This is Jim Rockford...The Rockford Files
by Ed Robertson
The story behind The Rockford Files. . .

• Why The Rockford Files has remained popular for over 20 years -- despite the fact that (except for one season) the series was only marginally successful in the ratings
  
  
• The Rockford Files was initially panned by many TV critics during its first season, when it was a ratings smash -- yet the show went on to win five Emmy Awards during the years when its audience numbers were considerably lower
  
  
  

• The Rockford Files won five Emmy Awards, including Best Dramatic Actor (James Garner, 1977) and Best Dramatic Series (1978)
  
  
• Many of the characters and attitudes of The Rockford Files have their roots in the revolutionary 1950s Western series, Maverick -- not coincidentally, both of those shows were created and produced by Roy Huggins ( The Fugitive).
  
  
• The Rockford Files was one of the first TV shows to add a whimsical sense of humor to the TV detective genre
  
  
• The Rockford Files was the show that thrust Stephen J. Cannell (The A Team, Wiseguy, Hunter, The Commish) into the upper echelon of TV producers
  
  
• The Rockford Files also provided a launching pad for writer/producers Juanita Bartlett (In the Heat of the Night), David Chase (Northern Exposure), Charles Floyd Johnson (Magnum. P.I.), and Jo Swerling ( The Commish); as well as music composers Mike Post and Pete Carpenter (N.Y.P.D. Blue, L.A. Law)
  
  
• The Rockford Files returned triumphantly to prime time in November 1994; the first new Rockford movie ("I Still Love L.A.") was the highest-rated TV-movie of the entire 1994-95 season
  
  
• The Rockford Files survived despite a number of problems that plagued the series behind the scenes:
  
  
  • NBC was initially reluctant to finance the series pilot ( it had reservations about James Garner, and it didn't understand the show's sophisticated sense of humor);
    
    
  • A power play between Universal Studios and Garner's production company led to the loss of one of the show's most popular characters
    
    
  • The abrupt end of Rockford in late 1979 (due to James Garner's illness), coming on the heels of news indicating that the show was $9 million in the red, precipitated a bitter legal battle that lasted ten years
    
    
• The Rockford Files features well-known guest stars--Joseph Cotten, Lauren Bacall, Tom Selleck, Jill Clayburgh, Sharon Gless, Lindsay Wagner, Isaac Hayes, Ned Beatty, James Woods...
  
  
• "This is Jim Rockford..." features: Exclusive behind-the-scenes photos All the wacky phone messages that began each episode ("Hey, Jim, I really appreciate the help on my income tax. Do you want to help on the audit now?")
  
  
• Interviews with many key makers of the show, including series star James Garner