In addition to being one of my favorite shows of all time. It was the first of its kind in the 70's for any number of reasons:
- Rockford kept his gun in a cookie jar.
- Rockford never "wounded" the bad guy with a snub-nosed pistol from over 100' feet away (a'la Barnaby Jones).
- Rockford lived in a mythical trailer park near Oxnard (I think).
- The guest stars were great. Isaac Hayes as his prison buddy, the guy who played Angel (ok not really a guest star but hey). Tom Selleck as Lance White (pretty much the Anti-Rockford PI).
- Rockford didn't really get along with cops (I am pretty sure he was the first PI on TV with that distinction).
- Rockford managed to go through some personal changes on the show. In particular, during the last season he filed for bankruptcy and had his trailer repossessed. He worked as a night-watchman in that trailer park to make ends meet.
- When Rockford hit a guy he often hurt his hand.
Anyway, when CBS brought Jim Garner back as Rockford it was, needless to say, a disappointment.