The Rockford Files

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Out of the first batch of 4 I think "The Family Hour" (with Burt Young and Kim Richards) is the strongest. "The Fourth Man" is pretty strong too so I agree with that one. But I think "Oracle" is rated too high. It's not on the same level as the other 2 I mentioned. Although Robert Webber is always good.

I think people rate steak “too high” and asparagus “too low.” There are MPI episodes others here rate “too high” (or “too low”) but it’s just a matter of everyone’s personal taste.

Speaking only for myself, “Oracle” rates that high partly because I enjoy the Garner-Webber interactions. I also have liked Webber in just about everything in which I’ve watched him (ever see Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia? Webber is hilarious and brutal in that).

Well, when I say something is rated too high of course it's just my opinion. Or when I say "I never understood why this episode is so loved..." again it's my opinion. It's rhetorical. Of course I understand people have different tastes. But according to MY tastes it "doesn't make sense" that it's so loved by so many. Just a form of expression. That's all.

I remember seeing Webber in 12 ANGRY MEN and THE DIRTY DOZEN. I've heard of ALFREDO GARCIA but never saw it.

Speaking of Joyce Van Patten, I was surprised to learn she was married to Dennis “Richie Brockelman” Dugan for 13 years!

Yep, I was very surprised too when I found out years ago. That's quite an age difference too!

My personal 10/10 for the season would be "The Trees, the Bees, and T.T. Flowers". My #1 ROCKFORD episode!

My Mrs. adores that episode! She loves Strother Martin’s character.

My favorite S3 episode is “Dirty Money, Black Light.”

Your missus has great taste! Strother Martin is a gem of an actor! Great in everything I've ever seen him in.

I liked "Electric Larry" in "Black Light". Great character! Rog E. Mosley! And John P. Ryan is always a great baddie.

[Little Garwood]

On a Rockford-related note, I recently watched Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours (1976).

I liked (most of it) so much that I immediately ran it again. The 80-minute running time covered the plot, Richie’s shtick, his family dynamic, and lots of location shooting all to fine effect.

Good supporting cast, too. Norman Fell, playing Richie’s dad, was never so…nice!

Coincidentally, the same day I watched this, Helen Page Camp (Mrs. Brockelman) showed up in the first episode of Maude, another favorite series of every Magnum Maniac. (God’ll get me for that).

The scene between RB and Mr. Davenport (Lloyd Bochner) was a bit of comedy gold. It also showed Richie’s character and how he can keep his calm most of the time when someone is ranting at him!

The use of Mike Post’s almost-classic song School’s Out was effective in the scene where Richie escapes the thugs. There were some Beach Boys-style music cues peppered throughout the movie.

I suppose it requires a charitable suspension of disbelief to accept Richie and Susanne Pleshette’s character heading off arm in arm to her hotel at movie’s end…but then it wouldn’t really be “school’s out”—I’m sure there’s an innuendo there somewhere. I also didn’t think the usually-great Sharon Gless was well cast as Brockelman’s fiancé, and Gless’ hair was practically a supporting character!

[Little Garwood]

I’m going back to season one in order to determine if what has historically been my least favorite season of TRF just needs another go around to improve its standing.

Looking at the all-powerful Nielsen ratings, TRF was #12 during the 1974-75 TV season. Another instance of this would be S5 of Mannix, which was that show’s highest-ranked season—#7 for the 1971-72 season—and that season happens to be my least favorite of Mannix.

I’ve never done a season ranking for either TRF or Mannix (and a lot of other shows, come to think of it), but after these latest revisitations I’m going to do attempt one.

Backlash of the Hunter awaits!

[Pahonu]

I’m going back to season one in order to determine if what has historically been my least favorite season of TRF just needs another go around to improve its standing.

Looking at the all-powerful Nielsen ratings, TRF was #12 during the 1974-75 TV season. Another instance of this would be S5 of Mannix, which was that show’s highest-ranked season—#7 for the 1971-72 season—and that season happens to be my least favorite of Mannix.

I’ve never done a season ranking for either TRF or Mannix (and a lot of other shows, come to think of it), but after these latest revisitations I’m going to do attempt one.

Backlash of the Hunter awaits!

Season one is probably my least favorite overall as well, though I have watched it through many times, and really enjoy several episodes from the second half. Don’t put too much emphasis on the ratings of season one versus the following years. As Ivan and I discussed previously, season two saw Rockford go up against Hawaii Five-O when the latter was programmed against it. Both series saw precipitous drops in their ratings as viewership was split. HFO was moved back out of the slot the following year but neither show fully recovered its audience.

[Little Garwood]

Season one is probably my least favorite overall as well, though I have watched it through many times, and really enjoy several episodes from the second half. Don’t put too much emphasis on the ratings of season one versus the following years. As Ivan and I discussed previously, season two saw Rockford go up against Hawaii Five-O when the latter was programmed against it. Both series saw precipitous drops in their ratings as viewership was split. HFO was moved back out of the slot the following year but neither show fully recovered its audience.

Ah, thanks for pointing that out re: HFO-TRF; I was unaware of the rescheduling. In looking at the 1976-77 season, Rockford was taking a proverbial beating in the ratings (#41 for the year)—as opposed to the physical ones he took on the show—by the ABC Friday Night Movie.

Had I been of age circa 1975-76, I would have had to relegate HFO, then in its eighth season, to Summer viewing status in favor of watching TRF (and I’m a big fan of HFO S8).

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Both of you are crazy! Season 1 as your least favorite season???

It's my favorite but that's not even the point. The point is you have season 6 above season 1 which doesn't compute. Highly illogical, captains. With the exception of "Nice Guys Finish Dead" that season is mostly a dog. Or should I say it's The Big Stinky Cheese. See what I did there?

[Pahonu]

Season one is probably my least favorite overall as well, though I have watched it through many times, and really enjoy several episodes from the second half. Don’t put too much emphasis on the ratings of season one versus the following years. As Ivan and I discussed previously, season two saw Rockford go up against Hawaii Five-O when the latter was programmed against it. Both series saw precipitous drops in their ratings as viewership was split. HFO was moved back out of the slot the following year but neither show fully recovered its audience.

Had I been of age circa 1975-76, I would have had to relegate HFO, then in its eighth season, to Summer viewing status in favor of watching TRF (and I’m a big fan of HFO S8).

I would have made the same choice.

Season two of Rockford, at least the first several episodes produced, did receive some criticism for having too many storylines where Jim was the dupe and couldn’t figure out what was happening all around him. The clever hero being outwitted or simply confused wasn’t so popular. Several similar episodes that were complete, were delayed in their airing, and spread out over the rest of the season. The remaining episodes steered well clear of that element.

[Little Garwood]

Both of you are crazy! Season 1 as your least favorite season???

It's my favorite but that's not even the point. The point is you have season 6 above season 1 which doesn't compute. Highly illogical, captains. With the exception of "Nice Guys Finish Dead" that season is mostly a dog. Or should I say it's The Big Stinky Cheese. See what I did there?

Call me crazy—oh, you already did—but season one has too many scenes and dialogue reminiscent of 1940s crime dramas for my taste. The scripts seem stronger when Rockford interacts with Rocky, Beth, Becker, and Angel, but the “hardboiled” dialogue with the villains is too stilted and self conscious.

The show is excellent, but still trying to find its way.

James Marlowe Garner is more appealing to me when he employs his trademark light touch tempered with just a dash of his patented smart assery, which I suppose is Noir toughness evolved into Watergate-era cynicism in that glorious (pop culture) year of 1974.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Both of you are crazy! Season 1 as your least favorite season???

It's my favorite but that's not even the point. The point is you have season 6 above season 1 which doesn't compute. Highly illogical, captains. With the exception of "Nice Guys Finish Dead" that season is mostly a dog. Or should I say it's The Big Stinky Cheese. See what I did there?

Call me crazy—oh, you already did—but season one has too many scenes and dialogue reminiscent of 1940s crime dramas for my taste. The scripts seem stronger when Rockford interacts with Rocky, Beth, Becker, and Angel, but the “hardboiled” dialogue with the villains is too stilted and self conscious.

The show is excellent, but still trying to find its way.

James Marlowe Garner is more appealing to me when he employs his trademark light touch tempered with just a dash of his patented smart assery, which I suppose is Noir toughness evolved into Watergate-era cynicism in that glorious (pop culture) year of 1974.

I think that's what I really like about season 1. It feels more hard-boiled, there are more mystery aspects, it feels more like a detective show. Some of the later season episodes become too "late 70s" for my tastes, from the crazy fashions to the emulation of what was popular at the time - be it disco or rock 'n roll or what have you. Episodes dealing with psychics, health gurus, feminists, chanting hippies, rock stars, etc. I guess you could call it "ripped from the headlines" but sometimes I felt they were trying too hard to stay trendy. Let's take the latest trend and throw Rockford into the mix, where we know he doesn't belong. It certainly could make for some excellent scenes and dialogue but at the same time it would make me miss the more classic detective tropes of the early seasons. I would miss the mystery elements of episodes like "The Dark and Bloody Ground" or "Exit Prentiss Carr", where you follow Rockford as he follows the clues and tries to put 2 and 2 together. I like the quieter moments of those episodes. There's an atmosphere of mystery there that I like, as we sit in the car with Jimbo and just observe what he observes. Then we see someone exit the house, then we follow them for a few minutes, then the next clue pops up. We see Jimbo quietly rummaging through someone's house looking for clues. I really like all that sort of stuff. In the later seasons Jim would get stuck with some type of sidekick or someone else just tagging along. The focus was more on banter and dialogue than the actual crime-solving. It's like writing witty dialogue (and as much of it as possible) became the most important thing.

And I already mentioned that I really like the long stretches of desert in the first season, which was mostly gone after that.

[Little Garwood]

I think that's what I really like about season 1. It feels more hard-boiled, there are more mystery aspects, it feels more like a detective show. Some of the later season episodes become too "late 70s" for my tastes, from the crazy fashions to the emulation of what was popular at the time - be it disco or rock 'n roll or what have you. Episodes dealing with psychics, health gurus, feminists, chanting hippies, rock stars, etc. I guess you could call it "ripped from the headlines" but sometimes I felt they were trying too hard to stay trendy. Let's take the latest trend and throw Rockford into the mix, where we know he doesn't belong. It certainly could make for some excellent scenes and dialogue but at the same time it would make me miss the more classic detective tropes of the early seasons.

I see your point about appreciating the detective skulking through the night, as Rockford often does in S1, but the ‘70s was the “Me Decade”, an indulgent era which deserved serious lampooning, so Rockford taking on those things you mention is what I like so much about those later seasons.

I’ve also long held the view that private investigators (and rogue cops like Harry Callahan) are outsiders no matter the era and exist on the fringes of society, serving not only as problem solvers but also as wry and cynical observers of the world’s madness. Private eyes are as far removed from the everyday world as a character can be. They’re transitory figures in every respect: Their home lives are usually nonexistent; their relationships are limited to brief interactions with vile snitches and catty civil servants who provide them with leads. Outsiders like Rockford, to quote Tony Vincenzo in Kolchak: The Night Stalker, “don’t have a rapport with society.” They move freely within society while never truly belonging to any aspect of it (look how Rockford gets along with most of his fellow private eyes).

I would miss the mystery elements of episodes like "The Dark and Bloody Ground" or "Exit Prentiss Carr", where you follow Rockford as he follows the clues and tries to put 2 and 2 together. I like the quieter moments of those episodes. There's an atmosphere of mystery there that I like, as we sit in the car with Jimbo and just observe what he observes. Then we see someone exit the house, then we follow them for a few minutes, then the next clue pops up. We see Jimbo quietly rummaging through someone's house looking for clues. I really like all that sort of stuff. In the later seasons Jim would get stuck with some type of sidekick or someone else just tagging along. The focus was more on banter and dialogue than the actual crime-solving. It's like writing witty dialogue (and as much of it as possible) became the most important thing.

Plots can only hold my interest so many times and a surprise twist only works once. I prefer character interactions and a script with insightful dialogue which I might not always notice the first time I watch. A great script can inform the viewer as to what makes characters tick, and they can comment contemporaneously on the time in which the series was made, which it does by default anyway although not always in the way it intended!

[Pahonu]

James Marlowe Garner is more appealing to me when he employs his trademark light touch tempered with just a dash of his patented smart assery, which I suppose is Noir toughness evolved into Watergate-era cynicism in that glorious (pop culture) year of 1974.

Very well put. Smart assery!

[Pahonu]

Plots can only hold my interest so many times and a surprise twist only works once. I prefer character interactions and a script with insightful dialogue which I might not always notice the first time I watch. A great script can inform the viewer as to what makes characters tick, and they can comment contemporaneously on the time in which the series was made, which it does by default anyway although not always in the way it intended!

Also well put! It’s been said before that films are about stories and TV series are about characters. I don’t rewatch episodes of Rockford or Magnum or HFO for that matter, because I want to know the solution to the mystery. I already know the answer, though sometimes the complex plots of Rockford need longer to understand fully. It’s revisiting the interesting character interactions that hold the real joy for me.

I also love that the stories are “of the time”. I just rewatched The Maltese Falcon yesterday. I love it’s time and setting, but it wasn’t a period piece. It seems so now, but it was very much of its time when made. My favorite stories from the 70’s often revolve around the emergence of the new age cult groups in that post-hippie era. Many other series incorporated this element. Such stories would have been unheard of prior, and seem a bit contrived today, but were a real part of that era, especially in SoCal.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I think that's what I really like about season 1. It feels more hard-boiled, there are more mystery aspects, it feels more like a detective show. Some of the later season episodes become too "late 70s" for my tastes, from the crazy fashions to the emulation of what was popular at the time - be it disco or rock 'n roll or what have you. Episodes dealing with psychics, health gurus, feminists, chanting hippies, rock stars, etc. I guess you could call it "ripped from the headlines" but sometimes I felt they were trying too hard to stay trendy. Let's take the latest trend and throw Rockford into the mix, where we know he doesn't belong. It certainly could make for some excellent scenes and dialogue but at the same time it would make me miss the more classic detective tropes of the early seasons.

I see your point about appreciating the detective skulking through the night, as Rockford often does in S1, but the ‘70s was the “Me Decade”, an indulgent era which deserved serious lampooning, so Rockford taking on those things you mention is what I like so much about those later seasons.

I’ve also long held the view that private investigators (and rogue cops like Harry Callahan) are outsiders no matter the era and exist on the fringes of society, serving not only as problem solvers but also as wry and cynical observers of the world’s madness. Private eyes are as far removed from the everyday world as a character can be. They’re transitory figures in every respect: Their home lives are usually nonexistent; their relationships are limited to brief interactions with vile snitches and catty civil servants who provide them with leads. Outsiders like Rockford, to quote Tony Vincenzo in Kolchak: The Night Stalker, “don’t have a rapport with society.” They move freely within society while never truly belonging to any aspect of it (look how Rockford gets along with most of his fellow private eyes).

I would miss the mystery elements of episodes like "The Dark and Bloody Ground" or "Exit Prentiss Carr", where you follow Rockford as he follows the clues and tries to put 2 and 2 together. I like the quieter moments of those episodes. There's an atmosphere of mystery there that I like, as we sit in the car with Jimbo and just observe what he observes. Then we see someone exit the house, then we follow them for a few minutes, then the next clue pops up. We see Jimbo quietly rummaging through someone's house looking for clues. I really like all that sort of stuff. In the later seasons Jim would get stuck with some type of sidekick or someone else just tagging along. The focus was more on banter and dialogue than the actual crime-solving. It's like writing witty dialogue (and as much of it as possible) became the most important thing.

Plots can only hold my interest so many times and a surprise twist only works once. I prefer character interactions and a script with insightful dialogue which I might not always notice the first time I watch. A great script can inform the viewer as to what makes characters tick, and they can comment contemporaneously on the time in which the series was made, which it does by default anyway although not always in the way it intended!

I always thought the 80s was the "Me Decade", not so much the 70s. The 70s was the jaded decade. The selfish, self-absorbed yuppie of the 80s best exemplified the "Me Decade". Correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, I get what you're saying about characterizations. The reason these old shows bring us back is largely due to the characterizations, since we already know the story and the outcomes of the cases. Though often we forget about the details of the story/case so it's always nice to revisit. But yes it's because we love those characters and that's why we rewatch them. Of course for me it's more than that. It's about the mood, the cinematography, the music, and even the "how" details of solving the case that I like to rewatch. For instance the mood of the early seasons of Five-O is vastly different to the last 2 or 3 seasons. Watch the first season of Five-O (1968-1969) and then watch season 11 (1978-1979) and there's a world of difference there. Not just the fashions and McGarrett's sideburns and aging. The feel is different. The later seasons just don't speak to me in the same way. They're still solving cases, the characters I love are still there (well, minus Kono, Chin, and a few of the semi-regulars) but it's just not the same. There's something very fresh about that first season. From the way it's shot, the camera angles, the feeling of urgency, the crisp acting, the music, etc. Not season 11. When that commercial wave rolled in a season 1 episode you really perked up because it always followed some really dramatic moment. But in season 11 the wave would often come after some pretty banal moment. Yawn! Stark contrast right there. So it's not always just about characters. Same thing applies to TRF for me. Not saying that the level of acting declined in the later seasons or that the characterizations got worse. They didn't. Just the focus shifted a bit onto other things, less to my liking. That's why I prefer the first season. Well, actually the first 3 seasons.

[Pahonu]

Hey Ivan,
I’ve mentioned to you before that season 4 is my favorite, but season 3 and 5 are probably my next two. Season 2 would likely beat out season 6 so we’re not far off in some ways. Plus…

that’s almost a list I just put together!

H5O did change substantially in 12 years and I agree with your assessment. The same is really true of MPI. The first season or two seem very different than later seasons, particularly 7. Death and Taxes, Little Girl Who, Laura, Forty, and Limbo among others are so serious. The lighthearted elements from earlier seasons seemed to be lacking, and I tend to watch them less for that reason. MPI did find its footing pretty quickly after the pilot though. I think Rockford actually took a little longer to find it’s groove, but the end of season one was pretty much there.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

that’s almost a list I just put together!

There you go!!! That didn't hurt too much, did it?

H5O did change substantially in 12 years and I agree with your assessment. The same is really true of MPI. The first season or two seem very different than later seasons, particularly 7. Death and Taxes, Little Girl Who, Laura, Forty, and Limbo among others are so serious. The lighthearted elements from earlier seasons seemed to be lacking, and I tend to watch them less for that reason. MPI did find its footing pretty quickly after the pilot though. I think Rockford actually took a little longer to find it’s groove, but the end of season one was pretty much there.

I would say that HFO, TRF, and MPI found their groove right from the get-go! For me it's all right there at the very start. And some of my favorite episodes too! There are some shows (SIMON & SIMON comes to mind, BONANZA is another) that needed another season or two to find its groove. But not the above three.