THE FUGITIVE. “Tiger Left, Tiger Right.” 1964 October 20 (Season 2, episode 6). David Janssen (Dr. Richard Kimble), Leslie Nielsen, Carol Rossen. Created by Roy Huggins. Screenplay: William Link & Richard Levinson. Director: James Goldstone.  (The entire series is available for viewing on the Internet Archive.)

   By the time of this, the sixth episode of the second season, the story lines were  well established. Dr. Kimball was on the run, having been convicted of a murder he did not commit, used a fake identity somewhere else every week, interacting with a new family or anyone giving him shelter for a time. (If he ever stayed in one place for more than week, I don’t know about it.)

   He’s staying with the Cheyney family this week: mother, father, young boy, working as a gardener, when he is kidnapped and a ransom is asked. He has been mistaken for the father by another couple, desperate for both money and revenge. The man is disabled, and he blames the father of the family Kimball is working for.

   This is quite a situation for the latter, as man on the tun. He is in the hands of a couple who will kill him as likely as not, once they realize their mistake, but if by happy chance he is rescued, the police will recognize him as a fugitive, and back to prison he will go.

   It’s a good story with lots of drama and suspense, and it’s greatly enhanced by excellent acting by all of the players involved, especially David Janssen, young and handsome at the time, and as the doctor on the run, as cool as anyone could be in such a situation, as always.

   And as I mentioned up above, with Dr. Kimball interacting with his two captors with coolly nervous aplomb until the end, upon which time he makes his escape in all the chaos of a most satisfying conclusion.