- JUST BY ACCIDENT
Original Air Date: February 28, 1975
Synopsis. Demolition derby driver Billy Jo Hartman’s plans to retire from the field and move onto dirt racing are cut short when his car is pushed off a cliff by a man named Duane Bailey. Although the police classify the death as accidental, Billy Jo’s mother Louise (played by Neva Patterson) hires Rockford to investigate.Guest star Neva Patterson previously co-starred with James Garner and Stuart Margolin in Nichols.
“Just by Accident” was the last episode filmed for the first season. That, in turn, makes it the last episode of Rockford Files produced by Roy Huggins. We discuss the matter of Huggins’ departure from the series in our review of the second season.
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
James Garner Animal Rescue Fund
This date in MAVERICK TV History: Nita Talbot guest stars in “The Resurrection of Joe November,” airing Feb. 28, 1960
- THE RESURRECTION OF JOE NOVEMBER
Original Airdate: February 28, 1960
Synopsis. En route to New Orleans, Bret is offered $10,000 to transport the remains of a man named Joe November from New Orleans to Europe. What Maverick doesn’t realize is that the casket actually contains a fortune in stolen jewelry.
Guest stars in “The Resurrection of Joe November” include Nita Talbot, the Bourbon Street Beat star who appeared earlier this season in “Easy Mark.”
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition 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. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in MAVERICK TV History: “Maverick at Law” airs on Feb. 26, 1961
- MAVERICK AT LAW
Original Airdate: February 26, 1961
Synopsis. Two outlaws enlist a mousy bank teller in their plans to rob the Bank of Ten Sleep, but the job is bungled when bank owner Cyrus Babcock catches the robbers in the act of looting his safe. The crooks get away, leaving the teller to stash the money in the first place he can find—inside Bart’s saddlebags.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition 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. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: Kathleen Nolan and Irene Yah-Ling star in “New Life, Old Dragons,” airing Feb. 25, 1977. 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
- NEW LIFE, OLD DRAGONS
Original Air Date: February 25, 1977
Synopsis. Irene Yah-Ling stars as Pham Vam Mai, a Vietnamese refugee who wants Rockford to find her brother Vinh. Mai believes that Vinh was abducted by a trio of former American soldiers. Mai speaks English fluently, but addresses Rockford in pidginese because she doesn’t want him to discover the real reason why she hired him—she has smuggled more than $500,000 in American government payroll money that Vinh and a Vietnamese colonel obtained through the black market during the Vietnam War. Besides rescuing Vinh from the abductors, Rockford must protect Mai from her American sponsor—a treacherous former Army CID agent who also has his sights on 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.
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: Jackie Cooper, Pernell Roberts, Howard Hesseman, and Simon Oakland star in “The House on Willis Avenue,” Dennis Dugan’s first appearance as Richie Brockelman, airing Feb. 24, 1978. 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 HOUSE ON WILLIS AVENUE (Two-hour episode)
Original Air Date: February 24, 1978
Synopsis. Rockford and greenhorn investigator Richie Brockelman probe the suspicious circumstances surrounding the accidental death of their mentor, veteran P.I. Joe Tooley, who died in the middle of a case involving a series of properties housing an extensive computer system. After questioning Tooley’s last client, political activist Albert Steever, Rockford and Richie determine that Tooley had run afoul of Garth McGregor, an electronics expert who plans to install a national computer network capable of providing access to personal information on more than 250 million Americans—for his own means. Rockford and Richie try to pull the plug on McGregor’s operation.“The House on Willis Avenue” was the second pilot for the Richie Brockelman, Private Eye series, which ran in Rockford’s time period for five weeks in the spring of 1978. Stephen J. Cannell had originally introduced Richie in The Missing 24 Hours, a 1976 TV-movie starring Dennis Dugan and Suzanne Pleshette.
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 MAVERICK TV history: “A Night at the Red Ox,” an episode of BRET MAVERICK, aired on Feb. 23, 1982
- A NIGHT AT THE RED OX
Original Airdate: February 23, 1982
Synopsis. Bret, Tom, and M.L. are held hostage by a woman who believes Tom murdered her husband twenty years before.
The third of three attempts to resurrect Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition 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. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in MAVERICK TV History: Julie Adams guest stars in “The Brasada Spur,” airing on Feb. 22, 1959
- THE BRASADA SPUR
Original Airdate: February 22, 1959
Synopsis. In King City, Bart wines and dines Belle Morgan, the powerful town boss, in order to get a seat in an exclusive poker game with millionaire railroad men. But when Belle catches onto Bart’s game, she retaliates viciously by impounding his winnings (more than $13,000) and sticking him with the operation of the Brasada Spur, a floundering railroad company in which Belle controls most of the stock.
Julie Adams (The Creature from the Black Lagoon) plays the queen of King City in “The Brasada Spur,” an episode that also features the following Pappyism: “The two greatest evils are hard liquor and hard work.”
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition 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. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: “The Four Pound Brick” airs on Feb. 21, 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 FOUR POUND BRICK
Original Air Date: February 21, 1975
Synopsis. Rocky’s friend Kate Banning always knew that her son David, a rookie police officer, took better care of his car than he did himself. She therefore becomes suspicious when Dave is killed in a matter the L.A.P.D. has officially classified as a traffic accident. Jim agrees to look into the matter, but soon uncovers evidence that could implicate Dave in a crooked narcotics operation. This episode originated from Leigh Brackett, the distinguished writer of science fiction and fantasy who was also active in the field of detective fiction. A novelist in the Chandler tradition, Brackett wrote the screenplay for The Big Sleep, the 1945 film classic (based on the 1939 Chandler novel that introduced Philip Marlowe) that is widely considered to be one of the finest movies of its kind ever made. A mentor of Ray Bradbury, Brackett also published many novels and short stories in the sci-fi genre.
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 MAVERICK TV History: “Iron Hand,” an episode that marked an early TV appearance of screen legend Robert Redford, airs on Feb. 21, 1960
- THE IRON HAND
Original Airdate: February 21, 1960
Synopsis. Needing money after Nobby Ned Wingate cleans them out at poker, Bart and some cowboys convince Connie Coleman to hire them to help on a cattle drive to Abilene. Maverick suspects that Connie’s foreman, a Cheyenne half-breed named Joe Vermillion, is more than he appears to be.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition 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. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in ROCKFORD FILES history: Lane Bradbury, Dabbs Greer, and Robert Mandan star in “Where’s Houston,” airing Feb. 20, 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
- WHERE’S HOUSTON?
Original Air Date: February 20, 1976
Synopsis. Rocky’s friend Peter Preli (played by Dabbs Greer) hires Rockford after he believes his granddaughter Houston (Lane Bradbury) has been kidnapped. Early in his investigation, Rockford is beaten badly by three men who warn him to drop the case. When Jim reports back to Preli, he finds the old man dead, and the front door broken. However, when the police investigate the scene, they find no signs of forced entry, so they arrest Rockford for Preli’s murder. Meanwhile, Houston returns unharmed—she’d been in Mexico on a geological expedition. Rockford soon realizes that the kidnapping hoax and Preli’s murder are connected to a real estate conglomerate that plans to build a multi-milliondollar entertainment complex on the old man’s property.
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.