Have it all with 'Fugitive,' Archie Bunker: Kenneth Turan on DVDs

By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Film Critic

Nov. 9, 2012 12 AM PT

We live in a culture where everyone wants to have it all, but the only place where that is really possible is in the DVD world, where you can have all of a particular show, no matter how many seasons it ran on TV.

Both “All in the Family” and “The Fugitive” were aired over hours and hours of prime network time, but new boxed sets replicate every minute, and then some.

“All in the Family: The Complete Series” runs to 28 discs, containing the more than 200 episodes of this groundbreaking series that starred Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers in a show that effortlessly mixed impeccable character comedy with cutting-edge political issues. The set even throws in a 40-page book for good measure.

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Though “The Fugitive” ran only four seasons, it was an hourlong show, which means it takes 32 discs to bring it all home. See the exciting series that inspired the Harrison Ford theatrical feature and made David Janssen a major TV star as Dr. Richard Kimble, wrongfully accused, as they say, of his wife’s murder. And this is one set where the black, white and red packaging is as impressive as the show itself.

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