Two Hundred A Day - Episode 147: Deadlock in Parma

Episode Date: November 24, 2024

Well friends, here we are. Nathan and Eppy take a day trip with Jim to Parma, CA in the series finale episode. The sixth season of The Rockford Files was cut short by James Garner's medical needs, so this last episode was not intended to be a goodbye to the series. Thankfully, we found that it did feel like an appropriate way to bid adieu to Jim, the Firebird, and all of the Rockfordishness we love so much. This is the last regular episode of this podcast! We will have a couple new episodes a year covering other shows in the wider Rockford/Garner/PI-i-verse, but we have now talked about every episode, of The Rockford Files. Thanks for listening! We have another podcast: Plus Expenses. Covering our non-Rockford media, games and life chatter, Plus Expenses is available via our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/twohundredaday) at ALL levels of support. Thanks Patrons! Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files (http://tinyurl.com/200files)! We appreciate all of our listeners, but offer a special thanks to our patrons (https://www.patreon.com/twohundredaday). In particular, this episode is supported by the following Gumshoe and Detective-level patrons: * Richard Hatem * Bill Anderson * Brian Perrera * Eric Antener * Jordan Bockelman * Michael Zalisco * Joe Greathead * Mitch Hampton's Journey of an Aesthete Podcast (https://www.jouneyofanaesthetepodcast.com) * Dael Norwood wrote a book! Trading Freedom: How Trade with China Defined Early America (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo123378154.html) * Chuck Suffel's comic Sherlock Holmes & the Wonderland Conundrum (http://whatchareadingpress.com) * Paul Townend recommends the Fruit Loops podcast (https://fruitloopspod.com) * Shane Liebling's Roll For Your Party dieroller app (https://rollforyour.party/) * Jay Adan's Miniature Painting (http://jayadan.com) * Brian Bernsen's Facebook page of Rockford Files filming locations (https://www.facebook.com/brianrockfordfiles/) * Brian Cummins, Robert Lindsey, Nathan Black, Jay Thompson, David Nixon, Colleen Kelly, Tom Clancy, Andre Appignani, Pumpkin Jabba Peach Pug, Dave P, Dave Otterson, Kip Holley and Dale Church! Thanks to: * Fireside.fm (https://fireside.fm) for hosting us * Audio Hijack (https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/) for helping us record and capture clips from the show

And we are recording for our final Rockford files. Unless we missed one, which I suppose is possible. I've been waiting for someone to be like, hey you guys said you're done, but you never did this one. Well that'd be fun. And I'm too scared to look. Because the way you live says so much about you, your home has been selected by Royal Imperial Roofing and Siding as our neighborhood showcase. A bonded representative will call on you. Welcome to 200 a Day, the podcast where we talk about the 70s television detective show, The Rockford Files. I'm Nathan Paletta.

And I'm Epidia Remsho. And here we are, my friends. Oh yeah. End of the line, season 6, episode 11, Deadlock in Parma. The final Rockford Files episode, and by some cosmic coincidence, the final 200 a day episode about the Rockford Files. About the Rockford Files, yes. So yeah, we're finishing the show. We're going to talk about that.

We'll get to it when we get to it. But in case this is the first time you're joining us, in which case, welcome. You have a lot to catch up on, I suppose. Gregor- Previously on 200 a day and then we'll just do. Dave- Just go backwards. Yeah. Or, you know, we've kind of talked about this in very on plus expenses and I posted about it on the Patreon. We are doing the final 200 a day episode that is in our remit. What we were, what we came to do was to talk about the Patreon. We are doing the final 200 day episode that is in our remit. What we came to do was to talk about the show. After this episode, the podcast will still be live. We're maintaining the website, we're maintaining the Patreon as long as they let us do it the way that we want it to be. And we do have plans to do occasional episodes about other 70s TV detective shows, other James Garner projects,

spinoffs, related media, but those will be occasional over the course of like a year. Not bi-weekly or monthly or anything like that. So I would say stay subscribed and every so often, like I don't know if you've had this experience, well you don't listen to podcasts, but I don't know if our listeners have had this experience. I have where I listen to a podcast. It's kind of like done, but I stay subscribed and then like all of a sudden there will be an episode for whatever reason. Like they're starting a new thing or they do a follow up or something. And I'm like, oh, I forgot about that show.

And it's kind of nice. It's kind of like a little throwback. So you too can have that experience if you stay subscribed. Yes. Little random reward. That happens sometimes. Intermittent rewards, yeah. So yeah, stay subscribed if you want to get that fun feeling of, oh, I remember that show every so often. And I will also just do a quick pitch.

If you want to continue hearing Epi and I talk about stuff, Right. We are transitioning to our new podcast, the Unwritten Earths Symposium podcast, where we're going to be talking about games and game design and building a community of play around our new venture, which is the Unwritten Earths Symposium. And Plus Expenses is going to move over there. And Plus Expenses will probably be less about games, because we're going to talk about that on our main show, and more about other stuff. Yeah.

That will go to being available through the Unwritten Earths Symposium Patreon. Yes. We will leave all the archived episodes on the 200 a day Patreon, but the new ones will all go to the new Patreon. That's all that stuff. That's the admin. But before we get to talking about this episode, we do have that big blinking light

that just gets slightly bigger every time a new message shows up on our answering machine. So we are going to up on our answering machine. So we are going to go to the answering machine to see what our listeners have to say about our last couple of episodes. First of all, we have a missive from listener Scott regarding Backlash of the Hunter, the pilot episode or pilot movie, our episode 144, in which we specifically, at least I specifically, was curious about the beachside carnival thing from the very beginning,

because I associate that with Coney Island and the East Coast. So Scott says, just wanted to respond to your question about the Coney Island-like sounds from Backlash of the Hunter. The LA area had two well-known Oceanside amusement parks at the time the pilot was filmed. Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica was one, and The Pike in Long Beach, the other. While not shown here, both were used in TV and film

extensively, dating back to the silent film era. They were eventually closed, but the Santa Monica Pier has had new attractions built. A little bit of history. Now, I don't think we would, in the silent film era, we wouldn't get those Coney Island set Yeah, although it would be great to have like the little talk card that they would put up and it just says Coney Island sounds Rethyce Pacific Ocean Park. Yeah

So thanks Scott for yeah Thank you filling that in just cuz I mean I guess it makes sense So thanks, Scott, for filling that in just because, I mean, I guess it makes sense. Beachside amusement park. One of the things that I have enjoyed over the years of doing this is the little bit of, I guess, local history that we get out of the area and whatnot. I mean, like, obviously there's stuff about the production of the Rockford Files and whatnot, but also just like that coast. I mean, you live on that coast, but you're pretty far on that coast.

I I only occasionally visit. Yeah, neither. Neither of us is like has like roots in the area. Yeah. So having hearing from our listeners who live there, have lived there, et cetera, and have seen a change over time. Yeah, we get we get that that living history, which is always very much appreciated. Are you ready for friend of the Show Sam? Oh, dropping some hot science on us. Yes.

So Sam, friend of the show and patron, has some casting notes for us from Backlash of the Hunter. And this I think was in my notes and I just skipped it. But first of all, the person who walks in into the bathroom after the soap gimmick. One of the greatest scenes of Rockford Piles. Television history, honestly. So that was Jack Garner.

Right. But he looks so young. I don't think I recognized him. I saw it in the credits and I do think it was in my notes. But, you know, whatever, we don't get to everything. But yeah, Sam says the person who walks in on Jim and William Smith in the bathroom was good old Jack Garner, looking so young, especially after the last 90s movie that it took me a second to recognize him. Which is because he's the captain in the movies,

and that's kind of our other sites of him. I mean, he's in a lot of the episodes in like a little bit part. But yeah. Yeah. And then number two, William Smith, our antagonist. I don't think we went too deep on him. He's been in a couple of episodes. Well, that's the thing. He hasn't been in any episodes. Oh, no. Looks like he should have been.

So first of all, he's Conan's dad. Right. Right. Yes. And why I didn't bring that up during the episode will be one of the great mysteries for the ages. Right. Right. Yes. And why I didn't bring that up during the episode will be one of the great mysteries for the ages. Yes. So, yes, that is Sam's first note on him. Yeah. He played Artie's dad in Conan the Barbarian, offering the film's first take on the Riddle of Steel. The secret of steel has always carried within a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its little corner. You must learn its discipline. For no one, no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts.

This you can trust. But his other reference here, I mean this guy had a long career, was in lots of stuff, but he played the main antagonist in the 1970 film, Darker Than Amber, an adaptation of a John D. McDonald book with Rod Taylor as Travis McGee. That film's ending fistfight between Smith and Taylor was so infamously brutal that it has been cited variously as the prompt for director Robert Klaus to be put in the director's chair for Enter the Dragon and or for either Taylor or Smith to be initially considered for John Saxon's role in Enter the Dragon. John Saxon, of course, famously appearing in a portrait of Elizabeth as the karate guy. There are some legendary Rockford Files villains for different reasons, but he stands out once because he's John Saxon. But also, like that episode, it was so good how he was such a good foil for Jim. And then Sam finishes, also given how Bruce Lee's encounter with James Garner goes in

Marlowe 1969, which we were talking about on Plus Expenses, the whole thing feels like it comes full circle. Thank you, Sam, for keeping us on our toes with all of the goons and that guys. Yes. Over the last while. We appreciate it. We definitely do. I said we were talking about Marlowe and Plus Expenses because it's on our list for things to do on this show in our, our, uh, I don't know. Retirement?

Our extended universe. Ah, there we go. Yes retirement, our extended universe. Ah, there we go. Yes. In our extended universe. And so our next bit of feedback is relevant to that as well. Patron Rachel, who says, so glad you might do a couple of Nichols episodes, which we've also been talking about. Yeah. If you do, the pilot in Episode One might be a good choice.

The pilot, because it establishes characters and Episode 1 is funny with Ricardo Montalban. Oh, yes. Guest starring. Wrath of Khan, of course. I also see him as the Matador murderer in that one Colombo where he goes to Mexico. And the Matador uses a bull as the murder weapon. Yes. Yeah, Ricardo Montalban's great.

I mean, it's great. I'm glad we're getting a little direction on where to go with that because we don't have any experience with... With shows that aren't the Rockford Files. Yeah, exactly. We've never seen any television that isn't the Rock. No, we're not going to do the entirety of any other series.

So it's good to have something to focus on some some direction for us. So thank you. Yes. Yeah. And we've talked about I think we mentioned this when it first came up a couple of episodes ago. But if you do have a suggestion for a show we should watch. Yeah. Please include a type three recommendations. Right. You could watch three episodes of something and talk about it. And maybe that's one episode of our show. Maybe it's two episodes. But like in terms of like the quote unquote media analysis part, that feels like a good amount of of of text to look at.

I would say a type three or less. I mean, it's fine if you're like you have to see this one episode. And then if we want to like search around for a couple more, that's fine,, too. But like yeah, I think at first I said a type three or five and you were like, how about three? Yeah Yeah, I mean definitely do five episodes. Probably watch all of Richie Brockleman private eye and that's like five episodes Yeah, exactly. But uh, yeah, we are our avenues of contact will still be open so you can let us know We are our avenues of contact will still be open, so you can let us know. We have just a fun note from listener Chris, who wanted to encourage us to do this very finale podcast from Hawaii, like an E-Good 70 show. To which all I can say is, if only we couldn't make it out to L.A.

for Rockford 50 Fest, we also could not make it out to Hawaii to record a single podcast episode. We should have. Yeah, we also could not make it out to Hawaii to record a single podcast episode. We should have. Yeah, we absolutely should have gotten. We got gotten the the executives at the production company to to put the bill for it. We should have. Next time.

Live at Hawaii. It is 200 a day. And that's the last thing you want. There's a reason we've never done a live. Well, we did one and it was still edited, but we did one semi live podcast. And other than that, it's not entirely sober. Turned out OK. Yeah. Yeah. We needed a little love.

I needed a little liquid courage to do that one. A missive from your friend of mine, Michael Miller. Oh, hey, fellow game designer and I don't know fellow pilgrim on our journey I don't know. Yeah. Hi buddy. Thanks for listening. Yeah. Yeah, he says I think I believe this was in reference to the Kirchhoff case the first episode our last episode I Enjoyed that epi dug into Jim's finances while Nathan got to talk about food in this one Those focuses and the early episodes of your podcast were always a delight. In the early days, you also used to delve into the storytelling tropes

of the show and its own segment. I love some analysis like that in the final episode. If inspiration strikes, obviously. Yeah, I just I wanted to include this mainly because I think we intentionally tried to hit those notes in that episode. Yeah, yeah, because it was a little like OG. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, what I will say to Michael Miller is that stay tuned for Unwritten Earth's Symposium.

He's going to get more of that in there, obviously. But we were just talking about maybe doing at least one of our episodes of our future one, just to look at how the Rockford files can inspire someone. Yeah, like a roundup kind of all that stuff. So the reason, again, we've mentioned it before, but maybe not in an episode that anyone that you dear listener have heard. But yeah, our early episodes, the structure was we so we have our intermission, right, to kind of break up the long episode, just because I kind of like that. So in our early episodes, the whole first part was the episode coverage. And then we take the break and then we come back and talk about things we could take from that episode to use in our own storytelling, game design, narrative design, etc.

And after the first 10, 12, 15, 20 episodes. Yeah, a couple years of doing it, yeah. We realized that there's only so many lessons we could take, not because the lessons were not worth taking, but because the Rockford files did the things that did well so well because they got repeated over and over and over. Yes, yes.

They got a lot of reps in. At some point, you learn what you need to learn. Yeah. And then it's a matter of honing that skill. Yeah. This is a sharply honed television show. And yeah, I'm sure there's more. There's always more to learn from it. But we were struggling, like to not see the same thing over and over again. Exactly. Yeah.

But I think maybe we could hit maybe the greatest hits of of those. Yeah. So let me know if I left anything out. But every character is a character. Right. All these like minor weird characters that are super memorable because they have this human quirk to them in some regard. That actually is going to be important in the upcoming episode because you need to be able to tell these people apart and that helps a lot. There was quite often, and this is a thing I bring up in general, but if you're going to have people like Jim and Angel where they have a contentious relationship, you have

to show them why they're friends. You have to show moments where they do get along and you believe that that's a thing. And that works for pretty much all the relationships in the show. Right. To a degree. Like the fact that we see Jim and Dennis do things where their friends makes the moments where they have friction more interesting. Yes. We have to see the moments with Angel where they're friends so that Angel stays relevant as a character.

Yeah. Jim and Beth, their whole thing. Uh, you know, Jim and Rocky, uh, have this, like, evolving set of conflicts about Jim's job, Rocky's attitude towards things like taxes, uh, what they both consider to be safe, like, all that stuff. Um, you kind of have to see them align on those in some moments so that when they clash on them in other moments, it means something.

There's really good reincorporation stuff that happens. Yeah, good writing capital W writing stuff like, yeah, reincorporation, repetition, set up and punch line, that kind of stuff. The last the Kirchhoff case had the it was a really good one with the cigarette trick. Yeah, yeah. He would have a cigarette and flick it in the air and that would get everyone to look up because there's a hot ember flying and you don't want to get hit by that. And then he would sucker punch him. Right. And it was a great setup.

great setup because later in the episode, he encounters a goon who has seen that trick before and doesn't fall for it and just flattens him. It's great. It's wonderful. Another classic having the source of conflict between different groups or people not be resolvable by simply talking about the problem. The Rockford Filens almost never has a, well, if they just had a phone call or if they had just talked, they could have sorted this whole, I mean, maybe it's like they could have sorted this whole thing out, like come to an agreement, but there's no like, well, because Jim never talked to Dennis. This whole thing happened. It's more like Jim wants one thing and Dennis wants a different thing and those cannot be

reconciled just by the two of them working it out. By that same token, there's also the antagonists often have pressures that we see and we know that make them well-motivating. Not to drag on anything else, but it is so much more vibrant if you can see why the antagonist is behaving the way they are, rather than

they're just the bad guy. And I think one of our most frequent criticisms of an episode that doesn't quite hit is that we don't see the antagonist motivation or their actions don't seem to be an outgrowth of their motivation. When there's a dissonance there, those feel a little flatter. Um, and I think that's consistent across the show. Uh, if you can hire Juanita Bartlett, that is another important writing lesson. Important writing lesson for sure.

Oh, and then just like, I think similar to the motivation. Well, it's also motivation, but similar to the last two, having multiple groups that are all clashing, but for different reasons. Right. We're going to see that tonight. Yeah. I'm thinking of like, like the one where there's the sausage. Yes. Swindle with the country music star. And I can't remember the name of that one, but I can remember the fight. We good. I can remember him and Jim like on the ground in his front lawn.

Heartaches of a fool. Heartaches of a fool. Yes. With the Willie Nelson. Yeah. Yeah. Also a willingness and connection in this episode. Oh, yeah. A slight one. Anyway, there's the smuggling operation, which is like a crooked union thing. And then there's the country music star who's trying to get out from under a tax beef. Yeah. Rocky gets involved in it. And so he gets injured. And so Jim, you know, that's what brings Jim in. There's feds and there's also local police. So there's like all these interests that are all clashing. And that's what makes the story like really vibrant, as you say.

One of the things I really enjoy about the Rockford files is how it's not simply a murder mystery every episode. We're going to hit that in this episode. There is a murder in this episode, don't worry. But there's a point part way through this episode where everything kind of becomes clear fairly early on for a mystery. And what's actually the mystery is how is Jim gonna untangle it? And I really love those episodes where it's like, okay, we know what the scheme is, we know who the villains are, we know what their motivations are, we know all of the team is aware of all this, and now the puzzle is, how do you keep your client or yourself or your friend from being ground underneath these?

And it's usually like, usually some kind of clever con or whatever. Like, that's a lot of fun. You can do a lot with this genre that isn't just following the clues and figuring out who done it. I'm not complaining about Colombo. I know that you would disown me and never speak to me again if I was complaining about Colombo.

No, no. Colombo is not beyond criticism. I am not complaining about Colombo. I'm just saying this is one of the fun bits about all this is you don't know what you're in for when you sit down for a Rockford Files episode. Any given episode could be one of a number of different kinds of episode. Yeah, for sure. That's part of the fun. I mean, that's part of the fun for us, right? Of doing it.

And the way that we've done it, where we jumped around to different episodes. It's always like well, I'm not quite sure what I'm gonna get which is yep Which is great, which is what happened today, too But let's get through let's get through the the mailbag here Well that works out well because that was our that was the last message on our machine here Oh lovely is a good time to archive that that to archive that tape and move on to talking about Deadlock and Parma. Pull out that tape and put it in the shoebox and put that shoebox in the filing cabinet in our trailer. So Deadlock and Parma.

Tell me if you felt the same way. I kind of was like, all right, last episode, in a perfect world, right? It's like, Stephen Cannell, Juanita Bartlett, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The all-star. And this is actually one of the most diffuse sets of credits of like any of the episodes. I guess I'll preface this by saying that this is the last episode of the sixth season.

It was in fact recorded last on their production schedule So it is both the last episode recorded and shown. Oh, right per this is all per 30 years of the Rock for a thousand, but this was not intended to be a finale because They had a whole production calendar for the rest of the year The timeline of events is that this was, they go on their kind of holiday break, they come back, you know, they come back in January or whatever, and they started production on the next couple of episodes. And during that production cycle is when James Garner collapsed during shooting, because he had he had an internal injury that got so bad that he couldn't

stay acting and his doctors were like, you have to stop doing the show because he's so physical. He's in all the episodes. Obviously, he's doing all this doing all these very physical, even if even if he's not doing his own stunts, necessarily. Just his general action, you know, is like a physical kind of action. He's doing a lot of his own driving because he likes doing that etc We went over this in more detail in some other episodes But the long and short of it is that basically medically they're like you have to give your body a break

You cannot keep shooting the show so it basically went on hiatus and then never came back because of a Legal a set of legal disputes that then you know spiraled out from there legal, a set of legal disputes that then, you know, spiraled out from there. So that's all to say this was never conceived as the last episode of The Rockford Piles. It just happens to be the finale because it's the last episode. Now, this is what I think they should have done because that's what we're here for. We're here to fix the record. I think if James Gardner had to take some time off. They should have reached out to Jack Kelly, who played Bart Maverick,

his brother in Maverick, and they should have had him come in as his brother. With the mustache. John Rockford. Never before mentioned. They should have brought back Aaron Ironwood. Oh, Aaron Ironwood. Yes. Yes.

Becomes the Ironwood. Yes. Yes. Because the iron files. Yeah, it's a shame we're going to do this episode. It's not a horrible way to end the series. I'm going to say that. Like, I don't want to like damn it with faint praise or anything like that. This is a very fun episode. It's a romp.

But if I were to end the series, like you said, you know, there would be a very specific cast and, you know, production crew. Well, I mean, obviously, they did it for the Hawaiian headache, right? Right. Right. They got everyone in it. There's a thing where people assume that that was the last one filmed because it was a Hawaii episode. But it actually was not, as it turns out. But yeah, you could have switched up to order and had that as the finale just because like it's a fun one. And everyone's it has all the people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They they drag everyone out to it. They find an excuse to get everyone in Hawaii. But I mean, like in some ways, I do think this makes a really good final episode for the Rockwood Files. think this makes a really good final episode for The Rockford Files. Not one I would choose, but I think it's perfectly fine that they ended on it. We'll get to it. But there are some things in this episode that I feel like are just Rockford-ishness.

Yeah, yeah. I agree. Which is probably only possible because they didn't know it was going to be the last one, and therefore it wasn't full of the regular cast. Like, I miss everyone, but still, it's just Rockford out of town, barely even with a firebird. Well, as you say, we'll get to it when we get to it. But I have some thoughts on that as well. Oh, yes. This episode is directed by Winrich Colby.

I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. A prolific director who kind of started around this time. Okay. I believe this is I did look this up. This is his seventh directing credit is only Rockford files. But he did an episode of Voyagers exclamation point. Oh, yeah.

Knight Rider Magnum P.I. in the heat of the night. And he does end up doing some of the at least one of the holodeck episodes in Space Nine which is where we may have seen him before. He did a bunch of next generation. Yeah. A richer portfolio later in his career. This is a writing credits by Donald Gold and Lester Burke, credited Lester W.M. Burke, and teleplay by Gold, Burke, and Rudy Burchart or Rudolph Burchart. I think I read somewhere that they called him Rudy, but maybe I'm making that up. Rudolph Burchart. So he wrote three episodes, a good clean bus

with sequel rights and the French heel, they were jacket one. Oh, okay. And also a different drummer, which I think is solid tier underneath those two as an episode. And then he also did the tell play for this episode and I think a season two episode. The last time I tried to look him up, I could find almost nothing about him online. He did other shows. He did some Coltrac. He did a bunch of chips. Just a TV writer guy, I guess. Les Burke was the unit manager for the first four seasons of the show. So, OK, I don't really know how production works,

but kind of a production manager. OK. He came back to the movies as an assistant director in the 90s. He was a producer. He produced a lot of Quincy, Emmy and air wolf, among others. Oh, yeah. And then Donald Gold was also a producer who did second, you know, work as well. He did a bunch of Miami vice.

He has a story credit for feeding frenzy, which is a good one. And he wrote a bad deal in the valley as well. So it's kind of like production guys, just like a bunch of production guys who had an idea and wrote it up, I guess. That's fun. Yeah. And so I was kind of expecting it actually to be a little looser as a script. And it turns out, I think, to be pretty solid. So yeah, that's all the production stuff. And I think, you know, we're probably running a little long, so we should go ahead.

Do the preview montage. And do the preview montage and do the preview montage all right what stood out to you I know it stood out to me first thing the rainbow of earth tones that is it's glorious the the palette for this episode this one is shot in late 1979 airs January 1980. So yeah, it is days in this episode. Jim steals a cop car. I didn't realize until this preview montage that I've been waiting almost eight years to see Jim steal a cop car. That's I don't think he has. Well, we'll never know about it. If unless until we go back to review the tapes. Yeah. And then like a whole bunch about how everybody's corrupted. I'm like, yeah, that's why you got Rockford. This proxy voting.

Yes. Some kind of bureaucracy. Small town governing structure. It's like, yeah, this feels like Rockford. I just love that the first shot of the preview montage is Jim in this like, it's a cowboy hat, but it's curled up to the sides. Yes. So it's just like this fishing hat as if he's going to be in the sun, maybe. With the band of sweat.

Right. All of, yeah. And full of fishing lures stuck in. Yes. So and he wears it pretty much the entire episode. I get 30 lines deep in my notes before I say, how come I haven't mentioned the hat yet? And not only is he wearing that hat, the line he is saying is about proxy voting. So he's wearing decision headings talking about proxy votes. And that's that's rock for addition is right there. That is an intersection of two lines, two vectors that exists only in one point in all of reality. And that is right here. 200 a day has always been a 100% listener supported podcast. And so here we are doing

a live gratitude. Thank you to the patrons read as part of this, this very special episode here. Epi, you don't listen to podcasts, so you probably don't know how this sounds. I mean, I know how to say thank you thank you thank you I definitely appreciate all you've helped us to do here like this has been a unexpected journey. In a good way unexpected. In a good way. Yes. Yeah. That is due in a very large part to our patrons and our listeners. So we really really appreciate it And here's the part where we go through some of the specific thank yous, because we always have a special thanks for our gumshoot level patrons. Brian Bernsen, superstar and organizer of Rockford 50 Fest, has always been really on

top of staying in touch about what he's been doing to celebrate the Rockford files Even if we couldn't participate and he maintains his Facebook page where he drives his Rockford tribute car to shooting locations of the show Oh, yeah over at Facebook comm slash Brian Rockford files. That's Brian with an eye Mm-hmm. I believe you received a copy of Chuck's souffles One-shot comic Sherlock Holmes in the Wonderland conundrum. Oh, yes! As did I. And it's a lovely piece. And you can check that out over at whatchereadingpress.com. I still need to get a copy of Dale Norwood's book, Trading Freedom, How Trade with China Defined Early America.

And I could get that wherever good books are sold. It's about fast ships, cheap drugs, and American political economy published by the University of Chicago Press. You and I joined Mitch Hampton on the Journey of an Atheist podcast. That was a lot of fun. We encourage you too to listen to Journey of an Atheist, available wherever you get your podcasts. It's where Mitch talks about all matters, aesthetic and what it means to be human. Other gum shoes include Paul Townend, who recommends the podcast Fruit Loops, Serial Killers of Color over at Fruit Loops Pod dot com.

Jayadon has some amazing miniature painting skills showcased over at Jayadon dot com. And your friend in mind mind Shane Liebling, who I believe has been supporting us from the beginning. And so we have been thanking him and directing gamers to his site Roll4Your.party for years because that is where you can find all of your online dice rolling needs. We also say thank you to David Nixon, Andre Apagnani, Brian Cummins, Dale Church, Dave Oh, Dave P, Thanks Dad, Kip Holley, Nathan Black, Pumpkin Jabba Peach Pug, Robert Lindsay, and Tom Clancy. And then we have a special appreciation for our Detective Level

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Thank you very much. All right. We start our show with our credits rolling over Jim Fishing. Yeah, I have fishing with harmonica. I think my favorite bit here is that there's drama in the first couple minutes around whether he's going to be able to catch a catfish that is clearly a catfish in the stream. But he is interrupted by a reporter who is doing a story on trout fishing. Yes. I'm going to just take a moment here to talk about this because as this episode progresses,

she's a fun, like a great fun character I love the idea that Jim is clearly on vacation somewhere out in the middle of nowhere trying to find some alone time and all of the meddling urban Problems that Jim encounters have found him here. Like, just stumble upon him. He can't get away. So, I think it's a great and fun joke, but you also have to suspend some disbelief to

have these first two encounters just happen, right? But once they do, we're off and running. There's a little bit of like, this seems too coincidental, but later in the episode, we do get a little bit of explanation, kind of? Yeah, kind of. I'm sending a screenshot of a happy Jim fishing. Yeah, he's loving it. He can see that catfish and he wants a piece of it.

Now, I do think that both actors were filmed in two different locations, the catfish and gym. But anyways. A lot of this episode was shot on location in a resort community called Wrightwood, California, which is about two hours from LA. And there's a there's a excerpt in the Ed Robertson book And there's a there's a excerpt in the Ed Robertson book of the local paper interview with James Garner. And it features I'm just going to hold up to the camera. It's a black and white picture of the newspaper article, which features a black and white picture of James Garner, under which is is the phrase. Yes, that's James Garner. That's part of the article.

That's not commentary on the caption. Take a look at that picture. Is he wearing the jacket? Is he wearing the production jacket? He is. He's wearing the puffy production jacket. Yeah. Nice.

Anyway, this reporter is named Carrie Osgood. She's with the Independent News Service doing a feature article on trout fishing and wants to get some commentary from Jim. But because she interrupted his fishing, he is not having any of it. He tells her to move along. And that's when a guy wearing a big hiking pack and carrying his own fishing stuff appears. And we see that he and Jim know each other.

We eventually learned that this is John Trainor and that they did like just meet like while Jim has been on this trip. At first, I was like, oh, this is his friend that he came up on the trip with or something like that. Yeah, they seemed like friendly enough that they could have been just hanging out at two different parts of the creek or whatever. Yeah. But I guess this guy, John, he likes Jim because he's not a typical tourist. He has a feel for the land and gives him a tip on where the good fishing is.

Of course, Jim has caught exactly one tiny fish. And yes, John has a bag full of fish that he's caught showing us his superior local knowledge of the stream. We are also establishing that he has a I think was called later a obscure Health diet or something like that, right? Yes He's a forager and it's funny because this is stuff where I'm like whatever but I think this is coded as very weird At the time right? Yeah. Yeah, that's a hobby somebody would have around now. But yeah.

Other than the trout, this guy's just vegan. Mm-hmm, yeah. But he hands Jim a hand of pine nuts and Jim's like, oh, what are these? And I'm like, I grew up in the southwest. Those are clearly pino nuts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're delicious. Anyway, they cook up dinner together. They're enjoying their trout.

Now, Jim is smart, though, so he does not eat the foraged mushrooms, which says a lot about the character of Jim, but also puts a little little mystery on what's about to happen. I feel like it felt like it was like a like a foreshadowing thing, but it wasn't at all. But it's a bit of a foreshadowing thing, but it wasn't at all But it's a bit of a misdirect I guess because I didn't wait pick up on that either I do have a screenshot here of Jim enjoying a big fork full of campfire

Trout, yeah, you know this this tracks We only see him eat his tacos his hot dogs his ham We have a shot of him eat chow down on a hamburger later in the episode as well. And then like fish caught in the stream. Yes. So this, this actor is Michael Kavanaugh. In my notes, I simply say I recognize this forehead. I don't know where though, but he's been, he's obviously been lot. Yeah, I think this is his only Rockford files

Yeah, it is his only Rockford files, but he's of that guy. So While they're talking there's you know, they have a little bit of banter John ends up telling Jim that it's the public's last chance to see nature up in this area Why is that? Well just east of town town there's a piece of city land and the Parma City Council is, of which he's a part, is fielding a proposition to make the land a preserve. So it'd be a nature preserve and they would build a playground and have camping sites to like, you know, preserve the local area. So we're like, OK, we've seen the preview montage.

We know that this is something something hinky is going on with this. Yeah. But we're getting introduced to the idea here. And then John has a couple of sudden pains that double him over. They seem pretty serious. Jim starts like checking his stomach, like, you know, may as a hernia or something. Right. And says, like, we're going to have to get you looked at. We cut to the firebird with Jim driving John to the hospital while John says He can't miss this the meeting tomorrow. He might be the vote that saves that land a couple questions number one

Were you? Suspecting that John might be poisoned at this point, you know, I didn't I think maybe I missed the mushroom reference Like I know he said he says like yucca blooms or something like that. Yeah something. Yeah, maybe that's what it was not mushrooms Yeah I mean I think there's that implication because Jim does like not eat one of the things that he gives him and Jim does bring it Up to the doctor. Yeah, but when since he mentioned the appendix I was kind of like okay, like that's I thought there Yeah, that's where I was I was not suspicious of like foul play or something

Okay, and then my second question is is this a hospital or is it a camping lot? Can it be both it's wonderful. It's a wonderful building. It's a log cabin style building that has a sign that says hospital out front Yeah, exactly. So this town of karma, right? It's a small town style building that has a sign that says hospital out front. Yeah, exactly. So this town of Parma, right? It's a small town and it's very like rural, you know, is kind of the vibe. So everything's log cabin style generally, like the motel he stays in is the same. Right. It's where the chicken parm was invented.

And no, sorry. There are some other local delicacies which we get to eventually. Yes. So at the hospital, yeah, Jim does have a line about check his diet. Oh, he says he eats unusual health foods. Yes. And the doctor is saying they have to keep them. They'll, you know, figure out what's wrong, etc.

And so John scribbles down his proxy vote on a piece of paper to give to Jim in case he doesn't make it back in time. Jim's like, no, I'm leaving tomorrow, but in the face of a sick man who's determined to vote on the proposition and like, and the doctor and nurse like wheel John away. Yeah.

So Jim is just left in the corridor holding the proxy vote. And it's like, well, what are you going to do? This gets to like the heart of why I think this is a perfectly fine final episode for the Rockford files, because this is such a Rockford problem to just be fishing in the middle of the wilderness and then within a matter of hours have the proxy vote in some small town I've never been before doesn't plan to come back to has no interest in and like it's like oh small town bureaucracy You go straight from fishing to being pulled into small town bureaucracy bureaucracy and then in a moment in a beat or two

The the villains of this piece that start shaking out are just amazingly rock-for-files. Yeah. Well, speaking of, we get the rest of our credits as Jim drives into Parma, and we go into the pharmacy where there's a sign for Jason Dell, who we learn he's the pharmacist and he's also the mayor of Parma. Yes. So this guy, I was like, I recognize this guy. Yeah. His actor is Jerry Hardin, who's been in A Million Things. He's a total that guy, including two other episodes of Rock from Files, Coulter City Wildcat and the Mayor's Committee from Jaluk Falls,

where he's one of the mayor's committee. and that's definitely where I recognize him from. I was like, oh, that's why. He's not only one of them. I think he's like the bloodthirsty one. Like I think he's, it might be like, I can't remember. I actually don't remember, but he's a real face. And so as soon as I see him, I'm like, I don't trust this guy. Yeah, yeah yeah absolutely. I think he

plays the guy you don't trust in almost everything. He's deep throat on X-Files. This scene, this pharmacy scene is amazing. So one of the other things we talked about a lot on early episodes or when it came up was the overlap between some of these Rockford plots, noir stories and like samurai stories. Yes. Right. Right. And this kind of has is in that zone. This is the Red Harvest, yo Jimbo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where Jim just walks in and for some reason, everyone in the town happens to be there and is like drifting over to listen to him. It's like, what is going on? Like it is, it is suspicious from the jump because he goes to explain about it. He's like, Hey, my name's Jim Rockford.

I have John Trainor's proxy vote. And as soon as he says John trainer, people start drifting over to see. Yes. Over here, we see a guy in sunglasses, we see a guy wearing a trench coat. Like, we see a sheriff like, yeah. And like you were saying earlier, there are a lot of characters. It's like, yes, there's this guy, this guy and this guy. And they we see we get a camera shot of each of them. So we know that they're important as they try to overhear what Jim's saying. And our reporters in here too. And the reporters there. Yeah. Yeah. And so the conversation is very innocuous. He's just like, I have this proxy vote. But everyone is really interested. And there's just a weird vibe. We get introduced to one of the council members who's got a penchant for discussing the rules and the history of the rules. That is vaguely important. That becomes like a tool for Rockford

a little bit later on. But it's fun. Like, again, it's a character that stands out. Yeah. People are annoyed with him because he's like wants to talk about the subtle implications of of trivial rules. Yeah this episode has a lot of like everything means something is another one. There's nothing extraneous really in any of these scenes. Every time you see something and you're like oh that might be important it it's either important or it's followed up on later. There's one that isn't and I think it's gorgeous the way it stands out.

Oh, I think I know which one you're talking about. But we'll get to it when we get to it. Yes. So the reporter, Carrie, follows Jim to the motel. She happens to be staying in the next the next door. Carrie is played by Sandra Kearns, who's been in a lot of stuff she was also in rattlers class of sixty three i think she might have been one of the cuz there's like a group of conspirators. She might be one of those but i don't remember exactly she the she's the mom from charles and charles i think yeah yeah she has yeah i think she's she's recognizable from shows i haven't seen i think yeah. She has. Yeah, I think she's recognizable from shows I haven't seen, I think. Yeah. He's got a lot of excitement at the pharmacy. Carrie asks Jim, so what's up with this proposition?

And he doesn't even know what it is. Like he hasn't had a chance to like find out what it's actually about. But she's interested because she's sick of softies, filler stories like this trout story. She is an early career reporter. She's trying to work her way up to real news from like internships and writing about, you know, the dog who saved someone from a fire or whatever. I have had some minor success though. My feature when the Buzzards come back to Hinkley was picked up by the Washington Post. What Buzzards?

Well, every spring they migrate back to Hinkley, Ohio, like the swallows to Capistrano. The trout story here was my editor's idea. And Jim's like, uh-huh, OK. When Jim turns to go into his room, there's a note that says, please see the manager as he rounds the corner. He is suddenly intercepted by goons Yes Here we go

Somebody wants to talk to you and then he looks over and there's a limo and he says into the limo. That's right We've been doing this for years Jim knows he's like, yeah, I'm getting in the back of that car with you I Don't know why I guess I'll find out later for years. Jim knows he's like, yeah, I'm getting in the back of that car with you. I don't know why. I guess I'll find out later. So I'm like, we're in a small town, but these guys are so coded mafia. Oh, yeah. They're total mob. Yeah. Like what's what's going on? And we'll yeah, we'll find out another wrinkle as the camera watches the limo leave.

We see another car parked across the street and then a guy has a car phone and he's calling in somewhere saying, this is Belding, run a license plate for me. Oh, so much going on. We're barely into this episode and we already have mob guys, I guess. Weird town. This other guy who probably is not mob, but... He's got a car phone.

So those three elements are ready. And we still like Jim, don't know what's going on. So, I will share... I actually didn't take a ton of screenshots in this one, but I did want to make sure I got this one, which is just Jim and sunglasses goon. This crew, these mob guys, because as we will soon learn, definitely feel like they're from an earlier season, which is kind of fun. Yes. Oh, my God. The dour look on that guy's face is the sketchy mustache.

He has the sunglasses with that are like red brown on top and go down to almost clear at the bottom it's good stuff he's got he's got a little bit a little bit of party in the back and the hair there almost a mullet the photos on the IMDB entry for this one there's a lot of photos and they cover most of these characters so you can get out oh out if you don't see our screenshots. But yeah, it's good. The actor's name is Virgil Fry. Virgil Fry, yeah. Yeah.

Ah, he was apparently a former Golden Gloves boxing champion and was active in the civil rights movement in Alabama before he began acting in the 60s. He was a biker and easy rider. This all tracks. This all tracks with his face yeah just just one of those great faces this is his only Rockford files appearance anyway and this is where we have the first mention of the Bell right yes the Fort Toma Bell is that was called the Fort Toma Bell I think so a little deep cut for our Toma fans it might be I mean I my hearing is not the best so maybe it wasn't but that's what it sounded like to me, so I just assumed.

Yeah, so there's this like, it's not really a roundabout. It's kind of like a big, it's a big triangle where there's like an intersection of three big roads. And in the middle of it is just this bell that's on like a metal stand. Yeah, it's not big. It's just there. Yeah, it's just there. And so. It's there. Yeah, it's just there. And so on route to where these guys are going, Jim is like he's trying to to bring a little levity to the situation. Yes.

And he says something like, hey, that's the Fortoma Bell. It's a local landmark, something. And our our goon is not interested in sightseeing or something like that. Yeah. Anyway, where they're taking him to is a RV that's just parked in a random lot. Oh, I love it. I love it. Inside the RV is Mr. Gersh. Mr. Gersh is clearly mobbed up.

Yeah, now we know that this is the mob. He's, so this is played by Joseph Sorolla, who also played Joseph Manette in The Man Who Saw the Alligators. Ah. So in your head, you can think, oh, a guy who played a guy named Manette. Yes. The Rock profiles. That's who this is. So, yeah, he's wearing his like double breasted suit. He has a tie with racing horses on it.

He has a flower in his buttonhole. He asked Jim if he wants to eat. Jim says, no, thank you. No place to eat in that crummy pomma. You could die of mayonnaise poisoning. As he cracks a lobster claw and starts pulling lobster meat out. I just want to point out, okay, so first of all, it's an RV. There's a certain kinship to Jim's trailer going on here, just by nature of it being a mobile home of some kind but the blocking in this scene is great because it is too small for Jim. He's not hunched over but like the goon that brought him and there's the mob

boss there and Jim is clearly uncomfortable throughout the scene. And there's like moments where the like Gersh, Mr. Gersh, like gets up and moves and Jim has to get out of the way. And it's it's good. It's it's gorgeous. It's a good scene. It's very tight and cramped. Yeah. Yeah. But Gersh asked Jim how he's voting, says, well, I have, you know, John Trainor's proxy, so I'm going to vote the way he would. Like he would probably he would have the probably or and Gersh has definitely for definitely for some classic.

I am not in a position to argue with you. Yes, whatever you say. And then he says, you might be wondering why a businessman like me is operating in a jerkwater like this. So the situation is voting for the proposition would establish the preserve. So he's saying this might be hard to believe, but I just happen to know from personal experience what it's like to grow up in the streets. Think a nice little park out here for kids to play in might just

turn a street kid around. You know what I mean? Keep him from a life of crime. Yeah that too but what I'm talking about is phobias. Mental problems I think mean. I was brought up in a railroad flat. Today I'm afraid to fly. I gotta travel in this thing. Which implies we learn later that they're from New Jersey. Yeah. Yeah. So that implies that he drove cross country in the RV. Yeah. Across the whole country. Mm hmm. Yeah. Of course, he's New Jersey, Newark. There's some great stuff about how Jim is trying to just agree with him.

Yeah. But he's they're not in the same wavelength and they can't be like there's no way Jim could guess what he's going to say. So there's no like there's no way to be agreeable with him. So, yeah, I love it. And I think as audience, we're also kind of like, oh, that's not what I expected. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But he does get around to saying also it would do some business for his construction company, you know building a park Competitive bidding why not me Jim's like well, you have nothing to worry about he's like I know I have nothing to worry about and

Like I don't have to worry about your vote and I don't have to worry about you leaving town He can see Like I'm getting out of here as soon as possible And then he dismisses Jim and that. And of course, we do cut to Jim packing his bag. Yes, I like the way he dismisses Jim, too. I don't remember the exact line, but it's like, why? Why don't you get out of here? Like, just leave.

And so, of course, Jim's interrupted packing his bag by knock at the door. Yeah, this guy from a different movie comes in. He's wearing a not Colombo style, because it's not as rumbly, but he's wearing like a tan raincoat buttoned all the way up with a white shirt, black tie. He's balding. This guy is Mr. Belding, who we saw making the call from his car phone. Yes. The thing about this guy is that he's the way he talks is

almost aristocratic. Mm hmm. It's a little patrician. Yeah. Yeah, we're collecting Rockford files. It's we've got the mob And now we have a money Gentlemen, we're gonna find out that he's I guess high up in a company, but he's wealthy So I this is again one of the reasons why I do like this for the final Rockford Files episode. It's almost like a... It's like a rogues gallery. Yeah, yes exactly. Yeah, a rogues gallery of without specific characters but like the types of characters that he'd be going up against. There's at least one more type that we're gonna get. Oh two, but like one in particular. Yeah. The limo was registered to a New Jersey construction company,

and he wants to know why he was selling his vote to those people. It's like, what are you talking about? He says, I know lots of things. I know about your P.I. license. I know about your prison record. Mark your bingo board and every legal problem you've ever had, which, you know, it's quite a list. I like this. I can have that license. Reviewed. Not revoked, not pulled, you know, reviewed.

Yes. Jim is tired of being threatened. Who are you anyway? He doesn't really give Jim anything, but he tells him that he should leave town and not come back. Which is what Jim wants to do anyway. So he leaves his room to go to the fire. Oh, oh, no. Where's the firebird? Yep. Yeah. It's a nice shot where we see him see the empty parking lot and then Carrie's car, which we had seen earlier,

comes in parks next to the empty spot where the firebird was She just saw his car at the garage across from City Hall I think this is where she is like she tried she wants she's trying to find out what the Proposition is about but right the viewing hours are later in the day or something. So she can't see it yet We're gonna find out that the viewing hours are from four to five. That's an hour. It's a single hour. And it's like there's someone there the whole day. But four to five is when you can like ask to see things.

Yes. But we cut to cut to Jim's car at a mechanic with Jim saying, where's the carburetor? Apparently it has been exchanged for a rebuilt one. Put it back in the way it is. Oh, it's on its way to Santa Barbara. It's ready tomorrow night like I told you on the phone. That was not me on the phone. Well, how was I supposed to know?

I never talked to you before. Right. He's got you there, Jim. Yeah. And we see the mobster's limo like drive away from the other side of the street. So I think we all know who made that phone Jim. Yeah. I see the mobsters limo like drive away from the other side of the street. So I think we all know who made that phone call. Yeah. This is good because at first I'm kind of like, OK, so it's like the whole town's in on it, you know, whatever it is, the mechanic. But then just with that exchange, I'm like, oh, no, he doesn't have to be in on it. This is a perfectly legitimate con to like pull on Jim. Exactly.

You're like, hey, my car's having trouble. I need you to change out the carburetor. My name's Jim Rockford. So, of course, he goes to City Hall to see this proposition. And we get that the hours are four to five. Yes. If she can bend the rules and she just looks at him. And this is great. He says, all right, well, you mind if I wait?

And she points to a big sign on the wall. This is absolutely no loitering. Feels like this isn't their first rodeo. Well, and again, it's not that the whole town is in on it or whatever. It's just that for whatever reason. Yes. This woman, her little kingdom is the city hall. Yeah, this is where she has control. Yeah.

And these are her rules and she's not going to change them for some random guy. Jim leaves and he passes a sheriff with big mustaches coming in and we stay with him as he asks the City Hall lady, what did he want? And she says he wanted to see proposition 46 D. What did he want? And she says he wanted to see proposition 46 D. So we go to Jim just walking back to his hotel, presumably. And that's when the cop with the mustaches pulls over to cut him off and ask him to get in the car. He's going to drop him off in Santa Barbara,

and he can get the bus back to L.A. from there. Jim's like, what about my car? We'll send it out when it's fixed. He says like, Oh, that's going to cost a lot of money. And I think he says, uh, well, that's a matter between you and the toll company. Jim would like to know why he's being run out of town. And the sheriff says it's more like protective custody. He's just a simple police officer trying to keep the peace.

I was slightly surprised that Jim just got in the car. So a little bit of what's happening right now is that Jim's just going along, I mean obviously not when it came to the deal with the garage, but like he's just going along for whatever ride anyone's going to take him to see like what's going to happen next. And I guess this still does accord, other than like having to spend a bunch Of money doesn't want to this does accord with his interest which is leaving. Yeah. Yeah, exactly I'm sure he could think of like riding back up with rocky and then getting his car, you know, like that kind of yeah We're into the trifecta now. We have the mob. We have the the moneyed and now we have the corrupt cops

Mm-hmm. What we just need is somebody who's running some kind of con. That's all we need and then we're good. That's all we need. Yep We cut from there to the bus leaving Parma Jim gets off the bus presumably in Santa Barbara and the mob guys are there waiting for him. My notes were someone's gonna be waiting for him right? They say we told you not to leave town and he says I didn't have a choice. You can kind of see it in one of the other screenshots that I'll send later but this is the first place where I noticed that so his his hat has all these fishing lures in it,

and then he also has a pin in it. And for whatever reason, in this scene is where I noticed that the pin is a Willie Nelson pin. It's a Willie Nelson in like, you know, all weird letters all put together. So yeah, maybe if you zoom in on the last one I sent you, you can kind of see it. It's that gold pin that you can kind of see it. It's that gold, that like gold pin that you can kind of see through. Yeah.

That's because those are the middle of the letters and it says Willie Nelson. It's a W on the side. Nice. Yeah. Shout out to friend of James Gardner, Willie Nelson. Yeah. And random connection to Heartache Civil Fool, mentioned earlier. Do you think this is just a James Gardner hat? Yes, I think this is just his hat.

Now he's he is now starting to get a little bit of a short fuse. Yeah, he's getting jerked around now. Yeah. The scene does include driving back past the bell and the goon saying, You're right. That is an interesting bell. I'm about to twist it out. Yes. Which is so good.

I do like when he sees the goons, one of them reaches for something and he's like, you pull anything out of that coat. I'm going to jam it down your throat. He makes this real threatening gesture and then is like, sorry. And like, it's like, it's like I'm expressing my anger about this. OK, let's go. We go from here to the sheriff talking to the mayor in the pharmacy. That he ran Jim out of town, but the mayor doesn't seem happy with that. But isn't that what you wanted?

No, everything's supposed to be low profile. And so we learn through their conversation that the mayor is paying this sheriff $5,000 for his help in fixing it so that the mayor is the deciding vote on the proposition. So the situation is if Jim is not there with his proxy, the council is tied 2-2 with their vote and then the mayor would cast the deciding vote. But if he's there with his proxy, then it would be a 3 to 2 majority and there would be no deciding vote. But the sheriff is not sure it's worth the money to risk his reputation, especially when I don't know how much they're paying you.

Yes. Dun dun dun. And he says it's all going to work out fine. You just stick around and watch me for signals, which is awfully vague. Yes, but a recipe for disaster, honestly. So yeah, so I think at this point it's like, okay, so there's these interests. So it's not just that it's a weird small town thing. There's actually some kind of bribery situation.

Yes, this guy's running a con. Right. Not a con, but he's playing both sides against each other or might be. So what we know right now is whatever his deal is, it's opposed to the mob because the mob wants Jim to vote and he wants to be the deciding vote. Yes. This screenshot is because Jim is dropped back off at the motel and as he walks to his to his room, Belding just comes out of no just walks into the frame just from out of nowhere in front of him and it's like, ah!

So it's pretty good. I feel like this picture is like, yep, it's the 80s. With the jackets and... Like if you go back to this, because then on Skype we have all of the screenshots are in series if you go into the little preview. So if you like go back to there's a screenshot with Jim and Rocky right. Or Jim's wearing his brown coat. He's drinking milk. Yes. Like that's the 70s.

And then this picture where they're all in tan on tan on gray. Yes. Anyway, Belding, I thought you were leaving town and Jim says some places are really hard to leave. Well, OK. So in this moment, in this episode, I'm thinking what happens if you if you get James Gardner instead of Patrick McGowan to play the prisoner? Gardner instead of Patrick McGowan to play the prisoner. This is the vibe that I'm getting right now. Everything is weird and he can't quite get what he wants. It doesn't know what's happening but like he's working his way through it. Let's extend the thought experiment. Patrick McGowan plays Jim Rockford. Yes.

James Gardner plays the plays number six. Yes. James Gardner plays the plays number six. Yes. We have two wildly different shows that are probably both still really good. Right? Yeah. Those are still two standout TV shows. You get like instead of like some vague shadowy international spy, you know, espionage endeavor. Instead, it's like the mafia has set up a small town in the middle of nowhere. This is just all about making Jim just gaslighting

Jim, right? Like that's the whole deal. Whereas in Gunn as Rockford Files, I'm trying to think of like, it'd be like an international Rockford Files, right? Because he was also a danger man, right? So like, yes, there's that association, which I haven't really watched danger man. But I've been listening to a podcast about the prisoner. Oh, really? Yeah. Because it's Magoon season. So is Magoon season around here. It's called the prisoners dilemma. And it's the most recent version of podcasts that has that title. It's quite good. It's two. It's a couple of game designers who do digital games.

Oh, wow. Wow. I don't really know them from other things, but my reference to them was from following someone else from the Waypoint people. Anyway, they're doing the full two hour episode per episode of The Prisoner and they just started so there's like three episodes in. It's good. Oh, this feels very familiar. Yeah. So, so Danger Man I know a little bit about but haven't watched but I know from hearing

them describe it I'm like, oh, that's kind of Danger Manny. But one, I guess one thing about Danger Man and also The Prisoner and also from what I've seen in Patrick McGeehan and Columbo actually, which is interesting He didn't want to have like lasciviousness be part of his characters in in his roles Yeah, so he's never like chatting up women or like trying to seduce them And so I think that would be a very Not that Garner is lascivious, but like, yeah, yeah, there's a dynamic of like, because sometimes we talk about the swinging seventies kind of dynamic that Jim has with women. And I think if Patrick McGuinn was Jim Crawford, that would not be there.

It just stuck cold. Yeah. Anyway, this is a hell of a digression. A brief Google. I don't think that McGuinn and Garner were ever in anything together. Oh, that's a shame. I guess there's a movie called 36 Hours that has like, homages to the prisoner? Mm-hmm.

Anyway. Anyway. Back to this. Carrie, the reporter, saw this interaction, wants to talk to Jim, she's done some digging. Stan Belding is the chief hatchet man for the Chroma Corporation. And Jim's like, oh, what would a company like that be doing around here? So she still hasn't been able to see the proposition, but she's found out that the city council is tied two to two, you know, the whole situation with the deciding vote, etc.

Jim wants to go see the proposition, tells her to stay put. These people are serious. And this is the first time he gives her the little like cheek pat. Yeah. Speaking of swinging 70s, like, yes, they're starting to have a little bit of chemistry and they're he's being a little more like friendly. Yeah, friendly with her. But she says, I'm a reporter.

And he says on a trout deadline So he goes to City Hall it's four o'clock he's here to see the proposition The woman looks up and goes clocks fast. It's five till And Jim then looks at his watch and frowns like she's right Which I love oh,, yeah, that clock. I keep that fast. Right. Yes, because I know what time it is. Carrie ignored him, does follow him.

And so once she's joined him at the counter. So City Hall, it's a counter like with some shelves behind it. Right. And so my note here is Jim Muggs furiously saying that it's a good thing that she's there from the paper, because this can be part of her story on city employees padding out payroll, right? You know, just sitting around waiting for their pension checks or whatever. And she's like, Oh, right. Yes, I'm glad you brought it to my attention. And this apparently is enough threat to get. Yes, this civil employee to say, actually, it's right here and bring him the proposition to read. So once again, she's not part of the conspiracy.

She's got this sort of petty ownership of this little like you were saying, her little fiefdom, which is this building, the records here. Yeah, like some of the people involved in all the weirdness here are just, they just have their buttons that are being pushed and that's it.

It has nothing to do with them being part of a larger conspiracy. So we get to the heart of the matter now. We'll soon discover what is going on. All right, well, we just took a little bit of a break ourselves, but we're coming back to say the things that we usually say during the intermission. Do you remember what they are, Epi? No I don't.

We record one of these a year. Epi, if our listeners to this very podcast want to find out more about you and your work on the internet. Where can they go? Okay. That's a big question. First thing you can go to dig 1000 holes.com. That's dig DIG the number 1000 and holes as in something that you dig something you dig. Yeah. Dot com. That's my website. You can find me as Epidaia E P IP-I-D-I-A-H on all your fine social medias.

Just a few of them. I don't know. Blue Sky, look at me, I'm Blue Sky or Dice Camp. Those are the two that I'm on at this very moment in time. Or you can find me at unwrittenearths.com where I'm starting a new endeavor with longtime friend and colleague Nathan DiPaeletta. Nathan, where can they find you on these internets? All of my stuff is at NDPdesign.com including my games like the worldwide wrestling role-playing game and all my other games, links to podcasts

that I have done and continue to do, and my portfolio for visual design work. If you're interested in hiring me, come check it out. I am also on some socials, so you can find me on Blue Sky and Instagram at ndbdesign.games. And I am launching a new venture with longtime friend and colleague Epidaia Ravishall. So you can find everything about that over at unwrittenearths.com as well as the Unwritten Earths podcast which would be at unwrittenearths.fireside.fm. And links to all the other things will be at the website. But those are the ones that will be set up as of when this drops, I believe.

Yes. All right. And this is the part where I say, be give us a and now back to delete us out of the intermission. And now back to the final episode of the Rockford files. So the transition is we go from the records lady saying it's right here to just outside city hall Jim saying it's the Atlantic City Amendment almost word for word. The one that made gambling legal there. He says it's there. You have to know what you're looking for. It's all hidden in legalese, but it's there.

So he calls the hospital to ask about John, and they tell him that he was discharged about four or five hours ago. And so Kerry says, oh, well, he should have been back here by now. And we get a good Jim frown. Something isn't sitting quite right. I have another thing. A great establishing shot of where Jim and Carrie go for lunch. The Teja Choppy Bell, Teja Choppy Bell,

something like that. Breakfast, lunch, and homemade pies. Yes. Not homemade one word, home space, capital M, made pies. It's beautiful, it's got a nice outdoor seating, which is surrounded by red painted cinder blocks. There's an American flag in the background. What a beautiful moment.

Everything around here looks like a campground. Alright, so Jim and Kerry are getting lunch in this place. Here we go. Parma could be a gambling destination that's only half the driving distance from Vegas. Mm hmm. People in LA could come here. It'd be a lot easier to come here than to go to Vegas, right? Yes. We have some jokes about the bad food. Yes.

Jim says something like, Gersh was right about the food. Yes. The guy, Al, I guess, the server, the proprietor. Yeah. Yeah. The host comes over to tell Carrie that they're out of the veal cutlet. Guy, Al, I guess, the server, the proprietor, the host, comes over to tell Carrie that they're out of the veal cutlet. So she wears a hot fudge sundae instead. That seems reasonable.

I think she says, like, I wasn't hungry for a proper meal anyway, or something like that. Give me a hot fudge sundae, which, you know what, fair. Live your best life, to which he respires, and I'm sure I'll cut this in. Want to try a special chicken dinner? You get a free wig. This moment. This is a bit of perfection right here. To set the scene, the screenshot here is over the shoulder of this guy, Al, to focus on a display cabinet that has three mannequin heads with wigs on top,

three mannequin heads with wigs inside, and then a sign that Epi will read now. Ladies wigs, $13.99, crossed out, $3.99, one free with each Al's Deluxe Chicken Dinner. This guy's trying to boost some product here. He's sick of paying the warehouse costs on these wigs. That's what's happening. He's sick of stocking the wigs in his diner. Why are there wigs in his diner? We will never know. But this moment is when I went, oh, this guy's not involved with any conspiracy. Like I thought like he was maybe going to like, try and tell him to leave or something. But no, he's just a small town proprietor trying to sell wigs and chicken dinners. I have in my notes, this is maybe the most foolish thing I've ever written in my notes. And it is simply Chekhov's wig. I'm so convinced that this is going to come back.

Like we have to go in there and get those wigs. that this is gonna come back. Like we have to go in there and get those wigs. To the point where there is a woman we see later on who I contend was probably wearing a wig that I thought might have been our reporter in disguise for a brief, for like one hot minute. I was like, there's the wig. Nope, absolutely not.

This is the beginning and the end of this perfect tale, which is Wigs. $3.99 or free with one of Al's Deluxe Chicken Dinners. The real question is, was this just there in the diner? Right. Yes. Because otherwise this had to be like the properties had to put this whole thing together just for this bit, which I also respect. I respect that if that was a choice, but also why?

Okay, from a craft point of view, for Michael Miller's sake, I just want to point out that what's beautiful about this is that this is the descent into madness, right? Like this is the moment where all like Jim has unraveled what it's all about. And now things are going to get weird. That is what this is saying. This is just a declaration to the audience. We're in Twin Peaks territory. Well, Kerry is not interested in the wig or the chicken dinner.

Just the hot fudge something. What do you think, I'm sorry, hold on. Let's just, I can't leave this just yet. Do you think the wigs exist because the chicken dinner's so bad, he's using the wigs to sell the chicken dinner? Or do you think the chicken dinner sells the wigs? I think I need to get rid of these wigs. I'll throw one in free with a chicken dinner, which might actually be depressing sales of his chicken dinners

I think that might be a problem, right? Okay, cuz there's that is a different problem There's a different than like the toy in a cereal box. Well, he's already cut the price, right? So he's trying to move Yes, you're right. Yes. Otherwise, I think it would be like free with deluxe chicken dinner 1399 value or something right? Look remember our metric here is to roughly multiply that by five. So we're talking about approximately a $70 wig that you're getting for free with a chicken dinner. Or you can just get it for like $15 on its own. Now that is price reduced. Yes, yes. Well, yeah, exactly. Wow.

Okay, that's enough about the wigs. For now, I'm about to spin off a podcast. Epi and his wigs? Mm-hmm. Wig talk with Epidia? All right, so here we get some, fill in the details plus supposition so that we know what's going on from Jim.

Mm-hmm. Okay, so if passing this proposition will legalize gambling in Parma, it's a rider on the proposition. Theoretically, it's buried in there so people don't know what they're getting. So it'll establish the nature reserve and also legalize gambling in Parma. So the Jersey delegation is here to build a casino, get in on the ground floor, if you will, with that project. So they want it to pass. The Croma Corporation is here to stop because we have a line that they run like five, what,

five hotels in Vegas. So they don't want competition with their business that's in Vegas. So that's why they want to stop it. Yes. And so Kerry says, oh, the whole thing is corrupt and the whole council's in on it. But yeah, so this rider legalizing gambling has been tacked on to every proposition for last couple of years, including like one to, like widen the roads by the

school, like really innocuous stuff. And the council has been deadlocked over at every time. But he doesn't think most of the people in the town know what's going on because it's too arcane. But there's a recent change in the town regulations where the mayor casts a deciding vote. And so that's why it's all coming to a head. Jim thinks that John Trainor, smarter than he maybe have appeared, so he left the hospital and he's disappeared. He hasn't come back.

So him disappearing makes it a tie again with the council. Jim thinks that he was playing both sides and then his plan was to disappear. And that's why he had like he's like he had like a month's worth of supplies in that pack. He was heading upriver. And he has the skills to live off the land if he wants to. Yeah. So he conned Jim into the proxy so that Jim would face all the heat and he just walks away. All right.

So to reiterate, reiterate, we have the mafia. We have the moneyed interests of a big company. We have a corrupt sheriff. We have a corrupt mayor. And now we have our con man. I mean, like, come on. What else is Jim gonna go up against here? Maybe like another private eye.

If another private eye showed up, that would be perfect. Maybe a private eye wearing a wig? I don't know. Yeah, yeah. He was running out, planning to set me up as a fall guy all along. And you took that proxy for humanitarian reasons. Noble reasons. Noble's good. Stupid is how I feel. Yes. They leave. He thinks that, well, maybe he maybe trainer was going to that place, the beaver forks that he'd been describing to Jim as having the best fishing. Right. Sounded like he knew it well.

And again, just to interrupt, but we're now in this pivot in the episode, it is solved. Done. Now it's up to Jim to just figure out how to get out from underneath it. And that's what I love. One thing I like about this also is that Jim doesn't care what happens. Like it does not matter to him at all if this town legalizes gambling or not. He just wants to get out of a position of being... So if it passes, then like Chroma Corporation is going to like bury him in concrete somewhere. And if it doesn't pass, then the mob is going like bury him in concrete somewhere. Yeah. And if it doesn't pass, then the mob is going to take him out, right? Like he's in this position where he's like, I need to get out from under the threat. Literally do not care what happens with this vote, which is a nice place to be.

So he is gonna, he wants to see if he can track down trainer at Beaver Fork He wants to borrow Carrie's car, but then Jim sees that the mob goons are still watching him And says I think they're a little ahead of me and so they go to his hotel room and we cut to commercial I love this plan that we're about to witness Well, we have a brief interstitial where Belding is holding a tempo magazine with his own picture on the cover, talking to the mayor in the pharmacy saying, put these somewhere where people can't see them. And we get it so it's made clear that he's the one that's, so the Chroma Corporation is behind the mayor's deal, whatever he's doing.

He tells the mayor, we want Rockford out of the way for the duration of the vote. He can't cast the proxy from jail, arrest him on a reasonable charge, and hold him until the meeting is over. So we go from that to Jim bribing a kid named Virgil, trying to claim that he wants to prank a friend, and that's why he needs the coat for the pizza delivery service that Virgil is delivery boy for.

I mean he is gonna fall apart when he sees me in this jacket and holding that pizza. Where's the humor? Oh it'll be funny Virgil, believe me! You ain't playing no joke on nobody. You just want to sneak out of here without you getting seen. Alright, alright, you got me. Just give me the jacket and I'll leave your truck around the corner. That's 650 for the pizza without the tip. I love how the Rockford Files doesn't let Jim get away with being

infinitely clever, right? Like this is just like, no, you don't have to pay me for this. Yeah, none of this makes sense. So whatever you're up to, I don't care. As long as I get a little cut of it. Exactly. I think he's holding a 20 in the establishing shot. So yeah, assuming he adds a couple bucks on for the tip. That's what a $30 bribe. $30. Yep. A hundred and fifty a biometric. Just just let you know. Would you consider that $30 well spent? I mean, I enjoy what happens next. I don't next. I don't know if Jim does, but yeah. Virgil hands over his jacket and his hat. I would contribute to the GoFundMe for that. Which are both too small, so it's very funny. So Jim leaves his hotel room wearing a too small jacket with a hat that's not really shielding his face,

holding a pizza next to his head in a manner that doesn't really shade his face either. Yes, and the hat is similar enough to Jim's other head that it's like, why? And so he is immediately spotted by the mob goon who's just sitting outside his room, like within seconds. So he's out 30 bucks and a pizza because he throws it. He throws the pizza down, he runs to the van and we get our pizza van chase that we were promised in the preview montage. So here's another thing and I don't want to be like superlative just because this is the

final episode because you know like. Yeah why not? You can be superlative. Here's my question the corner that the goon's car takes here is this the greatest quarter we've seen in the rockford files like this car skids almost down like half the length of the driveway before taking the turn it drifts yeah it drifts it tokyo drifts it parma drifts. It Parma drifts. That's good. It is great and it's very meaty.

Very meaty. This is a boat of a car that does it. Good thing it's chasing a van. Yes. These are two well matched cars. I kind of just sat back and watched this. The camera does show us clearly when they pass the bell. Yes, we get the bell again.

We have good jazzy chase music with extra harmonica, I would say. But this wraps up, so there's, you know, there's, there's swerving in and out of traffic, et cetera. And our big climatic moment, Jim waits until the following goon car is almost alongside him and then he slams on the brakes and swerves in front of it so it swerves not to hit him and goes up on an embankment next to the road so it almost slips over. It doesn't quite flip over. The goon gets out, runs over to the van, pistol in hand, opens the door and Jim is gone. in hand, opens the door and Jim is gone. Yeah, yeah. It's a great little chase. Wonderful.

Again, like final Rockford Files episode, I'm glad they fit a chase in. We're not done with chases. But the thing I was left with at the end of that was how big and empty this van is. I mean, there's nothing in the van. How much pizza does this town eat that they need a van like this to deliver it. I mean, maybe it's the van that also, like, picks up the dough and all the ingredients in like Santa Barbara and brings it back to the small town, right? That's probably true. Yeah.

If I had to think about it. Mm hmm. Which you do. You are half of a podcast about the Rock and Files. I will say the other pizza vehicles that we've seen on the show have been Volkswagen Beetles. So right. Yeah. So there has to be another reason. Yes. Well, Jim got the better of this goon.

This was not the sunglasses goon. This was the auxiliary goon that doesn't get any characterization. So, you know, makes sense. We do go to Jim poking around in the woods by the the fishing stream. We have some crossfading as he's looking for John Trainor. I do have a note about his poor knees because he has to get down some pretty steep slopes. And it's like the 1979 James Garner knee situation was not pretty.

Sometimes it's a little evident in the in the shot. But in any case, he does, in fact, see the we see the bright orange because his backpack was a bright orange backpack. So we see the bright orange and like the foreground. And then the camera shows us a tent that's been strung up. Jim starts calling for John and then he goes over and then we see that there are two like shotgun bullet holes in the tent and then we switch perspective to see two feet sticking out from under the tent and we know what has happened. We now have a murder. So we cut to Jim talking to one of the sheriffs, not the main one, but, you know, there's there's a number of sheriffs.

Like a deputy or something. Yeah. Basically just telling them where the body is and the sheriff calls it in. And then we go to Jim and Carrie at the motel. The vibe is weird, right? Because they're both like, well, it's sad that he was murdered. Right. No one's happy about that. But on Carrie's side, this is a real news story. Yes. So like she needs to call her bureau and like file, you know, this story.

And it's like something that is it's a big break for her actually. And Jim, I think he says if it wasn't such a bummer, I'd be celebrating because his death cancels the proxy. So Jim's not on the hook for it anymore. So that's when the sheriff comes back in and he says, you're going to have to come with me. They need you to show us where you found the body because we don't see it. Dun, dun, dun. We cut to our sunglasses goon telling his boss that he took care of trainer. This was a fun little oh, yes I feel like I used to have a term for this. It's a little head fake. Yeah That's just fun because it's just like for a second

But it's like, you know, he says I took care of trainer Gersh's like, oh great. Good job So I'm like, oh, okay. The mob took the body right is my first thought But then he says we left the body in the tent. Oh, they took care of murdering trainer. Yeah. OK. Yes. So is that that little head fake is kind of fun. Yeah. This is a chasey dialogue here. There's a certain tone that the mobsters in the Rockford files,

whether Chase wrote them or not, have. And this fits right into that where he says, people say to me, why don't the leaders here in this be retired? Why do they work and work until points at his heart? Maybe I mean points at his head like a gun like they either or and every business I ever heard of had some kind of a management training program. What do I have I got you It is it's amazing another good like where he's like like, and we go back to Jersey with cheese on our face. Yep. Yeah. He explains from their perspective, if they find the body, Jim's vote doesn't count anymore.

No longer in effect. Yeah. And they want it to count. And that's when they go back to Jersey with cheese on their face. Again, just to point out the craft here, it's great having the goon who doesn't quite understand the machinations involved so that the mobster can explain it to him So that the audience can be reminded and also Understand what's going on not that it's like so complex, but like you kind of forget which side wants what yeah Yeah, so we're just reiterating because the goon did something wrong. We get to reiterate what it is This mobster wants. Well, he says he'll take care of it and we have a great low-key threatening, like your

life depends on it. Yes. You know what I mean. So we go from there to Jim showing the sheriff's where the tent was, and there's lots of physical evidence like you can see where the stakes were and where his backpack was and where the shotgun blast hit. But there's no body. And so the sheriff arrests Jim for filing a false police report.

He does say, well, we're going to get the dogs. We're going to treat it like a search for a missing hiker. And also you're under arrest for filing a false police. Yes. So then we get it from the other side, where we have a scene where the sheriff talks to the mayor. I have Rockford in jail. And as long as Traynor's body doesn't show up, their plan is on. He can't vote. Mayor gets to cast the deciding vote.

But as we learn, the sheriff is the one with the body. Yes. And so he uses that as leverage to bargain up his cut. He's like, I'm going to a lot of effort for just $5,000. How much are they paying you? And we get like, what was that? Apparently, Chroma Corporation is paying the mayor $100,000. Yes. For this scheme.

And so the sheriff wants to change those figures around and make his share 50%. Mayor's not too happy about it. We have some connective tissue where our goon tells his boss that they gave up the search. I think this is where we get a shot of the goon crossing the street and we see his red socks. His red socks are amazing. Yeah, I didn't take a screenshot, but they're extremely good. Like, I think if you haven't seen the episode, it's, you know, like get to it. But like, it's like a deep crimson.

Like I was like, what? Cause it's the only splash of color in maybe the whole episode. It's really good. And then we have the sheriff giving his, I guess his son, we get from the dialogue instructions on where exactly to park his car. Yes. So that the trunk is out of the sun. Yes. And it's like not where anyone's going to stumble over it in their like

motor pool. So the goons without a body, we need Rockford to vote. So we've got to spring him out of jail. And he has to know to vote, you know, the way we want. And Gersh says he saw Traynors body. He'll know know to vote, you know, the way we want. And Gersh says he saw Trainor's body. He'll know how to vote. We have a nice little scene with Jim in jail where Carrie has brought him dinner, including a hamburger that we do see him take a big bite out of. We get some good fry chewing scenes coming up in this.

This is yeah, it's a good food episode. And so from Jim's perspective, he's right where he wants to be. This is where he makes explicit like, whose team am I supposed to be on here? This is fine. I'm out of the way. As safe as he's going to get in this situation. We hear dogs barking outside. He has a line where he says he's too preoccupied with his own survival to worry about what

happened to Trainor. And she gets kind of like frustrated with him and storms out. She wants the adventure. I want to be safe. Jim asks the sheriff about the dogs, you know, are they going to keep barking all night? He says maybe there's a squirrel. There's nothing in that building but the motor pool. And he mentions, and car number one.

It has a blown gasket or something like that. Just a little too much information to that question. And so we then have a series of shots where we see Jim look out the window. There's like four bloodhounds in the back of the car. Maybe there's three. I should have taken a screenshot because it's a pretty good image. In my notes, I was a little suspicious of the Foley until we saw the dogs. I was like, OK, yeah, I can see this racket.

But they're all hanging out of the back of the car, barking up a storm. And then we have a shot where we see that they are right next to car number one. Yeah, which we know has the body in it. And we see Jim get a capital L look as he looks at the situation. It's a good scene to watch. Cause again, we've got the good fry chewing as he's figuring it out. It's good. It's fun.

All right. So it is the next morning, a woman and a man who are clearly not from around here are getting out of a goon car. I think is this where it's like, is she wearing a wig? Yeah, that was the one where I was like, oh, oh, this is going to be the report. No, nothing to do with Al's Deluxe Chicken Dinner and its wigs. Yes, this has to do with whatever scheme the mob has to get Jim out of jail in time for the vote. So from here on out it's I feel like the rest of this is a little loosey-goosey. Yeah it has a

little bit almost the feel of like it's a mad mad world. Yeah it's a little madcap. Yeah yeah but it's fun. It's fun it's just like up until now the episode has been very disciplined in its storytelling and then these last like two scenes are like and here's a bunch of stuff we wanted to have in this episode. I'm not quite sure how it all fits together but whatever we all know where we're going at this point. So we cut to Jim talking to Carrie. Jim saysvin, he's here, which is a great way to establish a character that's going to have like one line. Yes. And Kerry says with a writ.

So you'll be voting. So I guess a writ to get him out. I'm not again, like I'm not sure what the mechanisms are, but like whatever. So before the my note is before the circus comes in, because at this point, it's like this guy, Lee Melvin, I guess he's a lawyer or a judge or something, the woman who's with him, the one of the goons at least, and then like sheriffs and other townspeople, it's just whole like crowd. Before they all come in, Jim tells Carrie his thought about, he's like, I think I know where the body is. And then we cut to

see these people coming in. Then we cut back to Carrie saying, all right, stall as long as you can. So, you know, we have the little mystery. Ooh, where's the body? But I think, you know, we know where the body is too. We know it. We do. So this guy, Lee Melvin, has one line where he says, take some advice, kid. Move with the tide and lead a long and fruitful life.

And then he's like, you have to come out. And Jim's like, not if I pop you in the face. Yes. He's like, I can stay in this cell as long as I want. Yeah. Yeah. Which at a certain point is like, why didn't he? Well, yeah, I think it's just, he's stalling.

Yeah. Yeah. He can stall longer by doing the vote than by staying in the cell and having them just ignore him. Yeah. Yeah. But if he puts pressure on every single moment, that's the longer it takes. Yeah. So we have a brief scene with this council meeting, which is kind of nice because it's like the town hall and there's a bunch of just like people in seats and then there's a table and all the

City councilors and then Jim's at the end and he's been wearing the same clothes for like three days at this point Yeah, it's all dirty and yeah like the sweatpants or whatever that are a sweatshirt. I mean that His gray sweatshirt. Yeah, then he winds up. Mr. Minutia. Yes He makes a motion to vote by seniority. Yes. Seniority. It's the basis of our Senate committee system. It's primary. Isn't that right, Mr. Newman? Seniority has always been accorded a special privilege as far back as the Roman Senate.

Would you quit chattering, high? Let's just vote and get it over with. Well, I'd like to hear Mr. Newman's thoughts. Mr. Newman, isn't it true that in the United States Senate, yes, as I was about to say, the seniority system there is quit stalling. Let's vote. Seconded. That's when the state police roll in and say, nobody move. They grab the goons, they grab the local sheriffs.

We see Lee Melvin just like run away. What is going on? And there's some dialogue. Sure enough, they found John Traynor's body in the sheriff's car. So again, this is a thing where I was like, I don't really know what's happening here, but whatever. So the state cop starts reading like is like, stay here, sir. It sounds like reading Jim writes, right? Feels like they're arresting Jim as well.

They're just going to arrest everybody, which is like fine. That's pretty standard. But Jim can see out the window. He sees Belding running to get in his car. And he says, hey, don't you want to get the guy who caused trainer's death? Carrie says, but Gresh and Jim cuts her off. And then that's when he shoves the state cop. Oh, yeah. To give himself enough room to run and jump and steal the police car.

I guess I didn't catch that because I kind of was just assuming he was going after one of the mob because of the ensuing chase. Well, that's the thing. Because of the dialogue, I was like was like okay clearly he's going after Belding but then it becomes clear in the chase that he's going to that where the RV is yeah so why was that whole thing with Belding even there like we could just see him run away and that's fine like did we lose a seat like was there a line or a scene that got cut or something that maybe but I think we should celebrate that he pushes this cop down and steals his car. This is like the only like my only real like what if we move on from this moment everything else is great. He jumps in the highway patrol car he takes off the other cops follow. We have another chase.

follow. We have another chase chase to. Yeah, we cut from the chase to the RV and see that he can hear the sirens. And so the RV starts to drive. We pass the bell again. Yes, our fourth bell bell passing. And actually in this intersection of all these roads around the triangle with the bell is where Jim is able to overtake and cut off the RV. Yes. And then the other, the pursuing cars, everyone runs out. Jim runs around to the side and pulls it open just as Gersh is coming out with his gun.

But there's two state cops there with their guns out. Everything is gonna get wrapped up with a bow. This is classic Jim too, where he's like, I'm to lead the cops to the danger or the not the danger. I'm going to lead the cops to the to where the problem is, because then I'll just let them arrest me. That's fine. But like, like, because we've seen him do this several times where he's like, if he's being chased, he'll go and just like slam park right next to the cop. and just like slam park right next to the cop. Right, right. Yeah, or he'll speed through the speed trap so that the cops are following him. Yeah. Yeah. But it's just hysterical that he grabs the cop's car to do it. Yeah, yeah, it's good.

The visual is very good. Yeah. So earlier when you said there was the one thing that kind of stood out, I think you were talking about the wig thing. I was. I was. I also thought about the bell cuz like it's yes mentioned and Nobody rings it. I kind of thought maybe they're gonna drive through it like this was like the last scene with yeah

Something some gag about the bell and it turns out no, it's probably part of the actual, you know location Yeah, right. But yeah, I was kind of expecting something but it's just a fun little piece of scenery. Yeah. Well presumably Justice is served. Mm-hmm. We hope we hope and we cut to the mechanic finishing up the repairs on Jim's firebird Mm-hmm Carrie is is there as well saying it's a shame. He's gonna have to pay for it and In our dialogue, you know Gershmmush is called in the repair to keep him there, etc. Carrie is feeling guilty that everything's turning out so well for her. Her editor thinks she's gonna get a byline in the New York Times. I think he just says he's just happy that everything like worked out so well for her basically.

Yeah, and they do have a tender little kiss. It's very sweet. And then she says, do you want me to stick around? And he's like, I don't think you need to do that. All right. See you. Yeah. So she leaves. Jim gets the bill. One hundred and eighty seven dollars. Arts and labor. What is it? What was the air filter?

I didn't order an air filter. I couldn't let you drive away with what you had. It would have been downright irresponsible. You know, I put a new filter in there three weeks ago. Yeah. No, they just don't build them like they used to. He is getting rooked. He's getting totally rooked. My favorite part of this is that he counts out cash Gives him the cash for like the bill and then gives the most grudging tip I've ever seen. Yes

Grudgingly pulls another like bill off of his yeah and stuffs it in the guy's hand I don't know. It's very funny to me the engine takes a minute to warm up Jim is not looking happy. The mechanic says you're gonna going to notice a real difference in that machine, Mr. A real difference. Oh, yeah, I bet. And we hear it chugging as he backs out. The engine is as laboring as he finishes his turn. And then we see he's having a little trouble getting it into gear.

Freeze frame. end of episode. And I'm sending you a screenshot. There's our last view of the Rockford files until the nineties. Oh, and that's a wrap on James Gardner. Oh, that was a fun episode. It was a fun episode. Yeah. Out of context of it being the final episode, it was just fun. It was a fun episode. Yeah out of context of it being the final episode

It was just fun. It was a nice romp It was a version that we haven't seen in a while just you know as chance would have it with the gym leaving LA And you're not having any of the other cast etc There aren't that many of those and we haven't really seen one in a while So like it felt a little fresh in that way. Yeah, it almost felt like an earlier season because of that. I think. Yeah. So ironically, this kind of feels like a season one episode.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too, like. Because without the other regular cast, with the being out of L.A., something about it was, I mean, he visually is, you can kind of see the age. Yeah, the difference that I Six seasons of the show has made on the man. He's 51. I think at this point Yeah, but I mean like let's look at pictures of us from when we started the podcast like that But yeah, there is there's just something where it does has a bit of that of a season one feel to it Yeah, it does in that regard. It also makes kind of a nice like I had mentioned before like a little bow

Yeah, yeah, it actually makes a nice pair with the first episode. Honestly, it does You could see you could see those two back-to-back and aside from the the aging Mm-hmm It would be like oh and like a little bit of the fashion, like a little bit of fashion. But also, like, he's just wearing outdoor clothes and they're in a small town. So you don't expect that. Like, it looks out of time because of all the woodsiness and like, yeah, and stuff. So it doesn't even look that like the goons are really the only ones that are dressed right with their red socks. I mean, there's the wigs.

Yeah, the wigs. Yeah. The big wig craze, the big wig craze of 1978 really hit hard. Yes. Yeah, it was a fun episode. I was a little surprised, like I didn't really know what to expect. So it was kind of fun in that way. A lot of the season six episodes have guest stars, have longer narratives. Right. It's kind of funny that the episode that aired before this one was just a couple of guys.

Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. That's, yeah, that is weird. That one feels very much like a... That one's like barely a Rocker Files episode. Yeah, yeah. That's the one that feels like a backdoor pilot. Yeah, it's interesting. The vibe at the end is definitely a little wild. Given our methodology of tuning them at random, practically, that does change what the ending of this show would have felt like at the time. We didn't experience it like-

Well, at the time, it wasn't the ending. Right. You thought more was coming after this aired there was just like an announcement that there was not going to be a Rockford Files for the rest of the season because it wasn't like canceled it was right we on hiatus and then it got effectively canceled by some other machinations but there was a period where very well could have had the rest of the season it just would have it will just been displaced by a year Yeah, then you had to wait a decade and a half. Yeah for more Rockford files Yeah, yeah, so so this is it. We did it. We did

Congratulations, I was totally gonna get Oreos for this moment, but I forgot no, I'm sorry But yeah, so in plus expenses, we talked a little bit about like the feels. Mm hmm. And thought we should probably talk about this during the actual episode. Yeah, I constantly talk about how surprised I was that we did this whole thing. There was like a four year period where it was like well if we if we still want to do it We should but yeah, we have something come up where we can't keep recording then that's fine I don't remember when but there was definitely a point where I was like, okay, we're gonna see this through to the end

Yeah, so it's not that big of a surprise I think it was when we like counted out how we're like we've done a lot of these and I didn't count and I was like, well, if we keep up this schedule, then we would be finishing in the fall of 2024. I think that was in 2022. Yeah. I can envision that. That's doable. We can do that.

Yeah. It's been a fun journey. The thing is that I never thought, oh, I'm gonna be a Rockford files Podcaster. Mm-hmm. One could call you a Rockford files expert and that's weird, right? Like that's not a thing. I just you know in the beginning it was like hey, I'm really enjoying this show You should check it out and then and then I was like I need a podcast cuz my last podcast is over What do you think? Yeah, it was great. It was one of my better decisions. Mm-hmm And then I was like, I need a podcast because my last podcast is over. What do you think? Yeah, it was great.

It was one of my better decisions. I think so. It certainly kept me busy. So first of all, I mean, we've done this already, but a big thank you to the patrons on Patreon, of course, but also just audience in general, even if like you, dear audience member who's listening right now, 20 years in the future. Thank you for pulling out this old dusty old podcast about a, no, let's say 20 years in the future. Let's say 40 years in the future. Because that'd be as far. Yeah.

Yeah. So 40 years, yeah, 40 years into the future. Um, anyways, the point is, thank you, world men. Yes. It's been a, it's been a very fun ride. It's entertaining. No matter what, like, I don't think there were that many downs. There were definitely some moments where it was like, ooh, how do we talk about this? This is a little iffy or whatever.

But most of the time, they not only were like, it was very well done, but they landed on the right side of history. Right. Right. Yeah. I think it's no accident that this show has enough to it to give us everything to talk about that we did. Has the sustaining power to still be entertaining, not really feel like it's aged, honestly, in most regards, and land on the right side of history in most regards. Right.

That it was not that much of a lift to just do the show for us as contemporary, progressive, leaning people. There's a reason those gears mesh, right? Right, yeah, yeah. And so it was nice to go from like, oh, we'll see how some of these episodes are to being like, well, I can assume that any given episode is going to be good. And then be surprised if something falls a little flat, like some languages used that is like at this point antiquated and you know, not how we refer to a certain kind of person or whatever.

Or some of the politics are muddled or, you know, that kind of stuff that happens. And it's like, oh, OK. And, you know, we try to give content warnings about stuff that was more serious. But generally, the overall average is so high that it felt like it was hard to talk about really at any point. And like on on the other part of the other side of that coin there, like the craft was so good. There's so much to the vast majority of the other side of that coin there like the craft was so good There's so much to a vast majority of the time. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I remember

You know like we were saying earlier that like when we were talking about Pulling lessons out of it We we started running out of lessons to pull out of it because they were just doing it so well that they just like they were Just honing it or whatever. The lesson we got was get good. Get good, yeah. Well, no, but like we weren't choosing episodes because they were good lessons. We were choosing them almost at random.

We're choosing them based on the title or the little blurb on IMDB or something like that. And they still just kept hitting beat after beat. The random sampling, obviously, we have a full and complete sample now, but the random sampling we did in the early part of the podcast just showed how well the entirety of the show as a whole worked,

how well-crafted most of it was. It was so much fun digging deep obviously we didn't dig super deep but we got pretty you know like we got into some of the production stuff and anyone who's interested in that stuff should go to the sources that we use which yes again another shout out to ed robertson and his book so it has been updated there is now a 40 years of the rockford Files. That's the updated version. I kind of just kept it 30 years because it's the one I had and I was like, you know,

let's just have this be like the text. But I know it's been updated with some additional information and interviews and stuff like that. Some of the comments section aside, the Rockford Files filming locations blog spot. We've got a lot of fun little bits and pieces out of that For sure. Those were kind of the two main sources anytime I was like looking for a summary of a background piece or something like that So I would recommend those for people who want to go to like, you know more robust sources, yeah, and

Our podcast will always be in reruns for as long as we have it. That's the magic of the, the magic of podcast. It, it's day as long as we pay for hosting it's day. So do we have final notes on the rocker files? I mean, final for now. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I mean, yeah, nothing is final final.

Like we said, we'll be back with some, you know, other things to talk about. I am kind of looking forward to having a bit of a break. Just because, you know, it's not hard. But no, but it takes up like the sun is currently setting on me. We started recording today before noon my time, and I will have to turn a light bulb on to leave this room. And I mean, that's just the nature of like, I don't think people realize how long we talk.

How little of what we say you actually hear. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm looking forward to future things. Yeah, I'm looking forward to taking a break so that when we come back or, you know, from doing this particular approach to a podcast, because when we come back with something, I think it'll be really exciting. It'll be like, oh, getting back on the, you know, getting back on the bicycle or whatever, right? Yeah, yeah. It'll feel more fresh. You know, we've talked a little bit about having some senioritis, right, as we've gotten to the last

stretch. So getting having a, you know, having a summer break, right, I think will be nice for our future episodes. But yeah, I was, you know, I had mixed feelings when I sat down to do my notes last night. It was, you know, a little bittersweet. I was trying to just enjoy the episode, but also, you know, think about it kind of a larger sense. And, you know, so was I as engaged as I could have been?

Probably not. And I did have a bit of a feeling of like I think we talked about this at the beginning. If I was to write the finale for the show, would it be this episode? Probably not. Right. But there is an element of like Jim and Carrie at the end. Like they don't have a grand romance. It's kind of like, there are a bit of ships in the night and then she, and then like, they leave on a like,

see ya, see ya, and like, she just walks out of his life and then he has to deal with his broken car. And like, that's Jim Rockford. That is a Rockford ending. Yeah. Like it is appropriate without necessarily being written to be an ending, you know There there are some shows that I'm I'm like this is the perfect ending like there's a few shows out there where I've

Like when they do an ending i'm like, wow, they really nailed it And I think you're right about that last scene Like that has that nice bittersweet and Jim will carry on being Jim right like yeah they don't you know kill the character off you don't have like a big change where he retires from being a PI you don't have any of that fact we know because in the 90s he's still charging 200 a day when he should absolutely up his his rate but yeah I I think there's something about that where it just feels like and and Jim will carry on

That in and of itself is a very heartening message. Mm-hmm Yeah, and it's interesting to think about the end of the last movie Which is the end with Rita and yes how that was very much scripted to be like an ending Yes, and it I mean the movie we had a lot of things to say about, but the ending was, you know, perfect. Yeah. So knowing that that's in the future, right? Right. Yeah. They got to have it both ways.

They got to have this, which was like, kind of, to my knowledge, an accidental pretty good ending. And then they got to write a good ending. Yeah. At the very end. So here we are at the end. I mean, again, we're definitely going to come back and do some other things in the very end. So here we are at the end. I mean, again, we're definitely gonna come back and do some other things in the near future, but like for now, the ending.

I guess this is the point where we say, if you are here to just hang with us or you happen to be interested in tabletop role playing, game design and publishing, Nathan and I will return in the new podcast, the Unwritten Earth Symposium podcast, which should be out by the time this comes out, right? The plan is to have it at least have the feed available.

You can look that up. We'll put a link in the show notes as well. So yeah, we're not gonna stop talking. No. You could never stop two not going to stop talking. You could you could never stop two men with microphones from talking. But yeah, we're going to talk about some other stuff for a while. Yeah, I guess this is just a good place to have a final thank you to everyone who listened, gave us some money, commented, sent us stuff. Yeah, which has really been a nice...

That's a really surprising benefit of doing a podcast. I was wearing my Rockford Files jacket today. Yeah, me too. It's chilly in the morning. I'm wearing my Paradise Cove Beach Cafe sweater right now. We say it a million times, but didn't expect this kind of response to this podcast, and it's just super gratifying that it exists and we really appreciate it. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, I think we'll end on that.

So as they say, it is farewell, but not goodbye. We will be back next time. We just won't be talking about another episode of The Rockford Files. I lose track after that. Yeah, yeah, I do too. We did it! We did it! Go get drunk! It is 1 19 PM. 1.19pm. **Saxophone music**