An Alternate Ending to The Fugitive?
I was very intrigued when I came upon this curious bit of television history. But first, a little history…
The Fugitive, starring David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, premiered on Tuesday, September 17th, 1963 at 10:00PM on ABC. Kimble, the fugitive referred to in the show’s title, was convicted of murdering his wife but escaped while en route to his execution. Relentlessly pursued by Lt. Philip Gerard (Barry Morse), Kimble spent the next four seasons chasing after the One Armed Man (Bill Raisch), who he saw fleeing from his home the night his wife was killed.
On April 11th, 1967, the fourth and final season of The Fugitive came to an end. The following week, repeats began. Viewers who had watched 118 episodes of the series were, in a word, frustrated at the lack of closure. The Chicago Tribune, attempting to get to the bottom of things, contacted ABC and printed this quote on April 19th:
“There WILL be an ending. The whole thing probably will be settled sometime between now and September, when the show goes off the air. One or two more episodes will be shot to resolve the unanswered: Was Kimble the criminal or the one-armed man?” [1]
On July 10th, 1967, an article by Hal Humphrey of The Los Angeles Times revealed that a two-part series finale to The Fugitive would air on August 22nd and August 29th. Star David Janssen refused to discuss how the series would end:
“A great many people worked hard to do these two final episodes, so I’d be a real louse to ad-lib it for you now in five minutes.” [2]
Executive producer Quinn Martin also kept silent on the ending in an article for The Chicago Tribune on July 30th:
“To discuss the conclusion now would only spoil it for the audience. Suffice it to say the concluding two episodes are the culmination of the entire series–and I feel sure no one will be disappointed.” [3]
Viewers flocked to the final episode of The Fugitive, “The Judgment, Part 2,” on August 29th, 1967. Its 45.9/72 Nielsen rating was the highest ever recorded for an episode of a television series. It would be more than ten years before the infamous “Who Shot J.R.?” episode of Dallas (actually titled “Who Done It?”) topped The Fugitive with a 53.3/76 rating when it aired on November 21st, 1980 [4]. The final episode of The Fugitive, however, performed better in New York City, with a 50.7/73 overnight rating compared to the 45.9/65 rating for “Who Done It?” [5, 6].
But all those viewers, it seems, couldn’t quite agree on how The Fugitive ended. From the October 16th, 1967 edition of The Chicago Tribune‘s entertainment Mailbag feature came this question and answer
WAUKESHA, Wis.–My sister just told me that out west there was a different ending for The Fugitive. She says it turned out that Gerard killed Helen Kimble. Was there such an ending?–A.W.
O no, not again. For weeks, we’ve been getting reports from people that claim their “Aunt Tessie in Winnipeg” or “Cousin Cecil [i]n Apache Pass, Ariz.” saw The Fugitive with a different ending. The answer, once again, is NO there was only one ending to The Fugitive–the ending you saw. And incidentally, you might be interested to know that out in California there were rumors that when the last episode of The Fugitive was shown “back around Illinois and Indiana,” there was a different ending, with Gerard as the guilty one. What a life.” [7]
It would have been something.
Sources:
1 Wolfe, Sheila. “Alas, Fugitive Now Runs Backwards.” Chicago Tribune. 19 Apr. 1967: C8.
2 Humphrey, Hal. “‘Fugitive’ Pauses for a Rest Stop.” Los Angeles Times. 10 Jul. 1967: C18.
3 “The Fugitive Finally Stops Running.” Chicago Tribune. 30 Jul. 1967: F14.
4 Schwartz, Tony. “TV Notebook: Show On Who Shot J.R. Sets a Viewing Record.” New York Times. 26 Nov. 1980: C18.
5 “Fugitive Gets Huge Rating In Last Show.” Chicago Tribune. 31 Aug. 1967: C19.
6 Montgomery, Paul L. “‘Dallas’ Broke Rating Record, Network Says.” New York Times. 23 Nov. 1980: 24.
7 “Mailbag.” Chicago Tribune. 16 Oct. 1967: C19.
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