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Want to know the killer? Read through to the end. This spoiler was the only redeeming quality of the series.

This nine-episode 2006 series would have made a great action movie - if only it had focused on the action, rather than the woes of a family on the run, and the sex lives of the family teens.

The cover blurb for Runaway made it sound interesting. Attorney falsely accused of murder takes his family on the run. They have trouble keeping their stories straight in their next destination: a small town.

However, with only nine episodes and no extras on the new DVD release, I wondered if that boded well for the former CW series.

Apparently not. The sometimes dull series is no match for dramas like Damages. It fails to capitalize on action while trying to carry the series on the personal love lives of the family’s two teens. While it wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t great, either. I could do the dishes and clean house while the show puttered in the background.

Donnie Wahlberg plays Paul Rader, a wimpy attorney accused of murdering his mistress. His wife fears he will be put away by the damning evidence - which is too perfect to fight - and gets him to take their three children on the run.

Twenty-four days - and several moves - later, they land in a small Iowa town, where they hope to stay for a while. Posing as Hurricane Katrina victims, the family works hard to keep their stories straight while working through the distrust and loyalty issues of a man who cheated on his wife and put his family in jeopardy.

The teens experience sex during these nine episodes, and all the angst that comes along with growing up.

Of course, there is an FBI agent determined to catch the high profile attorney, who helped get some of her captures off of charges. She is obsessed with finding Rader and will stop at nothing to bring him in.

Along the way, writers barely touch on Rader’s case through flashbacks and the occasional lead he must follow to figure out who killed his mistress. They are certain it is people associated with a crooked pharmaceutical group Rader represented, but the killer could be closer to Rader than anyone thinks.

Runaway is a slow starter that fails to engage viewers with action, and instead relies on the trials and tribulations of a family on the run to keep viewers interested. When I saw this was a TV show from 2006, I immediately pegged it for a subpar CW program - and I was right.

The interaction between Paul Rader and his wife, Lilly (Leslie Hope) is more like acquaintances at a party, rather than husband and wife. Maybe they wanted it like that since he had an affair. Still, there should have been some type of better chemistry. The two also didn’t look right together. In fact, there is more chemistry between Dustin Milligan (90210) and Sarah Ramos - who play brother and sister - than there is between Wahlberg and Hope.

Donnie Wahlberg is OK, but as an attorney? He has too much punk in him - although he did look a little nerdy in his attorney duds during flashbacks. It was difficult to see him and Leslie Hope as a couple. Maybe that was on purpose. After all, he had an affair, she murdered his mistress and forced the family to run. They both are hiding secrets and have little trust, so that slight separation may have been what the director was looking for.

I was really disappointed with the lack of interest the writers had in developing the mystery of Rader’s set up. There were some great plot points that could have been developed, but they were just left hanging.

You had a law firm partner who acted suspiciously; a crooked pharmaceutical company; a video of some operation that we don’t get to see - apparently where something nefarious happens; a thumb drive that supposedly contains information Rader needs to find the killer; a hot-shot federal agent who has a personal vendetta against Rader…

So much could have been done with these elements to make this series a non-stop, action-packed show that blows others right out of the water. Instead, the writers barely touched on them, content instead to wallow in teenage sex and angst drivel.

I will admit, I figured the show was so dull the killer was likely the partner. At one point in the second or third episode, I thought it would be great if the killer was Rader’s wife. After all, she wasn’t acting like the scorned woman forced to run with an untrustworthy adulterer. She was acting all supportive.

Interesting that it turned out to be her. There is no lead up to it and only a few slight clues to it - things I’d picked up along the way, things that didn’t make sense.

Knowing the killer in the final episode is the only redeeming quality of this series. It was the only bit of creativity in the entire 384 minutes.

Runaway isn’t terrible, but it isn’t a much-watch, either. If you want some serious drama, buy Damages. If you want a film about someone on the run, get the old series The Fugitive. It was much more engaging. If you don’t have time for that series, just get the film starring Harrison Ford. Some teens might gush over it because of the first sexual experience/teen drama that seems to be the focus of the show.

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