Jipijapa

I've decided to bounce back and forth between Seasons 1 and 5. It's interesting because the show's best years (Seasons 2-4) were both before it, and behind it... Season 5, "White on White and Nearly Perfect," the celebrated Lance White episode. Tom Selleck is wonderful and you can see why he soon got his own series. And, you actually DO like Lance, even if he's a bit of a cartoon ( "it's just a flesh wound"). And he towers over James Garner, which is disconcerting, since Garner was what, 6'3"? It would have been easy to write this so that Jim proved to be smarter and better than Lance in the end, but no, he's just the pooch here, while Lance sails in and takes over completely (even stealing the final freeze frame). Poor Jim: he learns that the problem isn't that the LAPD is difficult, it's just that they hate him personally. Nothing goes right for him. Liked this episode OK but the ADR was terrible. (Lance and Jim in a convertible while sounding like they're in a studio, which they were.) Something I enjoy about the show is watching James Garner's driving skills (hell, sometimes, even just his parallel parking skills). This is on display in "White on White" when he jumps into Lance White's sludgeboat of a vehicle and somehow manages to maneuver it out of a driveway like a high performance sports car. Season 1, "In Pursuit of Carol Thorne." A great opening sequence with Jim tracking the babe of the week (love the music), but this episode seemed to suffer from Season 1-itis, where the writers and actors don't really know the tone and characterization yet. Jim doesn't really seem to be like himself in this episode for some reason - and the case is not very interesting. Season 1, "Aura Lee, Farewell" - Am I the only person who thought Rocky was the random guy hit by the car in the beginning? Same clothes, same hat, same build. I was so distracted from the first 15 minutes because I was not understanding why Jim was not hearing anything about his dad being hit by a car! I had to go back and re-watch it. Then I thought, hey, it's The Rockford Files, maybe Noah Beery was just playing a different character. But no, it's not him. Otherwise, I found this episode kind of meh. Although I liked the trick Jim pulled where he didn't give the senator his name (after all, Jim is always giving someone a name, real or otherwise). But he also impersonates a cop in this episode, something he rarely did, and a big real-life no-no. (PS- Jim, Walter Bishop left a message on your machine, he wants his sweater back.) Season 1, "Counter Gambit" - very clever story. I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't seen this one. Season 4, "The Paper Palace" - first Rita Capkovic (Rita Moreno) episode, seemingly designed as a showcase for her acting. There's also a lot of Dennis in it, which is never a bad thing. An OK episode. The ending with Rockford being gifted a vintage automobile is kind of strange, though. (Do we see the car again?) Season 1, "Claire" - my winner of the binge session, and ironically, a precursor of the situation that starts off "The Paper Palace." (where police informant Rita complains about being used by Dennis). What could have been a rather stock situation (Jim's old flame who left him, coming back for help) was actually a sort of interesting exploration of the sort of iffy tactics used by both Jim and the police. The reason for Claire leaving Jim is actually pretty compelling and quite believable: she got into trouble and then was sucked into a kind of abusive relationship with the unseen, offscreen undercover detective, who played on her ignorance of the law. This early episode sort of belongs with the other, later episodes (like "So Help Me God") where the marginal existence of Jim and his friends brings them into conflict with the bad parts of good systems (cops, courts). Even though the scene where Jim sees Claire leaving on the bus is a tad contrived, the moment feels earned. (Also, I love episodes where Jim spends a lot of time roaming around in old LA at night.) Sadly... Netflix does not carry "The Gang at Don's Drive in" from Season 4, which I understand, was Beth's final appearance on the show.

Today's Rockford Report... ( I am just leaving these little reviews behind like diamonds/turds for the next unfortunate lonely Rockford newbie to discover, probably in a few years) (Strangely, Netflix does not carry the Season 4 episode "The Gang at Don's Drive-In." Anyone know why?) I'm doing pretty good at keeping on track in Season 4 and not jumping around. That said, I decided to skip "The Attractive Nuisance" for the time being and move on- I don't know why I'm doing this, maybe I'm trying to hold off the inevitable "running out of episodes moment," the dreaded bane of all bingewatchers. "A Deadly Maze" - Not a real interesting episode, but not bad; nice to see Larry Linville actually not playing either the heavy or the fool. Not sure if this was pre- or post-Frank Burns. "Dwarf in a Helium Hat" - I actually watched this out of order, some weeks ago. This is an odd one, with a party playboy, and while I usually can follow along with the cultural references of the decade, I don't get the concept of a "Paris at Dawn" party - was that some sort of "thing" back then, or just unique to this episode? Notable mainly for Rick Springfield's brief appearance -- in a stretch -- as a rock star. (That WAS Rick Springfield, right?) "The Competitive Edge" aka "Jim Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." This just struck me as a big excuse to recreate the scenario of that movie, since the plot is fairly ridiculous. However, James Garner definitely passes the "baby blue bathrobe" test. This is a well known acid test of manliness, inspired by Sean Connery's appearance in Goldfinger where he wore a short baby blue bathrobe and still looked sexy. (And speaking of Goldfinger -- ODDJOB!) Speaking of James Bond, I haven't watched "South by Southeast" yet but from the preview it looks very much like the writers were getting a wee bit bored with the same-old same-old and wanted Jim to have a Bondlike experience somewhere. (Indeed, if James Garner had been British, he could have played Bond, absolutely no question.) "The Prisoner of Rosemont Hall" - Not a super memorable episode, but not bad either (and, working a dull job at a university, I can relate to the chick of the week's problems, although sleeping with students is not one of my duties). Although, I cringed in the scene at the cemetery where the murder victim's mom is all, "Oh, he died so young! If only he'd gotten laid first" (well, not her exact words but...) "Don't worry, ma'am, actually I banged your son..." OY! When Season 4 is finished, I have a decision to make: Push ahead to Season 5, or circle back to Season 1, which I have largely not watched? Maybe I could just alternate.

Seth Gabel's Blue Lincoln (known by fans as Our!Lincoln) is one of the pleasures of Season 4. Also, it was amazing (to me) how the fans wholeheartedly embraced him as a regular, even when Peter was out of the picture. (Aw, I loved the Fringedom. Best fandom ever. They just unquestioningly loved nearly every fucking thing the writers threw at them; Bolivia perhaps being an exception, although she had her fans.) Of course, the premise of Season 4 itself was probably the most divisive in the fandom - and some viewers stopped watching because of it. My favorite Lincoln moment in Season 4 was when Walter had him drink some concoction, claiming he'd put something in to cover the bad taste, and Lincoln takes a swig and says "It didn't work" - just Seth Gabel's worried delivery of these hapless put-upon moments, was continually funny. I enjoyed his nebbishy Lincoln more than Red Lincoln. There's a particularly crazy episode later on in Season 4 (which I don't think Tara has gotten to yet, "Nothing as it Seems") where he really shines in that regard. Season 5 has to be looked at in context... it was a forced wrap-up season. To some extent, everything from mid Season 3 onward was about hurrying to finish that season's story, because the threat of cancellation was very real; thank Gawd that the Season 4 finale was not the series finale, because it would have been a weak ending. Given only 13 episodes to both "be Fringe" and to bring these characters some closure, on a tiny budget no less, I think they did fine. Oh, and everyone looks *fabulous* in Season 5, the music is fabulous, and there is one moment in Episode 509 which should never, ever be spoiled for a first-time viewer. :-) (And also, one of the most beautiful and imaginatively staged flashback sequences I've ever seen on any TV show.) In hindsight, I'm a little less forgiving about Joel Wyman's sole stewardship of the show during Season 5, after Jeff Pinkner departed. (I'd also heard talk that Wyman was really creatively doing most of the showrunning during Season 4 as well.) Wyman, IMHO, was a great episode writer responsible for much of what made Fringe great, but as a sole showrunner, he was a bit of a wet noodle... a suspicion confirmed by "Almost Human" (and no the problem was NOT the episodes being run out of order.)

Season 4 continues... "Hotel of Fear" - an amusing Jim/Angel episode, the one where Angel is in protective custody and winds up dragging Jim into it. "Forced Retirement" - thank God that Rockford's Jimmy Joe Meeker act didn't have to last the entire episode. Not that it was bad, but we've sort of seen this same Oklahoma-oilman persona a few times already. I continue to be impressed by Beth's fabulous wardrobe. In this episode, she leaves her law firm, and sadly that (unintentionally?) presages her soon leaving the show. However, this was the first episode I've seen where I just really found Angel to be tiresome, and Jim's continued friendship with him to be mystifying. (And involved in cockfighting? That's not a cutesy lowlife activity, that's really kind of reprehensible.) "The Queen of Peru" - a David Chase-penned episode that really should have been better. (Also, why are the opening credits mysteriously missing on Netflix? I had to go to IMDB to get the name of the guy playing the insurance agent, who is one of my all-time favorite "Hey, it's that guy" character actors - George Wyner.) A puzzling amount of screentime is spent on the RV family bickering amongst themselves, as well as the National Guard exploits, and there's also an incredible logic/believability leap at the end where Jim spots one of the jewel thieves in the wrecked car. (As for clothespotting, the pouty teenage girl was dressed *exactly* the way my sister used to dress, like whoa, right down to her Carmen Mirandas.)

I usually watch two episodes a night, and I'm working through Season 4 at the moment. Every once in a great while I hit an episode that wows me and makes the whole thing worthwhile, like "Quickie Nirvana," which I wound up watching all the way through at 2 a.m. I looked it up on IMDB this morning and found out it was one of two episodes from Season 4 that were nominated for a WGA award (David Chase being the writer). This is the one with Sky, the hippie dippie girl... and it wasn't what I expected. At all. I was expecting a lighthearted romp through California's hippie culture, but not expecting the really great and sympathetic (and understated) performance by Valerie Curtin (cousin of Jane, and also a screenwriter herself), who totally reminded me of my aunt who has had these hippie dippie seeker tendencies. And while I get the impression a lot of people view this episode as a righteous smackdown of dopey liberals (or dopey "believers"), I found the final scene to be sad and real. It's not liberalism or conservatism that's the problem; it's how -isms prey on vulnerable people, and how hard it is for even helpful, caring, smart people (like Jim) to save these people from themselves. (I think people who saw this as a righteous smackdown, were not paying attention to the B plot about the murderous music star and his old friend who was growing horrified at the murder trail, which was sort of an indictment of the materialism that Sky was genuinely against; values do matter.) Moreover, this is a story that grows perfectly out of Jim's character as a marginal laid back guy living on the beach. Sky is just another marginal character in his life, whom he accepts, until he finally gets frustrated and lays out the whole problem with her lifestyle. But, there's a price when you take someone's idols away from them if they aren't ready to face reality. I have actually known people who have veered from New Age to fundamental Christianity (my aunt kept tossing her Bibles in the trash and then later buying even more of them), so the ending hit me as rather real, not absurd. It's clear from the writing of the last scene that a healthy Christianity might have actually been a good thing for Sky (or any healthy dedication, like art school), but the problem is that she is now in a joyless Christian cult. Jim makes one last effort to reach out to her, but no good. It reminded me of the unexpectedly dark ending with Leeann the police groupie in a previous episode... except written and acted with more thoughtfulness. (An example of the little details in the episode... when Sky eats a hamburger while Jim is lecturing her... she removes the meat from the bun and starts eating only the meat; another sign of her all-or-nothing thinking, just changing gears but the same tendency. I suspect that wasn't even in the script, but something the actress decided to do in the scene.) This is a great example of something we've lost in television - where these comfortable frameworks of setting and formula were in place from week to week, so that the writers could occasionally transcend them without having to negate the formula. The framework exists so that stories can be told, and it's the job of the writer to find the story and seek truth in the situation. The requisite car chases, fist fights and funny money were all here, but so was a lot of heart and observation about human nature. (Compare to "Irving the Explainer" which was just an overheated overtalky story imposed on the characters, not coming from them.) These days, formula TV is very much out of style. We're left with a lot of mythology-based, saga-based crap where writers are only thinking about the next requisite beats to hit (usually in the form of violent twists), and truth is the casualty. A true pity... PS- you kids get off my lawn.

Random observations from Rockford's Malibu, as I dive into Season 4... -Tires. They squeal. Constantly and ALWAYS. They squeal on pavement. They squeal on gravel. On the dirt. On the beach. They squeal in midair, and probably under water too. They even squeal before anyone actually guns the gas pedal, sometimes. -Speaking of the beach, one thing I've learned, is that if you're being pursued by car, driving onto the beach is a surefire way to escape. Doesn't matter if you're driving the Firebird, Rocky's truck, or a pizza delivery bug. You will get away -- but the bad guys, who will always be driving town cars, will sink up to their axles within 5 seconds. -Remember when crime dramas would dig into heavy social issues only after a few seasons had passed? I've hit that spot. There's anti-feminism ("Trouble in Chapter 17"), rightwing paramilitary flakes ("The Battle of Canoga Park"), mental illness AND CIA dirty tricks ("The Dog and Pony Show") and homosexuality ("Requiem for a Funny Box"). And that's just the first part of Season 4! Lighten up, guys! (although, it was a hoot, and should have been funnier, to see Jim and Angel forced into court-ordered group therapy. I think Jim should be forced into therapy anyway over his friendship with Angel.) -I did see a couple stray Season 5 episodes, including the one with the biker gang beating the tar out of Jim and raping his girlfriend. That was pretty grim. It's the only Coop episode I've seen so far, and while it seems to me that many people resented that character for taking Beth's place, the actor who plays him is actually pretty good. In fact, if you overlook the frightfully cliched treatment of rape and 70s male-female relations blah blah (girlfriend spends the whole episode catatonic), I thought both he and James Garner were pretty good in the scene where they discuss what happened to her. This show was never much on the cutting edge of anything, but I can't imagine there were too many shows in the 70s where two macho male characters could have a tearful conversation about a woman. A few entertaining episodes (including the return of Gandy, who's grown on me) and a couple real clunkers, such as the inexplicable "Irving the Explainer." However, the scene where Angel sings like a bird to the Feds about Jim's involvement in some scheme ("Dirty Money, Black Light") is one of the funniest in the series. However, something I've noticed is that no matter how boring the plot or script on some of the lesser episodes, you never ever get the sense that James Garner is bored with what he's doing. I really need to read his biography, here's an excerpt that perfectly explains my impression that he completely respected writers - he liked words and was so comfortable with complex dialogue, which is part of what makes The Rockford Files' best episodes great. http://liveswelivedanhagen.blogspot.com/2014/08/james-garner-stardust-bowl.html Frankly it's that quality that made him stand out completely from his contemporaries (Newman, Eastwood, McQueen et al) who were basically charismatic posers, more or less. I mean, Clint Eastwood made an entire career out of squinting and grunting. How many movies with him in his later years did you actually want to sit through.

For my money, the best ever movie dance sequence is from Devdas (1992): Take that, Hollywood. (BTW, Madhuri Dixit was four months pregnant here.)

Continuing to open up the Files... I've just about finished both Seasons 2 and 3, and haven't really dug into the other seasons yet, so I have a long way to go. By luck of the draw I have been running into what strike me as some subpar/dull episodes - "Gearjammers," (the One Where Rocky is Targeted by Hit Men), which didn't even have enough story for one episode, let alone two -- and a few others that were thin on story and logic, often where Jim gets stuck in a one-horse town and Complications Ensue ("Pastoria Prime Pick" which I've already seen, was the best in this genre that I've seen). I also was puzzled by the Season 3 premiere ("The Fourth Man") where Jim rather comes off as a cad! So, he's dating an airline worker lady, who gets stalked/attacked, and it seems fairly steady, yet he steals a kiss from Beth (while girlfriend has just left the room) and then seems eager to have his girlfriend pay him for his services when she offers. Yeah, I know it's '70s TV and onscreen relationships were shallow, but, Jim I am disappointed in you. However, I discovered the utterly delightful "Chicken Little is a Little Chicken" from Season 2, which had no case but just Jim and Angel on a con together. I would happily show this episode to any newbie as an example of how awesome this show was when it hit the high notes. What fun! There was also Joan Van Ark appearance #3, "Resurrection in Black and White," where she played a journalist. Not a real interesting plot but Van Ark had a lot of chemistry with James Garner and I can see why they kept bringing her back; I kind of wish they'd brought her journalist character back again, though. The "Have your master call my master" answering machine message must have been hilarious back in 1975, though it's merely cute today. An unintentionally hilarious moment was when one of the big baddies whipped out his mobile phone -- a traditional handset installed in the front seat of his limo, complete with stock Universal telephone ring. LOL.

Yeah, that was my reaction as well, Lindsey. From the start of the show you could see Peter and Olivia with a big flashing "DESIGNATED COUPLE" sign over them, and I disliked that. Also, I never felt Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv had much on screen chemistry (and they certainly had no offscreen chemistry if rumors are to be believed). But by the end of the series, I genuinely appreciated them as a couple just because of all the shit the writers put them through. I mean, they basically strangled their love story (such as it was) in the cradle and took it through infidelity straight off, then of course there was all that other stuff that comes later on. Also: . And I also agree that Walter is a big part of it. The attraction is not the Peter-Olivia ship, it's the Peter-Walter-Olivia ship. I think John Noble once called it "incestuous" (in an emotional sense) in that they really were a fucked-up little family unit. Walter wanted Olivia as a daughter as much as he wanted Peter as a son. I found it entirely fitting that

I don't for a minute think that the writers "had everything all planned out" (and indeed there are telltale signs of sudden gear-changing at the end of Season 3, but they happen to be beneficial decisions IMHO). However, at the time the show was on, I was only mildly irked by the Peter-Bolivia affair and possible baby. (I'm not sure where Tara ended up in Season 3, so I am reluctant to say much more). Other fans hated it. But once events unfolded, I think most fans reacted with relief and a sense of ongoing interest. I, personally, HATE the dreary old formula of how couples get together, face obstacles, and then get on with it. It always winds up with a wedding (often delayed endlessly - see Castle) and then the heroine's pregnancy and a new baby blah de blah. Suffice it to say that Fringe subverts -- or at least ignores -- nearly all of these tropes. Whether it was the result of writer rejiggering, or just the writers wanting to avoid the same-old same-old, doesn't matter to me really. Where Peter and Olivia are at the start of Season 5, is interesting and grownup (and, of course, a little WEIRD), and it's a wonder they managed to get to that place after just four seasons.

It seems clunky now, but has a great payoff in the rest of Season 3 and in Season 4. And it never really is a triangle, as you'll probably soon see. I honestly found this development a bit tedious too, but it has the curious effect of making Peter and Olivia seem like an old married couple that you actually care about, much later on. They never do get "back to normal" which was a brave thing for the show to do IMHO. Suffice to say, Peter and Olivia do NOT follow the same tired old "love, marriage, baby carriage" formula that every other TV couple does. Oh, no. Oh, and PS... don't worry about the baby. :-) Heh heh.

Just checking in and had to share this from "Coulter City Wildcat" - JIM: "Caught us right in the act!" Now there is no way in hell that wasn't a joke! Jim very deliberately goes under this fence and sticks his ass out while he struggles to get it through it. Tweaking the censors, 1975-style... The binge continues. Jim's beltline is starting to look normal to me. I'm beginning have dreams at night about doing Rockford turns (really!) Episodes watched since last time include: "Sleight of Hand" (aka "The One Where Jim Really Actually Appeared Guilty of Murder") "2 into 5.56 Won't Go" (aka "The One With Jim's Old Army Commander") "The Reincarnation of Angie" "The No-Cut Contract (aka "The One With Meathead") "A Portrait of Elizabeth" (aka "The One With Beth's Murderous Boyfriend") "In Hazard" ("The One Where Beth Gets Poisoned") "The Italian Bird Fiasco" "The Oracle Wore a Cashmere Suit" "The Family Hour" "Drought at Indianhead River" "Coulter City Wildcat" not necessarily in that order. Most of them highly enjoyable, with a few clunkers, such as the weird and obviously contrived-to-fit "Sleight of Hand" which was adapted from some novel apparently? I seem to be hitting a rich lode of Season 2 Jim and Beth episodes now. I'm not sure whether to think of them as Friends with Benefits, or simply that Jim is Beth's non-gay gay boyfriend (where the emotional and moral support is concerned). The ending of "A Portrait of Elizabeth" is so sweet! Standout episodes in this bunch, for me, were "The No-Cut Contract" (best, if most incomprehensible line was Jim challenging the federal agent: "What makes you think I won't go all tapioca on you and throw you out the window?") and, surprisingly, "The Italian Bird Fiasco" just because I love seeing James Garner play a fish out of water at the art auction. The weakest episodes of the series, I find, are ones where the dialogue writing just isn't snappy enough, and all these great players are sort of standing around with nothing to do, slowly sinking into the customary ludicrousness of Jim's legal troubles. Fortunately, not many of these seem to be in Season 1 through 3. I keep forgetting to write this though: Joe Santos was the most underrated actor on the show. He could hold his own in any complex dialogue scene with James Garner (no mean feat) and I never for a minute don't believe that Dennis and Jim are really friends. He is as smart and beleaguered as Jim is, in his own way, and Jim wouldn't be friends with a cop who was dumber than him. Dennis Becker had to be one of the most intelligent straight-men on TV. I also keep finding myself wanting to write Jim's tricks down in a notebook for future reference should I find myself in a dangerous situation; surely, enough time has passed so that everyone's forgotten them and they might actually be effective. (I'm certainly going to steal his idea about writing passwords on masking tape and sticking them beneath desk drawers.) I feel like watching these episodes is making me a smarter person, at least in my fantasies...

BTW, here's a Rockford Files rewatch podcast by someone else, looks like they've just started? http://cineplexedrewatch.podbean.com/

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize it was that widespread... I re-watched two episodes I'd already seen: "The Girl in the Bay City Boys Club" and the season 2 opener, which has some long title about a guy named Aaron. This season 2 opener is supposedly the one where Garner blew out his knee during filming, which is why he's limping noticeably so much that they apparently had to write it into the episode. (Yes, I've been reading up on the history of this show) BUT, holy hell, I really hope the knee injury happened after they did the scene where Jim and his childhood friend are running down a steep hill and running through a creek with slippery giant boulders. My knees hurt just watching that. The other one was "The Episode with Blair Brown" aka NINA SHARP! for all you Fringies out there. (Or, I suppose, MOLLY DODD!) I also watched the first Isaac Hayes episode (the one without Louis Gossett Jr.). I had heard this was kind of a sexist episode but I guess people didn't like the line at the end where Jim told Gandy "Hey, she kept coming back" (abused wife situation). The tone at the end also slightly was that Gandy's dead wife was a vindictive bitch for hiding her kids and killing herself? Hm. A bit iffy, there. I did skip ahead to the 4th season premiere and it was one of the rare episodes I've seen which just had some lameness that couldn't be overlooked. I think it's called "Beemer's Last Case" and it has a terrific premise (Rockford comes back from vacation to find he's being impersonated by a private eye wannabe) but in the end, the situation as written was just too dumb to be believed, in that Beemer was totally round the bend (worse than Leeann really) and yet Rockford was treating him so civilly. I mean, no. I know Jim is a big softie but c'mon. It just strained credulity that this guy would have caused so much trouble for Jim and that he wasn't immediately charged with all his many impersonation-related crimes (never mind that he should have gotten a knuckle sandwich from Jim at least once). However, I liked Rockford's kitty. ("You been a good cat?") I'm trying to pace myself here but I keep watching at least 2 or 3 a day! Help?

It's been a Rockford kind of weekend...Burning through some Season 3 episodes - I'm still out of order and have to double back to the start of the season - There are a couple episodes in a row which deviate markedly from the RF formula, and while they're reasonably enjoyable, even though I complained a bit about the formula uptopic, I do enjoy the formula when it's done well ("The Becker Connection" comes to mind). And, I actually did like "So Help Me God" though it was a little preachy out of the blue. "There's One in Every Port" - (aka "The One That's Sort of Like The Sting") Joan van Ark again, playing a different character! (Was this common casting practice in the 70s?) I honestly had a bit of trouble following the plotline of this one. And while everyone wonders why Jim keeps being so nice to Angel -- who is not a jerk in this episode by any stretch -- I wonder why Jim didn't seem terribly concerned that Angel was stuck in someone's trunk, waiting to be whacked! Didn't really like this one as much as others due to lack of formula, but... DIETRICH!!! "Crack Back" - aka "The One Where Beth Gets Stalked" . First of all I do not understand the episode title at all. Second, speak of the devil again, this basically seems to be a Jim and Beth shippers episode! Nice coincidence that I happened upon it huh? That said, it isn't a particularly good episode and the mystery is kind of dumb. But that pale yellow suit Beth is wearing in court is fab. And this is the charm of old time TV: it's completely ambiguous what happened at the end with Jim and Beth. Did he just give her a ride home, or did he stay there, and for HOW LONG?? "Later, guys" - what does that mean??? Damn you, freeze frame! On today's TV, not only would we get an answer to this question, but we'd be watching it in NC-17 detail. (Of course since they were playing pattyfingers throughout the entire episode I'm inclined to read that it wasn't just a lift home.) And another two-parter "To Protect and Serve," which came right before "Crack Back," which seems to have been one of the better two-parters, by David Chase. Jim is trying to find and then protect and then romance Monica Quartermain while a truly annoying LAPD fangirl gets mixed up in the action. Favorite scenes include Jim groaning "Oh no, please no" when two goons prepare to use brass knuckles on him, and also I "liked" the two mob hitmen, one of whom has a bum knee, which makes me wonder if this was an in-joke about James Garner's bad knee. (At one point, the hitman is limping intentionally while chasing Jim, who is limping unintentionally.) The fangirl character, Leeann, was so incredibly odious that I actually cheered when the goons hit her. But also I was very surprised at the ending of the episode, which really didn't redeem her in any way. I kept expecting her to reach over and turn off her police scanner (signifying her seeing the error of her ways and getting back to real life or whatever), but instead it just ended with her doing nothing. Kind of a dark ending for her, no? (Does she come back later in the series?) I also wound up watching a Season 2 episode, "Pastoria Prime Pick" - a good one.

Just want to put in a plug for a show that's currently running on MeTV - The Rockford Files has a semi-active board of its own here on Previously.TV, if anyone wants to tawk. I'm doing a first-time watch! As for the article, no I wouldn't want to binge-watch I Love Lucy all weekend - the shows weren't made with that in mind. When I watch old TV shows, especially ones I haven't seen before, I do it with a general consciousness of what TV used to be like, and to what were current events at the time, which informs my reactions to the shows. Maybe the guy who wrote this is just way too young to remember the era of three networks. I love MeTV but I kind of wish its focus wasn't so broad; I'd love a channel just consisting of '70s television, for example. The 50's stuff I'm not so much into, but my mom loves it.

Around this time on the show-as-aired, it was widely thought among fans that Peter was not being given enough to do, which sort of had the side effect of making him seem a bit pissy (even though he really wasn't). I'm sure Tara will have and express some sort of opinion on Fauxlivia very very soon... :-) it's unavoidable.

And I'll join you in the shallow end! That said, it looks like a short one. (I, myself, am short-waisted and it's a real challenge sometimes to find pants that don't seem to go up to my boobs.) In any case, the correct fashion choice for Rockford would have been to lose the belt, at least. This morning's episode was "The Trouble With Warren" (Season 3). Jim has an APB out on him in this episode which requires that he ditch the Firebird and travel in a variety of cars, making this a good episode for carspotting. He drives a Pacer in one scene, a (pre-gas-tank scandal) Pinto in another, and finally winds up borrowing Beth's car: I'm surprised Beth has a Porsche, even though she's a lawyer, because it seems kind of luxe. He sort of looks like Thomas Magnum here. Anyhow, in any other PI show, this would have been Rockford's own car, and he would have lived in a much cooler trailer (or even a bungalow), and his gun would have been cooler and actually registered and not kept in a cookie jar. But, while Jim was always slumming it, I like that this aspect isn't overemphasized or overexaggerated (another sin of certain TV shows). Jim actually drives a cool-ish car (the Firebird), and he lives in a cool-ish place (Malibu), which he enjoys living in with all the available fishing and what not. Jim just wants to go home at the end of the day, and enjoy his trailer and beach. That's basically his driving motivation in every episode: "When do I get to go home and relax?" A man after my own soul. Oh, speak of the devil: Other observations: -I'm really annoyed that Netflix cuts off the opening theme when they skip to the next episode. -Jim gets into some really scrummy, awkward-looking tussles with bad guys. I have to guess that the actors choreographed their own fight scenes often, at least the totally undignified, eyeball-gouging wrestling matches. I also suspect that these rolling brawls were meant to be highlights, like the car chases, since they often get rather "creative."

Week 1 of my Rockford Files thang is now in the books. I think it's time to talk about the elephant in the room: the unavoidable fact that Jim Rockford, as attractive as he was, wore his waistlines way... too... high. (I think the problem was that James Garner was short-waisted, but you don't deal with that by wearing wide belts with big buckles - in the Seventies, or any other era.) I'm also getting into the episodes (somewhere in Season 3) where high-profile guest stars (the aforementioned Ned Beatty and Michael Lerner) show up in new episodes playing completely different characters. Confusing, much??? Other random observations: -I'm shipping Jim and Beth really hard. Yes, I am shipping a fiftysomething guy with a twentysomething girl on a show that's fortysomething years old. (Sadly, I know she leaves the show later on.) -I just noticed that Jim's trailer has two doors, which makes me wonder how the hell he manages to get trapped in there and beaten up so often... can't he just escape from the other door? -I believe he also gets arrested (or threatened with arrest) literally every week. This is probably the most ludicrous detail on a show that's held up pretty well for several decades, that the LAPD has nothing better to do than to assume that James Rockford, P.I. is singlehandedly responsible for all crime in the city. -I now want to learn how to do a Rockford turn. That would be a seriously cool skill to know. I'm not sure if I'll continue this binge for the entire show, as I hear the show declined after Season 4. But I'll finish Season 3 then go backwards and finish the S1 and S2 episodes I haven't seen yet. It's kind of refreshing to NOT to be watching a serialized show...

I'm sort of skipping around now between Season 2 and Season 3... trying to get a binge groove happening. I think that Top 10 list is a load of hooey; plenty of stuff I'm seeing in Season 3 is better than a lot of the stuff on the list, which is mostly in Seasons 1 and 2. I continue to love seeing familiar faces right before they were considered stars (or given their own shows), such as Paul Michael Glaser, who played a very charismatic villain in an otherwise forgettable episode: Two years later, he would have hippie hair and be the Not-David-Soul half of Starsky and Hutch. (That's a shame, since he was a way better actor than David Soul.) The truth is, in Season 3 (as with many shows) the episodes started getting better and less formulaic. The two-parter with Strother Martin (something about bees) was tedious, but "The Becker Connection" is rather enjoyable, including a standup comedy routine by Angel before Angel got really annoying. I also admit to feeling really nostalgic for 70s California, which is probably why I am rewatching this along with nostalgia for James Garner. I spent a bit of time in Southern California as a kid during this time, and The Rockford Files' mundane, ordinary LA is the one I remember (not the beach-and-babes and Hollywood Walk of Fame stuff).

So did anyone read the New York Times essay dissing MeTV and nostalgia TV in general? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/arts/television/a-case-of-retro-tv-overload.html Damn snotty kid probably didn't bargain on the 400+ outraged comments calling him a damn snotty kid...

Another episode that was recommended, "Profit and Loss," a two-parter from Season 1. Despite the article's writeup, there's an awful lot of filler in this two-parter (decide to stake out bad guy, arrange for car to stake out bad guy, show every step of staking out the bad guy, follow the bad guy, bad guy loses Jim, Jim goes back and decides to stake out ANOTHER bad guy, all steps repeat!) And this sort of this is fairly common on the show anyway, so this is one aspect of 70's television that probably doesn't prompt many people to want to relive shows like this - the very slow pacing, made even slower on a two-part episode. However, if I didn't watch this episode, I would have missed this hair: Well, it's very easy to make fun of that hair seen out of context, but, important distinction: this is Asshole Hair. Today we like to make fun of Seventies hair and fashion, but on The Rockford Files, this wasn't just ordinary hair - it actually signified the character was an officious jerk, which was a level of self-awareness of current fashion that not too many shows have today. Actually the Seventies hair and fashions on Rockford Files are very good for the good guys. You have good actors playing good guys, looking very good in good Seventies stuff. (Unless they're jerks like the above) I honestly find most TV (of any era) to be insufferable if the guest actors are indifferent. This just hasn't been the case with the episodes I've watched, even if the plots tend to be repetitive. "Profit and Loss," in particular, is chock full of guest actors doing great work, from Ned Beatty to Michael Lerner (who I confused with David Paymer) and even some guys who I never heard of but should have been more famous. Intentionally funny stuff: Jim's little smirks whenever he pulls off a particularly nervy impersonation. Unintentionally funny stuff: Running gag about "Damn lousy suspension!" on whatever car Jim is in. (LOL because every single car on the screen had a "damn lousy suspension" by modern standards...)

OK, so, for my occasional Rockford Files rewatch (well, not really a rewatch, since I'm seeing most of these episodes for the first time)- I picked one of the alleged Top Ten Episodes : Season 3's "So Help Me God," aka "The One Where Jim Gets Stabbed in a Prison Riot." (a plot development that actually surprised me because the tone of the show is so damn breezy all the time.) Anyhow, this one has William Daniels playing the heavy (surprise, surprise) as Jim is subpoena'd by a Grand Jury to testify about something that didn't actually happen. Jim has to go back to prison for contempt of court a couple of times. I don't know if you'd call this episode preachy; certainly Socially Relevant, if not quite a Very Special Episode. (The episode ends with a title card stating that these abuses of grand juries can actually happen today, right here in 1976!) My favorite parts of The Rockford Files are when Jim manages to slither out of thuggish situations using diversions or just sidling away, and this happens a couple times in the episode. And there's a very cool and decidedly un-70s-TV moment where Jim and Angel are in the morgue files looking for clues, and suddenly Jim is served with another subpoena by Subpoena Guy who has silently snuck up on them. It's disorienting, almost artsy (definitely for '70s TV), but that seems to be something this show occasionally strove for. Then again, Jim winds up in the whitest prison ever, which seems very 70's indeed. I give this one four beeps (out of a possible five) on the answering machine.

I just discovered MeTV also... and watching Star Trek Season 3 episodes once a week on Saturday nights (as God intended), really rams it home how godawful that last season was. I'm not sure people really appreciate that fact when they grow up watching TOS in strip syndication with the episodes all mixed up. Let's face it, Season 3 TOS wasn't WORTH saving. My mother watches their Remington Steele religiously... and after all this time, I realize the real star of the show was Stephanie Zimbalist (even if she was a low-rent Blair Brown) and I just find Pierce Brosnan too comical and mannered and TENSE.

I have a sudden urge to watch The Rockford Files cuz I miss James Garner. Wish they showed them on weekends.