200 Dollars a Day Plus Expenses - A Rockford Files Podcast

This one definitely goes in my 'worst title ever' pile.This episode was originally a 90 minute one that was cut down to an hour for syndication.   We will talk about the 90 minute version.  Hopefully we get through it in a reasonable amount of time. (I clearly write these things before we start).David Chase did this one, and it seems that every episode he runs gets closer and closer to the Sopranos.  This one has George Loros returning as Anthony Boy, who we first met in the two parter 'To Serve and Protect'.Oh hey and there's Joey Aresco from Black Sheep!The B plot has Jim trying to get out from under an IRS audit. This plot is not as complicated as we've seen before, but it's made up for by how good the  episode was.Apparently this is a 90 minute one because of torrential rains in California.  At least IMDB says that, but who knows when it comes to IMDB.I keep saying this, but this really is a Proto Sopranos episode.  mp3 download

Long trip for the title this week.Both Jon and I have been in the Rockford Fires this week.  Thank you.Sorry about the Cylon voice, I'll have it sorted by next week, hopefully.....  Here's an update, just after getting off of the call I fixed it.  Here's a podcasting tip, don't update your interface's firmware and control software just before recording.When I see the name 'Mills Watson' in the credits I'm happy.This is an episode that doesn't like Mondays.As expected, and consistent with the character and the actor, Jim Rockford takes his civic duty very seriously.  Or (unlike the actor) he pretends to anyway.His father on the other hand....OK, maybe not THAT seriously.The whole time through this episode I kept thinking of John Bassett, former owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL... (seriously)Man this is an elaborate plot.A bit of ickiness from Jimbo this week.Interrogating someone in a garbage can is a thing of beauty.This had a long and involved denouement scene as the plot had to be explained.mp3 download

Long trip for this week's title, not much of a payoff either.A couple of MASH connections this week.A heck of a lot happens in a short period of time in this episode.We get out 39th '200 Dollars a day plus expenses' in this one.The fact that the stuff Val designs is supposed to be the height of hip (and it was!) shows you how truly odd tastes got into the late 70s.I like the background on Jim, that he almost married Val etc.  Rocky talking about how he would dance with her daughter, that resonated with me.  I think that Garner might have been thinkng about Gigi while he was doing that scene, you could see some real emotion on his face.Val is a touch, oh let's go with manipulative.Some fun guest stars this week as well.Car chase with a helicopter!  mp3 download

You gotta be a fan of the podcast to get that title.We've got the FBI.We've got the ATF.We've got the LAPD.We've got USCG.Sadly no BB King, BBC or Doris Day.We've got the DIA, wait, not the CIA?  Well whatever, but we've got an alphabet soup of agencies this week.Classic bungling federal agencies in a 70s show, a clear sign of the times.The selling bad weapons thing, that happened, more than once.  Not just weapons either.  There's a subplot in the TV show 'The Americans' about this.  mp3 download

Jon often calls me a fashion faux pas.  I have no idea whey, but it fits with the episode.   It's probably also true, but that's neither here nor there.Rene Auberjonios! WK Stratton!Erin Grey!Directed by Ivan Dixon!I've used too many exclamation points in this post!Yeah a pretty good set of 70s guest stars.Making fun of fashion is fun, especially in 1979.I almost always use a picture of Jimbo, but this week's screenshot is Odo getting ready to toss wine into a French guy's face.Lots of disco references this week.Big story this week is the US and the PRC normalizing relations.  It was a big, and surprising, deal.  mp3 download

I'm happy with this week's title, in case you were wondering.Lots of Sopranos refugees this week.Coop is always welcome, I like Bo Hopkins.Jim's working under cover for the National Investigator which is clearly standing in for the National Enquirer.A couple of nice pulls by Jim this week, one to The Day The Earth Stood Sill and one sort of meta one to Garner's character in The Great Escape.Augie and Natalie are quite a pair.  A pair of what, I am not sure.mp3 download

Tried something a little different with the title this week.Boxing!Mary Frann!All boxing trainers look like Kenneth McMillan.Hey, I should also mention that's Rocky Echeverria, you may know him as the way more white boy name, Steve Bauer.  It's his life, and his name, but Rocky is just a better name, change it back!We've got cons inside of cons this week.A big news story this week was Vietnamese refugees, the so called 'boat people' and their struggle to get somewhere, anywhere really.The 70s car lot ads, you know, as annoying as they were, I almost feel like we've lost something.  Until I remember what those ads were like.Jim should consider more sweaters.Jonno did the intro this week!mp3 download

Had to stick with the theme for the title.We get a lot about multiple personality disorder (or dissociative identity disorder as it is now called).  The three faces of Eve and Sybil were FICTION.Unlike most two parters, or ones that were double episodes, there is no padding in this one.Kathryn Harrald, the actor for Megan, eventually did become a therapist!  I wonder if this episode had anything to do with it.Billings is an unsung hero on this show.Oh we find out that Megan lost her sight in an accident.The note at the end from Charlie Martel is gold.Angel has left the building.Megan reappears in season 6, and in one of the TV movies.mp3 download

Look, I couldn't help it.But, a blind character with a PhD in psychology, even if the actor is not blind and it was 50 years ago, means a lot to me.I will likely talk a lot about the importance of representation in media (As I have noted before, I write these things before we record).Much of the performance in Part 1 (this was originally a 2 hour episode) by Kathryn Harrlod as Megan is remarkable.  Either she knew a blind person, or there was an actual blind or low vision person helping out/consulting whatever.The therapy is pretty well done as well (I may not be a clinician, but I know things).We get a couple of actors we've seen earlier in the series.A little of Rocky pushing Jim to call Megan.Parts of this were very difficult for me to watch.  So it was that well done.mp3 download

As I oft note, not all of my 'clever' titles are good, or even clever.I adore this one.  We've got Chapman with no power.We've got a little Dennis.We've got Jim GETTING PAID.We've got this amazing show not giving a shit that two of the main characters in the story are a gay couple.  It's never mentioned, it is not played for laughs (as it was at the time, I'm looking at you Three's Company).  They're just a couple.This is the first time I will be using a picture that does not have Jimbo in it for the post.  I needed to use Angel in the pool.You ever cosplay a Kronstadt sailor?Angel might be at his worst here, except for when he becomes a televangelist in one of the 90s movies.The 'communists' are pretty funny.In the end though, the way being gay is treated as just, well, a normal thing, so normal that it is not even mentioned, is super freaking cool FOR TODAY.  In 1978 it's actually revolutionary.mp3 download

Tough title this week.Some 'problematic' as the kids say, portrayals of 'unnamed scary Arab culture' in this one.  I suppose that's a sign of the times, but it was a bit weird.  This is an occupational hazard of looking at 50 year old media.  There's also a lot of BS psychobabble (that is, to be fair, portrayed that way) in this one.  I approve.This has nothing to do with the episode, but, will spring come at some point please?The ol' cork in the eye trick eh?  That's twice this month.Is that Bull from Night Court?(It is).The words 'ham fisted' come to mind now and then during this one.I quite liked the episode despite the weirdness.mp3 download

Again, some of my 'clever' titles are better than others.Special thanks to friend of the show Chris Cooling who went down a rabbit hole with Steve.Oh man, so much meta commentary on 70s detective shows. Oh, also, join the 70s detectives Facebook group, it's fun!I love Hector Elizondo in everything he is in.  And that is a lot of stuff, everything from the West Wing to Rockford, hell, he was in a Rockford earlier in the series.Wait, this one might not have been the right episode.  IMDB has one order, my DVDs have that same order, Steve's DVDs are in a different order.  Hmmm.Lot's of Bob Newhart Establishing Shots™ this week.Some good fun this week, and I think some of that is the show making fun of other shows.  I particularly am thinking of Starsky and Hutch.  The 'freeze turkey' line is very S and H.A couple of weird bits of padding this week.Not much in the way of news.Hey, Jim got paid this week!mp3 download

We're Canadian, we don't kill people... (unless they really need it).Another fun one this week.Jon is a little sick.Hey Dennis becomes a lieutenant!I like the deputy chief character.The Captain Crunch thing was real, and then the show didn't run with it, I wonder what happened there?Steve and I have had oral exams, they can be, fascinating.Wait, a car chase without the firebird?As God is my witness..What'a the deal with red hat guy.... ?Hey, that's WK Stratton from some other show!mp3 download

Easier bad title this week.Oh man, a Lance White episode.I sort of wish Lance was spun off rather than Magnum, but I dunno about the character driving a whole series.Sellick is great in this one.Of course so is Jimbo.I think we can call Pope JP 1 a friend of the show.There are a lot of clocks in this episode.Not PIRATED CASETTES!We have to handle this ourselves....Lance White, walking LinkedIn post.Confusing plot, but Steve says so was the Big Sleep/Of all of the stars that broke after being on Rockford I think Sellick is likely the biggest star of the lot.mp3 download

Toughest title to come up with in a long time.David Chase doing Soprano things.Indeed, I wonder if these guys know Carmella and Tony.It's always good when horrible people do bad things and then you get to watch their fall.They are hilariously stupid (just like a crime family David Chase invented years later...)There's eventual talk of a spinoff!Plus, you get Jacques Renault from Twin Peaks being killed and Coop as one of the investigators.  I wonder if David Lynch was a Rockford fan...The Carpenters joke landed for me.That was indeed a weird pager noise.Oh we get the introduction of John Cooper in this episode.  Wait, Jon Cooper (no h) is the coach of the Canadian Olympic team.  Wait, also, we have our own Jon no h.  Wait, also, 'Jersey' is mentioned in this episode.   Canada Gold Medal confirmed. Oh yeah the reboot, they've got their Jim!Boogie Woogie music up around your ears.mp3 download

I didn't want to use dead here, just so as not to scare my Mom...ABE VIGODA.ROBERT LOGGIA.RITA MORENO!Hell of a cast this week.Also, the title is a pretty nice joke.Hey, in one scene Steve and my expertise could both be brought to bear.Herb Tarlek?Dennis gets a lovely necklace as does Rocky.mp3 download

Tough title for the opener of season 5.Wait, 100 episodes?Ahh the rise of country music in the late 70s.Willie Nelson started to get some mainstream radio play, as did quite a few other country artists at this time.  It was disco and country for a time.Obvious Jimmy Dean parody is obvious.Rocky trucking!No Angel, no Dennis...Some solid hijinks this week as well.A couple of genuinely funny moments as well.We're happy to be back!It's cold out, Jon should put some pants on.mp3 download

Oh and Katie Sackhoff is there rather than Dirk Benedict.Yup, there is a pilot order for a reboot of our show.By our show I don't mean the podcast, though Jon has kind of weaseled his way in...We discuss our thoughts on the reboot.Is it a good idea?Should it happen?Will it happen?Who are some actors who could play Jimbo, Angel, Rocky, Beth etc?Oh, Happy New Year, and back to the regular next week.mp3 download

It's between seasons.It's the Christmas season.We're doing a Christmas show, if you don't like it, well, first off, bah humbug, secondly, what did you pay for the podcast?Steve, Jon and I welcome some guests this episode:Those guests are, in no particular order: Anthony Marco from Best Episode Ever.Jeff Andrews from the 70s TV Detectives.Chris Cooling from the Forgotten TV podcast.Chris now joins Jeff and Anth as official friends of the show.  That list oddly includes Carlos the Jackal.We heated up a Swanson TV dinner, gathered around the 7 foot long cabinet tv, that Pete Campbell will tell you, is a beautiful piece of furniture that Wilt Chamberlain could lie down in (As Kenny Cosgrove reminds us, why would he?) and talked about a time before Jon was born.Thanks to Anth, Jeff and Chris!mp3 download

It's between seasons 4 and 5 of Rockford.It's between seasons 1 and 2 of Baa Baa Black Sheep.That means it's 1978!We decided to invite a couple of our friends on to tap about 1978 in tv, including Best Episode Ever's Anthony Marco and the 70s Detectives' Jeff Andrews.Boy NBC sucked then.Lots of stuff sucked then.Jon reminds us that WKRP did start then!Habs won the cup, so there's that.Mostly we just hope you liked our little trip down memory lane.  Might be another soon, before moving on to Season 5 of Rockford and Season 2 of Black Sheep.mp3 download

 Oooh, we're going off the board for 50 Jack.After season 4 of the Rockford Files wrapped, Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, premiered.  It lasted only 5 episodes sadly.Many people believe that Richie was introduced in 'The House on Willis Avenue' but that's not true!  Indeed, on October 27, 1976, NBC aired the made for TV movie pilot 'Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours' and we are here to bring the excitement to you!Suzanne Pleshette basically is Emily Hartley, but with amnesia.That's not actually how amnesia tends to work Richie.You get an early idea that Richie is smart.Wait, Normal Fell!We get one 'what they hey' and no 'the thing of it is is' from Richie.  That came with his series and of course his Rockford guest spots.If this was a regular 48 minute episode it would be really good.  They had to do back story which slows it down.mp3 download

Time for one of our season wrap-up episodes.This of course makes sense as we just finished season 4.Hey, I buried the lede, it's Jeff from the 70s TV Detectives!Some people don't like Richie Brockelman, I don't understand these people.What episodes were the best?Which ones weren't?Where does Rockford fit in in the 70s detective pantheon?  We ask Jeff.How did the show mirror the 70s?mp3 download

These titles are getting odder.  That said, I like this one.Oh man, part 2 moves quickly.'Hi Vern, getting any?'Steve informs me that is the sam dispatcher as in Adam 12!I still chuckle at Trapper John playing BJ.The thing of it is is, that's a wilco.'Do you have a 38 automatic?'We saw the actor who played Sgt. Coopersmith like two episodes ago!The title card at the end, wow.Don't point.This episode might be the most prescient of the series.mp3 download

There are four 'that's a wilco's' in this episode.  When I say 'episode' I'm talking about roughly the first half of 'The House On Willis Aveenue', which might be my favourite episode, other than Boy King, the other Richie Brockelman episode.RICHIE!Some people don't like Richie.  I don't understand these people.That's a wilco.The thing of it is is.I love how Richie sees Jim as a hero, but he's not above bullshitting him.We've got to microspool and degauss as often as possible.That's a wilco.Is Richie Pete Campbell? A thing like that.JACKIE COOPER!PERNELL ROBERTS!  Also, that's Trapper John playing a guy named BJ.We'll finish this one up next week!mp3 download

Oddly proud of this title.Ooh, ooh, Rockford goes to College!Steve and I were not profs in the 70s, but we know more about universities than most people...Lady, telling your dead boyfriend's mom 'at least he found love' is not the flex you think it is.Some general late 70s anti Arab paranoia played for laughs in this one.  That said, the laughs are eventually at the expense of the bozo security people.I hate fraternities.Steve hates fraternities.Irrational telephonic call/I don't know what Jon thinks of them, but it seems to me if he's anything like his father...mp3 download

Lame title.How often are my titles non lame?This is the sort of almost trope that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest got going.Nurse Ratchet is three people...I have some expertise here, well, I'm not *that* kind of psychologist, but, I know some stuff through osmosis from my colleagues.  No seriously, I do know some things.  A couple of great Star Trek actors this week.Pop culture in Australia stopped in the 70s.mp3 download

I'm oddly pleased with this title.Steve tells us about North by Northwest.This is a sort of odd episode.I like the 70s angle of corrupt but also inept federal agencies, Watergate break in anyone?Jim has some good lines.The goons, hired goons, are great this week.I think our main character hangs out with Joy and the rest of those jet setters at the Hotel California.  (Yes I can always find a Mad Men reference, much like Steve can always find Columbo reference and Jon just knows plane crashes).We don't say many of the main characters this week.mp3 download

I'm much prouder of this title than I should be.A bit of behind the scenes this week, I didn't edit out our pre show banter!Great guest star week.Oh I wish that I had Jesse's girl.BUS CHASE!These people are like the jet setters in that Mad Men episode.The difference is that the people in that Mad Men episode had some class.  These people just have some crass.  Thank you.I feel bad for J's parents, and his dog.By the way, that was some good dog acting.I get the idea J's parents would be Holocaust survivors. It's subtle, but I think it's there.PIZZA HOUSE!We get more David Chase and the mob.mp3 download

We're back! Yes we've been away, Jon and I (oh and Jon's mother...) went to Montreal, where I watched this one.RITA MORENO!!!!!HOCKEY!Rita won an Emmy for this episode, and you can see why.Dunno about the high class call girl trope.Some truly great guest stars this week.We also get to see more of Dennis's home life.Again, the show takes a rather neutral look at sex work.  I don't think it's presented as 'good' but it isn't presented as 'bad' either, which is a hell of a thing.Some shout outs to Canada this week, including the Ottawa Otters, a team with just as many Stanley Cup banners as the Ottawa senators.mp3 download

This week's title pretty much wrote itself.MILLS WATSON.  You know you're getting quality.  Also, it was just his 85th birthday!It was just my 60th birthday, for what it's worth.We get the trope of the drunk writer.I wonder if Steve teaches people to behave like this....I couldn't get past chapter four.James Garner actually did lay carpet for a living for a while!Steve understands Korsakoff's syndrome!You have to love Rocky taking a swing at anyone!I've used too many exclamation points, but I really like this one, but I also don't.  The pacing is off somehow, it's like they had more story to tell.  The performances were great.Seeing Dennis kick into action, and then...mp3 download

Thought I'd get Jonno in on the title action.We're into 1978.Lots of fun this week, Jim trying to figure out how he has been screwed again is a recurring theme if you have not picked up on that yet.Gretchen Corbett's last appearance as Beth Davenport, so we have a special spotlight this week.Yup, that's right, a spotlight when I'm driving, we just like to live on the edge.People really did eat dog food, probably, in the 70s.Well, Johnny LaRue did anyway. That's Cooking With LaRue, a LaRue Enterprises production, LaRue Ontario.Rocky is working with the mob?What's with everyone being so afraid of garlic?mp3 download

I am truly sorry for this title.LARRY LINVILLE!!!!Oh man, you know, about 15 minutes in I figured 'wait, this guy is one of my people' (experimental psychologist).I'm curious as to who is funding this work.  Either way his grant is up now that Trump is in power...There are some really not at all how it works things in this about what I do.There are some things that are right!Not goons, hired goons, but students, graduate students.Bob Newhart celebrity bowling!I never thought research ethics would come up as an important plot point in a Rockford Episode.I helped write the ethics policies for two Canadian universities (pats self on back).Fun spotlight this week, and of course Jon's intro.mp3 download

I like this title.Some great 70s stuff this week.This is a fun one.Hey some casual racism!Isn't that the guy who took creepy pics of Andy Travis and Jennifer Marlowe?(There's a plane crash this week, so we get a Jon cameo).Pop culture is lame again.Ken Swofford is awesome.Calling all you hoosiers.....mp3 download

Again, it's the name of the episode, we aren't going anywhere...LARRY HAGMAN?!Oh, hey, drop by the watch party on Thursday nights at 8.30 pm EDT :Oh this one has Beth too, plus and old friend of Beth's.I like how if this was today, the idea of harvesting kelp and turning it into some sort of green energy would be pretty hot actually.Any episode where Jimmy Joe makes an appearance is a good one in my book.  To be clear, I have no book.This is a big day for Beth, but we're going to see less and less of her.We've also got a lot of Angel in this one.  He is at his Angelest too!This is not the April Wine podcast.mp3 download