artistic decision on their part. When any show from that era broke the "color barrier" it certainly looked better. The Wild Wild West is the ultimate example of this.

But when one of my favorite modern series does a black & white episode (WISEGUY was one of several in the 1980s, The X-Files in the 1990s, and the worst job was in a Smallville dream sequence in this century) it usually doesn't work. TV producers of hit series sometimes feel they have to be artistic, but one has to wonder if they too are doing a "noir" episode in B & W as an answer to network insistance to get back under budget for the season.

As for Johnson....he was in a few episodes of The Fugitive's last season, but it wasn't that many more than in previous years to make much difference. We learned more about his shady going-ons (such as putting a contract hit on Kimble in one episode), and that only added to the intrigue behind him.
Reply
post #288 of 707
8/8/07 at 10:03am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by michael_ks
Call me strange, but those would all seem to be detractors to the series' dramatic quality. This series lost it's starkness and edginess when it went to color as many of the show's own production staff have stated and the increased frequency in appearance of Johnson IMO is a clear case of "more is less".

I agree whole-heartedly. This is perhaps an example of how some potential DVD buyers can be dazzled merely by the presence of color. The series only went to color by the dictates of the ABC network, which was trying to stay competitive with NBC going all-color. The producers have stated that they would have preferred black and white for the fourth season.

Quote:
Originally Posted by michael_ks
The drop down in episodic quality according to Ed Roberton's companion book to "The Fugitive" purportedly occurred somewhere in the latter half of the third season (Alan Armer departed company before season's end) and rises again approximately half way through the 4th season, though (obviously) never quite achieving the level of the first two seasons.

I believe the author suggests that immediately after the "Landscape With Running Figures" two-parter, the third season went downhill. I find that particular episode riveting, especially the nail-biting opening set-piece.

Dredging up the "babe-of-the-week" comment, Ed Robertson in THE FUGITIVE RECAPTURED tells the story that it was David Janssen who picked Barbara Rush to play the wife of Lt. Gerard. He was quoted as being tired of his leading ladies in the series being the plain type with "coke-bottle glasses".

Harry
Reply
post #289 of 707
8/8/07 at 10:14am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Dredging up the "babe-of-the-week" comment, Ed Robertson in THE FUGITIVE RECAPTURED tells the story that it was David Janssen who picked Barbara Rush to play the wife of Lt. Gerard.

Considering how she looked in 1964's "The Forms of Things Unknown" for "Outer Limits", I'd say, yes, Mr. Janssen did quite well in finding the 'anti-homely' type.

And yes, I recall now reading that "Landscape With Running Figures" marked a conspicuous turning point for the series.
Reply
post #290 of 707
8/8/07 at 10:26am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Guys, thanks for all of the info about this show. Since It'll be a blind buy for me, I'm really looking forward to this release. Harry, I owe you one for that "spoiler" I don't want to know any of the big surprises about the series. I agree about the Barbara Rush point. That will definitely add some interest to this show for me as I've enjoyed seeing her in many other series' guest spots.

How many here are planning on searching their local stores for this one? I'm a 99% online buyer myself regardless of having to wait for shipping deliveries. Do you all think that the Best-Buys, etc will be stocking this one? After all, it's one of those B/W shows (those who know me know I'm kidding). Since I've not seen this show, I can't comment on the B/W to Color thing, but, in this era of TV series, I've generally preferred B/W to the color change-over's with a few exceptions. One example is the "Combat!" series. I preferred the first 4 B/W years to the final color season.
Reply
post #291 of 707
8/8/07 at 10:33am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

And how about some of those attractive Fugitive female guest stars back in the day? Pamela Tiffin, Diane Brewster (as the late Helen Kimble), Suzanne Pleshette, Angie Dickinson, Louise Sorel, Elizabeth Allen, Laura Devon, Joanna Pettet (worked with Janssen again on his HARRY O series), Joanne Linville, Anne Francis, Carol Rossen, and Diane Baker (in the series finale) all immediately come to mind.

Even Jacqueline Scott as Donna Kimble Taft wasn't bad.
Reply
post #292 of 707
8/8/07 at 10:45am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS
I knew someone would bring up "Streets." It's literally the only show in Paramount's rotation that throws my theory around.

I don't think "Streets" invalidates the theory at all. The first season had 27 episodes, plus a two hour pilot, which results in 29 "episodes" for purposes of a DVD release, hence the split.
Reply
post #293 of 707
8/8/07 at 10:57am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
How many here are planning on searching their local stores for this one? I'm a 99% online buyer myself regardless of having to wait for shipping deliveries. Do you all think that the Best-Buys, etc will be stocking this one?

I'm hoping that Wal-Mart will stock this for $19.99 as they did with "The Untouchables" S1 vol. 1. Barring that, I'll probably use my Best Buy gift cards which total around $25 or so. They will almost certainly be stocking "The Fugitive".
Reply
post #294 of 707
8/8/07 at 11:04am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

I'll buy half a season of The Fugitive for $20. Abso-friggin-lutely!
Reply
post #295 of 707
8/8/07 at 11:24am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey3rd
Here's the running times on the episodes:

5050
5120
5124
5112
5121
5121
5123
5114
5124
5124
5124
5112
5124
5124
5145

now back to reviewing it for insidepulse


The first episode seems to be about :30 shorter than all of the rest. This leads me to believe that there may be a bit of an edit done, perhaps to some music piece in the episode. Back then running times may have varied by a couple of seconds here and there but rarely as long as a half minute.
Reply
post #296 of 707
8/8/07 at 11:40am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hank Dearborn
The first episode seems to be about :30 shorter than all of the rest. This leads me to believe that there may be a bit of an edit done, perhaps to some music piece in the episode. Back then running times may have varied by a couple of seconds here and there but rarely as long as a half minute.

It could indeed be an edit on the song that Vera Miles' character plays as we are first introduced to her in the bar. Since they put the disclaimer on the box, I'd guess that's the logical place for a music edit to occur.

On the other hand, the premiere episode might have clocked in 30 seconds shorter on purpose, perhaps to allow the network to run a longer promo during premiere week. Back in those days, show producers were often asked to come up with a teaser promo to encourage viewers to come back each week and watch more episodes. I know that ABC had Irwin Allen do that for VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and TIME TUNNEL, so it's not without precedent. I wasn't watching this particular premiere, so I couldn't say for sure.

Harry
Reply
post #297 of 707
8/8/07 at 11:59am

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry-N

I decided we should be posting spoiler warnings about this stuff...

Darn! You are correct, as Jeff Willis aptly pointed out. I'll be more careful from this point forward.

Gary "nice to see so many knowledgeable Fuge fans" O.
Reply
post #298 of 707
8/8/07 at 1:42pm

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry-N
I agree whole-heartedly. This is perhaps an example of how some potential DVD buyers can be dazzled merely by the presence of color. The series only went to color by the dictates of the ABC network, which was trying to stay competitive with NBC going all-color. The producers have stated that they would have preferred black and white for the fourth season.


Actually the FCC mandated that all network prime time shows had to be in color starting in 1966. Believe me, as cheap as ABC was they would have kept airing black and white shows had they not been forced to go color.

As for the relative merits of b/w vs color, you can just look at the shows which produced episodes in both forms to see which was a better method:

Fugitive
Combat
Twelve O'Clock High
Wild Wild West
Man from UNCLE
Lost in Space
Farmer's Daughter
My Three Sons
Gunsmoke
Dr. Kildare
Bewitched
Petticoat Junction
Beverly Hillbillies
Andy Griffith Show

In every instance the black and white episodes are far superior to the color ones. If that doesn't indicate that black and white was better I don't know what does.
Reply
post #299 of 707
8/8/07 at 1:51pm

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

Add VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, DANIEL BOONE, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and HAZEL to your list too, Hank. Those were also better in b&w.

Gary "and I imagine there are many others that could be included too" O.
Reply
post #300 of 707
8/8/07 at 2:01pm

Re: "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!

You don't think that writing had anything to do with it?
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: TV on DVD and Blu-ray
Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › TV on DVD and Blu-ray › "The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works!