From what I've read, the rating remained pretty good all the way to the end, so why did it end after only 4 season? Most series go at least 5 even if the leads want to quit.
However, always best to quit while ahead rather than be like so many other series where the last couple of seasons aren't very good.
Yes, best to quit while still going strong, as it was.
But the reason is that David Janssen could no longer handle the demands of the series, and refused to go on. The network actually wanted to go for a fifth season.
David Janssen had to quit the show after 4 seasons because it was physically to hard on him.
shareThe Saratogian, Wednesday, August 30, 1967-page 10
For Those Who Missed
One-Armed Man Did It!
By Cynthia Lowery
HOLLYWOOD (A P) - "On Tuesday, August 29, 1967, The Fugitive stopped running," intoned the unseen narrator, and Dr. Richard Kimble, cleared of his wife's murder, smiled at the pretty girl at his side and walked into the sunset.
It was Tuesday night's widely heralded wind-up on ABC's "The Fugitive," and while the final pair of programs are unlikely to be candidates for writing awards, they did break television precedents.
TIES LOOSE ENDS
The two-part episode tried to tie up all the loose ends of four seasons and to satisfy the curiosity of the viewers about how their hero emerged from his jam. It also produced a novel wrap up in new programs broadcasting during the summer rerun doldrums.
The conclusion was hard to pull together, so it's no wonder the final chapter wasn't up to standards of the rest of the long-running series. No secret was made that the one armed man was the murderer, so suspense had to come from another area.
CLIMAX
Finding an eyewitness to the killing was the central theme, but that hardly seem dramatic enough, so the climax was a chase through a deserted amusement park and a fight to the finish atop a high ride-a familiar pair of end of show television clichés. What has attracted considerable attention in the industry was giving the viewers a windup show. The device attracted publicity and drew oversized audiences. The national Nielsen ratings, estimated the size of the audiences, will be closely studied when they come in, but preliminary checks indicate a lot of homes which usually turn off their sets for the summer had them on for "The Fugitive."
Executives presumably are not wondering if the right kind of new programs might attract those millions who are, each summer, presumed to be off fishing.
TIE-IN
ABC executives tried to figure out a way to use the interest in the end of show programs.
"We thought of having the one armed man arrested and jailed," said Harve Bennett,. West Coast program vice president, "and then, in the last scene, Judd, the lawyer and one of our new series, would come into the cell and prepare to defend him. But we couldn't find any way to work it out."
One stumbling block undoubtedly was Quinn Martin, creator and head of the production company that turned out the departing show. "Judd for the Defense," the new courtroom series, is made by another producer with ties to other film studios.
David Janssen who played "The Fugitive" for four exhausting years-he appeared in almost every scene-breathe life and sympathy into a thoroughly implausible character.
GREATEST CHALLENGE
Perhaps the greatest challenge, however, was handed Barry Morse, cast as the policeman who pursued him relentlessly, obviously a neurotic victim of some compulsion but who, at least once was so kind and trusting that the recaptured man could talk to him into temporary freedom.
One thing that made the windup shows possible was the fact that Janssen wanted to leave the series and he was impossible to replace. ABC would have liked to continue to show, but Janssen, fatigued, was eager to get into a less rigorous and equally rewarding motion picture career.
Meanwhile, "The Fugitive" is due to start running all over again, as the four years of programs are sold for local station reruns..
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