NBC‘s planning to revive one of the most beloved detective TV series of all time, and it’s going to cost them more than $200 a day plus expenses. The network has ordered a pilot for a reboot of The Rockford Files, the classic 1970s series that starred James Garner as a blue-collar private eye. No casting has yet been announced for the project.
According to reports, the pilot is being written by Mike Daniels, a veteran of One Tree Hill and Sons of Anarchy; his new espionage thriller series, Ponies, with Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, premieres this week on Peacock. Plot details are scarce so far, but it will be a modern update of the original series’ premise, which saw ex-con Jim Rockford set himself up as a private investigator in Los Angeles, helping out the downtrodden with his quick wit and fast car. Naturally, this leads to conflicts with both the criminal element and the local police, who are skeptical that he’s turned over a new leaf.
What Is ‘The Rockford Files’ About?
Garner starred as Jim Rockford, a military veteran and former petty criminal who’s gone straight. Living in a seaside trailer with his affable dad, Rocky (Noah Beery), Jim takes on cases that other gumshoes won’t. He has a few allies, besides his doting ex-trucker dad; Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), the only member of the LAPD who doesn’t hate his guts; Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett), his lawyer and occasional girlfriend; and Angel Martin (Stuart Margolin), his prison buddy whose harebrained criminal schemes are always getting him in hot water. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who’d worked with Garner on the Western Maverick, and Stephen J. Cannell, the TV action impresario behind The A-Team and 21 Jump Street. Every episode opened with a comical message on Rockford’s answering machine (then a novel invention) before cutting to Mike Post‘s unforgettable theme song; episodes typically featured offbeat humor, Rockford’s blue-collar charm, and a car chase in Rockford’s signature Pontiac Firebird. The series was a ratings hit, and ran for six seasons and 123 episodes; David Chase, who would go on to create The Sopranos, was a frequent contributor to the series. The cast would later reunite in a series of TV movies in the 1990s.
There have been several attempts to revive The Rockford Files since its cancellation in 1980. Dermot Mulroney starred in a Steve Carell-produced pilot in 2010; it also starred Beau Bridges as Rocky, Alan Tudyk as Becker, and André Holland as Angel, but it didn’t go to series. There were also plans to bring the series to the big screen with Vince Vaughn in the lead role, but that too failed to come to fruition.
A reboot of The Rockford Files is in development at NBC.
via Collider