Review: The Rockford Files, TV series

The Rockford Files was an American television drama series which originally ran on the NBC channel between September 13 1974 and January 10 1980.

Background

Overview
Created by Roy Huggins and Stephen Cannell, the show was produced by them in association with Universal Studios and James Garner's own company, Cherokee Productions. The TV shows always started strongly thanks to the Rockford Files theme music composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter.
The song was so popular it was released as a single and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained in the chart for 44 weeks.
It went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
Features
In the show, Rockford had served five years in California's San Quentin Prison due to a wrongful conviction but was officially pardoned.
He differed from other detective series at the time because he avoided fights and carrying firearms as much as possible.
The type of cases he undertook also marked him out as different, preferring to stay clear of high profile assignments and stick with missing persons or any other case that was officially described as closed by the police authorities. A telephone answering machine, a relatively new device at the time, could be heard at the beginning of each episode usually playing the excuses for non-payment from one of Rockford's clients. Other information
One hundred and twenty two episodes were made of the show plus an extra eight TV movies.
The series is still in circulation and all six series are available as the Rockford Files DVD collection.

Critical acclaim

Reviews and reception
The series proved extremely popular and it's not hard to see why.
Expertly written to a proven winning formula, drama mixed with humour, a talented lead actor and a strong group of supporting characters made the show compulsive viewing for millions of people. Rockford's use of lame disguises, unscrupulous morals and his questionable abilities at anything physical added to his appeal. The final season saw the introduction of another private eye called Lance White played by Tom Selleck.
He was the opposite to Rockford, fortunate, moralistic and attractive to women which lead to numerous comic discussions. Final word
Sadly, this final series was cut short by James Garner, reportedly because of long standing injuries and a boredom for the show, and the legions of fans were left frustratingly disappointed.