| The Rockford Files | |
|---|---|
Title card with Noah Beery, Jr., answering machine |
|
| Format | Crime drama Mystery |
| Created by | Roy Huggins Stephen J. Cannell |
| Starring | James Garner Noah Beery, Jr. Joe Santos Gretchen Corbett Stuart Margolin |
| Theme music composer | Mike Post Pete Carpenter |
| Composer(s) | Mike Post Pete Carpenter Artie Kane |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 122 plus 8 TV movies (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Stephen J. Cannell |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 13, 1974 – January 10, 1980 |
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah Beery, Jr. as his father, a retired truck driver.
The show was created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell. Huggins had created the television show Maverick (1957–1962), which had also starred Garner, and he wanted to try to recapture that magic in a "modern day" detective setting. He teamed with Cannell, who had written for Jack Webb productions such as Adam-12 and Chase (1973–74, NBC), to create Rockford.
The show was credited as "A Public Arts / Roy Huggins Production" along with Universal Studios and in association with Cherokee Productions. Cherokee was the name of Garner's own company, which he ran with partners Meta Rosenberg and Juanita Bartlett, who doubled as story editor during most of Rockford's run.
The series' theme by composers Mike Post and Pete Carpenter was released as a single and went to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 16 weeks. and won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for 1975.[1][2][3]
In 2002, The Rockford Files was ranked #39 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[4]
The Rockford Files continues to air in re-runs today. A pilot for a remake of the series was written and produced for NBC by David Shore in 2010, with Dermot Mulroney playing the title character, but was not picked up by the network due to complaints that it was not written well and the lead was miscast. NBC then gave it to Peter Berg to rewrite and produce. As of January 2011, the project is still in development at NBC.
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Producers Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell devised the main character to be a rather significant departure from typical television detectives of the time, essentially Maverick as a modern detective.[5] Rockford had served time in California's San Quentin Prison in the 1960s due to a wrongful conviction. After five years, he received a pardon. His infrequent jobs as a private investigator barely allow him to maintain his dilapidated mobile home (which doubles as his office) in a parking lot on the beaches of Malibu, California.
Each episode of the show begins with a cold open of a telephone answering machine recording, usually something humorous, often made by a client giving excuses for not paying Rockford's rate of "$200 a day, plus expenses".
In early episodes of the show's first season, Rockford's trailer is located in a parking lot alongside the highway (address 2354 Pacific Coast Hwy) and near the ocean; for the rest of the series, the trailer is at Paradise Cove (address 29 Cove Road), adjacent to a pier and a restaurant (The Sand Castle now known as the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe).
In the series of TV movies from 1994–1999, Rockford is still living in a trailer, but it has been extensively enlarged and remodeled.
In contrast to most TV private eyes of the time, Rockford wears low-budget 'off the rack' clothing and does his best to hopefully avoid fights. He rarely carries his Colt Detective Special revolver, for which he does not have a permit, preferring to talk his way out of trouble. He works on cold cases, missing persons investigations, and low-budget insurance scams, and he repeatedly states in the series that he does not handle "open cases" to avoid trouble with the police.[6]
Also starring:
Recurring stars:
Valentino, a cat that either Jim has adopted, or is a stray who frequents Jim's trailer, is seen in at least one episode, and is referred to in another by the same name.
Rockford's pursuit of these cases often leads to difficulties with his friend in the LAPD, Sgt. Dennis Becker, a homicide detective struggling to advance in the department under a series of overbearing lieutenants. The two most notable are Alex/Thomas Diehl during the first, second and fourth seasons and Doug Chapman in the third to sixth seasons. Those higher-ups invariably hate Rockford (and private investigators generally) because of their perception that either he is meddling in open cases or is trying to make the LAPD look incompetent in its handling of closed ones. Further, Rockford often calls Becker asking for favors, such as running license plates through the state computer system, sometimes annoying the already overworked cop. By the fifth season, Becker is promoted to lieutenant; it was stated in the story line that Becker's association with Rockford, considered by LAPD brass to be a shifty ex-con, had probably hampered Becker's chances for promotion. Chapman also intensely dislikes it when Becker becomes his "equal". Becker appears in 89 of the 123 episodes.
Rockford's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, is an ex-Seabee, semi-retired semi-truck driver who often nags his son to get more stable (and less dangerous) employment, often urging him to follow in his footsteps as a truck driver (especially in early seasons). The relationship of father and son was an integral part of the show. Rocky appears in 101 episodes, and usually gets involved (whether he likes it or not) in his son's cases. Occasionally, he even hires Jim himself. Adding to the credibility of the casting was the physical resemblance between Garner and Beery. Jim Rockford's mother is never shown or named, and is only referred to indirectly.
Rockford's scheming former San Quentin cellmate, Evelyn "Angel" Martin (something of a comic relief character), almost always gets Rockford in trouble, usually by involving him in hare-brained scams, which as often as not result in either his arrest or being placed on somebody's hit list. In spite of this, however, Jim considers Angel as one of his best, if most exasperating, pals.
Rockford has a close relationship with his attorney, the idealistic, tenacious Elizabeth "Beth" Davenport. It is implied the two become romantically involved for a time. After Corbett was dropped from the show after the fourth season (allegedly due to contract disputes between Universal, which owned her contract, and Cherokee Productions, Garner's company), a new legal adviser (Jim's disbarred attorney friend John "Coop" Cooper), and a new romantic interest (Kathryn Harrold as Dr. Megan Dougherty) for Rockford were added. Megan Dougherty was a blind yet very independent psychiatrist, who makes three appearances in the fifth and sixth seasons. Rockford also has romantic flings with numerous other women, but none that last.
Garner's brother, Jack Garner, made 23 guest appearances playing (at various times) a policeman, a gas station attendant, and a stranger in a bathroom. The most regular character Jack played was that of police "Captain McEnroe" a number of times in the final season.
The show was written by co-creator Cannell (36 episodes); one of the show's producers and Garner's partner at Cherokee Productions, Juanita Bartlett (34 episodes; also Scarecrow and Mrs. King and In the Heat of the Night); David Chase (16 episodes; Northern Exposure and The Sopranos); and Roy Huggins (as John Thomas James), among others. Directors included William Wiard (23 episodes), Lawrence Doheny (10 episodes), and Ivan Dixon (previously a star on Hogan's Heroes) (9 episodes). Veteran actor James Coburn also directed an episode. Coburn had co-starred with Garner in the classic movies The Great Escape (1963) and The Americanization of Emily (1964). Garner himself directed one episode, "The Girl in The Bay City Boys' Club," in the show's second season (as of 2008, Garner's only directing credit).
Familiar to viewers of the show was Jim Rockford's gold Pontiac Firebird Esprit automobile, which Rockford always took through its paces. One oft-recurring element of the show was the famous "Jim Rockford turn-around" (also known as a J-turn or "Rockford", and commonly employed as an evasive driving technique taught to Secret Service agents driving for the President of the United States).[7][8] When trying to evade someone tailing him or when otherwise cornered, Rockford would shift into reverse, speed up backwards in a straight line and sharply turn his wheels. This maneuver would spin his car around 180 degrees and he would then quickly shift back into forward gear, speeding off to escape while maintaining a straight course the whole time. James Garner claimed in a Season One DVD interview that he performed this stunt himself for the duration of the series. The car's license number, 853OKG is currently assigned to a look-alike Firebird driven in and around the city of Riverside, CA.
The show's title sequence began with someone leaving a message on Rockford's answering machine, which were still novel in 1974. A different message was heard in each episode. These frequently had to do with creditors to whom Rockford owed money, or deadbeat clients who owed money to him. They were usually unrelated to the rest of the plot. As the series went on, this gimmick became a burden for the show's writers, who had to come up with a different joke every week. Suggestions from staffers and crew were often used.
The show went into hiatus late in 1979 when Garner was told by his doctors to take time off because of his bad knees and back, as well as an ulcer. He sustained the former conditions largely because of his insistence on performing most of his own stunts, especially those involving fist fights or car chases. Because of his excruciating physical pain, Garner eventually opted not to continue with the show a number of months later, and NBC cancelled the program in mid-season. It was also alleged that Rockford became extremely expensive to produce, mainly due to the extensive location filming and frequent use of high-end actors as guest stars. According to some sources, NBC and Universal claimed the show was generating a deficit of several million dollars, a staggering amount for a nighttime show in those days, although Garner and his production team Cherokee Productions claimed the show always turned a profit.
Later in the 1980s, after he attempted to fulfill his Rockford contract with a 1981 Maverick revival titled Bret Maverick, Garner became engaged in a legal dispute with Universal regarding the profits from Rockford that lasted over a decade, causing (and reflecting) significant ill will on both sides. The dispute was settled out of court (for an undisclosed amount) in Garner's favor, but because of this conflict, the Rockford character would not re-emerge until 1994.
Universal began syndicating the show (initially under the name Jim Rockford, Private Investigator due to standard practices at that time for a show still running on a network) in 1979 and aggressively marketed it to local stations well into the early and middle 1980s. This almost certainly accounts for its near-ubiquity on afternoon and late-night schedules in those days. From those showings, Rockford developed a cult following among younger generations of fans, with the momentum continuing throughout the 1990s and 2000s on cable. The show was broadcast for a few months in 2006 on Superstation WGN, before the station cancelled it in favor of Matlock. In 2007, the Retro Television Network began broadcasting the program nationwide, as did the digital cable channel Sleuth and Chicago TV station WWME-CA. ION Television also has rights to the show and has it slated for future broadcast. In the fall of 2009, the show reappeared in Canada on Deja View. The series was also broadcast in the UK on BBC1 and has since been repeated on BBC2 and ITV (later named ITV1) and also on Granada +Plus, which later became ITV3, although none of these channels repeated the later seasons. In Australia, the series runs Monday - Friday on cable and satellite channel Fox Classics and on 7Mate. In September 2011, the MeTV Network in the U.S. began showing Rockford episodes Monday through Friday afternoons.
Rockford's style was said to have influenced the creation of many other detective shows, including Magnum, P.I. and Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (the latter also created by Cannell). Tom Selleck made two guest appearances on Rockford in the comic role of private investigator Lance White, a character who was everything Rockford was not — wealthy, highly educated, debonair, irresistible to women, and ethical to a fault. Rockford's producers would tap Selleck in the TV season after the Rockford cancellation for Universal's Magnum, P.I., where he played a character similar in many ways to Rockford, although with wholesome, patriotic undertones in the context and plots. Several episodes of Magnum make reference to the character of Lance White.
In turn, Rockford was pencilled in to appear in the seventh season Magnum, P.I. episode "A.A.P.I." (1986; in which Cannell also guest starred), concerning a murder at a Private Investigator awards ceremony, but a dispute between Garner and Universal (Garner reportedly refused to even set foot on a single Universal film set until it was resolved) meant that the planned cameo had to be dropped.
(including TV movies)
The series pilot aired on NBC March 27, 1974 as a 90-minute made-for-television movie. In the pilot, Robert Donley played Rockford's father; Lindsay Wagner also starred and later made a return appearance. The pilot was titled Backlash of the Hunter for syndication.
Four written, but unproduced, season 6 episodes have been referred to in "Thirty Years of the Rockford Files" by Ed Robertson (2005). There is no mention of these episodes having been filmed. This would appear to be the source of the unsubstantiated rumour that four filmed but unaired Rockford episodes were destroyed in a fire in 1980.
Eight Rockford Files reunion TV movies were made from 1994 to 1999, airing on the CBS network (whereas the original series had aired on NBC) and reuniting most of the cast from the original show. Beery died on November 1, 1994, so the first of these movies, which aired later that month, stated, "This picture is dedicated to the memory of Noah Beery, Jr. We love you and miss you, Pidge." ("Pidge" was Beery's nickname.)
| Season | Ranking | Timeslot |
|---|---|---|
| 1974-75 | #12 | Fridays at 9:00 p.m. |
| 1975-76 | #32 | |
| 1976-77 | #41 | |
| 1977-78 | #46 | |
| 1978-79 | #59 | Fridays at 9:00 p.m./Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. |
| 1979-80 | #?? | Fridays at 9:00 p.m./Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. |
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released all six seasons of The Rockford Files on DVD in Region 1. The Rockford Files- Movie Collection, Volume 1, was released on November 3, 2009.[9] Universal Playback has released the first 5 seasons on DVD in Region 2.
| DVD Name | Ep# | Release dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| Season One | 23 | December 6, 2005 | August 29, 2005 | February 6, 2008 |
| Season Two | 22 | June 13, 2006 | August 21, 2006 | February 6, 2008 |
| Season Three | 22 | February 27, 2007 | May 7, 2007 | September 2, 2009 |
| Season Four | 22 | May 15, 2007 | July 30, 2007 | TBA |
| Season Five | 22 | January 15, 2008 | May 12, 2008 | TBA |
| Season Six | 11 | January 20, 2009 | TBA | TBA |
| Movies Collection, Volume 1 | 4 | November 3, 2009 | TBA | TBA |
| Movies Collection, Volume 2 | 4 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Season 1 – 4 Collection | 89 | TBA | October 22, 2007 | TBA |
| The Complete Series | 130 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
On July 30, 2009, it was revealed that NBC, Universal Media Studios and Steve Carell's Carousel Television, were teaming up to produce a revival of the show. David Shore, creator of House, has been tapped to head the series.[10] In February 2010, it was announced[11] that Dermot Mulroney would be playing Jim Rockford in the series. In January, a casting call [12] had been issued, listing series regular roles for Rocky, Angel, Dennis Becker, Beth Davenport and Lt. Doug Chapman. As of March 12, 2010, Alan Tudyk had been cast as Det. Dennis Becker.[13] On March 16, 2010, Melissa Sagemiller was cast as Beth Davenport,[14] and on March 19, Beau Bridges was cast as Rocky.[15]
On May 13, 2010, the Rockford Files remake was canceled by NBC, although it is possible that there may still be a redevelopment of the concept.[16]
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