4.0 out of 5 stars
It was worth a shot, January 7, 2012
This is one of the sad casulties of the rough and tumble game of series TV. A well crafted dramatic series that could not capture a large enough audience to move past its first season. The Fugitive (2000) combined elements of the hit big screen film with plot devices from the original 1960s television series. Some of these are Dr. Richard Kimble getting involved in other peoples lives and ultimately helping them with their troubles, but not finding a resolution to his own. Dramatic tension is amped up by action scenes much like the movie. Some of those scenes however are almost James Bond type situations and stretch the credibility level.
It has a great team of leading actors. Tim Daly is, by the admission of Fugitive Creator Roy Huggins very close in features and style to original series star David Janssen. Mykelti Williams, stepping into the shoes of Barry Morse as the obsessed police detective Phillip Gerard is steely eyed, dogged, almost devoid of emotion in his pusuit of The Fugitive. Both these men are much closer to the players of the original show then Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones from the feature film.
Perhaps it was the success of that film that hurt the chances for this update. All respect to stars Ford and Jones, the films Dr. Kimble was almost robot-like in bearing and Tommy Lee Jones' tradmark obnoxious glibness ("you understand me, young man?")gave many potential veiwers the idea that thats who the characters really were. When they tuned into the show they were expecting the Gerard from the movie and his fun and games banter. (I base this observation on conversations I had with critics of the new show and certain reviews I read.
The Fugitive premiered at the start of the 2000 season on CBS ironically on the same night that CSI made its big impact. That one of course became a runaway hit spawning several spinoffs. The Fugitive actually picked up respectable ratings, but not high enough to justify its huge budget and was not renewed for a second season.
The title of this review is taken from a line spoken by a guest star from an episode called Strapped. In the story Kimble finds love again in the arms of a young widow and makes a serious attempt to stop running. At the end, when it becomes clear he must move on the girl tells him "It was worth a shot" An attempt to restart a great show was worth a shot also.
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