I love the Rockford Files. Love the actor James Garner. Great casting, especially in the early episodes. Jill Clayburgh, Joseph Cotten, Suzanne Somers, Sharon Gless, James Cromwell...etc. The Hallmark channel is now replaying the show. Sadly they're butchering up the episodes by cutting out, my best guess, 6-8 minutes per episode. The already sketchy writing is rendered nonsensical. Shame on Hallmark. That said, the draw was always the great James Garner. And still is.

Just plain good TV... Rockford kept us entertained each week with his off kilter investigations and recurring characters... Loved watching this show as a 20 something in the 70's, my dad loved it too... Best shows were with Tom Selleck, Isaac Hayes and Lou Gosset, Jr., you just had to laugh....Always liked the interaction with Angel, and his dad, Rocky... Didn't care for the episodes with Rita Moreno and Beth Davenport too much, but they were still good...Bo Hopkins shows up in a couple episodes and he was real good too, played a disbarred lawyer with a heart of gold...

Other reviewers have detailed the many ways in which "The Rockford Files" was a stand-out but the most important one was the writing. The screenwriters under Juanita Bartlett wrote against stereotype and made all the characters individuals with recognizable foibles that resonate with the viewer. (One of the bad guys had asthma; one put a hit on Jim's client because the client embarrassed him; the girl who disguised her egoism with spiritual consciousness is unforgettable.)What happened to this team after Rockford ended? Why did the p.i. genre regress? Granted, series weren't as formulaic after Rockford as they were before but they were never as good either.

Although Jim Rockford may represent the quintessential private eye (poor, heavily in debt, prone to get in car chases), he was a breath of fresh air considering the TV detectives who came before him (Cannon, McCloud, Barnaby Jones) that sported a hell of an office. Bucking the trend of well-dressed, well-off detectives, "The Rockford Files" presented the gritty, not-so-glamorous life and times of Jim Rockford, a pardoned ex-San Quentin inmate living in a dilapidated trailer on the beach. James Garner is excellent as Rockford, making the character real and honest but also likable and charismatic. Supporting cast Noah Beery, Jr., Stuart Margolin, Joe Santos, and Gretchen Corbett are also great as Rockford's father Rocky, con artist Angel Martin, police station ally Dennis Becker, and on again-off again attorney girlfriend Beth Davenport, respectively.The guest stars also pack a punch, like Lindsay Wagner (in the pilot), Alex Rocco, Abe Vigoda, Lauren Bacall, the late Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick, future film director Dennis Dugan (as detective Richie Brockelman) and future "Magnum, P.I." stars Tom Selleck, Larry Manetti, and Roger E. Mosley (Selleck as the anti-Rockford, Lance White).The writing is realistic and not too dated by today's standards (although in one early episode, Jimmy asks a guy for a quarter to use a pay toilet!), and is as enjoyable as when it was first aired. Wholeheartedly recommended!