The Rockford Files: Why the Spin-Offs Failed
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2024
- Expertly played by James Garner, Jim Rockford is one of TV's greatest private investigators. The Rockford Files ran for six seasons and spun off TV movies. There were also THREE spin-off attempts, one which briefly went to series. What happened to the Rockford spin-offs? And which one was a first draft of The Sopranos? Find out on Behind the Backdoor Pilot: The Rockford Files.
Narrated by Kevin Maher
Written and Edited by Mike Schuster
Produced by Kevin Maher and Nick Nadel
Executive Producer: Tim Finn
Thumbnail by Colton Ogburn ( / coltonogburn )
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I bought the entire series on DVD last Christmas and spent several wonderful weekends binging the show and loving it so much!!!!
I had some VHS THEN got th DVDs. I will watch Rockford until I'm dead. James Garner is a GOD. His personal life outshines any of his roles!
I love the one where he puts a air horn under that guys car.
Still watch The Rockford Files all the time! This and Columbo are the two best detective shows ever made!
There should never be another attempt of Rockford. James Garner was Jim Rockford. Just like Tom Selleck was Tom Magnum.
If you know Hollywood🎞🎞 or tv 📺📺 companies they will try and remake anything that been a success
Movie tv series if it makes money 💰💰💰💰💰 from the start even early silent movies were all remade in sound
And so it goes on a on there s big money in repeating old as new
And there lies the problem, Hollywood desperate as ever. All originality long gone!@@patdoyle3686
And William Shatner was Captain Kirk
Lance White was the man.
James Garner was Maverick, his best role ever.
Very few shows of this era hold up as well as Rockford. So well acted, so well written.
Well said
I couldn't agree with you more, bro. Along with "Columbo," "The Rockford Files" was a significant cut above all the other "cookie-cutter" crime and detective dramas that were oversaturating the airwaves throughout the seventies.
As a child, Rockford Files was my favorite. It was the only detective show that I would sit down and watch from beginning to end.
My era was MANNIX, but I watched em all. Rockford, never missed an episode.
It was my dad's favorite show and I was nine years old when it started and I watched the entire run sitting next to him every Friday night, and also Wednesday night. I think it moved a couple of times through its run
You can't beat Rockford's quick sarcastic reactions to all the situations that he lands into.
But they can beat you when you add to them his laissez-faire attitude and smirk… and you’re only 16 🤣🤣
Any man who can work in a Swing Kids reference so effortlessly earns an instant subscription.
Rockfish! It was a show you could watch with your Dad. It helped knowing what a great guy James Garner was too.
You've summed it up beautifully with these two lines.
Gambi was the character that called Rockford, Rockfish.
I always watched Rockford with my dad. That is my memory too.
Twas Gandalf @@dand3975
@@dand3975 Gandy.
As someone who’s never watched a moment of Rockford this serves as a great primer for the series.
Enjoy!!
Think I’ll rewatch myself.
al I'm going to saying, listen to answer machine at the beginning, it not just part of the tittle reel?
Also: "Mannix"
"Cannon"
"Banacek"
Those dudes were also detective era smoothness.
“Lazy but still the smartest guy in the room and good at his job” also applies to Brett Maverick
I loved The Rockford Files. The whole family liked it, even my uncle who usually only watched old westerns.
Hey that Malibu trailer would be like worth 500k nowadays
Jim would have a second & a third mortgage, and Angel would have suckered Jimmy of 15%.
They really have those ?
You HAD to love ROCKFORD. I did. And I wasn't even a detective show fan back in the day.
I loved watching Rockfish!!! It was such a classic. The first episode was just as good as the last episode!! Forty-three years after it ended, it's still a great series.
My dad was a major fan of this show. He used to say, you can tell what time it was when Jim Rockford would get beat up by the bad guys.
The character Angel Martin, and the actor who played him, where the best weasel ever.
.
That first pilot would be a hit series today
Would be be set in 70s or modern day?
@@robshimer Definitely the 70s
@@sejejo7565it's so sad that Jim AND William Smith are gone now! Eastwood outlived them all...
Stephen j Cannell was A MASTER of Crime Television.
Absolutely stunning. Great editing. Thank you so much.
Thanks. Mike Schuster wrote and edited this one. His videos are always top-shelf with beautifully crafted jokes. And this one is a real labor of love.
Oh that theme song! 📺 Rockford was not playing the Playboy role; his character always respected women on the show. Too bad his knees gave out in the end...
James Garner could win emmys making lawn mowing videos , he was the show in every production he was involved in
Dude, I'm absolutely LOVING your videos! Your editing, delivery and sly sense of humor is nothing short of polished. Keep it up, Abe!
I've heard of this show but never seen it. I have to find it. I liked Simon and Simon so this seems up my ally.
You will love Rockford.
Rockford and Columbo were the Best TV Detectives EVER, from my point of view!
Would've loved a spinoff with Gabby & Gandy. 😔
Also, three cheers for "The Rockford Files" for never being bad. Plus, it's fun looking at how a middle age guy from the 50s & 60s was dealing with the various horrors of late 1970s American life. James Garner was a genial guide.
I don't think they were ready for 2 bald headed Brothers yet LOL !!!!!
Rockford was truly the spiritual successor to Maverick.
Garner said so in an interview.
... and Magnum was the spiritual successor to Rockford.
And all three (Thomas, TC and Rick) appeared in Rockford Files.@@androod6211
@@androod6211 In a sense Magnum was a spin off of Rockford. They pitched Tom Sellik in a few episopde trying to get a spin off but rewrote the character a lot.
@@thadtheman3751it’s Selleck
I always thought they were trying to spin off the Tom Selleck character
The fact that Louis Gossett/Isaac Hayes thing didn't get picked up isn't surprising. I know there was a Huggy Bear spin off that tested well, but didn't go anywhere either. I think after the Shaft tv movies weren't a hit, they just said "Well, black TV detectives/action heroes don't sell. We tried." Too bad there wasn't a Norman Lear on the dramatic tv side to really push for it. The only other lead black cop/detective thing was Tenafly which I don't think even lasted a season on that NBC mystery wheel. It seems the networks were only cool with a black principle character if they were a partner or part of an ensemble.
Rockford Files theme music makes me think its bedtime. I can still hear it playing in the living room as mum tucked me in. Which is odd as it would have only run for a few months a year.
One of the best channels on RUclips!
Thanks!
Absolutely! I couldn't agree with you more!
Fun Fact: Tom Selleck did a special two episode appearance on Rockford Files as a sharp younger Private Eye. That lead directly to the Magnum PI series. The one spin off that worked...
I think his name was Lance White. I really enjoyed those episodes.
The episode is white on white, and possible the best one of the series.
Magnum not a spin off.
Only in the sense the same actor played a P.I. the character was pretty different
This was terrific, really enjoyable. Only one minor quibble: you forgot to mention that the two characters (and the actors that played them Greg Antonacci and Gene Davis) from "Just a Coupla Guys" appeared first in an earlier RF episode, "The Jersey Bounce". In their first appearance, however, their characters Micky and Eugene are the villains. I've always thought "This Case Is Closed" is the weakest Rockford episode, partly because it was originally broadcast as a tv movie, and then was subsequently recut as two one hour episodes for syndication, with lots of car and landscape shots added to fill out the missing 30 minutes. Anyway, great job!
I had great fun watching that, Atomic Abe.
Didn’t get to see the show during its first run, but it was on reruns after I got done school every day. My dad and I watched every episode multiple times I think. Great memories and a really good show.
huge favorite of my parents, too.
You’re lucky to have memories like that! ❤️
Fantastic work. This is Network TV quality. A+
This was great, I didn't know about any of these. Always been a Rockford fan, thank you.
Excellent video.
You can really see how much Garner’s knees were hurting, especially toward the end. Almost every clip shows him limping or trying to avoid knee pain. He almost clutches his left knee in one scene. I’ve read (no source, sorry) that he used cannabis medicinally for his knee pain. Makes sense when you see him off-screen in his always-tinted glasses.
One of my all-time favourite actors.
As per a quote on IMDB, he said it eased his arthritis pain.
He also said it cleared his mind.
They often had other characters ask him what was wrong, and he would say he walked off a pier etc
Garner wrote about his cannabis use in his autobiography 'The Garner Files'. His use predated his knee pain.
@@blindriv3r Or tripped on a skateboard!
Angel & Gandy should've had a show, or just a Truck Turner series.
I agree. Angel should have had his own show
Angel and Izzy from Miami Vice, the funniest sidekicks since Pancho (Cisko Kid), Tonto (Lone Ranger) and Asta (Thin Man).
Dermot Mulroney as Jim Rockford, Alan Tudyk as Dennis Becker, Beau Bridges as Rocky, its hard to say if the new series would have lasted, probably not, you can't beat the original, James Garner will always be Jim Rockford.
Laughs in Tom Selleck. BTW, I'm such a fan of Rockford, I purchased a 1978 Firebird years ago and am restoring it as a tribute.
Wow! Post a video when it's done. Btw, don't make the mistake of painting it that awful and wrong colour that many do.
@@bobjohnson205 Right. The color they used was created for a Cadillac anyway.
@@kurtvanluven9351 I hope that's the colour that you're using.
@@bobjohnson205 Sierra Gold Is my information. Still available by GM code.
60s and 70s produced some of the best tv shows ever made.
I enthusiastically concur!
Making this took real dedication to your art.I salute you.
I started watching 70's detective shows recently. I knew Rockford Files as a kid. Still good. Starsky and Hutch is good very entertaining. Banacek also entertaining but ridiculous. Hawaii 5-0 is really good too. The best is McCloud. Great writing and acting. McCloud is a player. On all of the shows, the set is a main character. You could never really appreciate back in the 70's and antenna broadcast 19" TV. The production value of all of these shows is very high. Real sets, shot on film and lots of outdoor and location shots. If you notice most TV shows today are filmed on a soundstage. These show are outside!. The stories can be kind of outlandish but still better than today's show.
Baretta!
I remember there was a followup episode with the two Jersey guys where they moved in next to Rocky and framed Rockford for a murder trying to get in good with a mob boss. Rockford cracked "Abbot and Costello meet the Godfather!"
Just a coupla guys.
That was the first episode with the two. It was briefly mentioned in this video.
@@bobjohnson205 Gene Davis is an incredible actor though. His performance in the Charles Bronson vehicle 10 to Midnight is just amazing. The movie itself is sleazy as hell but Gene shines as the psychopathic killer based on Richard Speck.
I like the Rockfish name 😂😂😂
8:33 One of the best lines from Rockford is at the end of this episode..."Gabby and Gandy...sounds like a puppet show".
Rockford had so many good lines -- but that one is great. Excellent delivery by Garner.
Anytime I see or hear the name I now think immediately of Ben Folds Five. “Serial litterbug” I love it but he didn’t litter. It lands on the pile
Terrific content! Bravo!!
Rockford Files, Mannix and Cannon, and The Maltese Falcon convinced me for a time as a kid that I could make a living as a private "eye."
Rockford files was one of the best series ever made
I went back to Germany in 1989. " Detectiv Rockford" was in re runs on German TV.
Rita Moreno and Gretchen Corbett are the only two remaining actors from the show still alive. Garner died less than ten years ago at 86.
Very funny actor. Great show and very entertaining
James Whitmore Jr. aka Freddie Beamer is still around and could of been another one who had a spin off.
Tom Atkins is still alive.
See the very funny Moreno/Muppets skit.
Mty favorite Rockford line...In the 1977 episode of The Rockford Files, "Quickie Nirvana", Sky asks "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" . Later, Gordon Borchers slaps Sky for informing on him, and Jim says "That's the sound of one hand clapping".
ha! Great line. And I can totally hear James Garner's delivery.
That was one of several excellent Rockford Files shows intelligently dealing w/ideas in 1970s culture. And integrating them into the plot.
Im into my consciousness-Sky
Your never conscious!-Rockford
I remember seeing Just A Coupla Guys when it originally aired and as a kid I didn't know what backdoor pilots were. I was very confused by how we see Jim getting beaten up in an aiport and then almost don't see him anymore. It was very confusing.
The Rockford Files had excellent writers, directors and producers. Many supporting characters were also top caliberer actors. James Garner had much charisma with excellent acting skills. Most detective shows were too scripted and often somewhat predictable. The Rockford Files was probably one of the best network detective shows of the 1970's. The character development and scripts were certainly more realistic too. I watch old reruns of the Rockford Files but never watch new television shows.
i love a good d&d alignment drop in
So many arguments in my life could have been silenced with Stephen Cannell writing a sarcastic and witty return quip. The show was a success due to brilliant casting, Cannell's writing, and Garners' acting style. One very important aspect was the camera shooting. Filmed in a conversational style with multiple angles, and cuts. For each conversation there would be a mix of wide angle, close ups, over-the-solder back and forth. They must have used multiple cameras or multiple takes. It's a stubble element that adds a signature style to the show, and kept it interesting.
The Rockford Files was My favorite show a long time, but I never knew there were any spinoffs, so they must have been pretty insignificant!
You didn't mention the Rockford/Brockelmen 2hr episode Never Send A Boy King to Do A Man's Job. Just as good as House on Willis Avenue .
First time to the channel. This was great fun and a idea. Loved Rockford, I really thought Magnum PI was going to be one of them, though the characters are different I am sure the idea for the series and a show for Tom came from working with him here.
He was wounded in ww2 and suffered damage to his legs and could barely walk in later lifetime. He sued the studio because he was supposed to get
A percentage of profits, but was told there was no profit. Won in court and was paid a settlement.
Since James Garner was born in 1929, he would have been too young for WW2. He was however injured in the Korean conflict when he caught shrapnel in his butt from an American bomber taking out nearby Chinese fighters. After recovering from his injuries, he was reassigned to the military’s postal department.
R.I.P. Louis Gossett, Jr.
great show james garner was awesome. Isaac hayes was great.
Another super episode, Kevin!
Thanks, but this one was written by Mike Schuster, who also edited it. Nick Nadel produced it. Tim Finn is the Executive. I did the voice-over -- and suggested a line about why private eyes were so hot after Viet Nam and Watergate.
@@atomicabe well I salute them too. I love when I get a new Atomic Abe notification.
Why didnt they have more action showing clearly that it was him actually driving, never knew he did his own wheel work.
The guy at 13:20 was the heavy creator and Director of Adam Sandler films in the 90s in 2000s and still do some riding for him. But did you know he was the only survivor in The Howling?
I totally forgot Dennis Dugan co-starring in the werewolf thriller "The Howling"! Thanks for the reminder!
I remember Tom Selleck played Lance White...good memories.
I love what you do🏆😂👏🏾
You can’t reboot Rockford without James Garner. It’s like rebooting Sanford and Son without Redd Fox
Rockford followed the formula that most Cannell shows followed: For the first 2/3 of the show the lead is an idiot getting the spit kicked out of him, followed by the final 1/3 when he suddenly pulls it all together and is brilliantly successful. After this experience, David Chase said he would never do a network television series again!
Excellent video. Could you do a video on the failed ROCKFORD FILES reboots (the 2010 unaired pilot with Dermot Mulroney as Rockford) and the long-stalled feature that was to star Vince Vaughn as Rockford?
Spin-offs are so hard to pull off. I personally would prefer the series to extrend a few seasons with the newer popular characters. Kind of like how The Closer morphed into Major Crimes.
Good stuff! Can never redo Rockford, right time, right tech, no cell phones, no computer cars. A certain naivete no longer found.
If someone were to even attempt it again, it would have to be a 1970's period piece. It doesn't work as a modern show, and as everyone says, you can't do it without James Garner.
@@Flip-3206 They wanted to do it back in the day and fortunately it failed. I still believe the only way it would've worked is if Garner joined the new show as a Rocky type character helping out his own son in the pi business. But Jim doesn't have any kids! Well, he was obviously a smooth operator back then so you just write it that he actually did have a son that he didn't know about for a few decades. That also provides more fodder for plots as the two of them get to know one another.
Greg Antonacci, who played would-be Jersey wiseguy Eugene, actually appeared in nine episodes of “The Sopranos”.
He also co-starred on the short-lived disco sitcom "Makin' It," starring David Naughton ("An American Werewolf In London")!
I love watching The Rockford Files!
Dugan's character appeared in another 2 part story with Rockford.
That Brochelman actor was also shoe horned into a Columbo episode. The producers thought Columbo needed a sidekick. Wisely Peter Falk talked them into giving him a dog instead.
I liked Richie Brockelman, Private Eye
This show ruled. Days of good ole television.
this was great.
Unofficial back door spinoff, of course, was Tom Selleck's appearance as young P.I. Lance White in Season 5 Ep 4 (the episode directly after The Jersey Bounce). The character's not Magnum but let's face it, Magnum is Hawaiin Rockford, ultimately.
What should have been a spinoff character: Bo Hopkins as lawyer John Cooper, the replacement for Gretchen Corbett's Beth Davenport. "Coop" debuted in, yes, The Jersey Bounce, and for my money was a far more interesting character than the two goombas. Hopkings invested so much in "Coop" right from that first episode it's some kind of reverse miracle that they didn't spin him off into his own show.
Best crime drama ever created to this day!
Wow he actually drove the car , cant say that about any of the FAST CAST
Rockford is Maverick mixed with Marlowe.
btw Lou Gosset jr co-starred in the film The Skin Game, with Garner. Well worth a watch.
Its beyond sad that almost the entire cast AND the related industry people are gone!
Ever since I found your series on Backdoor pilots, I’ve been hoping you’d get around to this. I thought there was more than 3. Seemed like Tom Selleck was set up for a show. To me it seems like there was another buddy one with Clevon Little and Marv (?). Especially since this Marv’s return. The theme to Richie’s show was awful, made it seem like a sitcom. Great job, loved this so much. Plus, I’ve never knew about Switch.
Lance was a great character and it did always seem spinny- offy to me. Selleck had the gravity to make it work...
I've heard they changed the name of Selleck's character, moved the series to a new location, and tweaked the character a little. And it became a bigger hit than Rockford Files. But then I hear other things that say Magnum had nothing to do with Lance White.
@@toddnolastname4485 I read where it did but in more of a roundabout way. The studio was looking for something that Selleck could shine in and Lance showed he could do it.
first episode of Sopranos they are watching Rockford Files in the retirement village
Ritchy Brocleman, was a Rockford Files spinoff.
4:12 Thank you for getting this right! I just watched another video where they said the maneuver became called "The Jim Rockford Turn Around". I almost spit out my cereal. If I'd been eating any. Ti this day everyone I know and have ever talked to EVER has called it "A (Or The) Rockford". As in "Jim Rip the car over the south bound corner and then when you get to the store Hit the brakes Do ""A Rockford"" and come back here".
What a great show, although my knees ache just watching James Garner trying to move faster than a slow walk.
Such iconic cars too, the Esprit, Rocky's Sierra classic and Beth's Porsche 914.
The Rockford Files succeeded on the charm of the actors, particularly Garner, but also the supporting cast, Rocky, Dennis, Beth and Angel. Gretchen Corbett was let go after 4 seasons and Stuart Margolin left after 5 and it's not surprising that the last 2 seasons were inferior to the first 4. It was that ensemble cast that made it so good and really hard to follow.
The idea of Dennis Dugan as the lead actor in any sort of TV or film enterprise still gives me a laugh. A less appealing performer rarely has stepped in front of a camera.
I was thinking the same. Networks try to bring in new and younger actors thinking it might help widen the audience. Who knows.
As we all know, Dugan ultimately found a second career behind the scenes cranking out big screen Adam Sandler comedies. Aside from his memorable role as ill-fated urban crimefighter Captain Freedom on "Hill Street Blues," Dugan's recurring role as earnest, blue-jeaned, college-educated gumshoe Richie Brockelman remains his best known on-camera role.
Magnum PI was fantastically successful Rockford files spin-off!
Noah Beery Jr. was my favorite TV daddy.
The shades at 4:09 are awesome.
Rockford Files Fun Fact: James Garners dislike of the redesigned Firebird for 1979 resulted in Universal Studios never replacing the 1978 Esprit. The gold color of the Pontiac Firebird was a special shade ordered by Universal at the beginning of production in 1974 and not the Aztec Gold, that was only offered on the Firebird Trans Am for model years 1978 and 1979.
How do I know this? My uncle worked at the GM F-body plant in Van Nuys, CA. during the 1970s and ‘80s as the liaison for the Hollywood studios that needed GM vehicles.
I really would have loved to have seen Gabby and Gandy. I love me a good Blaxplotation crime solving story. At least a TV movie.
Prior to directing several of Adam Sandler's big-screen comedies (most notably "Happy Gilmore"), Dennis Dugan also played the ill-fated urban crimefighter Captain Freedom on "Hill Street Blues," reuniting him with his former "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye" castmate, the late Barbara Bosson (Bosson portrayed Fay Furillo, the whiny and long-suffering ex-wife of Hill Street's intense but calm precinct captain Frank Furillo [played by Daniel J. Travanti]).
Richie Brockelman:
There is not an actual fire here but there is an actual crime.
I used to watch this with my Dad as a kid.
My Nana loved Jim Rockford, and Matlock RIP.