Product Details

• Actors: David Janssen, William Conrad, Barry Morse, R.G. Armstrong, Bruce Dern
• Directors: Abner Biberman, Alex March, Alexander Singer, Andrew McCullough, Christian Nyby
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: March 31, 2009
• Run Time: 720 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001PKHS86
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,253 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Genre: Television: Series
Rating: NR
Release Date: 31-MAR-2009
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 125 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dear CBS, February 5, 2009

By 

Robert Dahl (Phoenix, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2 (DVD)

-- UPDATE, 6 July 2009 --

Dear CBS,

I'm very disappointed with your release of Season 2 of THE FUGITIVE, and I'd like to tell you why.

The issue is the music. Yes, I know that you've heard this before, and you might believe that you've already addressed this issue and put it behind you.

But you'd be wrong. The music is still being screwed up.

I happen to think that THE FUGITIVE is one of the finest dramatic series ever produced for American television. Perhaps THE finest. So I was overjoyed when I first heard that CBS was going to release this series on DVD.

And Season One was great. Well, almost great. It would have been perfect if a few instances of background music on radios and jukeboxes hadn't been needlessly replaced in the episodes GARDEN HOUSE and WHERE THE ACTION IS.

But beginning with your release of Season 2 Volume 1, all of that changed. The music was horrible. Absolutely horrible.

CBS finally admitted that they had thrown out the entire musical score and commissioned a brand-new score composed of Crap Synthesizer Music. And all because of a handful of musical cues that had been originally licensed from the Capitol music library, the ownership of which was now in legal limbo.

This was a first-class example of 'throwing the baby out with the bath water'. -- "A few musical cues have got to go, so let's just throw out the entire musical score." This ranks as perhaps the most colossal blunder in the history of television.

Tens of thousands of Fugitive fans wrote letters, wrote emails, boycotted CBS products, and returned their DVDs for refunds. The outpouring of fan rage was unprecedented.

CBS recoiled in shock. Why were the fans so concerned about the music, when CBS had long ago concluded that "The Music Doesn't Matter"?

Fans were livid because The Music DOES Matter.

Let me say that again, CBS.

THE MUSIC *DOES* MATTER. Especially to a show like THE FUGITIVE.

Now, I can think of a great many series whose music is unmemorable. But THE FUGITIVE is different. It's a film-noir series. The protagonist is a tired, lonely, beaten-down guy who is being chased by the police for a crime he didn't commit.

The music underscores his lonely plight. It sets the mood, underscores his loneliness, gets the audience emotionally involved. The music is of primary importance to this series. Which is why any alteration to the music is jarring, changes the mood, changes the impact of the scene, and totally ruins the experience. THAT'S why the fans were outraged.

Thousands of fans returned their S2V1 DVD sets for a refund. This hit CBS where it mattered most, in the pocketbook. And CBS eventually responded by issuing Replacement Discs for S2V1, with the original music restored, and with only those few Capitol cues replaced.

(Personally, I believe that CBS' decision to issue Replacement Discs for S2V1 was primarily due to the embarrassment that CBS suffered when this issue was made public in an article entitled "CBS/Par Can't Escape Fugitive Burn" in the daily film-industry newspaper, VARIETY.)

(CBS has long turned a deaf ear to complaints from fans of other Classic TV shows that CBS has butchered. CBS probably would have ignored FUGITIVE fans too, if not for Jon Burlingame's VARIETY article. Thanks, Jon!)

Having issued the S2V1 Replacement Discs, you probably thought that you had resolved this music-replacement issue and put it behind you, didn't you, CBS?

But the S2V1 Replacement Discs didn't REALLY restore all of the original music (save for those few Capitol cues). A great many of the original cues were STILL needlessly replaced!

As an example, let's take a look at the Season 2 episode ESCAPE INTO BLACK. CBS has publicly stated that, in this episode, there is only one cue in question, a 39-second Capitol cue composed by Nick Carras.

(For proof, Google "The Fugitive Music Debacle: Why It Happened")

So, there is only one cue that had to be replaced in ESCAPE INTO BLACK. And if you pull out your old VHS copy and compare it to the S2V1 Replacement version, you'll find that the original score is intact, save for that one replaced cue, right?

Wrong. I made the comparison, and I found 25 instances where original cues have been needlessly replaced by Crap Synthesizer Cues. Here they are, listed by time index.

02:32 - flashback: Kimble sees one-armed man
02:41 - flashback: one-armed man in headlights
05:34 - amnesiac Kimble struggles to remember
06:01 - doctor interrogates Kimble
08:05 - Ruskin confronts Towne
08:24 - Ruskin argues with Towne
08:49 - Ruskin discusses Barlow case
09:02 - police want fingerprints
09:23 - Ruskin talks to Barlow
13:53 - Lascoe takes Kimble's fingerprints
14:01 - Kimble being fingerprinted
14:58 - Ruskin leaves hospital room
15:08 - Ruskin takes Kimble's file photo
35:49 - Kimble grabs Towne's lapels
44:40 - flashback: Kimble on train
44:48 - flashback: train wreck
46:10 - flashback: one-armed man runs from house
46:18 - Kimble talks to Ruskin
46:41 - flashback: Kimble runs to house
46:56 - Kimble apologizes to Ruskin
47:09 - Ruskin warns Kimble
47:14 - Gerard recognizes Kimble
47:20 - Gerard chases Kimble
47:45 - Kimble watches train recede
47:50 - (cue inserted where none existed)

The explanation is obvious. CBS did NOT start with the original score, and then replace that single Capitol cue. Instead, CBS started with the Crap Synthesizer Version from their first S2V1 release, and then sprinkled a few original cues back in, leaving a great many Crap Synthesizer Cues remaining.

CBS *could* have restored ALL of the original music, save for that single Capitol cue, but CBS chose to cut corners to save a buck, sacrificing quality in favor of cost-cutting expediency.

CBS probably thought that the fans wouldn't notice. But CBS has continually underestimated the intelligence of the fan base. First of all, the fans know every note of music, and will notice even the slightest change. Second, fans are able to communicate this information to each other by means of the Internet.

I have watched every episode of Season 2, and ESCAPE INTO BLACK is a pretty typical episode in terms of replaced music. I'd estimate that the S2V1 Replacement-Version episodes have an average of 60% original cues and 40% Crap Synthesizer Cues (in terms of number of cues, not necessarily running time).

It's worse for S2V2. I would estimate that the average S2V2 episode has 50% original cues and 50% Crap Synthesizer Cues.

This isn't remotely fair, CBS. We're already paying you double for these dvds, because you've split the season into two half-season sets. And what do we get for our double payment? We only get about half of the original musical cues! We're getting ripped off TWICE.

C'mon, CBS, charging us double for only half of the music is low-down and dirty. You really need to fix this.

Those CBS executives who thought that this music-replacement issue had already been resolved are sadly mistaken. This is still a huge issue to a huge number of FUGITIVE fans, and CBS is going to continue to lose sales until this issue is properly addressed.

This touches on the broader issue of Needless Music Replacement. CBS is guilty of editing and replacing the music of several tv series, among them GOMER PYLE, THE ODD COUPLE, and MY THREE SONS.

Why is CBS the only major dvd company that routinely replaces music? The answer seems to be that CBS is waging its own war against the Music Industry. Ken Ross, CBS' VP and General Manager, actually BOASTS about saving money by replacing music rather than paying music licensing fees.

With all due respect to Mr. Ross, I'd like to ask him to PLEASE STOP waging this war against what he perceives to be excessive music licensing fees. Fans of Classic TV would rather have the original music, even if it means that the dvds cost a little bit more.

Listen carefully, CBS. Waging war against the Music Industry by replacing music only serves to alienate your core dvd customers. IT'S NOT WORTH IT.

Put your customers first, Mr. Ross. Just PAY THE LICENSING FEES and give your customers the Classic TV that they're asking for. PUT YOUR CUSTOMERS FIRST, not your pocketbook or your ego.

If you're still not convinced that replacing music is a bad idea, CBS, let me illustrate with an example.

For my example, let's look into the bowels of CBS/Paramount, where an audio-video engineer is preparing an episode of GOMER PYLE for DVD release. Our engineer, Skippy, has just deleted a one-minute segment in which Gomer sings a song.

Skippy is proud of himself. "If I had kept Gomer's song intact, CBS would have had to pay $2000 to license that music. That would have driven up the unit price by 5 cents, and we would have overshot our Price Point. Besides, those stupid consumers will never know that I deleted Gomer's song."

Wrong, Skippy. It turns out that the Cost Model used by CBS fails to take two factors into account. First, consumers are not the stupid morons that CBS believes them to be. Second, in this age of global Internet communications, consumers can instantly communicate with each other.

So here is what actually happens. As soon as the DVDs are released, a sharp-eyed consumer realizes that Gomer's song has been deleted. That person communicates this information to other... Read more ›

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Fugitive still not 100%, May 11, 2009

By 

John L. Kinser "drzaius3085" (Anderson, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2 (DVD)

I wanted to wait a little while before I reviewed the latest release of The Fugitive Season Two volume Two due to I have very mixed emotions regarding the release of The Fugitive on DVD and Paramount/CBS treatment of this classic series.
The series itself, deserves nothing less than 5 stars! I was born in 1970 and never seen the show until A&E showed the series in the 1990's. From the first episode, I was hooked and The Fugitive became, and remains to this day, my favorite TV show. I was thrilled the day CBS/Paramount announced the release of the show on DVD format! Back then, CBS/Paramount really did put classic TV on a pedestal. The first two releases of The Fugitive are outstanding! There are some minor music changes on the first two volumes, but they are barely noticeable. The changes are in background incidental music such as juke box and radio music. While this still was unpleasant to me, it is still as I said, barely noticeable and very minute. But when CBS/Paramount released Season Two Volume One, they destroyed the whole feel to the show by doing something no other studio has ever done to a DVD release: They stripped the entire underscore and added new music. This was inexcusable and the fans outrage was tremendous. CBS/Paramount heard the fans and reissued the Season Two Volume One set with, in my opinion, 90-95% of the original score restored. Although I appreciate their effort, they still destroyed some of the episodes in the re-issue and many on this new volume two release.

Most of the scores they replaced on Season Two, Volumes One and Two, they own and there is no reason to remove them. There are scores used on other CBS/Paramount shows such as the Twilight Zone, which the Fugitive borrowed from heavily, that CBS/Paramount still replaced. There is no reason for this. And to add injury to insult, In their statement issued with the exchange program, they promised that Season Two Volume Two would be close to the release of Season One volume one and two. It is not. To be precise, Volume Two of Season Two shows more tampering with and replaced music than the episodes on the replacement set of Volume One Season Two.
CBS/Paramount states that they put classic TV on a pedestal. They do but only for certain shows . I believe that this is not a rights issue but a financial issue in that Paramount/CBS does not want to pay out royalties. To prove my fact, take a look at Star Trek and I love Lucy. Every bit of music on these shows remains intact and complete. In the latest (I refer to the non-Bluray issue) release of Star Trek, Paramount/CBS paid an orchestra to re-do the Star Trek score using original instrumental set up and original music cue sheets according to the extras found on the first season DVD set. And as I mentioned before, I Love Lucy: Every musical number performed by Desi Arnaz is intact and complete! Why can't The Fugitive fans get the same treatment? Instead we get replaced scores using synthesizers and in Volume One, the episode Ballad for a Ghost, the song performed by Janice Page was totally removed and replaced by a new song and new singer! This is uncalled for because that song was written for that episode by the show's producer, and is in the script!

Another disappointment for this new release is some of the episodes have music added in places where there was no music initially. In the episode "Fun And Games And Party Favors", there is music added in segments where there is no music originally. Now, not only is CBS/Paramount replacing music unnecessarily, they are adding music where music wasn't originally! And the episode "Brass Ring" unfortunately is pretty much totally ruined by the new music that plays in many different portions of it, especially during the chase scene in Act IV. The climax of Act III also is destroyed by the heavy use of the composer's loud synthesized horns. Also note that all of the "merry-go-round" music from the original "Brass Ring" soundtrack has been replaced with new music as well which there is no reason for that replacement since that music seems to also appear in the premier episode, "Fear in a Dessert Town", and it remains untouched. The `merry-go-round" music that is used is in public domain anyway and there was no reason to replace it. The episode "The Survivors" is also laced with heavy replacement music that ruins the feel of the show.
On the plus side, the picture quality of the episodes on the DVD's of The Fugitive are excellent. CBS/Paramount states the DVD's are being produced from the original negatives and from the look of these episodes, they are. The episodes are appear to be very clean and well preserved. The picture quality is very sharp! The episode "Corner of Hell", like volume ones episode of "Cry Uncle" does show some damage to the negative but only in the preview of this episode. No other damage seems present in the rest of the episode. It is too bad that CBS/Paramount didn't search for better prints. These two episodes were released by Nu Ventures video when they were releasing The Fugitive in the 90's and the episodes they used showed no damage.
The sound (the original, not the CBS/Paramount produced fake sound) is outstanding as well! The clarity for a show of this age is very clear and CBS/Paramount did an excellent job of cleaning up the audio. There are no hisses, drop outs, pops or cracks! Very excellent audio clarity!
I hope that CBS/Paramount listens to the fans of The Fugitive and realizes that there are as many Fugitive fans as there are Lucy and Trek fans and this time really go back and redo Season Two in its entirety with the original music score and performances added back into the episodes and rereleases them. Since they own the majority of the music, there is really no reason why the show cannot be released in its original broadcast form. I hope that Paramount/CBS clears any and all legal and royalties issues before releasing Season Three. I am sending my Season Two Volume Two back like I did my Season Two Volume One. I believe that this is the only way that CBS/Paramount will hear our outrage and release The Fugitive correctly! Come on CBS/Paramount! Release The Fugitive in its original broadcast form and show us you really do care about your customers and really do put the classic TV show The Fugitive DVD on a pedestal!

If you really care about this classic show, I encourage you to contact the powers that be at paramount and ask that they release this classic intact as originally brodcasted. I will make it easy for you: Here is the address and phone number of the person to contact.

CBS Home Entertainment
ATTN: Ken Ross, Exec. VP & General Manager
1700 Broadway, 33rd Floor
New York, NY 10019

Leave a Voice Message:

[phone] When transferred to an operator, ask for Ken Ross.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CBS/Paramount has seen the light? We've been hoodwinked and bamboozled by CBS/Paramount!, February 17, 2009

By 

Kari Mason - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2 (DVD)

Finally bowing to the wishes of the consumer, CBS/Paramount has announced that they will be issuing replacement discs for The Fugitive - Season Two, Vol. 1, restoring most of the original music. Just go to <[...]> for replacement instructions. Also this release, The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2, will be identical to Season one with most of the original music intact!

This is wonderful news the American consumer! I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease!

Update: 03/05/09

Wow, that was fast! I received my replacement unit today and it is a complete replacement; keep-case, discs, insert, the whole works. Just finished watching episode one. It's not perfect but what a difference! Here's hoping everyone takes advantage of this program and gets a quick turn-around. Mine was a mere 16 days. Happy viewing everyone!

Update: 04/05/09

I must digress a bit to comment on this release. After all the hoopla about the "wonderful" replacement discs for S.2.V.1, we have been hoodwinked and bamboozled by CBS/Paramount! Substituted music abounds in many episodes, sometimes in overbearing, disjointed volumes. Season two has been a cluster mess-up from start to finish.....just a bungled mess!