The Rockford Files is an American
detective (
private investigator)
television drama originally aired on the
NBC television network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980; it has remained in constant
syndication to the present day. The show is notable for the quality of its writing, largely from
Stephen J. Cannell,
Juanita Bartlett, and
David Chase, the easy charm of
James Garner, who starred as
Jim Rockford, and an agile
Pontiac Firebird.
The show was created by
Roy Huggins and Cannell. Huggins had created the television show
Maverick, which had also starred Garner, from 1957 to 1962, and wanted to try to recapture that magic in a "modern day" detective setting. He teamed with Cannell, who had written for
Jack Webb productions such as
Adam-12 and
Chase (1973–74, NBC), to create
Rockford. The show was credited as "A Public Arts / Roy Huggins Production in association with Cherokee Productions and
Universal Studios. Cherokee was the name of Garner's own company, which he ran with partners
Meta Rosenberg and
Juanita Bartlett, who doubled as story editor during most of
Rockfords run.
The series' memorable theme by composers
Mike Post and
Pete Carpenter received
Top 40 radio airplay, went to #10 on the
Billboard Hot 100, stayed 44 weeks on the charts, and won a
Grammy Award for
Best Instrumental Arrangement.
[Knight, Judson.Mike Post - at eNotes.com][Post and Carpenter — Grammy.com][The Rockford Files (theme) — at Billboard.com]
