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'Fugitive' keeps Daly on his toes
Thursday, October 5, 2000
The latest incarnation of "The Fugitive" is a good-looking show. Tomorrow's premiere is lavish, well-produced and likely to find an enthusiastic Friday night audience. Next week's episode is gripping, too, as Dr. Richard Kimble comes face to face with the one-armed man who killed his wife. THE FUGITIVE
But I found ennui setting in early as I watched both episodes. I knew that Kimble, wrongly convicted of the murder, would elude capture somehow, just as I knew that the one-armed man would stay a step ahead of Kimble. We all know this, so the pressure is on the producers to create stories within the main story that will keep us interested. After all, "The Fugitive" as a series can't possibly be the same as it was as a movie. In serialized form, "The Fugitive" is nothing more than "Touched by an Angel on the Lam." Kimble moves from town to town, staying a step ahead of Lt. Gerard, a step behind the one-armed man, and inevitably involved in the life of someone he meets on his peripatetic way.
Tomorrow's "B" story, which has Kimble posing as a construction worker in Miami after circumstances allow him to escape Gerard's clutches in Chicago, works well. Next week's, which takes Kimble to Savannah, Ga., is weaker, and the weaker the "B" story, the weaker the episode.
Not that Tim Daly isn't trying hard. If nothing else, "The Fugitive" will keep him in great shape. As Kimble, Daly does more running and jumping than Marion Jones. His acting isn't bad, either: thoughtful, measured, forceful. As well, Mykelti Williamson is his own man in the role of Lt. Gerard.
But watching "The Fugitive" is like finding a painting by an artist who refuses to grow and embrace change because his work is already commercially successful. As a work of art, "The Fugitive" will look great on a lot of living room walls. It's perfectly commercial. But will it satisfy the collector looking for something new, different and challenging? Probably not.
TOMORROW NIGHT IS a busy one for series premieres. While the return of "The Fugitive" gets most of the hoopla, CBS (KIRO/7) also debuts "C.S.I." at 9, Fox (KCPQ/13) launches "freakylinks" at 9 and ABC (KOMO/4) introduces "The Trouble With Normal" at 8:30 and "Madigan Men" at 9:30.
Of the bunch, "C.S.I." -- short for Crime Scene Investigation -- stands tall, even taller than "The Fugitive." In a way, it, too, is a remake, or at least a borrowing from "Quincy, M.E." Instead of pathologists, the key players are forensic investigators trained to solve crimes strictly by examining the evidence. William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger lead an appealing cast, but the real stars are the toenail clippings, hair strands and fingerprints that complete an investigator's puzzle and turn nagging doubt into scientific certainty.
"Freakylinks," on the other hand, is a head-scratcher from beginning to end. Fox has touted its provenance ad infinitum. Pretend you're a bullhorn and say it with me now: "From the producer of 'The Blair Witch Project' ..." Well, big freaky deal. "Freakylinks" is well-made, but confusing as all get-out. Ethan Embry plays Derek Barnes, operator of an underground Web site that debunks legends of the paranormal. When an image of his dead brother shows up in his e-mail, however, Derek is plunged into the mysterious world he has trouble believing in. Lovers of the occult will embrace "freakylinks," as will the tech-savvy crowd (the show exists simultaneously at www.freakylinks.com), but, for me, it's just too much work on a Friday night.
ABC, meanwhile, has dumped its Friday night schedule of family comedies in favor of more adult-oriented fare. Two of them are newcomers that don't work very well. "The Trouble With Normal" pokes fun at paranoia and only succeeds in making it seem like the ailment of choice in Manhattan; "Madigan Men" is a male version of The WB's "Gilmore Girls," but its sitcom approach fails to plumb the multigenerational possibilities as expertly, in spite of notable actors as Gabriel Byrne and Ray Dotrice.
The bottom line: "C.S.I.," B+; freakylinks," C+; "Madigan Men," C; "The Trouble With Normal," C-
By JOHN LEVESQUE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER TELEVISION CRITIC TV REVIEW
CAST:
WHEN/ WHERE:
RATING:
GRADE: B-
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