Jipijapa

There are tons of old identifiers, promos and stuff on Youtube, but it would be cool to see them run with old shows. Alas, there are probably so many rights issues, it wouldn't be possible. My family got cable in 1975 - including HBO (which was only 3 years old at the time). The cable box was this gigantic brown plastic thing with buttons and a switch (to move to different channels using the same buttons). No remote, so you just passed the clunky box around (or, more often, fought over it with your siblings). I cannot remember what the dial on the right hand side was for, though. It's so weird because my mother wouldn't let me watch Police Woman but not too long after, my parents let my sister and I watch George Carlin on HBO. Whatever! (BTW, this old HBO guide nostalgia page really takes me back - http://www.theguidearchive.com/index.php?q=HBO%20Guide%20June%201985) The thing I was most fascinated with was the Reuters news channel, which foreshadowed the Internet I suppose, since it was just a page by page teletext of news and entertainment stories. I could have sat there and watched it cycle through the news all day.

I'm probably the last generation that remembers nightly TV sign-offs ... the national anthem accompanied by some moldy old stock footage of flapping flags and Washington D.C. landmarks, followed by (depending on what channel) a test pattern or just snow. When the Tom Snyder show was the last thing on the air until 5 a.m. (anyone remember "Christopher Closeup"? Never watched it because it was a religious show, but it was usually the first thing listed. As a kid, I used to assume it was about a children's character named Christopher who liked to look at things close up, since most early-morning shows were for kids.) As a kid, I was always very intrigued by the nightly signoff because I was almost never allowed to stay up that late. It's weird remembering how for me, TV ended at 9 p.m. because that was bedtime. (The Rockford Files, which ran at 9 pm, was an adult show, and Police Woman which ran at 10, was a MEGA adult show which I would never have been permitted to watch!) The thing about seeing actual recordings of actual TV broadcasts now? The relative LACK of commercials. Each commercial break was 3-5 commercials max, hourlong episodes were 50 minutes in length compared to today's 43, etc. Also, every show displayed the episode title... something which I thought wasn't done any more, but I recently watched an NCIS show for the first time and was bowled over by the fact that they still do it. BTW, BBC 2 has started showing retro station identifier spots when they show retro programming. I wish MeTV would do that, just immerse us in the whole retro TV experience (even if they can't show old commercials any more)

Dirty secret of Cheers is that Frasier, its spinoff, was actually the superior show.

Wow, 32 years ago. Just think of what a self-righteous old hag Diane is NOW...

The original "I'd Love to Change the World" used to get heavy airplay back in the 70s, I doubt it does now because some of the lyrics are embarrassingly homophobic...

Sigh... I know that Root can't remain a crazy-ass Machine-worshiping witch for her entire time on the show, and that she has to undergo some sort of development... but, I was really hoping for her to go full hog and meld with the Machine. We don't have enough female characters on TV who are "out there" enough to not need the company of other humans - male or female. I loved Root when her one and only fascination was with the Machine. Now she's getting all socially conscious and shit. Well, I understand it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I liked her better when she was a wild-eyed, obsessed spirit woman dabbling in the dark arts. If they just make her crypto-lusting after Shaw, I'll be kind of disappointed. Just because that's been done on so many other shows. Sorry, I'm bored to death with ho-yay, I've seen it so many times. (and yes, I'd be just as annoyed if she started lusting after a man) Not that I hate her now or anything, but I knew deep down they wouldn't dare have a female character who continued to not need people. I mean, the relationship between Root and the Machine was PURE, dammit.

I'm glad the opening was a fakeout, because it all felt stilted and weird. As soon as Henry made the comment about the plants, I knew.

Today's the 40th anniversary of The Rockford Files' series premiere, and, to formally wrap up my epic binge, I've written up a short list of 7 memorable episodes. Hard to pick just 7 (and I sort of went back and forth about the Season 5 selection, but in the end decided it was worth including for the Coop introduction) and these are by no means all my "very best", but well, I needed a "listicle" for my new blog (which is gonna be mostly about today-TV, actually). Shit, I feel like I want to watch the whole show all over again. I'll save that for another time!

Hey wait a second! How come nobody mentioned that there WAS a pilot with Tom Selleck and James Whitmore Jr.???

I too would have liked to have seen Henry addressed as something more than just "He Who Should Not Have Existed." If there is ever any sequel to Fringe, I want Henry back in existence somehow. Think of the delicious complications... Many missed opportunities, IMHO, had to do with Fringe constantly being on the bubble. The rhythm of each season became more and more rushed toward the end, because the writers had no real idea if they'd be back or not. (There's also evidence that Season 4 was originally conceived as something quite different; see the abruptly dropped "First People" business from Season 3.) However, on some level Peter must have been thinking about this because why did he name his daughter Henrietta? That didn't just magically happen. (The real fanwankery involves whether or not he told Olivia about Henry/Henrietta... because Olivia would have had her own reasons for naming a child Henry - ie, Henry the cabbie who helped her, and of course, also helped Bolivia deliver her child.)

PS: "Lions Tigers Monkeys and Dogs" - a good 2-parter, one that actually had a story worthy of a 2-parter. But what was the deal with the repeated shots of Jim taking antacids (and the conversation about that)? I kept thinking that was going to play into the story, but I guess it was just a bit of detail ("Jim's getting old")? I always wonder if the master plan at the end of Season 6 was to (gasp) kill off Jim. It's not as if there wasn't precedent for that (the way James Garner had his Nichols character killed off) and recently I read an old interview with Garner, of Season 6 vintage, where he was asked if he would ever consider doing that, and he did an evil grin and said "I might." Or was it simply yet another autobiographical detail woven into the scripts? After all, an ulcer is what ultimately got him off the show. Anyhow... I thought this was going to be a lame star vehicle for Bacall, but it actually was one of the better late-season outings, and Kendall was actually a great match for Jim because of her marginal lifestyle. And Jim might have been a success on the well-heeled impostor circuit (hell, he could play Jimmy Joe Meeker to his heart's content), except... Jim wouldn't do that, as a character. Despite being marginal himself, he's also too rooted and unpretentious. That's really a sign of good writing when you introduce a character who helps illuminate the main character's personality and motives more. (BTW, I knew about the Princess' guilt going into this episode, but was pleasantly surprised when her motivations turned out to make sense.) Also, Lauren Bacall in Jordache. I was starting to wonder when the designer jeans were going to show up, this was the late Seventies after all.

Yes, but technically Season 5 DIDN'T happen... see, that's the awesome thing about resets. (Yes there's the small matter of Walter not being there, but WE CAN GET HIM BACK!) As for Walter having to go... this actually perfectly kept to one of the very few principles on Fringe that stayed constant: the idea of "balance" and that Someone Always Has to Pay. It wasn't so much Walter punishment, but rather, it was a necessary adjustment. All through the series, there was the consistent concept that There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Take all the various ways of crossing over to the Other Side: several different methods, but all of them exacted a high cost. If you used Walter's door, it resulted in terrible fringe event damage. If you used Walternate's method, you either almost died, or you had to chop someone up (alt-Broyles). If you used the cortexiphan method, you had to drug innocent children. And in order to bring peace between the universes, Peter literally had to be erased (a point made in "Back to Where You've Never Been" where it was noted he could only be the go-between because he did not belong to either universe), with all the pain that caused. This concept remained very consistent throughout the series so I think it's fitting that there had to be another painful exchange - Walter this time. Season 5 won't go down in history as Fringe's finest hour obviously. I guess you had to be there: after two bruising seasons of constantly fighting to keep the show alive, this felt basically like a victory lap for everybody. Season 5's worst sin was that it was inconsequential and kind of half-baked (the Observers could read everybody, except when they couldn't, etc). Oh, and it was a reset. I mean, technically speaking, the characters (sans Walter) are all left where they were at the end of Season 4. And, BTW, I *do not* think the ending of Season 4 would have been a great ending. I mean, MEH... in a hospital room? What sort of ending is that? "Brave New World" Parts 1 and 2 were among the worst episodes in the series. The only good thing about them was that William Bell turned evil. (We could always bring Bell back for a big World War III science war vs. Walter. That would be fucking awesome.) This may still be taboo to say, I don't know, but... while I love Joel Wyman's script writing contributions to the show's greatest episodes, as a showrunner he didn't really know what he was doing. I give him props for bringing it in by himself and not completely fucking it up. And honestly, criticizing Joel is like kicking a puppy. It's not something I even want to do, especially since he was partly responsible for so much of what made the show great. But - all it took was a few episodes of Almost Human to make me realize that he just isn't sole showrunner material. Around Season 4 is when the show started to get a soft gooey center and I think that was all Wyman... I heard he was pretty much running the show himself creatively by then and that Jeff Pinkner was mostly running interference with the network. Let's talk about the "real" ending episode of the show... Season 4's "Worlds Apart"... which was so perfect and so earned. Because, here this show had embarked on this really risky and weird course where they were going to have alternate universes (in Season 3), and alternating episodes which made the network very nervous. And here we were watching them close the bridge and really feeling SAD about it. On that note, I do respect Fringe's Season 5 for going out on that limb. The execution may not have lived up to the audacity, but that was Fringe for you. The show never really played it safe. And keep in mind this was a horrifically low-rated broadcast network show, constantly near death, not some cable darling. And honestly... in the end, they really didn't burn any bridges. Nothing fundamental about the show was wrecked; you can easily imagine some sort of Season 6 where the alt-U comes into play again and where maybe Walter makes contact with his loved ones and... really, it could have gone on if only it hadn't been 99th in the ratings or whatever. All the mysteries were answered, but the characters and situation still remained interesting. Take that, LOST.

This weekend is gonna be the end. I will run out of episodes. :-( I want to end on a high note so I'm doing Season 6 first and then the remaining Season 1 episodes. "Paradise Cove" - Season 6 premiere. The One with Mariette Hartley. The Polaroid commercials were ongoing at the time, so this must have been an eagerly awaited episode. The writers gave her a good character to play and the storyline is surprisingly grim for ol Jimbo - he's going to lose his trailer and everything he owns! The renowned chemistry between Hartley and Garner is given a great little scene between them out on the beach. (Also, was I hearing things, or did Jim call Rocky "Daddy" when Rocky almost fell over with his broken leg?) This episode, though, got me noticing a trend that seems to continue all through Season 6: Jim's demeanor is just really cranky. He rarely seems to be having any fun. And knowing the backstory behind Season 6 and the sad way it ended, I'm tempted to think it's just Garner the actor being weary, but no. He's playing the scenes as written - scenes where he snaps at Rocky, scenes where he snaps at Angel even more than usual, (and at his friends, etc etc.) So, for some reason, the writers were making him this way, and I don't really understand why. This vibe culminates in the odd episode "The Big Cheese" which has a normal, convoluted Rockford-style story, yet there's a curious lack of energy and even a black cloud hanging over things. Or maybe it's just me, depressed that this series is coming to an end?

Working through Season 5 (out of order, of course). The number of episodes left to watch continues to dwindle (sniffle)... "A Fast Count" - This one failed to grab me - Jim's dealings with the boxing world. Boxing is a yawner for me in real life and in fiction. The female car saleslady was a unique character, although no one would ever have commercials that run that long. Not the best episode for me. "Local Man Eaten by Newspaper" - Coop is back to assist Jim in investigating a scandal rag. I thought this episode should have been better than it was. Again, didn't make much of an impression. "With the French Heel Back..." Another ex-girlfriend is dead! Jim investigates with Wilma Deering (aka late 70s it-girl Erin Gray, whatever happened to her?) Notable happenings in this episode include Jim getting buckshot in the ass, and Erin going on and on about "high fashion models." Not models, mind you, but high fashion models, and don't you forget it. Somewhat less dull than the previous two, perhaps because Dennis figured into it. I always like Dennis. "The Battle-Ax and the Exploding Cigar" At last, a winner for this binge session. FBI vs. FBI vs. CIA! Despite the weird and unnecessary Law and Order style supertitles for every scene (see below - could they have picked a worse font??) it was great to see the Chick of the Week actually being an older woman. And the end scene where Jim shows up to be there for her when she goes back to work? OMG, what a prince. I bet even Lance White doesn't do that. So, this wasn't a super great episode, but it was decently done.

"The House on Willis Avenue" aka "The Richie Brockelman Backdoor Pilot." ... I understand the Richie Brockelman character had been in an unsold pilot previously to this episode and they gave it another go on the Rockford Files. I actually really liked this character and loved seeing Jim have a partner who was actually competent, for a change. And, again, this is an episode I have heard fans complaining about, and now that I've watched it, I wonder if this show was better than some of its fans deserved? Because this was a pretty good two-parter. Dennis Dugan was a very likable screen presence and, having Wikipedia'd him, I'm glad to see he went on to a nice career in directing. This was another "socially relevant" episode that had a Point to Make about the legal system/these modern times... this time, surveillance. But, in a twist for the 1970s, it wasn't about government surveillance - it was about data falling into the hands of private concerns. RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES! Er, today's headlines, that is. How sad that 35 years later we still haven't gotten the message, and in fact, are contentedly living with these very same implications for our privacy and freedom. Jim, where are you when we need you?? (Well, at least we have Person of Interest nowadays to address these questions... and precious little else on TV...) One interesting thing about this episode was how very clear it was on just how many physical resources computer servers consume. Jim and Richie investigate innocuous looking homes that are really storing huge generators and A/C equipment to run the servers. This is an ongoing fact of life, yet nobody really cares about it today. Everyone fixates on the miniaturization of personal computing, yet in reality, the Internet lives in giant, energy-hogging server complexes that destroy the environment (another point this episode made when they went down to the canyon complex). Sigh, this show was really too good, and perhaps, unappreciated even by some of its own viewers...

Well I found Freddie Beamer annoying in his previous episode, but he is a brilliant addition to the "team" here. What I found so funny about the episode was the comic dynamic between the three guys. I think the funniest thing about it, is that Jim Rockford is a really nice guy, but Lance White is an even NICER guy, and Jim has to be in his shadow. And Jim always starts off trying to be cool with Lance, but gradually has to deal with his irritation, something James Garner is very amusing at. (I loved the whole scene in Lance's office - with the Respighi playing dramatically in the background - but when Jim finally can't take it any more and passive-aggressively knocks over his statuette onto the table - and then Lance says "That's all right. I understand" - and then idiotic Freddie gazes in awe at Lance... ROFL!!!) Since I'm pretty sure no other Season 6 episodes will top that one, I skipped back to Season 1 and discovered that "Exit Prentiss Carr" was also a pretty good episode. (When this marathon is all over, I will write up my top 20 episodes, since I've been skipping around like crazy for no good reason)

LOL! I just watched "Nice Guys Finish Dead" from Season 6, the one with Freddie Beamer and Lance White and the PI association dinner. HILARIOUS! I have rarely laughed so hard at a TV episode. Particularly the scene in Lance's office with the three of them. If they had had a show with just Garner, Selleck and Whitmore playing those characters every week, I would have watched the shit out of that. But I think it was probably only funny because it was a one-off and an inspired pairing of the two previously seen characters. And also because Jim acted like Jim, not just rolling his eyes the whole time. Second funniest bit was when Lance and Freddie were driving along, Lance finds Freddie's glasses, then they pass Jim's car on the road... Jim is looking for the statuette he threw away that he allegedly didn't care about. That was funny enough, but then Lance just finds his statuette too. How did Tom Selleck keep a straight face saying all his lines? Anyhow, I want to live in Lance White's world, where everything happens awesomely.

OMG!! Princess Ardala?!? No wonder I sort of recognized her. Buck Rogers was my SHOW!!! It was the highlight of my NBC-lovin' life! (yes, I can finally "come out" and admit that) Yes, she was quite bad in this episode with a scenery chewing rant scene at the end, after she'd shot Jim in the leg.

I've heard those stories about some married stars (including ones who you'd never think of, though it's sometimes hard to judge if the stories are true), but at the end of the day, who you are is the life you actually live. We aren't our passions... we are our choices. It's sad that people felt pressure from studios, but there are also a lot of closeted gay men in and outside of Hollywood who married, had kids, and had loving family lives, for all that. That's also who they were. In any case - the point isn't what choice you make, but whether you make it with excellence. I think when people wriggle free of the system they feel more comfortable about that stuff. Getting back to Rockford, I think the interesting thing about "Requiem for a Funny Box" and the gay mobster, was that the incident at the end of that episode was basically about homophobia, not gayness. I also am not sure it was meant to make any social point, except, evil homophobic mobsters are ruthless. I'd have to watch it again. Oh, and I discovered there was another Hector Elizondo episode (of course!) in Season 1, which wasn't the greatest episode ("Say Goodbye to Jennifer") but featured some nice acting from Garner and some truly awful acting from the Chick of the Week. And normally I can't say that about this show, because the guest casts ranged from terrific to meh, but she was just BAD.

Good point about the possibility of her being a contract player, which might have explained many of the other repeat faces over the years?

Busy now that summer is over and my viewing pace has slowed somewhat... finishing up Season 1, which seemed to improve markedly toward the end, as new shows often do. All of these episodes below, just "felt" like the writers and actors were beginning to settle on the tone for the show that they really wanted. "The Four Pound Brick" - Fantastic final bit with Jim throwing in the towel on getting his money from either Rocky or his client, and Dennis on hand to laugh in his face. "Just By Accident" - Another enjoyable episode (aka the Demolition Derby Insurance Scam Episode) but who is this Tom character (Jim's friend in the police station) and what has he done with Dennis?? "Roundabout" - Another round of "Hey! It's That Guy/Girl" as this episode probably features 3 or 4 of the "Rockford Files Players," of course playing the usual mix of damsels, hoods and Friends of Jimmy. I can't even keep them all straight any more. I always wonder who this Jesse Welles chick was and why she kept getting roles because she honestly wasn't that great of an actress. And we have Deputy Perkins again, playing a hardass this time. But, this is a great episode with fantastic location shooting (Vegas! Hoover Dam!), a very funny bit with Jim trying to work the code word "Geronimo" into a conversation multiple times, and maybe the longest foot chase in the series, culminating in utter exhaustion for pursued and pursued. (PS: For the unaware, "Deputy Perkins" = Mills Watson. Who played Perkins on Sherriff Lobo, which was an NBC show I *did* watch, along with virtually all of the rest of NBC's late 1970s lineup, *except* for the only show that was actually any good, e.g., The Rockford Files.)

I'm 75% of the way through my watch! In this installment... Season 1 "This Case Is Closed" - Great to see Joseph Cotten guest starring; he was a rather underrated actor IMHO, and I don't think he did much TV. And Sharon Gless too, although she had very little screen time. Netflix seems to be missing some scenes, which makes one of the car chases incomprehensible. I have to say I totally mis-guessed the outcome of this one - I thought the Joseph Cotten character was going to turn out to be a big gangster, and that Sharon Gless' fiance was an undercover fed and that's why he wanted them broken up. Oh well. "The Dexter Crisis" - (aka "The One with the Chick in Vegas") Not much of a case, although I would have liked to see more of Rockford as a gambler. The gist I got about The Rockford Files, coming in cold, was that everything after Season 3 was downhill. Certain episodes seemed to have bad reputations. Now that I've watched probably 75% of the episodes, I have to say: what are they talking about?? I've enjoyed a lot in Season 5 so far. Don't get me wrong - the show obviously CHANGED from what it was during the earlier seasons. There seemed to be an emphasis more on character moments than on well-written plotlines, the plots were more gimmicky, there was less action, and Beth went away, and so on. But, in its own way, it's just as enjoyable much of the time. The main weakness of the later seasons seems to be that the stories were lazily written and even a little boring (I think "A Good Clean Bust With Sequel Rights" aka the Hector Elizondo episode, just may get my vote for Worst Episode Ever). The show did tend to err on the side of the odd instead of the boring though. Jim's cases, such as they were, were taking him into strange and more contrived encounters with "characters" instead of characters. Many of the episodes seemed to be disjointed collections of scenes and ideas ("hey, let's put in this bit with Rocky and a fish head stew"). But I did like some of the "characters" anyway. Season 5, "Heartaches of a Fool" - Interesting choice of just having a Willie Nelson song playing over the whole opening sequence with Rocky being run off the road. And interesting choice to have the country music star turn out to be a really likable dude; and interesting choice to have an Asian-American actor playing... an Asian American character (not some stereotypical Chinese heavy). That's the thing I've enjoyed about this show: so many interesting choices were made for its time (the mid to late Seventies). I wish the resolution of the storyline in this had been as interesting (a bit silly with the shotguns), but oh well. Season 5, "Rosendahl and Gilda Stern Are Dead" - The funniest answering machine message ever in the entire series. ("Hello? Are you the guy who lost a wallet in the Park Theater? Well, I'm kinda into leather. So, I'll be returning the money, but I'm going to keep the wallet.") Rita Moreno is back and she's... overstayed her welcome. Also, was it in Rita Moreno's contract that Rocky had to comment on her slim figure and birdlike eating habits in every episode? Speaking of weight, James Garner's weight loss is commented on in the script; he looks great, but I kind of also want him to have a cookie or something. (And the plotline is about knee operations, which seems to be obviously inspired by Garner's knee surgeries!?) Season 5, "The Jersey Bounce." Another David Chase episode. The scene where Jim faces down a yard full of punks (and gets out without throwing a single punch) is positively badass. (A shame he couldn't have used the same trick on the Rattlers later in the season...) I like Coop a lot. A shame he couldn't have been made permanent. Season 5, "A Three-Day Affair with a Thirty-Day Escrow" - Obviously ripped from the headlines, this was the one about a Saudi woman being chased down by her family for having an affair. (In 1977, a real-life Saudi princess was executed along with her lover to uphold the royal family honor, so this was clearly inspired by that.) It shows you how much has changed in American society and politics, that the Islamic beliefs of the family are in no way an issue, it's presented as merely a cultural choice (and the head of the family is even allowed a few lines to explain why Arab culture developed that way - "All we had were camels and our women!") Season 5 - "A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights" - Oy, hated this one. The Hector Elizondo character must have resonated with some real-life character of the era, but the situation was so contrived, and the action and case so meh. Season 5 - "The Deuce" - Jim serves on a jury and causes it to deadlock when he just doesn't believe that Deputy Perkins (excuse me, Mills Watson) is guilty of DWI hit and run. There's also a lady lawyer who seems to be auditioning to be the new Beth, and she's wholly inadequate. Ehh, it was OK. Season 5 - "A Different Drummer" - Jim is hit by a drunk driver and winds up in hospital where he thinks he sees organs being harvested from live patients. The way the cops behaved in the beginning, arriving at the accident scene, cracked me up because they were sooooo indifferent ("Ehh, this guy's out cold. Call an ambulance" and then they both walk away from the car, leaving the victim inside). Also, Rocky is being a bitch about his wrecked truck, I thought that was out of character. Season 6 "No Fault Affair" - Yes, I skipped ahead because it was another Rita episode and I wanted to see if she got any less annoying. No, she did not, and in fact got more annoying. Also, WHAT was the deal with that scene where Jim patches her up? Did I miss an important episode? Because no wonder Rita started pursuing him if he was treating her like they were something more than friends. That was kind of a WTF scene if you ask me. Generally speaking, the big weakness of the later episodes is that Jim has somehow stopped being a private eye, and just gets mixed up with people. Like I said, this has its charms, but also makes for episodes where I cannot remember much about the plots. I have about 10 more Season 1's, 10 Season 5's, most of Season 6, and a random scattering of Season 4's left to watch.

I didn't care for Ponch - I loved Jon though. However, I don't think I could stand to watch CHiPS again.

Ah, but then there's the theory that different universes actually ARE different timelines, as Walter explained back at the end of season one, with his diagram about decisions forking off into different outcomes. Theoretically, the blueverse and redverse were once the same universe, until some sort of ur-decision was made that split them. (Gazillions of these timeline/universes thus exist, but we only get to see two) Under that theory, the "yellowverse" in Season 4 is really made up of a yellow-blueverse and a yellow-redverse that were born when September failed to save Peter from drowning. (Of course, that would mean that the blueverse from seasons 1-3 still exists... but without Peter! Oh gawd, that's too sad to contemplate) (I could continue speculating, but that might get into spoiler territory for Tara if she's reading.) I think I get your point anyway though. The changes between blueverse and yellow-blueverse are only subtle, perhaps because the split happened just 25 years ago. But, back to the mushy stuff. I, too, appreciated Season 4 - it is a kind of comedy of manners, or about people repressing their feelings because they are not "proper" to have. Peter's in the wrong timeline, but will he embrace this or keep trying to get back? (I also liked the whole thing with him and his not-mother Elizabeth, as they danced around their mother-son feelings that logically they weren't supposed to or allowed to have.) The whole crazy thing about Fringe, is that at this point, nobody is in the right place. The Peter that Walter kissed goodnight as a boy, is not the Peter that Walter obsessed over in Seasons 2-3, and now that Peter is dealing with a different Walter (Yellow Walter). That's the whole point of the show, IMHO. It's about living with life's sci-fi craziness and accepting the relationships you have. Except...

Moving on... Season 1, "The Kirkoff Case" - Young James Woods in a relatively small though key role. I was surprised to see Jim do something so stupid as allow himself to be slipped a mickey by some random woman he meets, yet I cheered when he was smart enough to shove his wallet under the rug before passing out. Also loved him getting pummeled when he tried the cigarette trick more than once. One problem these early episodes seem to have are the .... ENDLESS... sequences of going up to doors, getting into cars, driving around, and the like. (I kind of think you have to be smoking weed in order to properly appreciate the mellow.) Season 1, "The Dark and Bloody Ground" - Does this episode have the longest car chase in TV history? It just might, although I went back and timed it and it's "only" just over five minutes in length. Beth's first regular-episode appearance, and she's not very smartly dressed, tsk tsk. Season 5, "Guilt" - aka "Jim's Old Flame, No Not That One, The Other One Who Tried to Kill Herself" The less said, the better. It doesn't take long for me to figure out when episodes are not going to be very memorable... it's when the guest actors just are meh. And how many serious ex-girlfriends did this man have anyway? And this character was such a whiny bitch, and I couldn't believe the episode ends with the implication that she's still going to pop up in Jim's life. Whatever. So, because I'm jumping around anyway, I decided to watch "the Megan trilogy" (Season 5's "Black Mirror" Parts 1 and 2, and the 6th season followup, "Love is the Word," all written by David Chase). In which Jim finds his one true love, supposedly - though later in Season 5 he goes out with the mousy, soon-to-be-assaulted Gail Cooper. (Okay, I know there is no sense in trying to make sense of Jim's week-to-week love life, particularly his Bethless love life.) However, I liked Megan a lot. Now supposedly this show was supposed to end with series 5 (but NBC wanted it back one more season). If so, maybe that's why the last scene of "Black Mirror" has a sort of end-of-series vibe. I mean, Jim is just so gosh darned happy with Megan. He's even got his husband glasses on. It's so cute. Alas, it was not to be! "Love is the Word" is basically a series of breakup conversations with a very slight crime mystery thrown in. So Jim and Megan are sort of just bickering and agonizing the whole show; so what, it's pretty good dialogue - and their first scene in the car is downright painful, especially when Megan gets to the part about having kids. (Although, I'm not sure why this moment is the deal breaker - either Jim doesn't want kids, or Megan doesn't want kids with HIM? Poor Jim.) While the kissing scene in the motel room was deeply unnecessary (and awkward), I liked the episode for what it was - and James Garner was a damn good dramatic actor when scripts called for it. (He was never bad in anything, but I always felt he became a better actor the older he got.) And, while this maybe wasn't in the script, the unavoidable subtext is that Megan left him for a younger man with better prospects. And that's another thing I always liked about James Garner: he always played his age, especially after The Rockford Files was over. No more pretending he was a leading-man type when he wasn't any more (which is more than I can say for some actors, like Harrison Ford). And I think it was because he was always playing his own persona, that watching him get older over the years went down very easily. And it lent honesty to the characters he played (including Rockford), rather than being a distraction. That said... when I'm done watching the series, I don't think I'll watch the Rockford Files reunion movies right away -- I don't think I could bear to watch all these characters suddenly become much older in a flash.