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On this day in 1967, 78 million people tuned in to watch the finale of The Fugitive
Posted on 8/29/22 at 2:36 pm
Posted on 8/29/22 at 2:36 pm
I had no idea this show had this big a following. 78 million people is a massive number for 1967.
Posted on 8/29/22 at 2:43 pm to Green Chili Tiger
Really wild that it only lasted 4 seasons in an era when hit TV shows (e.g. Andy Griffith, Mission Impossible, etc.) got at least 7 seasons (if not a couple of extra after retooling the show and retitling it, e.g. Mayberry RFD and Archie Bunker’s Place).
The Fugitive show runners must have been the proto-Vince Gilligan. “He’s not going to be on the run forever, eventually we’ve got to close the story.”
The Fugitive show runners must have been the proto-Vince Gilligan. “He’s not going to be on the run forever, eventually we’ve got to close the story.”
Posted on 8/29/22 at 2:52 pm to Green Chili Tiger
quote:
Created by Roy Huggins, the show began on Sept. 17, 1963, with one of the all-time greatest television premises: A doctor named Richard Kimble (David Janssen) has been convicted for the murder of his wife, although he claims to be innocent and that she was instead killed by a "one-armed man." But the train carrying him to be executed derails and he escapes. This allows him to clear his name by finding the One-Armed Man (Bill Raisch), but it also means that Kimble is relentlessly hunted by a police detective named Lt. Philip Gerard (Barry Morse), who wants to return him to death row.
quote:
Goldberg explained that he fought hard to give the viewers the ending they deserved because they were so "deeply invested" in the show.
He won, but the network struck a hard bargain: The final episode – which would be split into two parts – would be allowed to air only in August, the deadest time of the TV calendar.
But despite this handicap, the finale triumphed. The first part of the episode, which aired on Aug. 22, did fine. But the second part smashed every record for TV viewership that existed at that point. Over 78 million viewers tuned into the show, which meant that 72% of people who were watching television that Tuesday night were watching The Fugitive. It was a record for regularly programmed television – beating out the Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show three years before – that would stand until the "Who Shot JR.?" episode of Dallas in 1980.
How The Fugitive Proved TV Shows Could End Successfully (on ultimateclassicrock.com)
Found this article, while trying to find out what was on the other two channels at the same time.
This post was edited on 8/29/22 at 2:57 pm
Posted on 8/29/22 at 2:56 pm to chinese58
quote:
Over 78 million viewers tuned into the show, which meant that 72% of people who were watching television that Tuesday night were watching The Fugitive.
It's insane. 78 million people is roughly equivalent to today's population of Germany.
Posted on 8/29/22 at 2:56 pm to Green Chili Tiger
quote:
On this day in 1967, 78 million people tuned in to watch the finale of The Fugitive
Posted on 8/29/22 at 3:02 pm to Green Chili Tiger
quote:
78 million people is a massive number for 1967.
Indeed it was. The population of the United States in 1967 was just approaching 200 million so that was approximately 40% of the entire country. Pretty impressive
Posted on 8/29/22 at 3:10 pm to Green Chili Tiger
quote:
I had no idea this show had this big a following.
TVs had like 12 channels (2-13) Some cities only had 4-5. And you had to get off the couch to change it.
And half of those were nonsense channels.
Crocodile Dundee aptly shows the state of TV
This post was edited on 8/29/22 at 3:12 pm
Posted on 8/29/22 at 3:12 pm to Green Chili Tiger
quote:
The other networks must have known what they’d be up against; opposite part one of “The Judgment,”
quote:
CBS aired a Harry Reasoner documentary on “The Hippie Temptation,”quote:.
NBC showed a rerun of the movie The War of the Worlds
Try this today:
quote:
unlike other series finales, the conclusion to The Fugitive was aired in August, after the rerun season. As it was known that the fourth season of The Fugitive was to be the last, this allowed the suspense to build up throughout the summer; had that final episode aired in May or June, the reruns might have seemed ridiculous, but this way they were still relevant, still part of the chase, since Kimble was theoretically still running. Therefore, when the series ended, it really ended. It’s a brilliant idea, and I still wonder why more series don’t do it that way.
I bet the 2nd to the last episodes was a big cliffhanger, that probably pissed a bunch of people off. Would be interesting to talk with a fan about this.
www.itsabouttv.com
This post was edited on 8/29/22 at 3:34 pm
Posted on 8/29/22 at 3:31 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
With them splitting the finale into two weeks, the fourth season had 30 episodes.
wiki/List_of_The_Fugitive_episodes
I guess they just re-ran the 1st episode the week after the 28th episode originally ran. They would have to show some episodes on other nights during the same week, because there's only 52 weeks in a year. I'm not old enough to remember how they programed reruns when their available content was so limited.
wiki/List_of_The_Fugitive_episodes
I guess they just re-ran the 1st episode the week after the 28th episode originally ran. They would have to show some episodes on other nights during the same week, because there's only 52 weeks in a year. I'm not old enough to remember how they programed reruns when their available content was so limited.
Posted on 8/29/22 at 4:12 pm to Green Chili Tiger
The greatest TV show of all time
Posted on 8/29/22 at 4:34 pm to Green Chili Tiger
According to one site I found, only two shows had more for their finales:
Cheers (80.4 million
M.A.S.H (105 million)
I doubt anyone ever tops MASH's record considering how viewing is done these days.
Unless you count things like YouTube views, in which case I have no idea.
Cheers (80.4 million
M.A.S.H (105 million)
I doubt anyone ever tops MASH's record considering how viewing is done these days.
Unless you count things like YouTube views, in which case I have no idea.
Posted on 8/29/22 at 6:13 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Some cities only had 4-5.
—Ha! You must be really young.
In ‘67, there were 3 networks. Most mid-markets, like Baton Rouge with 150k in the region, had 2 channels: NBC and CBS and they split The popular ABC shows between them.
—Ha! You must be really young.
In ‘67, there were 3 networks. Most mid-markets, like Baton Rouge with 150k in the region, had 2 channels: NBC and CBS and they split The popular ABC shows between them.
Posted on 10/9/22 at 10:00 am to Kafka
quote:
The greatest TV show of all time
The Fugitive - "Il Wind"
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Written by Al C. Ward
S3 E24
March 8, 1966
quote:I'm going to guesstimate (I actually don't mind that word) 99.99% of posters here have never seen an episode of the original Fugitive. This isn't a bad episode to start with. It has many of the show's classic elements: Kimble trusted by a community (and a girl falling in love with him), Gerard showing up to spoil his idyll, Kimble having to re-prove himself worthy of trust.
This episode is something of a family affair, with John McIntire, his wife Jeanette Nolan and their son Tim McIntire) cast in key roles. As "Mike Johnson", Kimble (David Janssen) blends into a community of migrant workers in Texas near the Gulf Coast, befriending the nomadic Kelly family. Arriving in the community, Lt. Gerard threatens Lester Kelly (John McIntire) with arrest unless he reveals Kimble's whereabouts. But before Gerard can move in for the capture, a hurricane sweeps through the area, forcing everyone to take refuge in a single, none-too-solid structure. Ultimately, Kimble finds himself in the ironic position of begging the migrants to donate blood in order to save Gerard's life--even while the storm continues to rage all around them. -- Allmovie
"Ill Wind" has one very impressive, very noirish shot, in the warehouse when Kimble is trying to escape. He thinks he's made it when he looks in the doorway and sees Gerard, backlit like some sort of avenging angel.
Film nor fans should give The Fugitive a try. There has never been another TV series quite like it.
Posted on 10/9/22 at 10:18 am to Kafka
Does that site have all the episodes so you could watch it from the pilot to the finale?
Posted on 10/9/22 at 10:35 am to SoFla Tideroller
quote:I haven't checked
Does that site have all the episodes so you could watch it from the pilot to the finale?
YT has episodes but the picture quality is terrible. That Dailymotion playlist was the best I could find in a 30 second google search this morning.
Since there is at least one other person interested in the show I'd like to set up a (weekly?) group watch and discussion. We could start with "Ill Wind" and jump around, or start with the pilot and proceed in order -- but only the notable episodes. I don't want to do every episode (there are, regrettably, a few duds).
Posted on 10/9/22 at 10:56 am to Green Chili Tiger
PLUS --- you are forgetting the most important aspect of this, besides getting off the couch to change the channel
The majority of households in 1967 had:
Had only one television
This post was edited on 10/9/22 at 10:58 am
Posted on 10/9/22 at 2:41 pm to cypresstiger
quote:This is true. If you had a huge antenna you might pick a Lafayette or New Orleans station as well, but if you had standard rabbit ears you had WBRZ and WAFB (NBC/ABC and CBS/ABC). This was pre-LPB.
Most mid-markets, like Baton Rouge with 150k in the region, had 2 channels: NBC and CBS and they split The popular ABC shows between them.
Posted on 10/9/22 at 4:40 pm to Green Chili Tiger
quote:
I had no idea this show had this big a following. 78 million people is a massive number for 1967.
ehh... most people only had 3, maybe 4 channels at most back then.
I would think anything that had any kind of following would do big numbers w/a well publicized series finale.
This post was edited on 10/9/22 at 4:42 pm
Posted on 10/9/22 at 4:51 pm to Dr RC
It was also broadcast against reruns.
Posted on 10/9/22 at 7:19 pm to rebelrouser
And how many channels were available back then? 4?
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