7 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘The Rockford Files’
The Rockford Files, which first premiered as a TV movie on March 27, 1974, is considered among the best detective series of all time … but it owed its existence to a Western. Indeed, it was the success of Western series Maverick (1957-1962) that led NBC to look to create a hit with a similar tone over a decade later. One way to ensure that this new show had a Maverick vibe? Recruit Maverick star James Garner to play Los Angeles private investigator Jim Rockford, a wrongfully accused convict-turned-private detective who lives in a mobile home in Malibu. Noah Beery Jr. played his father, retired trucker Joseph “Rocky” Rockford, a retired truck driver.
Created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell (and co-written and produced by The Sopranos creator David Chase), The Rockford Files ran for six seasons, from 1974 to 1980, and is still popular to this day — and remains an influence on quirky PI shows. In fact, we love the show so much that we’ve done some digging of our own and uncovered seven little-known facts about the show!
1 Jim Rockford existed long before The Rockford Files
Carl Furuta/TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection
The character of Jim Rockford had been brewing for a long time, even before plans for The Rockford Files were on the table. In fact, the iconic character was originally conceived as a guest star a short-lived 1973 ABC series called Toma (which shared many writers with Rockford, including co-creators Huggins and Cannell). That planned episode was scrapped, but the story was later re-tooled for the 90-minute Rockford Files TV movie.
2 Chase was on the case
As mentioned above, The Rockford Files co-writer and co-producer David Chase went on to create the ground-breaking crime series The Sopranos for HBO, but he never forgot his first love. Listen closely to the scene in a first-season episode of The Sopranos that shows residents of a retirement home watching TV, and you’ll immediately notice that The Rockford Files theme song is playing.
3 “… You’ve got 122 messages…”
One of the show’s most popular running gags was the messages left on Rockford’s answering machine at the start of each episode. Over the course of the series’ six seasons, an unbelievable 122 messages were recorded. While they were often random peeks into Rockford’s humorously sad life and rarely had anything to do with the episode itself, the writers struggled to come up with fresh ideas after a while, so they resorted to soliciting ideas from the production crew.
4 Even the theme song was a hit
While lacking the catchy lyrics that transformed other TV theme songs into timeless classics, The Rockford Files’ theme song (composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter) shot all the way up to the top 10 on the Billboard charts, winning a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement in the process. For forty years, it was even used as the”walk out song” for the Tranmere Rovers, a popular British soccer team. Take that, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song!
5 Garner and Universal Studios had a Maverick-style showdown
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
James Garner and Universal butted heads in the ’80s after The Rockford Files began airing in syndication. Garner claimed that Universal Studios deceived him by charging him a distribution fee instead of paying him the $25,000 in royalties per episode that he felt he was owed. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed, bringing Rockford back on the air for a series of eight made-for-TV movies that aired between 1994 and 1999 (albeit for CBS, not NBC).
6 Garner walked away for his own health
Everett Collection
Playing a private investigator for six seasons took a harsh physical toll on Garner. After years of doing his own stunts, he found himself suffering from chronic back pain and knee injuries caused by car chases, fistfights, and other intense action scenes. When his doctors advised him to take it easy, Garner made the decision to step away from the series, unable to continue working under the necessary production schedule due to the constant pain. NBC ultimately made the call to pull the plug mid-season, partly due to its high production costs, which were inflated by the show’s frequent A-list guest stars. This led to what many fans felt was an abrupt end to the series.
7 There was a spinoff … briefly
In 1978, a character named Richie Brockelman appeared on “The House on Willis Avenue,” an episode of The Rockford Files that served as a backdoor pilot for his own spinoff, Richie Brockelman, Private Eye. Sadly, the new series only lasted five episodes before getting canned, despite a very solid faux Beach Boys theme song that you can check out above.
Remind
1974 (50 Years Ago)
January 2024
In this time capsule issue of ReMIND Magazine we look back 50 years ago to 1974!
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