Product Description
From executive producers including Darren Star (Sex and the City, TV's "Beverly Hills, 90210") comes RUNAWAY, a thrilling series about an ordinary American family facing extraordinary danger. Wrongfully accused of murder, successful attorney Paul Rader (Donnie Wahlberg, The Sixth Sense, TV's "Band of Brothers") has taken his wife and children (including Dustin Milligan, TV's "90210") on th
Amazon.com
The Fugitive meets the CW network in Runaway, a 2006 TV series that melds the innocent-man-in-the-lam theme of the former with the teen-young adult appeal of shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 (as well as older WB offerings like Dawson’s Creek and Felicity). The pilot episode sets it up, as Washington lawyer Paul Rader (Donnie Wahlberg), accused of a murder he swears he didn’t commit, has decided to try and elude the long arm of the law as he searches for the real culprit. So far, so Fugitive--except that show’s Richard Kimble was on his own and moved from place to place each week to avoid capture, while Paul decides to settle down in neighborly Bridgewater, Iowa, to establish some sense of normalcy for his family, including wife Lily (Leslie Hope) and their three kids (two of them high-school students). The succeeding episodes (there are nine altogether, offered on two discs sans bonus material) do a nice job of conveying the constant strain involved in this dicey undertaking, wherein every situation is a fragile web of improvised lies, every interaction is fraught with peril, and even having their picture taken might expose them to the U.S. Marshals who are in hot pursuit. This being a CW show with a strong 90210 connection (elder son Henry is played by Dustin Milligan, now a 90210 regular, while executive producer Darren Star works on the latter program as well), we also get a large dose of high school angst, from illegal drinking to various tortured teen relationships, all set to a soundtrack of "edgy" pop music. None of that is especially new or different, although the eventual resolution of Paul’s plight will surely take some viewers by surprise. The network canceled Runaway due to low ratings--odd, really, as there’s certainly enough here to hold most viewers’ attention. --Sam Graham
