The Raders may look like your average American family, but they are on the run from the Feds, and hiding out under new identities as the Holland family, attempting to blend in in Bridgewater, Iowa. Patriarch Paul Rader/Jim Holland (Donnie Wahlberg, Blue Bloods, Boston Blue) was a successful Maryland attorney, but when his young associate/mistress Erin Baxter (Sandrine Holt) was found murdered, he was wrongly accused of the crime. After the family started to receive threats from the real killer, Paul jumped bail, and his family went on the run.

Paul takes a job as a chef at a local diner. When he’s not slinging burgers, he works on gathering evidence to prove his innocence. Paul’s wife Lily Rader/Brenda Holland (Leslie Hope, 24) now works as a receptionist at a hospital, despite having had medical training of her own. Teens/high school sophomores Henry Rader/Jason Holland (Dustin Milligan, Schitt’s Creek, 90210) and Hannah Rader/Kate Holland (Sarah Ramos, Parenthood) have different opinions of being on the run. Henry misses his girlfriend Kylie (Kristen Hager, Being Human), who he was abruptly forced to say goodbye to. However, Hannah is open to this new life—”Hannah” was an unpopular band geek, but “Kate” has a chance to reinvent herself. She immediately falls for neighbor/football player Brady Sullivan (Andrew Lawrence, Brotherly Love), though he currently has a girlfriend, Amber (Leah Renee Cudmore), who’s head of the popular crowd. And finally there’s 8-year-old Tommy Rader/Michael “Mikey” Holland (Nathan Gamble, Dolphin Tale), who’s having the most trouble out of the family trying keeping his new identity straight.

Helping the Hollands get settled in their new home is aspiring lawyer-turned-realtor, single mother Gina Bennett (Susan Floyd). While she quickly becomes friends with the Hollands, her troubled son Jake (Craig Olejnik, The Listener) seems to have it out for Henry/Jason. Gina suspects that something is up with the Holland family and starts to do a bit of investigating of her own. Meanwhile, hunting down the Hollands are determined FBI agent Angela Huntley (Karen LeBlanc), and her less-serious partner, Agent Raj Rao (Raoul Bhaneja).

Runaway was one of the first series on the newly-created The CW network back in 2006, but also holds the distinction of being the very first show it canceled, after airing just 3 episodes. While thirteen episodes were originally ordered, only 9 were ever filmed. All 9 of these episodes did eventually air in the UK, but here they were first seen when the series was first released on DVD in 2009. The series has an amazing cast, all of whom have gone on to bigger things since. It was quite strange watching this now and seeing so many familiar actors, wondering how this was canceled so quickly. The series does have many aspects of your typical CW series, particularly with the small town feel, and character drama. Much of the show is about this family trying to settle into their new life, especially the kids as they navigate their new school and friends. Hannah is falling in love for the first time, while Henry misses his girlfriend, and contemplates putting the family at risk to go see her. There is also a lot of great, recognizable music throughout the series, as one would expect from a CW show. I was actually surprised they kept it in for these unaired episodes.

While the series primarily focuses on the family, there are bits in each episode of Paul hunting for evidence to clear his name, or the FBI agents getting some info that might help them find this family. Through flashbacks and Paul’s present-day investigation, the audience is able to slowly piece together what had happened, why this family is on the run, and possibly who is behind it all. This ultimately comes to a head in the ninth episode-turned series finale, when there is a major reveal. However, this ultimately leaves the series on a big unresolved cliffhanger.

I definitely would have watched more of this series, and it’s sad that it didn’t get a proper ending. However, I did find the characters interesting, and appreciated the way that each of the characters is given something to do each episode, often with parallel storylines that are related. It has some of your typical high school storylines of breakups, and a group detention adventure, and even delves into the ridiculous, such as when a tornado hits the town, but that just felt like typical CW. It was this aspect of the show that actually drew me in more than the whodunnit part. Though I suspect had the series continued on, that would have become a much larger part.

Runaway: The Complete Series was first released on DVD in March 2009, but that has since gone out of print. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment re-released the DVD last month, though it appears to be some sort of MOD release. We were sent the Blu-ray release for review from AV Entertainment, so it is not some kind of counterfeit version. The discs have a purplish-tint, like you would see for burned discs, rather than the silver you would get from a standard pressed disc release. The overall picture quality is actually quite good, especially for a DVD. While it didn’t have that pop of clarity that an HD release would have, I found it to be more than sufficient to completely enjoy the show. The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, and makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to provide ambiance and showcase the show’s soundtrack. The release does not include any subtitles, but does provide closed captioning should your DVD player support that.

The 9 episodes are split across two discs, which are placed in a standard-sized DVD keepcase. There is no digital copy or slipcover included. The contents appear to be identical to the previous release, even down to a collection of trailers for older Sony TV shows and films on DVD and Blu-ray. There is no other bonus material besides this.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (6:16:10)

Blu-ray:
• All 9 episodes of the series on 2 discs:
  Disc 1 (3:27:44): “Pilot”, “Identity Crisis”, “Mr. Rader Goes to Washington”, “Homecoming”, “Father Figure”
  Disc 2 (2:47:26): “Liar, Liar”, “Turn, Turn, Turn”, “There’s No Place Like Home”, “End Game”
• 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: None
• Closed Captioned

Extras:

• Previews
  • Breaking Bad (1:03)
  • Damages (1:38)
  • Rescue Me (1:06)
  • The Shield (1:35)
  • The Lazarus Project (1:45)
  • Termination Point (1:02)
  • Passengers (2:06)
  • Deep Winter (1:27)
  • Blu-ray Disc Is High Definition! (1:11)

Final Thoughts:

The 2006 series Runaway features an excellent cast and an interesting storyline and characters. It’s a wonder why this was canceled so quickly by The CW. While viewers can watch all 9 of the completed episodes, the series does ultimately end on a major cliffhanger, with no information available on how the remaining 4 scripts planned to continue the story. That said, fans of the cast will still want to check this out to see these actors before they went on to bigger things. Sony’s re-release looks and sounds great, but appears to be some sort of non-pressed MOD release, if that affects your interest. I’m not sure if the original release was the same.