Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
I already have the entire series on DVD, including the 8 TV movies. Yes, there were 8 TV movies, all made in the mid-1990s. They were inferior to the series (partially because Garner was already around 70 at the time, and partially because the writing wasn't as good), but still watchable if you've seen the entire regular series and want more.
As with most shows, the first few episodes aren't as good as most of the rest of the series, as it was still "finding itself" at that point. But it hit its groove pretty quickly, and unlike many other successful series, it didn't degrade much at the end of its run. Much of this is because Rockford ended prematurely. James Garner, who did his own stunts, developed bad knees in 1979 to where he couldn't continue filming. Since the show was expensive to make (due to extensive on-location filming around Los Angeles), and because it was starting to slip in the ratings anyway, they decided just to cancel it, rather than waiting for Garner to recover. Season 6 is substantially shorter than the others for this reason, and also because the final four episodes were destroyed in a studio fire.
But anyway, yes, the show holds up today better than just about anything I've seen from the 1970s (except perhaps All in the Family).
You can watch it out of order, because there is no continuous storyline.
Jimmy, people our age caught the show in afternoon reruns. It ran from 1974-1980, so the last episode aired before my 8th birthday. It survived for a long time in reruns because it has a timeless appeal, to where younger generations were able to appreciate it.
If you grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s like I did, you get an added bonus of being able to relive what the city looked like during your childhood, as the on-location filming now gives you a great view of that.