any old timers here that saw the finale when it initially aired, be curious what the sense of the general public in the weeks leading up to the last show was, and how you'd equate it to other famous show finalies? Cheers, MASH etc.
shareI once read an interview with baseball star Rod Carew, who grew up in Panama, that the series was a huge hit there. He said that impoverished people all over the world related to Kimble, who was by the nature of this circumstances, impoverished and always on the run from the government. When his situation was favorably resolved it was tremendously cathartic for them.
I remember when I first discovered the series it was on A&E in the early 90's. (I suspect it's successful run there inspired producers to decide to do the Harrison Ford movie.) I remember I got so involved in it that I would hurry home from work so as to miss as little of it as possible, (it came on at 5PM). When they got to the final episode and Bill Conrad intoned "August 29,1967: The Day the Running Stopped", I found myself crying tears of joy.
The past is a series of presents. The present is living history we are privileged to witness
My story mimicked yours. Discovered on A&E in the 90's & couldn't wait to get home from work to watch the day's episode. I've read people had similar anticipation every week during the original airing.
You can listen to a phone interview of David that was taped about 2 hours before the finale aired. David was pressed for what happens & he responded "It was me, I killed her. She talked too much".
http://davidjanssen.net/audio/joeybishop.MP3
There's a picture of David watching the final episode also. I believe this was taken from a TV Guide article at the time.
http://davidjanssen.net/chron12.htm
The fugitive may be one of a few shows to actually have an ending but lets face it, it never really had a first episode either...
JB
I remember me, my brothers, and my parents seeing it on the old Zenith black and white (we had it since the late fifties, it didn't even get UHF). There was a problem - the screen was on the blink. We could listen to it, but we couldn't see it. Them's the breaks!!!
shareIt was a big deal because at that time shows didn't really have finales. They just went along as always and then one week they just weren't there any more. "The Fugitive" wrapped up the story, which was unique then.
shareI was 17 in 1967. I didn't often watch the fugitive but I was aware that the final episodes were hyped a lot, and I remember watching them with my grandmother. The rest of the family went to our vacation home at the shore for part of the summer, but my grandmother and I stayed home. One thing we did that summer was to paint the hallway with the staircase leading up to the third floor.
The finale aired on 22 August and 29 August. I don't know whether the other family members were back from the shore yet, I just remember watching the finale episodes with my grandmother.
I remember TV Guide magazine had a joke about the finale. The joke said that in the last episode it would be proved that the one armed man did it, and Kimble would be cleared. And after being cleared Kimble would take a vacation at the beach. The last scene would show Kimnble preparing to go swimming, including removing a prosthetic arm!
The Incredible Hulk could've had a similar big deal finale if they'd decided to end it in like the 4th or 5th season (could've also had a crossover with the Spiderman series at some point)
share