- IN PURSUIT OF CAROL THORNE
Original Air Date: November 8, 1974
Synopsis. An elderly couple who claim to be the parents of Cliff Hoad hires Rockford to tail Carol Thorne, a recently paroled convict (played by Lynette Mettey) who is also Cliff’s former girlfriend. Rockford doesn’t realize that his client is a con artist named who, along with Cliff and two other men, robbed a Marine Corps payroll of $1.2 million three years earlier. Miles wants Carol to lead him to Cliff—and to where Cliff stashed the money.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details
Ed Robertson
Author ● Journalist ● Radio Host ● Collaborative Writer
Rockford Files CBS reunion movies
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Part 2 of “Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die” airs on Oct. 26, 1979. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WILL NEVER DIE (conclusion)
Original Air Date: October 26, 1979
Synopsis. Pop music superstar Tim Ritchie, already facing a palimony lawsuit by his former live-in girlfriend Diane Bjornstrom, hires Rockford to locate his record producer and longtime friend Bryan Charles, who disappeared after they had a major dispute seven days earlier. Jim learns that Charles supplied Evergreen Management, a rival record label run by mobster Bernie Seldon, with bootlegged copies of Ritchie’s latest LP Renegade Lotion—a move that has cost Ritchie’s company $1.4 million in profits. The matter turns to murder when Rockford finds Charles buried in the back yard of his own home.“Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die” marked the final appearance of “Jimmy Joe Meeker,” the smooth-talking alias that Rockford assumed on several occasions during the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Richard Kiley, Kathryn Harrold, and Bryan Cranston star in “Punishment and Crime,” the sixth of the eight CBS ROCKFORD FILES reunion movies, airing Sept. 18, 1996. LEARN MORE in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- PUNISHMENT AND CRIME
Original Air Date: September 18, 1996
TV Guide ad for Punishment and Crime Synopsis. Rockford’s renewed romance with old flame Megan Dougherty (Kathryn Harrold, reprising her role from the NBC series) takes a treacherous turn when he learns that her arrogant playboy cousin Patrick (played by a pre-Breaking Bad, pre-Malcolm in the Middle Bryan Cranston) is in over his head with deadly Russian mobsters.
Punishment and Crime received some of the best reviews of the eight CBS Rockford Files movies—and yet it had gathered dust for more than a year before the network finally aired it. Originally completed in May 1995, the film was held back for broadcast because CBS executives thought it was somber, slow, and too much of a character piece—
not exactly the kind of freewheeling fare that most viewers typically come to expect when they tune in to see Jim Rockford. Other guest stars include Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Kiley.LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: Rockford leads a field trip to a funeral in “Friends and Foul Play,” the fifth of the eight reunion movies that James Garner produced for CBS, airing Apr. 25, 1996. LEARN MORE in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- FRIENDS AND FOUL PLAY
Original Air Date: April 25, 1996
Synopsis. Rockford tries to help his friend Babs Honeywell, a waitress at the Sand Castle, prove that her son was killed by mobster Happy Cartello. When Babs herself is murdered, Jim goes through her diary, hoping to find clues that could link the two deaths. Rockford is on the verge of cracking the case when Chapman orders him banned from the investigation. But when Rockford learns that Chapman is teaching a course on criminology—and that the captain has incorporated the Honeywell case into the curriculum—he immediately enrolls in the class himself so that he can study the matter first hand.Friends and Foul Play features two actors who previously guest-starred on the original Rockford Files. Murray MacLeod appeared in the second-season episode “Where’s Houston?” while Marcia Strassman starred in the sixth-season two-parter “Only Rock ’n’ Roll Will Never Die.”
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: Rita Moreno and Hal Linden star in “If It Bleeds… It Leads,” the eighth and final Rockford reunion movie, airing Apr. 20, 1999. LEARN MORE in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- IF IT BLEEDS… IT LEADS
Original Air Date: April 20, 1999
Synopsis. Rita Capkovic (played by Rita Moreno) turns to Rockford one last time when her husband Ernie Lansdale (Hal Linden), a respected school teacher, is wrongfully suspected of being the West Side Rapist, the perpetrator of a series of brutal child molestations. When a police sketch of the rapist is leaked to the media, Ernie is immediately hounded by reporters because of his striking resemblance to the suspect depicted in the sketch. With Ernie’s reputation in tatters, Rockford’s only hope of restoring his friend’s good name is to find the real culprit. The Rockford Files ended its run on CBS with a surprisingly strong finish, earning the second-highest household rating (10.3) and share (16.0) among all network programs that aired on Apr. 20, 1999, the night it was originally broadcast. The movie drew 14,480,000 viewers, finishing a close second to the 14,540,000 viewers who tuned in to Dateline NBC. (Dateline that night devoted its entire hour to its coverage of the tragic shootings at Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado, which had occurred earlier that day.)If It Bleeds… also finished tied for fifteenth place in the overall Nielsens for the week. That marked the first time a Rockford reunion movie landed in the Top 20 since November 1994, when I Still Love L.A. placed fourth with a whopping 28 share.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: Barbara Carrera stars in “Godfather Knows Best,” the fourth of the eight ROCKFORD FILES reunion movies produced for CBS, airing Feb. 18, 1996. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- GODFATHER KNOWS BEST
Original Air Date: February 18, 1996
Synopsis. Rockford’s godson Scotty Becker, the thirty-year-old son of Dennis and Peggy Becker, is a wayward soul who somehow finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of fashion designer Elizabetta Fama.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: Joseph Campanella and Frank Campanella star in “In Hazard,” airing Feb. 6, 1976. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- IN HAZARD
Original Air Date: February 6, 1976
Synopsis. Joseph Campanella stars as Arnold Bailey, a stockbroker accused of tax fraud. After taking on Bailey as a client, Beth finds herself arrested on contempt-of-court charges, learns that her office has been burglarized, then nearly dies after drinking cyanide-laced coffee. Rockford finds that the attempt on Beth’s life is tied to the partnership between Bailey and another of Beth’s clients in a scheme to skim money from the pension fund of a textile workers union controlled by syndicate leader Marty Jordan (played by Frank Campanella).LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Dyan Cannon stars in “If the Frame Fits…,” the third of the eight Rockford Files reunion movies produced for CBS, airing Jan. 14, 1996. LEARN MORE in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- IF THE FRAME FITS…
Original Air Date: January 14, 1996
Synopsis. Falsely accused of murdering a rival detective, Rockford fights to clear his name despite a staggering circumstantial case against him and increasing animosity from his two longtime nemeses on the Los Angeles Police Department, Commander Alex Diehl and Captain Douglas Chapman. But our hero finds help from friends old and new, including Dennis Becker, former attorney (now bestselling novelist) Beth Davenport, and IRS agent Jess Wilding. While If the Frame Fits… was the third of the new Rockford episodes to have aired on CBS, in many respects it was the first “true” reunion show. Besides James Garner, Stuart Margolin, Joe Santos, and Jack Garner, the show brought back the three remaining members of the original cast: Gretchen Corbett (as Beth Davenport), James Luisi (as Lieutenant Chapman), and Tom Atkins (as Lieutenant Diehl). The movie also acknowledges the passing of Noah Beery Jr. with the help of guest star Dyan Cannon (Heaven Can Wait, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) as Jess Wilding, an IRS agent who also knew Rocky.LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Shelley Fabares, Richard Schaal, and Sid Haig star in “Caledonia—It’s Worth a Fortune,” the episode that also marked Stuart Margolin’s debut as a director, airing Dec. 6, 1974. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- CALEDONIA—IT’S WORTH A FORTUNE!
Original Air Date: December 6, 1974
Synopsis. Gerald Hyland, convicted of embezzling more than four million dollars several years before, is brutally beaten by two prison inmates. Before slipping into a coma, Hyland leaves his wife Jolene (played by Shelley Fabares) a cryptic clue to where he had supposedly buried nearly $750,000 in rare stamps that Hyland had purchased with the stolen money shortly before his arrest. However, to recover the stamps, Jolene must team up with Jerry’s cellmate Leonard Blair (Richard Schaal)—with whom, unbeknownst to her husband, she once had an affair. Though the conniving Len has the map leading to the stash, the map is useless without Jolene’s directions. Because she knows Len will doublecross her at the first opportunity, Jolene hires Rockford to protect her interest.LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: “The Resurrection of Angie” airs on Dec. 5, 1975. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press
- THE RESURRECTION OF ANGIE
Original Air Date: December 5, 1975
Synopsis. Angie Perris receives a late-night phone call from her brother Tom, a stockbroker. Tom wants Angie to remove an envelope from his safe, but is abducted before he can give her the combination. Angie hires Rockford to find Tom.LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details