MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, Kung Fu on the half-brother.

And the Westerns listed there with which I'm familiar aren't Fugitive-style shows. Wagon Train and Rawhide both featured casts of mobile protagonists, the former being much more a semi-anthology from which I saw, with most of the emphasis being on the guest stars of the week. In neither case were the main cast on the run / outlaws.

I'm talking about shows that share these elements with The Fugitive:

Protagonist is on the run, usually with a specific regular character chasing him;
Protagonist wanders from town to town, odd job to odd job, in some cases assuming aliases;
Protagonist is himself pursuing something/someone very important to him.

The Fugitive (Gerard, aliases, one-armed man)
Kung Fu (bounty hunters, uses own name, half-brother Danny)
The Incredible Hulk (McGee, David B. aliases, a cure)
The Phoenix (government agent, uses own name, his mate who woke up separately from him)

Throwing in any old show where the protagonist is mobile is generalizing too much.

 

[Christopher]

^True, but there is overlap between various different types of show. It's not like The Fugitive was something entirely unprecedented in the annals of human creativity -- it was itself a variation on previous tropes, just like everything is.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Nobody's claiming that The Fugitive was without precedent. But it had a distinct formula that came to pop up again in other shows. I'm sure there have been more, too, but I'm drawing a blank as to what they were offhand.

 

[Christopher]

I just like to resist the obvious. The Fugitive is the show everyone thinks of as the exemplar of this type of show, but it must've had its own influences and antecedents in turn. So I'm trying to dig deeper and think about what came before it, not just after it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The reason that the other shows make people think of The Fugitive is that particular mix of elements. If there's another show predating The Fugitive that had all of those elements, I'd be interested to know.

 

[Silvercrest]

This is a digression, since it doesn't predate The Fugitive, but does The Invaders fall under this category? I ask because I'm not sure if David Vincent was being actively pursued.

 

[Zaku]

I'm talking about shows that share these elements with The Fugitive:

Protagonist is on the run, usually with a specific regular character chasing him;
Protagonist wanders from town to town, odd job to odd job, in some cases assuming aliases;
Protagonist is himself pursuing something/someone very important to him.

So, Run, Joe, Run meets the requirements..?

I'm on the fence about The A-Team...

Edit: According to TvTropes The Werewolf is a perfect example of this trope.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Yup, that's the one I was talking about.

^Also the short-lived The Phoenix with Judson Scott...and a little show that was on the other week called Kung Fu.

Good point. I never thought of that show in this category, probably because of the lack of a specific pursuer, as you point out in a later post.

I don't have HDTV...if there's a hi-def guide in my cable, I don't know how to use it.

Sorry, I thought you had mentioned it before. When I visit my Mother tomorrow, I should be able to see ahead for the next week or so.

Well, now my program guide is showing the same thing for each half-hour after 7 a.m. on Monday for DECADES--"Classic TV Shows". Yeah, that helps....

If you can see Monday, you can definitely see further than me. I get about six hours at most.

Another thing that "Fugitive premise" shows tend to share, which I don't know whether or not Les Miserables also has, is that even while he runs from somebody, the protagonist is driven to find something or someone specific--the one-armed man, his long lost half-brother, the cure to his metamorphoses, etc.

Yeah, I can see the inspiration in the single-minded pursuer, but there's more to it than that-- the necessity of making it an open-ended TV show.

Who was looking for his half-brother? And are there any shows in this category that are female-led?

I recall a show from the 80s called Hot Pursuit, which featured a married couple. The woman might have been Linda Kelsey.

This is a digression, since it doesn't predate The Fugitive, but does The Invaders fall under this category? I ask because I'm not sure if David Vincent was being actively pursued.

Good question. I never actually saw that show, I don't think.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This is a digression, since it doesn't predate The Fugitive, but does The Invaders fall under this category? I ask because I'm not sure if David Vincent was being actively pursued.

Not familiar firsthand, and what I read doesn't make it sound like he was actively pursued, but sounds close otherwise.

So, Run, Joe, Run meets the requirements..?

I'm on the fence about The A-Team...

Edit: According to TvTropes The Werewolf is a perfect example of this trope.

I'm not familiar with Run, Joe, Run firsthand, but it sounds like it might. It varies in that it sounds like the dog wasn't pursuing a specific goal himself, but the Sgt. was on his behalf.

I actually thought about bringing up The A-Team. In addition to the fact that I'm not sure that they were actively pursuing anything other than their next job, from what I recall it undermines the Fugitive Premise a bit in that it has a group sharing the experience, as well as in that the group doesn't seem to be wandering much, just traveling to their jobs, as they had to bust Murdoch out of the asylum in every episode.

And I'd forgotten that RJD had brought up The Werewolf...another that I'm not familiar with firsthand.

I recall a show from the 80s called Hot Pursuit, which featured a married couple. The woman might have been Linda Kelsey

Another that I'm not familiar with firsthand, but from what I read, it sounds like it qualifies.

 

[Christopher]

This is a digression, since it doesn't predate The Fugitive, but does The Invaders fall under this category? I ask because I'm not sure if David Vincent was being actively pursued.

Not by a specific individual, but he was generally being targeted for assassination by the aliens. Though the show was very inconsistent about this. In the pilot episode, it was established that the aliens preferred to discredit Architect David Vincent (as he was always described in the opening narration) rather than assassinate him, since he'd raised too much publicity and killing him would lend credence to his claims; but in the very next episode, the aliens blow up a whole plane in an attempt to assassinate someone who's been even more vocal about them than Vincent had been. And they frequently tried to kill Vincent in subsequent episodes. And yet, somehow, he was able to maintain his everyday job as Architect David Vincent and keep a listed place of residence so that people with information on the aliens could contact him. It really wasn't thought out well at all.

But it was definitely trying to be a Fugitive-style show -- a lone hero on a search, getting involved in other people's lives and dramas on a weekly, anthology-like basis. Which isn't surprising, since both The Fugitive and The Invaders were Quinn Martin productions.

As for the A-Team, they did have a goal they were pursuing: Exposing the guy who framed them and clearing their names. So it was sort of in the Fugitive/Hulk mode of heroes pursued for a crime they didn't commit and seeking exoneration. But it doesn't quite fit, because that was more just the setup than something they really addressed all that often; only the occasional episode dealt with the frame-up, and eventually they actually resolved that arc and moved on to a revised status quo. And they weren't really Walking the Earth, as TV Tropes puts it, because they tended to stay around Los Angeles except when they had a mission elsewhere (except they weren't gettin' B.A. to go up in no plane, fool!).

As for Hot Pursuit, Wikipedia says the leads were Kerrie Keane and Eric Pierpoint. And it was from Kenneth Johnson, who later cast Pierpoint as a lead in Alien Nation. Interesting -- I seem to have missed this show, or forgotten it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, that clarifies The A-Team's status, which I was fuzzy about. Sounds like they were putting Fugitive Premise elements in there for background dressing, but it wasn't really the focus of the show. First and foremost, I'd say that The A-Team was trying to be The Magnificent Seven/The Seven Samurai: The TV Series.

 

[Christopher]

^Maybe to an extent, and maybe with some Dirty Dozen thrown in, since the heroes were outlaws (albeit wrongly accused ones). And it was also in the vein of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, the Chuck Jones kind where Bugs champions the little guy and unleashes massive, comical destruction on a bully while making endless wisecracks. To an extent, it was definitely a parody of the ultraviolent, gunplay-laden action TV and film of the era. But it was largely just an excuse for four colorful lead characters to do their various schticks.

Edit: According to Wikipedia:

The A-Team was created by writers and producers Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo at the behest of Brandon Tartikoff, NBC's Entertainment president. Cannell was fired from ABC in the early 1980s, after failing to produce a hit show for the network, and was hired by NBC; his first project was The A-Team. Brandon Tartikoff pitched the series to Cannell as a combination of The Dirty Dozen, Mission Impossible, The Magnificent Seven, Mad Max and Hill Street Blues, with "Mr. T driving the car".[1][2][3][4]

I suppose the M:I influence was felt in the weekly building montages where the team constructed some makeshift armored vehicle to take on the bad guys -- which would also be where the Mad Max influence came in. No idea how you fit Hill Street Blues in there, though.

 

[Zaku]

I actually remember this one!

The Immortal

Ben Richards is a test car driver for a large corporation. He's 42 years old, but looks young enough to pass for 25—and he's never been sick a day in his life. Ben's life changes when he donates a pint of blood. When a dying billionaire is given a transfusion of his donated blood, and is brought back from the brink of death, Ben's physician determines that his O-negative blood contains all known antibodies and immunities. This gives Ben immunity to every known disease and an estimated lifespan five to ten times that of other humans, making him, in the doctor's words, "virtually immortal". The billionaire decides that he has to control Richards' life so he can access his life-saving blood.

When Richards rejects all of the billionaire's offers to remain with him, the billionaire has him imprisoned, but he ultimately escapes. Richards is now on the run because although the billionaire dies, he is now being pursued by one of the billionaire's former employees, Fletcher, who is now employed by another billionaire, Arthur Maitland, who also wants access to Richards' blood.

The series' dramatic tension is based on the idea that Richards would probably never lose his life if he were to live quietly, since he would never succumb to any known diseases. But his flight from Fletcher puts his life at great risk, constantly engaging in dangerous efforts to avoid capture, and his "immortal" blood did not make him immune from losing his life from trauma.

The series primarily focuses on Richards' journeys and the people he meets while trying to avoid Fletcher. A secondary plot involved Richards' search for a brother he has never known, with the implication that that brother may share his gift and thus be at risk from the billionaire as well.

The plotline of The Immortal is quite different from that of the book on which it is based. Instead, The Immortal bears more than a superficial resemblance to the then-recent, very popular TV series, The Fugitive, which still aired in syndicated reruns. That series had ended its four-season run three years beforeThe Immortal began.

 

[Silvercrest]

In the pilot episode, it was established that the aliens preferred to discredit Architect David Vincent (as he was always described in the opening narration) rather than assassinate him, since he'd raised too much publicity and killing him would lend credence to his claims;

Very X-Files!

but in the very next episode, the aliens blow up a whole plane in an attempt to assassinate someone who's been even more vocal about them than Vincent had been. And they frequently tried to kill Vincent in subsequent episodes. And yet, somehow, he was able to maintain his everyday job as Architect David Vincent and keep a listed place of residence so that people with information on the aliens could contact him.

Wow, did not remember that.

But it was definitely trying to be a Fugitive-style show -- a lone hero on a search, getting involved in other people's lives and dramas on a weekly, anthology-like basis. Which isn't surprising, since both The Fugitive and The Invaders were Quinn Martin productions.

Oh, I knew that. But I wasn't sure how closely it hewed to the formula. Even less than I thought, apparently. Thanks.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The Immortal

Another one I hadn't known about, but it definitely sounds like it's got the Fugitive formula down to a tee.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I don't think I've ever even heard of The Immortal. Seems like another premise that wasn't really thought out very well.

And I'd forgotten that RJD had brought up The Werewolf...another that I'm not familiar with firsthand.

It was a cool little show, especially in the beginning when Chuck Connors was in it. Worth catching if it ever comes around again.

Another that I'm not familiar with firsthand, but from what I read, it sounds like it qualifies.

I'm not sure that I ever actually saw it. Maybe the pilot episode. It's just one of those random memories that pop up out of nowhere.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Now my cable guide is back to saying "To Be Announced" on Monday....

Meanwhile, James Hong certainly gets around--"Kimble, four!"

 

[Photoman15]

I don't think I've ever even heard of The Immortal. Seems like another premise that wasn't really thought out very well.

Ahh. I haven't seen or heard of that for years. If I remember, it starred Christopher George (who was married to Lynda Day George). His blood made him immortal and everyone was after it. I think he was immune to everything. It's not like Captain Jack.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I should hope not...

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koft_Yschnc[/yt]

 

[Photoman15]

Captain Jack Harkness (Dr Who/Torchwood)