After 6 seasons, I’m now on the final two episodes of this landmark series. And while the first episode is a bit of a let-down in terms of a story for Rockford (James Garner), you can definitely see a blueprint for a show that helped define 21st century television (though it started in 1999)….
Tag: phone gag
The Rockford Files (1979) – No-Fault Affair and The Big Cheese
Rita Moreno is back again as Rita Capkovic in the first episode up this week. No-Fault Affair was written by Juanita Bartlett, and originally aired 30 November, 1979. The phone gag this time around features someone calling thinking the number was for dial-a-joke. Rita has aspirations of becoming a hair dresser, she’s been to beauty school,…
The Rockford Files (1979) – Nice Guys Finish Dead and The Hawaiian Headache
Cannell himself wrote the first episode up this week, and it may in fact be my favorite one of the season, as it sees the return of Tom Selleck as Lance White, and James Whitmore Jr. as gumshoe obsessed Freddie Beamer. Nice Guys Finish Dead originally aired on 16 November, 1979, and featured a phone…
The Rockford Files (1979) – A Material Difference and Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man’s Job Part 1
The first episode up on this installment, may in fact be one of my favorite episodes. Written by Rogers Turrentine, A Material Difference aired on 24 February, 1979. The phone message was a good indicator of how much I would enjoy this episode, apparently Jim (James Garner) gave a 200 page deposition, but it has…
The Rockford Files (1979) – The Man Who Saw The Alligators and The Return of the Black Shadow
Private investigator Jim Rockford (James Garner) finds himself in all manner of trouble this week. First up is The Man Who Saw the Alligators, written by David Chase, and originally airing as an extended episode on 10 February, 1979, you can catch glimpses of Chase’s Sopranos in this episode, as a gangster on parole,…
The Rockford Files (1979) – Guilt and The Deuce
Jim (James Garner) finds himself in all manner of trouble this week… First up is Guilt, that was written by Juanita Bartlett and originally aired 19 January, 1979. The phone message this time around features a message from Angel (Stuart Margolin) who gets a hot tip about a horse, but needs to bum some…
The Rockford Files (1979) – With the French Heel Back, Can the Nehru Jacket be Far Behind? and The Battle-Ax and the Exploding Cigar
Private investigator Jim Rockford has his hands full again with this week’s dual installment. First up is With the French Heel Back, Can the Nehru Jacket be Far Behind? which aired 5 January, 1979 and was written by Rudolph Borchert. The phone gag this time around features a phone call from Coop (Bo Hopkins) about…
The Rockford Files (1978) – A Fast Count and Local Man Eaten by Newspaper
Private investigator James Rockford (James Garner) has his hands full this week. First up is A Fast Count, written by Gordon T. Dawson and aired 1 December, 1978. The phone gag this time around features a woman calling and giving a rather convoluted money trail about $250. Jim ends up working for a boxing…
The Rockford Files (1978) – Black Mirror
This two-parter aired 24 November, 1978 and was written by David Chase. As it was later split into two episodes, there are two separate phone gags. The first is a friend calling from London trying to figure out what his arrival time is, with time changes and flight times. The second one is the…
The Rockford Files (1978) – Three Day Affair with a Thirty Day Escrow and The Empty Frame
A subject that is getting a lot of talk of late makes an appearance in the first episode under review this week… Three Day Affair with a Thirty Day Escrow was written by David Chase and aired 10 November, 1978. Jim (James Garner) finds himself immersed in a real estate swindle with romantic overtones,…
The Mind Reels 