"The Incredible Hulk" TV series on DVD, starring B. Bixby & L. Ferrigno (1977-1982)

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When I started watching The Fugitive for the very first time recently, I was immediately strongly reminded of a TV show I used to sporadically watch as a kid, The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982), starring the late Bill Bixby as David Banner & Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk. The storyline of Banner drifting from town to town because of his terrible "secret" (and also needing to escape his past), and his relentless pursuit by reporter Jack McGee - was obviously directly inspired by The Fugitive.

However, I never made this connection when watching TIH in the '70's/early '80's, given that I had never seen TF at that point. And, when I initially saw the show back in the day, I remember being extremely disappointed that the series wasn't more like The Incredible Hulk Marvel comic book. In the colorful comic, Hulk fought monsters, robots, aliens, etc. & he was also a lot bigger than in the TV show.

Conversely, the TV series was much more grounded in reality. I.e., The Hulk fought bullies, criminals, etc. And, there is no way TIH would have been as good or well-received if it had been a straight super-hero show featuring Hulk fighting super-villains/monsters/robots every week. They wouldn't have had the money to do this anyway. But - even if they wanted to try, the limited special effects of the era & the limited budget of a network TV series would have definitely hindered the look of the show. And, as the years went by - the series would have aged poorly due to this.

So, it's certain that TIH wouldn't have lasted for five seasons under those circumstances. And, while the kid in me would have strongly preferred a show more similar to the Marvel comic, the adult in me completely realizes that the more realistic approach the writers/producers of the show took was best.

I clearly remember "The Lonely Man" theme song of the show, which typically played near the end (though sometimes in the middle/beginning) of the episodes, when David Banner was walking away - alone - down the road/highway. This set the tone for the show perfectly. (IIRC, the soundtrack in the 2008 TIH film featured a snippet of this). I recently heard this for the first time in years, and it was very nostalgic. Here's an extended version of this great theme:

'The Lonely Man' (Theme from 'The Incredible Hulk') - YouTube