‘Fugitive’s’ Cast and Sets Escape the Quake Intact

Much of the CBS drama “The Fugitive” is shot in Seattle and nearby towns, and Wednesday morning the production got a jolt--a 6.8-magnitude jolt, to be exact--as the Pacific Northwest was rattled by an earthquake that as of Thursday had caused an estimated 250 injuries, one death and billions of dollars in damages.

Many said the toll could have been worse had the quake’s epicenter not been buried in solid rock 30 miles beneath ground. In the entertainment business, where the show (usually) must go on, “The Fugitive,” an updating of the 1960s series starring David Janssen, dusted itself off and got back to work, shooting until 3 a.m. Thursday in nearby Everett.

Among the concerns for R.W. Goodwin, one of the show’s executive producers, was the fate of an elaborate set piece his crew had built, a 35-foot-high, welded-together mountain of found objects that was sitting in Everett when the quake hit. Goodwin said the installation was weeks in the making, an integral part of an upcoming episode about an eccentric character who constructs an involved work of art out of junk.

“I was scared to death that I’d get a phone call saying it was lying on its side, but it came through OK,” Goodwin said Thursday morning.

So too did the show’s lead actor, Tim Daly, who plays Dr. Richard Kimble, the good-guy fugitive constantly on the move after being falsely accused of killing his wife.

Daly said he went to sleep Tuesday night to the sound of rioting Fat Tuesday revelers, only to be greeted by the quake Wednesday morning.

“Compared to the [1994] Northridge quake, this is kid’s stuff,” said Daly, interviewed by phone hours after the quake.

Daly has a home in Brentwood but more temporary digs these days--a room on the 25th floor of a downtown Seattle hotel, which he declined to name (though others who work on “The Fugitive” are put up at the Hotel Monaco Seattle downtown, Goodwin said).

“After the quake was over, the building kept swaying for a minute and a half,” Daly said. “. . . It was actually the building settling.”

But Daly said he soon went back about his morning--doing the crossword puzzle, having a cup of coffee and working out. He exercised in his room because the hotel elevators were out. “I didn’t feel like walking down 25 floors to the gym to get on the Stairmaster,” Daly joked.

About the only disruption in production, added Goodwin, was that a plane carrying guest actress Veronica Hamel from Los Angeles Wednesday was diverted to Portland. Instead of being shuttled by bus, Hamel hopped in a rental car and made it to the set.

“Veronica Hamel is apparently a real spunky lady,” said Goodwin.

“The Fugitive” is close to completing its first season on CBS, but its future is very much up in the air due to ratings that have fallen short of the network’s expectations. Though Daly’s Dr. Kimble finds himself in a different locale every week, the show’s home base is Seattle, which can double for a lot of cities, Goodwin said. Interiors are shot in the town of Mukilteo, 20 miles north of Seattle, and the show also shoots in places like Everett, which was Wednesday’s location.

A veteran of a business that usually manufactures its own natural disasters, Daly summed up things this way: “They just asked if anyone major [who’s] in front of the camera is injured . . . and if not, you just go on.”

*

* “The Fugitive” usually airs Fridays at 9 p.m. This week it’s preempted by the “Miss USA 2001” telecast.