The Fugitive's depiction of an innocent man condemned to electrocution literally galvanized the nation. And when several of former President Richard Nixon's Supreme Court appointees turned out to be fans of the show, it seemed as if the days of the death penalty in the U.S. were numbered. In 1972, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark Furman v. Georgia decision, invalidating hundreds of scheduled executions. The majority opinion cited the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and noted that because of ``the difficulties inherent in reliably determining whether one-armed men or other unknown parties may in fact be responsible for the crimes attributed to pediatricians and similarly innocent citizens falsely convicted of murders,'' capital punishment should be abolished. However, in 1976, the Court (perhaps growing nostalgic for the good old bad old days) reversed itself, ruling that states may administer the death penalty so long as certain conditions are met, such as the condition that ``in the event of a convict's escape en route to the deathhouse, a weekly one-hour television drama series shall be produced, documenting said convict's attempts to establish his or her innocence, until such time as the convict shall be recaptured or exonerated.'' Since then, public opinion has been sharply polarized on the issue. While opponents (including the ACLU) point to Richard Kimble's case as a clear example of the potential for a fatally ironic miscarriage of justice, death-penalty advocates argue that the show would not have been nearly as exciting if Kimble had only been trying to escape from a life sentence without parole. The fugitive himself remained noncommittal about capital punishment, ducking the question when he is asked his opinion at a cocktail party in THE GIRL FROM LITTLE EGYPT.

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