Line #34 Series/TheFugitive


1	[[quoteright:308:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Fugitive_351.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:308:From left to right: Fred Johnson (aka the One-Armed Man), Richard Kimble, and Lt. Gerard.]]
3
4	->''"The name: Dr. Richard Kimble. The destination: Death Row, State Prison. The irony: Richard Kimble is innocent."''
5	-->-- from the OpeningNarration in Season 1
6
7	A groundbreaking American drama series created by Roy Huggins and produced by Creator/QuinnMartin, which aired for four seasons (1963–67) on Creator/{{ABC\|US}}.
8
9	The premise: Dr. Richard Kimble (Creator/DavidJanssen), a pediatrician from Stafford, Indiana, has been [[FrameUp wrongly convicted]] for the murder of his wife, Helen. However, while he is being transported to Death Row by train there's an accident that enables him to escape.
10
11	Now Kimble must continually travel throughout the country, looking to find the actual murderer--a one-armed man (Bill Raisch) whom he saw running from his house that night before finding his wife's body--and [[ClearMyName clear his name]].
12
13	Meanwhile, Kimble is pursued by Lt. Philip Gerard (Creator/BarryMorse), the Stafford police detective who was escorting him at the time of his escape. Gerard is determined to recapture Kimble, thus precluding the fugitive from simply settling down in some remote area under an assumed identity. In the meantime, Kimble takes various small jobs and inevitably gets involved in the personal lives and problems of the strangers he encounters.
14
15	''The Fugitive'' was [[TheFilmOfTheSeries adapted]] into a 1993 [[Film/TheFugitive feature film]], starring Creator/HarrisonFord as Kimble and Creator/TommyLeeJones as Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard. There was also a short-lived Creator/{{CBS}} {{remake}} series in 2000, which starred Creator/TimDaly as Kimble and Creator/MykeltiWilliamson as Gerard. Meanwhile, the show's premise has provided the template for an entire subgenre of action and drama shows.
16
17	The rights to the original series were originally owned by QM Productions. They were subsequently acquired by Taft Broadcasting through Worldvision Enterprises (which actually had syndication rights before either it and QM were both acquired by Taft), [[Creator/AaronSpelling Spelling Television]] (which once had a movie production arm, Spelling Films), Creator/{{Paramount}} Television (which produced ''Series/{{Wings}}'', also starring Tim Daly, and the television arm of Paramount Pictures), and currently Creator/{{CBS}} Studios. None of these companies (either TV or theatrical) were involved in the subsequent remakes of ''The Fugitive'', all of which were produced by Creator/WarnerBros Entertainment, a result of Keith Barish taking the rights to the IP (but not the series itself) with him upon leaving Taft, and eventually teaming up with former QM Productions employee and latter-day producer Arnold Kopelson to produce the 1993 film with Warner, which has retained the remake rights ever since.
18
19	[[Series/TheFugitive2020 Another remake]] of the series, starring Creator/BoydHolbrook as the protagonist (now named Mike Ferro) and Creator/KieferSutherland as his pursuer (now called Detective Clay Price), premiered on August 3, 2020, on the short-lived streaming platform Quibi. It ran for one season.
20
21	----
22	!!Trope examples from the original series:
23	* AccidentalKidnapping: Kimble to Philip Gerard Jr. in "Nemesis".
24	** Also, Kimble to Policewoman Jane Washburn in "Echo of a Nightmare".
25	* AccidentalMurder: Kimble witnesses [[spoiler: Martin Rowland]] committing it in "Glass Tightrope". [[spoiler: Kimble convinces him to confess.]]
26	* AcquittedTooLate:
27	** In "Nightmare at Northoak", Kimble suggests that this is what Gerard has nightmares about (i.e. finding the One-Armed Man after Kimble has been executed). Gerard's reaction indicates that he might be right.
28	** In "Scapegoat", Kimble returns to a town he'd been in before to prove the innocence of a former employer who has been convicted of murdering him. When he arrives, the man has been killed trying to escape.
29	* AdventureTowns
30	* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: The titular motorcycle gang in "The Devil's Disciples".
31	* AmnesiacsAreInnocent: In "Escape Into Black", a doctor finds out about Kimble's identity after a gas explosion has left Kimble amnesiac. He persuades Kimble to turn himself in on the basis of this trope. [[spoiler: A friendly social worker manages to warn Kimble in time, though.]]
32	* AmusementPark: Setting of the final-episode showdown.
33	* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler: In the final episode, during the show-down, Kimble hits Johnson in the face, shouting: "You killed her! You killed my wife! Didn't you! Didn't you!"]]
34	* AndStarring: In the episodes in which he appears, "Also Starring Barry Morse as Lt. Gerard".
35	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Escaping from prison is illegal, even if you are found innocent of the crime for which you were convicted. With some public support and a sympathetic judge you might get a more lenient sentence, but you'd still probably end up serving some time simply for escaping.
36	* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The supposedly Hungarian Karac-family from the episode "The Blessings of Liberty". Not only is "Karac" not a Hungarian family name ("Karacs" exists, though), but to add to it, the children are named Jan, Magda and Karla, all non-Hungarian names (János, Magdolna and Klara would have been the right choice).
37	* AxCrazy: Fred Johnson.
38	* BerserkButton: Gerard is normally very composed and calm, but [[spoiler:he breaks during the finale when interrogating the One-Armed Man, precisely because he finally realizes at that moment that Kimble is right. He also chews out Lloyd Chandler later for not testifying on behalf of Kimble years ago.]]
39	* BigStormEpisode: "Storm Center", "Ill Wind".
40	* BilingualBonus: There's quite a bit of Spanish spoken in some of the episodes set in the Southwestern U.S. or even Mexico.
41	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: As Kimble leaves the courthouse, finally cleared, at the end of the final episode, a police cruiser drives up and Kimble stops dead before being reminded that he doesn't have to fear them anymore. It's just a little hint to show how long it will probably take for him to recover from the last five years. And, of course, his wife is still dead (although their marriage was apparently on the rocks already, and he's conveniently been provided a new LoveInterest). He's also lost his father, who died years before he was cleared.]]
42	* {{Blackmail}}:
43	** Numerous characters who find out about Kimble's real identity use the information to force him into doing something for them.
44	** [[spoiler: What the One-Armed Man uses on Lloyd Chandler, the witness to Helen Kimble's murder, in order to keep him quiet.]]
45	* {{Bookends}}: Part 1 of the final episode, "The Judgment", opens with Kimble in Tucson, UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}... the same town he'd visited in the ''first'' episode, "Fear in a Desert City". And the same Part 1 ends with Kimble and Gerard once again handcuffed together aboard a train.
46	* TheBoxingEpisode: "Decision in the Ring" has Kimble as cut man for a boxer who may be suffering brain damage.
47	* CainAndAbel: Frank and Davey in "Fatso", the latter of which was framed by the former both to try and cover being AWOL and to get him out of the way to have the family business all to himself. Semi-subverted in that Davey is the older of the two.
48	* CassandraTruth: If Kimble had gotten anybody to believe his story of the One-Armed Man, there wouldn't have been a TV series. Gerard even believes that Kimble's clinging to the story is a psychological defense mechanism.
49	* CharacterDevelopment: Gerard. While he stays a ByTheBookCop, he goes from firmly believing Kimble to be guilty to chasing Kimble because it's his job to openly doubting that Kimble is a dangerous man. [[spoiler: In the final episode, his conviction that Kimble is innocent is strong enough to make him put a gun in Kimble's hand to send him after Johnson.]]
50	* CharacterTics: Kimble tends to nervously cast his eyes downward and twitch one side of his mouth while talking to someone.
51	* ChekhovsGun: Or rather, the bullet to go with it: [[spoiler: Donna finds a bullet in the drawer of her son Billy which puts Gerard on the trail of the witness to the murder.]]
52	* ChickMagnet: Kimble racks up a truly impressive number of [[GirlOfTheWeek Girls of the Week]] during his time on the run.[[note]]David Janssen was known to complain about the lack of attractiveness of some of the female guest stars. Given Janssen's sense of humor, though, he may well have been kidding.[[/note]]
53	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
54	** After appearing on a recurring basis in the first two seasons, Captain Carpenter (Paul Birch), Gerard's superior at the Stafford PD, was written out of the series without explanation. (Since Carpenter was really never more than a sounding board for Gerard to talk to about the Kimble case--he was never seen in any other situation, and had no character development at all--he was very easy to lift out of the series. After the second season, instead of discussing the case with Carpenter before leaving to pursue Kimble, Gerard would just simply ''go''.)
55	** Richard's younger brother Ray Kimble plays an important role in the episode "Home Is the Hunted", but is never seen or mentioned again afterwards.
56	* ClearMyName: Of course, the entire show is about Kimble and his attempts to clear his name. However, in the episode "Corner of Hell", there's an interesting twist on this: Gerard has been captured by a clan of moonshiners in bayou country who accuse him of seriously injuring one of their own and held captive in a makeshift cell. Now it's ''his'' turn to plead for his life to Kimble! Kimble, being the nice guy that he is, does some amateur detective work to find the real attacker and save Gerard's life.
57	* ClimbingClimax: The final showdown between Kimble and the One-Armed Man, in Part 2 of "The Judgment", takes place atop an amusement park ride tower.
58	* ContinuitySnarl: The relatively minor detail of how Helen Kimble was murdered. There are several episodes in the second season where it's mentioned that she was strangled. In one of these episodes (where a neighbor of the Kimbles gives a false, but accurately detailed confession to the murder) it was even specified that she was strangled with her own belt. But by the fourth season (possibly because the writers realized this method of murder would be an awfully hard thing for a one-armed man to accomplish), it was changed. In one fourth season episode the One-Armed Man confesses, and in the GrandFinale is shown in flashback, to have killed her by hitting her over the head with a lamp in the house.
59	* ContrivedCoincidence: About OncePerEpisode. Creator/WilliamConrad's opening narration, which emphasizes the "huge hand of fate" that seems to rule Kimble's life, somewhat acknowledges this.
60	* DamselInDistress: Regularly
61	* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: Averted in "Terror at High Point". The villain tries to frame and kill someone else to cover up his own sexual assault, but fails due to Kimble.
62	* DestroyTheEvidence: The One-Armed Man in "The Ivy Maze".
63	* TheDeterminator: Kimble in his efforts to catch the One-Armed Man and Gerard in his efforts to catch Kimble.
64	* DiplomaticImpunity: Kimble is able to take advantage of this in "Dossier on a Diplomat", after coming to the aid of an African ambassador who has a fainting spell in the street.
65	* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler: Lloyd Chandler, the friend and neighbor of the Kimbles' who witnessed Helen's murder, keeps quiet for ''five'' years to avoid being known as one of these.]]
66	* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Fred Johnson, the One-Armed Man.]]
67	* DisposableWoman: Kimble's murdered wife.
68	* TheDrifter: Both Kimble and The One-Armed Man.
69	* DyeOrDie: After his escape, Kimble dyed his gray hair (although it's hard to tell the hair color in the black and white of the first three seasons, Kimble's younger brother states in the episode "Home is the hunted" that Richard's hair is gray) to the black it remains throughout the show.
70	* EasyAmnesia[=/=]IdentityAmnesia: Happens to Kimble in "Escape Into Black".
71	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: For the first two seasons, the rarely seen One-Armed Man has no other name. As he becomes seen a little more often, he uses the name "Fred Johnson" along with several other aliases. Kimble and Gerard, having no other consistent name to go by, often refer to him as "Fred Johnson", but most everybody just remembers him as, well, the One-Armed Man. In the final episode, [[spoiler: he vehemently denies that "Fred Johnson" is his real name, and there is some evidence (albeit inconclusive) that his name could be "Gus Evans".]]
72	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Some of the bad guys Kimble meets can't fathom his frequent attempts to help others, even when the smart move is to run for his life before the cops show. Conversely:
73	** [[GoodIsOldFashioned Good Cannot Comprehend Evil]]: Sometimes Kimble gets caught off-guard by seemingly-helpful people who happen to be pulling a BatmanGambit and now need a patsy--say, a WronglyAccused doctor--for their plans to work.
74	** Subverted with, of all people, Gerard. As he [[TheDeterminator pursues Dr. Kimble across the country]], Gerard comes to learn how Kimble thinks and acts, and comes to realize that Kimble can be trusted to behave in certain ways. Gerard especially knows that Kimble would never hurt a child... which is why Gerard isn't upset when Gerard's own son is stuck with Kimble during a dire crisis. It's just that [[WronglyAccused pesky murder of Mrs. Kimble]], you see.
75	*** It's actually not a subversion, since Gerard's not really evil to begin with. He's an honest cop who's pursuing Kimble because it's his job.
76	* ExactWords: In "The Breaking of the Habit", Sister Veronica never actually lies to the traffic cop. She just states that Father Taylor has a toothache and that his dentist is in the town in question. She never claimed that Father Taylor was the man sitting next to her...
77	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: at least until the GrandFinale.
78	** Lampshaded in the ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' parody, "The Phewgitive". Both "Thimble" and "Javert" realize that if they ever actually catch the man each is looking for, the series will be over and they'll be out of work, so when each narrowly misses his quarry the response is actually one of relief ("Phew... That was close!") rather than disappointment.
79	* FeetFirstIntroduction: Kimble, getting off the bus in the very first episode, "Fear in a Desert City".
80	* ForTheEvulz: Why [[spoiler:Neil Pinkerton]] kills [[GirlOfTheWeek Mona Ross]]' mother in "A.P.B."
81	* FrameUp: The set-up for the show.
82	** On more than one occasion people who find out Kimble's identity either commit or plan to commit crimes (usually murder) knowing that Kimble will be blamed, or frame him for it afterwards. Ironically, he's always able to clear his name for those.
83	* FriendToAllChildren: Kimble. People taking advantage of or otherwise abusing them are especially despised by him.
84	** Putting himself at risk of being captured to help children, or even possibly killed on the spot, often works in his favor to convince others of his innocence and to help him. The two biggest examples are the ''entire town'' in "Nightmare at Northoak" (including its law enforcement), and the detective in "When the Bough Breaks" (who is very heavily implied to have figured out Kimble's identity, but lets him go after he found and helped to rescue a kidnapped baby).
85	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Kenny in the episode "When the Wind Blows".
86	* FugitiveArc: TheSeries
87	* GambitPileup: Both parts of "The Judgment".
88	* {{Gaslighting}}: [[spoiler: "The Homecoming" courtesy Janice's WickedStepmother.]]
89	* GenreSavvy: Too many examples to count for Kimble, and a few for Gerard:
90	** Gerard learns quickly to use one-armed men as Kimble-bait. (And, in all but the first instance, it's even the ''correct'' One-Armed Man.)
91	** Kimble plans an elaborate scheme to see his sister after their father's death. If it hadn't been for an inconvenient coincidence, it would probably have worked.
92	** Kimble also develops a very good sense for when someone will actually make good on their threat to shoot him.
93	** In "The Shattered Silence", Kimble uses pepper to get some dogs off his trail. It's never quite explained why it didn't work.
94	* GoingByTheMatchbook: Averted and possibly lampshaded in the first part of the GrandFinale: Gerard finds a matchbook from an art supply store at the place where he and Kimble assume someone met with the One-Armed Man. It gives them no clues and never shows up again.
95	* [[GoodCopBadCop Good Cop]]:
96	** Gerard. He may be obsessed with capturing Kimble, but he's incorruptible, honest, and will aid the local law enforcement in arresting the other criminals who happen to be guest-starring that episode. Also ByTheBookCop: Gerard may be obsessed with capturing Kimble, but he'll bend the law only so far. [[spoiler:The only time Gerard comes close to breaking the law is in the final episode, when he gives Kimble 24 hours to find out who helped the One-Armed Man jump bail.]]
97	** Kimble does get caught by other incorruptible cops during his ordeals, but is able to escape thanks to some moral dilemma that forces the cop to look the other way, or in some cases through sheer good fortune.
98	* GoodVersusGood: Gerard vs. Kimble
99	* GrandFinale: One of the first shows to have a final episode to wrap up the whole series ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js8bjD9jM3k "the day the running stopped"]]). It was at the time one of the most-watched episodes ever.
100	* GreaserDelinquents: Kimble and Gerard's ([[TemporaryBlindness temporarily blinded]]) wife have to contend with a trio of these in Part 2 of "Landscape with Running Figures".
101	* HeKnowsTooMuch: Happens to Kimble regularly, to Gerard a few times, and to the One-Armed Man courtesy of [[spoiler: Lloyd Chandler, the witness to the murder.]]
102	* HeelFaceTurn: To the extent that he's the show's DesignatedVillain, Gerard undergoes this in the GrandFinale.
103	* HiddenInPlainSight: In "Come Watch Me Die", Kimble gets deputized to help transport a suspected killer.
104	* HollywoodLaw: Kimble's motive for killing Helen is supposed to be... that they disagreed over adopting a child?!? Apart from that, the only evidence is his lack of an alibi. It's discussed several times during the show, most notably in "Man in a Chariot" and "Dossier on a Diplomat" that Kimble, whether or not he's guilty, should never have been convicted on the evidence presented by the prosecution.
105	* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: "Nicest Fella You'd Ever Want to Meet" finds Kimble, arrested by blowhard small-town sheriff Joe Bob Sims, chased around a rock quarry by the rifle-toting sheriff after witnessing him murder a fellow prisoner.
106	* IAmSpartacus: "Nightmare at Northoak" ends with a variation of this: Gerard accuses a small-town sheriff of having helped Kimble (who'd rescued several of the town's children from a burning school bus) to escape from the local jail while awaiting extradition, and threatens to bring him before a grand jury for aiding and abetting a fugitive. The sheriff's wife then steps forward to confess to it, and Gerard tells her she'll have to be arrested... which leads to a whole roomful of townspeople standing up one by one and "confessing" to him.
107	* IdiotBall: Ties in with GoodCannotComprehendEvil--sometimes Kimble's lack of mistrust in people is amazingly stupid, considering his situation.
108	* IHaveManyNames: Kimble, and to a lesser extent the One-Armed Man.
109	* IOweYouMyLife: In "The Evil Men Do", Kimble is working as a stable hand when he rescues the stable's owner from an out-of-control horse. When the owner, a former Mob hitman, discovers Kimble's identity and plight, he attempts to repay his debt by killing Gerard.
110	* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: in "See Hollywood and Die", Kimble is forced to pretend he's a hardened criminal to keep two hoodlums from killing him and a female hostage. When the hoodlums find out he's really the famous doctor "who killed his wife", it makes it easier to deal with the hoodlums but harder to deal with the woman who's [[OhCrap now terrified for her life]].
111	* InconvenientHippocraticOath: In that it forces Kimble to risk his own safety when helping others. On the other hand, it convinces those he helps that he's really a good guy and [[RousseauWasRight they repay his kindness]] by helping Kimble escape and is also a huge reason why Gerard himself comes to believe that Kimble may in fact be innocent of murdering his wife. Even discussed in the opening narration to "Nobody Loses All the Time". Though, if you're an especially horrible person it still won't stop him from beating you within an inch of your life.
112	* InspectorJavert: Lt. Gerard is actually inspired by and named for him.
113	* InstitutionalApparel: In "Nicest Fella You'd Ever Want to Meet".
114	* InstrumentalThemeTune: Composed, along with much of the show's incidental music, by Pete Rugolo.
115	* IronicEcho:
116	** In "Corner of Hell", Kimble is befriended by a group of moonshiners, who subsequently capture Gerard and plan to lynch him after the daughter of the head moonshiner is beaten unconscious and Gerard is found next to her. As it happens, Gerard saw the actual attacker running from the scene of the crime just as he arrived... but he can't prove it. Kimble himself lampshades the parallel.
117	** In "Come Watch Me Die", Kimble gets deputized to help transport a suspected killer. The young man claims to be innocent, so Kimble treats him well [[spoiler: only to learn that he did actually do the murder he was accused of and Kimble's sympathetic treatment nearly allowed him to escape.]]
118	** In "The Judgment: Part II", [[spoiler:When Kimble finally corners the One-Armed Man he angrily asks him why he killed Kimble's wife. Johnson answers back "'Cause she wouldn't let me go!" This stuns Kimble, because he had been arguing with his wife about getting a divorce because she refused to adopt.]]
119	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Gerard towards the end, but even long before that in regards to Kimble's sister. He ''knows'' that she's in contact with Kimble and at times can prove it but never arrests her, and for the most part he doesn't hound her as to Kimble's whereabouts.
120	* JurisdictionFriction: Surprisingly absent, considering that Gerard gets called in whenever Kimble is spotted somewhere and nobody ever objects to him basically taking over entirely.
121	* JustifiedCriminal: While Kimble tries to stay legal as much as he can, it doesn't stop him from breaking the law when it's what he has to do to escape... as long as nobody gets hurt.
122	* KangarooCourt: In "Corner of Hell", the moonshiner Tully sets one of these up for Gerard, whom he mistakenly believes to have attacked and concussed his daughter (Gerard is found "guilty", but the truth comes out before he's lynched).
123	* KarmaHoudini: Lloyd Chandler, as far as we can tell. Also the corrupt Deputy Sheriff in "Tug of War", who essentially ''gets away with murder''.
124	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Although Fred Johnson doesn't get legally executed, it's still a representative of the law who kills him.]]
125	* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: [[spoiler: Fred Johnson, murderer of Helen Kimble, is killed by Gerard in a showdown, just as he was about to shoot Richard Kimble.]]
126	* LargeHam: Typically from the guest stars of the week, such as Harry Townes or William Shatner.
127	* LawOfInverseFertility: Helen Kimble had a miscarriage before the plot proper begins. It left her incapable of bearing future kids, and the issue becomes a strain on her and Richard's marriage. Their arguments over the merits of adopting becomes the "motive" in the prosecutor's argument that Richard killed her.
128	* LeaveNoWitnesses: "A Stroke of Genius", "There Goes the Ball Game"
129	* LikeFatherLikeSon: Gerard's son Philip Junior in the episode "Nemesis". [[spoiler: Despite being frightened of Kimble, he keeps doing his best to slow him down and leave clues for his father. Let's all hope Gerard is damn proud of him.]]
130	* LoopholeAbuse: At the end of "The Savage Street", Jose and his son Jimmy (the main characters of the episode) are helping Kimble escape but his police officer brother stops them and demands him to open the van door. After Jose tells him what will likely happen to both him and his nephew if they are caught harboring Kimble (and he knows full well that Kimble is hiding in the van), he still orders him to open the door because as a police officer he's obligated to search. But he ''doesn't look inside'', and quickly closes the door, letting Kimble escape and getting them all off the hook.
131	* MadDoctor: Howell in "Death of a Very Small Killer" is a WellIntentionedExtremist who doesn't care how many people die if it enables him to find a cure for a particularly resistant strain of meningitis. Kimble disagrees.
132	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The entire point of the two-parter "Angels Travel on Lonely Roads". Kimble and Sister Veronica met each other at precisely the right time, which (through a series of fortunate events) ultimately led to him slipping through the police dragnet and her not abandoning her faith. No matter the interpretation, both see it as a miracle, plus the truck lasted far beyond what it should have.
133	* MarqueeAlterEgo: That dye-job was just a little too perfect...
134	* MiscarriageOfJustice: Kimble's conviction.
135	* MinimalistCast: "Storm Center" has a cast of just six. Most of the time, only David Janssen and the episode's only [[AndStarring guest star]] Bethel Leslie are on screen.
136	* TheMostWanted: The series is about an innocent man in his search for the murderer of his wife as well escaping from the police (and especially a CowboyCop).
137	* MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence: Apart from Kimble's lack of an alibi, his so-called "motive" is the only evidence he was convicted on.
138	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Probably [[spoiler: The One-Armed Man]]'s motto.
139	** Also [[spoiler: former hitman Arthur Brame]] in "The Evil Men Do".
140	* MyGreatestFailure: The fact that Kimble escaped while under Gerard's personal custody plays no small part in the latter's obsession with recapturing him.
141	* MysteriousPast: We learn very little about the One-Armed Man's background, such as how he lost his arm or what led him to a life of crime. We're never even told definitively that "Fred Johnson" is actually his real name and not just another alias.
142	* {{Narrator}}: Voiced by Creator/WilliamConrad, who's ideal for this.
143	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At the end of "The Ivy Maze", a pile-up of stupid actions from Gerard, Kimble and his friend Fritz allow the One-Armed Man to destroy his EngineeredPublicConfession and escape.
144	** Specifically, it was Kimble deciding to throw the One-Armed Man at Gerard and run away, rather than keeping him pinned in place for Gerard to arrest them both. Had he done this, it's quite possible he would have received a new trial and been cleared of murder due to the confession.
145	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Whenever Kimble wants to help somebody, he usually has to risk exposure and recapture to do so.
146	* NotMeThisTime: Kimble in "Stroke of Genius" and "The Evil Men Do". Gerard believes him immediately and acknowledges that he'd never really suspected him in the first place.
147	* [[NotSoImaginaryFriend Not-So-Imaginary Foe]]: Gerard doubts the existence of the One-Armed Man, believing him to be a figment of Kimble's guilty imagination. [[spoiler: However, by the final season, Gerald has caught glimpses of the One-Armed Man, and by the finale he even interrogates him and openly doubts his alibis.]]
148	* {{Novelization}}: The pilot episode was novelized, much to series creator Roy Huggins' disgust; he held the rights to all merchandising and said novelization was written without his knowledge or consent. There were, unsurprisingly, no further novelizations (and not much merchandising).
149	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Julie Sommars as Hungarian immigrant Carla Karac in "The Blessings of Liberty". The other actors[[note]]mostly American except for Austrian Ludwig Donath[[/note]] playing the Karacs at least ''try'' to sound foreign.
150	* OhCrap: Once per episode.
151	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Joanna Pettet's native British accent pokes through occasionally as [[GirlOfTheWeek Tina]] in "Shadow of the Swan."
152	* OneLastSmoke: Kimble asking Gerard for a cigarette in the season one opening has elements of that.
153	* OneSteveLimit: Averted with Philip Gerard and his son of the same name. Played straight with Richard Kimble (although he does use the first name Richard in false names a few times).
154	* OpeningNarration: A couple different ones were used over the course of the show.
155	* PaperThinDisguise: Kimble usually takes jobs as a laborer, handyman or factotum of some kind (probably because that's the kind of jobs where nobody will look too closely into your past life), but most people immediately know something is up with him because of his obvious education and middle-class background.
156	* PhoneTraceRace: Several throughout the series.
157	* {{Pilot}}: "Fear in a Desert City"
158	* PlotArmor: Kimble, Gerard and the One-Armed Man. [[spoiler: Until the last episode.]]
159	* PoliceAreUseless: Apart from Gerard and a few exceptions throughout the series, most of the cops come across as rather incompetent, especially if they're attached to the police of some small backwater town.
160	* PoliceBrutality: Kimble becomes the victim in "A Clean and Quiet Town". [[spoiler: Turns out the One-Armed Man is behind the attack and the city's entire police force is corrupt.]]
161	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Blaine in "The Old Man Picked a Lemon", Carter in "Passage to Helena".
162	* PosthumousCharacter: Helen Kimble.
163	* {{Precap}}: Each episode opened with one of these, a brief clip of a single scene from that episode.
164	* PrisonEpisode: "Wing of an Angel", although Kimble just ends up in a prison hospital without having actually been arrested.
165	* RecurringCharacter: Captain Carpenter, Donna Taft, Leonard Taft, Mrs. Gerard, Phil Junior.
166	** And technically ''Mr.'' Gerard, since he appears (outside of the {{title sequence}}) in only 37 of the show's 120 episodes.
167	** The One-Armed Man only appears in ten episodes, six of which come in the show's final season. He also appears in the title sequence of Seasons 2-4.
168	** Helen Kimble, also. She first appears in flashback mid-Season 1 (the same episode where the One-Armed Man is first seen, also via flashback), her body is seen in the opening credits of Seasons 2-4, has a voiceover in another episode, and one final flashback in the GrandFinale, revealing the one clue that finally clears Kimble: [[spoiler:There was a third person in the Kimble house the night of the murder, who witnessed the One-Armed Man murder her, and kept silent solely because he didn't want to be exposed as a DirtyCoward.]]
169	** Finally, there's Sister Veronica, a nun Kimble encounters in a rare two-part episode in Season 1. She turns up again in Season 4, becoming the only recurring character who's neither a Kimble family member, nor directly connected to Helen's murder.
170	* RecycledSoundtrack: Unlike many series of its time in the '60s (and subsequently), the series relied on a specially composed library of music by Pete Rugolo and licensed music written for CBS shows rather than have any episodes (even the SeriesFinale) receive an original score. According to QM music supervisor John Elizalde, the substantial royalties coming his way for the use of his CBS library music on the series were what led to Music/JerryGoldsmith agreeing to write the theme and pilot score for ''Series/BarnabyJones''.
171	** Which led to problems for the show's DVD release; specifically, the season 2 set was initially released with an entirely new score of synthesized music (in order to get around licensing issues), leading to an uproar from fans [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks angered by the change]].
172	** Much of the music in season 4 is taken from Dominic Frontiere's scores for ''[[Series/TheOuterLimits1963 The Outer Limits]]''.
173	** [[http://davidjanssen.net/FugitiveMusic.htm For more about the show's music, go here]].
174	* RedHerring: Mentioned in "Running Scared" when Gerard says that Mrs. Ballinger (Kimble's ally of the week) specialises in red herrings.
175	* RoadBlock: Kimble manages to get past these in a couple episodes.
176	* RootingForTheEmpire: You get enough in-universe examples no matter which side you actually consider to be "the empire"...
177	* RousseauWasRight:
178	** Most characters that Kimble meet along the way are willing to help him escape the police when they get close to catching him. Often because Kimble's [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe already done them favors]] and they realize he's not really a killer.
179	** In the few instances people don't help, it's because they're either bad guys or because they're helping the One-Armed Man. One episode had Gerard ''surprised'' by a woman who was actively trying to get Kimble captured [[spoiler: because she was secretly the One-Armed Man's girlfriend.]]
180	** In a Real-Life example, actor Barry Morse (Gerard) would tell stories about running into fans of the show who, [[IAmNotSpock identifying him a little too closely with his character]], would angrily tell him to "stop chasing that nice doctor!"
181	* SaveTheVillain: Kimble is put in the odd position of having to save Gerard's life in several episodes. Other episodes have Kimble rescuing Gerard's wife and son.
182	** This ends up paying off in the finale, when Gerard captures Kimble, but in return for all the times Kimble saved him he agrees to give him 24 hours to try and find the One-Armed Man and exonerate himself before being brought in.
183	*** It's not just that. By this point Gerard is also convinced that Kimble is innocent (his interrogation of the One-Armed Man in the first part was the turning point), and they go together to the final confrontation even past the deadline. [[spoiler:He is also influential in convincing the witness to Helen's murder to testify, which is ironic because the one person chasing after Kimble for over four years ultimately is the one who helps set him free.]]
184	** In "Wife Killer", he has to operate on the One-Armed Man after the latter sustains a critical head injury in an auto accident. Justified, since Kimble a.) is bound by his Hippocratic oath and b.) can't hope to clear himself if the One-Armed Man dies.
185	* SayMyName: ''"KIMBLE!"''--It's practically a CatchPhrase for Gerard.
186	* SerialKiller: Kimble is mistaken for this (and then encounters the real one) in "Moon Child".
187	* SeriesFinale: The two-parter "The Judgment" is one of the very first examples of the trope.
188	* SeriesGoal: Find the One-Armed Man and clear Kimble's name. This was one of the very first [[SeriesGoal Series Goals]] to be successfully achieved in American television history.
189	* ShootTheHostageTaker: "See Hollywood and Die", "There Goes the Ball Game"
190	* SouthOfTheBorder: "The One That Got Away", "Death of a Very Small Killer"
191	* StairwellChase: In "Running Scared"
192	* SternChase
193	* StockFootage:
194	** Kimble trying to hitch a ride in the darkness. Originally from "The Girl from Little Egypt".
195	** Kimble hopping a freight pursued by two policemen. Originally from "Nobody Loses All the Time".
196	** Beginning in Season 2, the TitleSequence features stills of scenes from earlier episodes.
197	* SuddenNameChange: Between Seasons 1 and 3, the names of Gerard's wife and son went from Ann and Flip to Marie and Phil Junior respectively (although Flip may not have been his legal name; it is a known nickname for Phillip; and if you have the same given name as your father, having a distinguishing nickname is common).
198	* TemporaryBlindness:
199	** In the episode "Landscape with Running Figures", this happens to Gerard's wife... while she happens to be with Kimble.
200	** Kimble himself experiences this in "Second Sight".
201	* ThatOneCase: What Kimble is to Gerard until the final two episodes.
202	* TokenRomance: As the series progresses, these happen more and more often (while there are still a few women in love with Kimble in the earlier series, he tended to reject them faster and more decidedly).
203	* TrailOfBreadCrumbs: In "Nemesis", Kimble escapes from Gerard and a sheriff by stealing the sheriff's car, which (unbeknownst to him) Gerard's son was hiding in the back of. The kid tries leaving a trail of football-player trading cards so his father can follow them, but Kimble catches him and confiscates the rest of the cards.
204	* TranslationConvention: In "Death of a Very Small Killer", if it's plot-important, even the Mexican locals speak English to each other.
205	* TrunkShot: Kimble hides in a few of them (f. ex. "The Other Side of the Coin" or "The Breaking of the Habit").
206	* TurnInYourBadge: Two cops who let Kimble go try to do this in "Echo of a Nightmare" and "Passage to Helena". Both get refused. The sheriff's resignation in "Other Side of the Coin" gets accepted, but he broke a lot more laws than just harboring Kimble.
207	* UndercoverCopReveal: In "The One That Got Away". He wasn't even trying to get Kimble...
208	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory:
209	** Urban folklore states that the show was inspired by Dr. Sam Sheppard, who was falsely convicted of murdering his wife in an extremely high-profile 1954 court case, and served nearly 11 years of a life sentence before the Supreme Court declared the original trial a mis-trial. He was subsequently re-tried, acquitted, and released from jail. The creators have denied the inspiration, but the similarities in Kimble's and Sheppard's cases do lead one to wonder...
210	** A more likely proximate inspiration was the 1946 David Goodis novel ''Dark Passage'' (better known for its [[Film/DarkPassage 1947 film adaptation]] starring Creator/HumphreyBogart), which also involves a man taking it on the lam after being falsely convicted of his wife's murder and then escaping. In fact, [[http://www.davidgoodis.com/page15/page15.html Goodis sued]] Creator/UnitedArtists Television (which distributed ''The Fugitive'') for copyright infringement; the case was eventually settled out of court following his death.
211	** Some inspiration also came from Victor Hugo's ''Literature/LesMiserables''. According to his biography, Barry Morse spotted the similarities and, after creator Roy Huggins confirmed this, re-read the novel to play his character closer to InspectorJavert. In addition to Gerard's character, obsession and name, the similarities include the protagonist saving his pursuer's life, the chase being ultimately unjust (although for different reasons) and Javert/Gerard finally agreeing to give Valjean/Kimble time to do one last thing before their respective arrests after having refused to do so before.
212	* ViewersAreGoldfish: One of three opening narrations explaining the backstory happens every single episode. You'll know at least the last version by heart at the end.
213	* VillainousBreakdown:[[spoiler: A [[TemporaryBlindness no longer blind]] Mattie]] in "Dark Corner."
214	* WalkingTheEarth: what Kimble does during his chase for the One-Armed Man. The plot that he was wrongly accused helped solve a problem with earlier TV shows that had [[TheDrifter wandering characters]] getting involved with other people's problems: "Why won't the heroes take the problem to the local authorities?" In Kimble's case, ''he couldn't.''
215	* WantedPoster: Appears in every episode. Gerard is once seen carrying ''an entire envelope full'' of copies when questioning the local populace one whether they've seen Kimble.
216	** Oddly, said poster always shows Kimble with his pre-dyed grey hair. You'd think Gerard or the FBI or ''somebody'' would have updated it for all the times he's been seen with his new look.
217	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Kimble's old friend Dr. Andrew Emmett [=McAllister=], in "Not with a Whimper". He wants to bring people's attention to the problem of air pollution [[spoiler:by blowing up a factory that he ''thinks'' will be unocccupied.]]
218	* WhereItAllBegan: Kimble returns to Stafford in "Home is the Hunted", "The Survivors", and "The Judgment". In "Running Scared" he meets his sister and her husband in nearby Fort Wayne.
219	* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The exact location of the fictional Stafford is never given. [[http://richardkimblethefugitive.com/fugitivestafford.htm Here's one website]] that takes a few guesses based on clues from the show.
220	* WholeEpisodeFlashback: "The Girl from Little Egypt" has Kimble recalling Helen's murder and his subsequent trial, conviction, and escape while recovering from a traffic accident.
221	* WorthyOpponent: Kimble and Gerard have a great deal of respect for each other. Kimble calls Gerard a "brilliant" detective on several occasions (and Gerard often demonstrates this). While Gerard thinks Kimble is guilty, he's aware of the number of people Kimble's helped and believes Kimble will never kill again.
222	** All of which makes their handshake at the end of the final episode that much more satisfying.
223	* WronglyAccused: Kimble, of course.
224	* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Kimble does actually steal a fair amount of cars and often agrees to people claiming that he forced them to help him when they did so out of their own free will. It could probably have been enough for quite a case, but if the last scene is any indication, nobody ever bothered to look into it.
225	* XanatosSpeedChess: Kimble plays this in approximately half the episodes.
226	* YankTheDogsChain: On occasion. "The Ivy Maze" is one good example.
227	* YouSquared: Kimble and the One-Armed Man exchange a non-verbal one on seeing each other (for the first time since the night of Helen's murder) in "Search in a Windy City".
228
229	----
230	!!Trope examples from the 2000-01 revival series:
231
232	* AbuseMistake: The already suspicious Gerard becomes convinced that Kimble is his wife's killer when people who saw them jogging in the park the day of the murder claim to have seen him grab her and throw her to the ground, never realizing that the two were merely goofing off and playing.
233	* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Gerard is now a widower with a strained second marriage and relationship with his daughter due to his focus on catching Kimble.
234	* AdaptationExpansion: Related to the above. Gerard gets nearly as much focus as Kimble--aside from his personal life, we see his professional life as well--much like his [[InspectorJavert inspiration]], he has other cases, but is most obsessed with this one.
235	* BigBrotherInstinct: When Kimble's sister becomes ill, he risks capture to let his blood be drawn to see if he can be a bone marrow donor for her. Upon learning that he is, he prepares to turn himself in so that he can be allowed to donate.
236	* BigBrotherWorship: Kimble's sister never doubts his innocence and aids him throughout the series--sending him money, helping him sneak in to visit their dying father, refusing to divulge his whereabouts to Gerard, etc.
237	** An in-law version with Helen's sister (who, as we see in a {{Flashback}}, is the reason the couple met), who also believes in his innocence.
238	* BountyHunter: Kimble not only has to evade Gerard, he has to evade one of these, hired by his late wife's father, who believes him guilty. Ironically, in the episode "Safekeeping", Gerard ''protects'' him from the guy--he doesn't want Kimble dead, just to return him to prison.
239	* ChekhovsGunman: Kimble's medical training forces him to come to the rescue on numerous occasions, even if doing so might reveal his identity.
240	* CrusadingWidow: Kimble AND Gerard, whose first wife was killed by a DrunkDriver. It's obvious that his lingering grief, SurvivorGuilt (he was unable to rescue her), and anger is the reason he's so determined to capture Kimble. (Aside from being infuriated that Kimble would destroy what he would give anything to have back, his wife's killer was able to get off thanks to a fancy lawyer, leaving Gerard extra angry and disgusted at those who evade the law).
241	* CutApart: One episode begins with Kimble breaking into a boat and ransacking it for food before taking a nap. At the same time, we see Gerard and his wife and daughter walking down a dock, preparing for a day out. The door to the boat's cabin flies open, startling Kimble. . . and it turns out Gerard and his family are hundreds of miles away, while Kimble has just been discovered by two completely different cops. (He pretends to be a random drifter, but has to flee when they realize who he really is).
242	* DeadPersonConversation: While suffering from an illness, Kimble has hallucinations of his late wife.
243	--> "[[{{Tearjerker}} I came to say goodbye. Because. . .we didn't get to. . ."]]
244	* DistantPrologue: Even though it's told in flashback, a good portion of the pilot episode takes place long before its opening scene of Kimble escaping from the wrecked prison van. As well, after the first commercial, the action picks up several months later.
245	* DutchAngle: The pilot episode opens with this, highlighting Kimble's disorientation as he regains consciousness just after the prison transport van has crashed.
246	* DyeOrDie: Just like in the original series, Kimble dyes his hair brown to disguise his appearance (and just like in the original, it's actually the actor's real hair color).
247	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Though viewers already know Kimble is innocent, the fact that he stopped to assess Gerard's condition after the van wreck and threw his gun away rather than leaving him to die or shooting him outright should have been a huge hint to Gerard that he wasn't the monster he thought he was.
248	* ForWantOfANail: Had he not been held up by a muscle cramp and by stopping to buy coffee and bagels, Richard would have arrived home with his wife after their run in the park and been able to save her from her killer.
249	* FreudianExcuse: Gerard's obsession with catching Kimble stems from the fact that he lost his first wife. Aside from being enraged that someone would destroy what he would give anything to have back, her killer (a DrunkDriver) was able to get off thanks to an AmoralAttorney, making him extra-angry at those who try to escape justice.
250	* HappilyMarried: The Kimbles. A notable change from the original series. (The remake was created by those who produced the film and as such, is based more on the film than on the original series.)
251	* HowWeGotHere:
252	** The pilot episode starts out with Kimble escaping from the wrecked prison transport van. As he runs through the woods, pursued by Gerard, numerous flashbacks take us through his marriage, the day of his wife's murder, the investigation, arrest, trial, right up until the van crashes, all within the first 15 minutes, before we even get the TitleSequence.
253	** Another episode starts with Kimble robbing a bank. After the opening credits, the action picks up several days earlier, explaining his actions (he's been forced into this by people threatening to reveal his identity otherwise).
254	** Yet another starts with Kimble finally capturing the one-armed man. Again, after the credits, we go back several days to explain how he tracked him down.
255	* ILetGwenStacyDie: Despite being completely innocent regarding their respective wives' deaths, Kimble and Gerard both blame themselves for their failure to save them and are driven in their mutual pursuits as a way of redeeming themselves.
256	* InheritanceMurder: Much like in the movie, Kimble is believed to have murdered his wife to get his hands on her money (and again, the fact that he was already a wealthy doctor is ignored). He can't make anyone believe that he ''didn't'' want to use her money to buy a new house (either to avoid looking like a GoldDigger or because of some antiquated notion that he, as the man, should be the one to do so).
257	* InspectorJavert: Deconstructed. Gerard's obsession with catching Kimble continually gets him in trouble with his superiors, considering that he's either neglecting his other cases or defying orders to continue his pursuit.
258	* LeftHanging: When it was abruptly canceled after one season, a lot of plot threads were LeftHanging.
259	* TheLostLenore: Figuratively with Helen Kimble, and literally with Gerard's first wife, who was named... [[MeaningfulName Lenore]].
260	* MatchCut: Kimble races through the woods. . . and suddenly we see him and his wife jogging in the park. This goes back and forth, giving us the cruel IronicEcho of how happy he was then and how desperate and frightened he is now.
261	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Again, like in the movie, Kimble discovers that his wife's murder was the result of a conspiracy--and that her ''sister'' was the original target--rather than a random burglary. [[note]] Helen's family was wealthy and it appears that people were looking to kidnap either her or her sister for ransom, only for her to be killed when she fought back. [[/note]]
262	* MisplacedRetribution: Gerard's determination to capture Kimble stems from having lost his first wife. Problem is, Kimble's innocent and doesn't deserve such persecution. And even if he were guilty, he still isn't responsible for Gerard's wife's death.
263	* NewscasterCameo: John Walsh appears in an episode, hosting an ''Series/AmericasMostWanted'' segment on the hunt for Kimble.
264	* PosthumousCharacter: Helen Kimble appears in numerous flashbacks and hallucinatory sequences.
265	* ProlongedPrologue: The premiere takes 15 minutes before the introduction. Most other episodes' were quite long as well, needing to carry some action sequence that set the stage for the plot.
266	* PublicSecretMessage: Kimble communicates with people aiding him via personal ads in the newspaper. Unfortunately, in the episode "Past Perfect", Gerard finds out and sets a trap for him.
267	* PublicServiceAnnouncement: At the conclusion of the episode "Far From Home", in which Kimble aided a woman fleeing her abusive husband, Creator/TimDaly makes this regarding DomesticAbuse.
268	* RaceLift: Gerard is now African-American.
269	* RelationshipUpgrade: The Kimbles are HappilyMarried in this version.
270	* TheRemake
271	* SaveTheVillain: Kimble needs to do this several times. As the one-armed man himself taunts him, "If I die, ''you'' die."
272	* SecondLove: In the 2-part episode "Jenny", Kimble meets a widowed innkeeper and they become this trope to each other. Sadly, it inevitably comes to an end when he realizes that staying with her will endanger her.
273	--> "[[{{Tearjerker}} Forget that you ever heard my name.]]"
274	* SettingUpdate: When the show premiered, much was made of the technological advances--computers, the internet, television--that would now hinder Kimble's ability to stay on the run, or even help him--in the episode "drrichardkimble.com", he was aided by the founder of a website dedicated to proving his innocence.
275	* SurvivorGuilt: Gerard's determination to catch Kimble is a way of atoning for his failure to save his own wife.
276	* TiredOfRunning: Kimble inevitably gets to this point and at the beginning of the first season finale is preparing to flee to a non-extradition country and search for Helen's killer from abroad.
277	* TooHappyToLive: The prologue of the premier episode established that Dr. Kimble had an ideal life--a beautiful wife who he adored, plans to have children and buy a new house, and a stellar career as a surgeon--before it was blown apart by his wife's murder.
278	* WeNeedADistraction: In the episode "St. Christopher's Prayer", Kimble deliberately lets himself get caught on camera shoplifting in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity because he's actually planning to go to ''UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}'' to visit his dying father. However, Gerard [[GenreSavvy isn't fooled]] and stakes out his father's home anyway.
279	* WhenYouComingHomeDad: All scenes with Gerard and his family make it obvious that he's neglecting them due to his obsession with finding Kimble.
280	* WholePlotReference: The storylines of several episodes were very similar to some from the original series. This is likely because Arthur Weiss wrote several episodes for both.
281	----

Context Series / TheFugitive