Some of my favorite episodes: "White On White And Nearly Perfect" -- Lance White was absolutely Tom Selleck's finest hour "Beemer's Last Case" -- James Whitmore Jr as a nerdy PI wannabe "Nice Guys Finish Dead" -- Rockford, Lance, and Freedy Beemer attend a PI convention. Possibly my favorite episode of any series, ever "Quickie Nirvana" -- spoofs new age cults "A Deadly Maze" -- Larry Linville is a husband searching for his missing wife -- at least I think he is. The plot twist in this is sheer genius. "A Nice Clean Bust With Sequel Rights" -- Hector Elizondo as a mega-alpha celebrity cop with a TV series about his adventures. I will always believe this is a lampoon of Robert "Baretta" Blake (Stephen Cannell worked on both shows). "Just Another Polish Wedding" -- pilot for an unsold series, to have starred Lou Gossett and Isaac Hayes as an ill-matched team of private eyes. The scene in the Neo-Nazi bar was later stolen by 48 Hours. 'The Queen of Peru" -- Jim gets mixed up with jewel thieves and some vacationing RVers from Indiana "Hotel Of Fear" -- Angel is the key witness against a mob hit man and takes advantage of all the perks "The No Cut Contract" -- Rob Reiner is a sleazy minor league quarterback who gets Jim tangled up with the mafia
I'm noticing how much of the driving Garner did himself, which is pretty impressive. I also think the theme for the show runs slower in the pilot than in the rest of the series, and I like the slow version better.
The Rockford Files is back today on BBC 2! http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/mb76f/the-rockford-files--series-6---1-paradise-cove
It's been on BBC Two for the past year ld say. The episode I saw with Tom Selleck as Lance was really excellent.
I don't know about America and Britain but here in Australia it is being re-released on DVD, "newly remastered" in fatpacks. Picked up the first three series yesterday. http://www.madman.com.au/series/home/22221/the-rockford-files-the-complete-season-1
I was never really a fan of this show, but I can see the attraction. I was more into Angie Dickenson "bouncing" around on "Police Woman" at the time
What a great series! Lindsay Wagner, Robert Donley (as Rocky, the only episode he appeared in) and James Garner from the 1974 pilot, Backlash of the Hunter,1974. Loved the answering machine. The Rockford Flies, answering machine messages, Season 1.
Hard to be sure from just that on-line sample video, but wow, I think they really did remaster the series for this new home-video release and the results appear to be very impressive. The previously existing DVDs are fine, but going by memory here, they don't look anywhere near as nice as this on-line sample. I'd be interested in hearing more about the new remastering...
I literally smile every time Angel appears on screen. What a great character ... and what a great actor.
I love Angel too. His interplay with Rockford was great. I'm now up to Season 3 and just watched "To Protect and Serve," a two parter that may be my favorite of all I've seen so far (and that's saying something). Joyce Van Patten plays a police groupie who is clearly obsessed and disturbed, and whose meddling complicates Rockford's case immeasurably. She's not exactly the focus of the episodes, but she's woven into the fabric of the story so well that she elevates the whole thing even further. Did she get an Emmy for this?
I love the scene that showed her at her job. Those were memorable episodes. They must have been filmed not too long after The Bad News Bears was released.
It's the reason my wife didn't like the show and the only thing about which I've known her to be 100% dead wrong. She liked Quincey though. Passing by I'd quip "has Dr. Furious blown up with righteous anger yet?"
Rockford was a favorite then and now. Episode descriptions posted here earlier made me smile. I liked the shows where Jim and expanded crew pulled off some elaborate flim flam of an unsuspecting and deserving bad guy. Garner's character had a compelling weakness for underdogs and an appealing and unyielding anti-authority streak. The scripts also gently lampooned SoCal and The Latest Big Thing.
