WhenI have had this conversation more times than I can count.
Guy I'm Trying to Pick Up: Where are you from?
Me: Rock Island, Illinois.
Guy I'm Trying to Pick Up: Rockford! You must have loved The Rockford Files.
Me: I said Rock Island, not Rockford, and I've never seen The Rockford Files.
Guy I'm Not Trying to Pick Up Anymore: I knew you'd be a fan! Who wouldn't want to watch a show set in his home town?
Me: I'm from Rock Island, not Rockford, and the show was set in California. Rockford was the name of the main character.
Guy I'm Walking Away From: So when you were living in Rockford, did you ever watch them filming?
"Hey Jim, this is Louie down at the fish market. You going to pick up these halibut or what?"
"Mr. Rockford? This is the Thomas Crown School of Dance and Contemporary Etiquette. We aren't going to call again. Now, you want these free lessons, or what?"
"This is Shirley at the bank. The answers are: no, no, and yes. No, we won't loan you money. No, we won't accept any co-signers; and yes, your account's overdrawn. I get off at 4:30."
"Jim? Nadine Arcala at the Zodiac Restaurant. You don't pay that dinner tab, we're gonna repo your birthday."
Of course, in the 1970s you knew about most programs, even if you hadn't seen them. I knew that it starred James Garner, after Move Over, Darling but before Victor/Victoria, as the pushing-50 antiheroic anti-private dick Jim Rockford, who had spent five years in prison (for a crime he didn't commit, of course), and now lived in a dilapidated trailer in Malibu and took cases for $200 per day plus expenses ($1000 in the 2020s).
1.His con-artist dad Rocky (Noah Beery, Jr),
2. Sneaky, underhanded informant from prison Angel (Stewart Margolin, who was a fixture in 1970s sitcoms).
3. Hot cop Becker (Joe Santos, left), known for his famous Becker bulge. The guy was packing. Sorry, I couldn't find a photo that displays it well.
4. His lawyer/girlfriend Beth (Gretchen Corbett).
There were a lot of famous guest stars, including Tom Selleck (star of Magnum), Louis Gossett Jr., and Rita Moreno (The grandma on the One Day at a Time reboot), Bo Hopkins (left), and Gene Davis (top photo).
And I did, somehow, see the episode "The House on Willis Avenue", which aired on February 24, 1978: When a fellow p.i. is killed while investigating computer files, Jim teams up with a 22-year old wannabe named Richie Brockelman (Dennis Dugan) to catch the culprit, 1930s teen star Jackie Cooper (below) He is plotting to start a national computer network with everybody's personal information available to anyone who wants it. Wait, isn't that the internet?
More after the break
The two had major chemistry. They were even shown sleeping together. In February 1978, I hadn't quite figured "it" out yet, but I was getting close, and Jim and Richie pinged my gaydar.
Dennis Dugan was actually 33 years old at the time, with dozens of acting credits, including episodes of Love American Style, Alice, Columbo, The Waltons, and The Mod Squad. He was best known for Norman, Is That You (1976): Red Foxx and Pearl Bailey discover that their son Norman (Michael Warren) is gay, and try to "straighten him out." Dennis played his boyfriend Garson Hobart. It was lambasted as promoting homophobic stereotypes even in 1976.
Stephen J. Cannell loved the Richie Brockelman character, , introduced in The Missing 24 Hours (1976), and gave him a five-episode miniseries in March and April 1978, hoping that NBC would pick it up.
And Rockford and Richie are back to being gay-subtext boyfriends.
James Garner was a gay ally and may have dated a few of the gay men of Old Hollywood, but Dennis Dugan is bbest known for the homophobic Norman and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007). I doubt that the gay subtext was intentional.
