Unnlocking ‘Rockford Files’

What is the secret to the success of a TV series?

Good writing. A great concept. A strong producer. Characters who fit the performers like a comfortable old shoe.

The lighthearted detective series “The Rockford Files,” which aired on NBC from 1974 to ’80 and has recently joined the Arts & Entertainment network lineup, had all the necessary ingredients for hit status. The series’ biggest calling card was its star, James Garner. His laid-back style meshed perfectly with his character--private detective Jim Rockford. Rockford could have been the great-great-great grandson of that charming wastrel Bret Maverick, the character that turned then-unknown Garner into a TV superstar on the popular 1950s ABC Western “Maverick.”

Rockford was a P.I. with a checkered past. He was an ex-con who had been imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and was later exonerated.

His fee was $200 a day plus expenses; he often took cases that had been officially closed by the police, much to the chagrin of the cops. Each week, Rockford would butt heads over a case with Detective Dennis Becker (Joe Santos).

When he wasn’t working, Rockford lived at the beach in a trailer. His father Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.), a retired trucker, often got involved in the action, and his girlfriend, attorney Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett, who left the series in 1978), always had to bail him out of trouble.

Rounding out the cast was Evelyn “Angel” Martin (Stuart Margolin), one of life’s losers who had met Rockford in prison and was still running with the criminal element.

“Rockford Files” featured young up-and-comers in its guest cast, including Lindsay Wagner and James Woods, and occasionally featured such stars as Lauren Bacall.

In 1979, a handsome but almost unknown actor named Tom Selleck was introduced in the recurring role as Lance White, the perfect P.I. A year later, Selleck became a TV superstar with his own series, “Magnum P.I.”

Though “Rockford” never cracked the Top 25 in the Nielsen ratings, Garner won an Emmy Award for his role in 1977 and the catchy instrumental theme song by Mike Post and C. Carpenter hit No. 10 on the pop music charts in 1975.

“The Rockford Files” airs weekdays at 3 p.m. and repeats the following weekday at 10 a.m. on Arts & Entertainment.