This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Ed Lauter, Joanne Nail and Michael Bell star in “The Dog and Pony Show,” airing Oct. 21, 1977. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

Posted on October 21, 2026 by admin
  1. THE DOG AND PONY SHOW
    Original Air Date:     October 21, 1977
    Synopsis. Rockford meets his latest client, Mary Jo Flynn, in a group therapy session after a judge convicts him of petty theft and sentences him to undergo psychiatric counseling. (Not surprisingly, it was all Angel’s fault: he stole $200 worth of silverware, then tried to haul the stash away in Jim’s car.) While she was recently institutionalized for paranoid schizophrenia, Mary Jo met another patient named Joseph Bloomberg, who claimed to be an intelligence agent victimized by the U.S. government. But “Joey B” is a renowned mob informer who was committed by his own family to prevent rival crime factions from killing him. Rockford must protect Mary Jo from Bloomberg’s family, who perceive her as a threat because she could leak Joey’s location.LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details
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TV CONFIDENTIAL Show No. 752.4 with guest Rhonda Shear is now available for listening on demand for free wherever you find podcasts

Posted on October 20, 2026 by admin


Rhonda Shear on her new 24/7 Roku network
Original Airdates: Oct. 16-18, 2026
TVC 752.4: Ed welcomes back actress, comedienne, author, and entrepreneur Rhonda Shear (Rhonda Shear Up All Night, Rhonda Shear Intimates, Up All Night: From Hollywood Bombshell to Lingerie Model, Life Lessons From An Accidental Feminist). Rhonda has just launched the Up All Night Network on Roku, a 24/7 channel featuring brand new episodes of Rhonda Shear Up All Night twice a month, plus uncensored cult films, classic episodes of Rhonda’s Up All Night series from the 1990s, special collections, and a whole lot more. Rhonda hopes to blend nostalgia with new content, while also supporting emerging creators, and engaging multi-generational audiences. The Up All Night Network is available on all Roku devices for just $3.99 a month. For more information, RhondaShearUpAllNight.com.

Topics this segment include how Rhonda came to launch the Up All Night Network, why wrestling audiences have always been fans of Up All Night, and why “paying it forward” has always been important to her. Rhonda will also be appearing at the Spooky Empire convention in Orlando, Florida on Oct. 30-31.


Rhonda Shear, George Burns, and Bob Hope
Original Airdates: Oct. 16-18, 2026
TVC 752.5: Rhonda Shear talks to Ed about the invaluable advice that George Burns once gave her, early in her career; how she nearly decapitated Bob Hope during the taping of her first major TV appearance; why word of mouth is still a viable tool today; and the secret to a good “Uppp!” when delivering her signature line, “Up! All Night.” Rhonda’s Up All Night Network is available on all Roku devices for just $3.99 a month. For more information, RhondaShearUpAllNight.com.

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TV CONFIDENTIAL Show Nos. 751 and 752 with guest David Van Deusen are now available for listening on demand for free wherever you find podcasts

Posted on October 20, 2026 by admin

David Van Deusen, author of From Fandom to Friendships
Original Airdates: Oct. 9-11, 2026
TVC 751.3: Ed welcomes back David Van Deusen, longtime archivist for The Dick Van Dyke Show and the writer and producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary, a fully authorized, feature length documentary that provides an oral history of the Van Dyke show. David’s new eBook, From Fandom to Friendships: My Adventures with “The Dick Van Dyke Show” Cast, not only recounts the many lifelong friendships David has cultivated with the people who brought us the Van Dyke show (including Rose Marie, Carl Reiner, and Dick Van Dyke himself), but provides an inside look at the making of the show. From Fandom to Friendships is available exclusively at TheWalnutTimes.com or Payhip.com/theotherdvd

In this segment, David talks to Ed about the writing brilliance of Carl Reiner, the physicality of Dick Van Dyke, and why the Van Dyke show has always appealed to him as a viewer.


David Van Deusen: The “other” DVD
Original Airdates: Oct. 9-11, 2026
TVC 751.4: David Van Deusen, longtime archivist for The Dick Van Dyke Show, shares a few stories of his visits to the homes of Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke; how the many friendships he cultivated with Van Dyke show personnel began with Rose Marie; and the power of the Walnut Times coffee mug. (The Walnut Times was the Van Dyke show newsletter that David edited and published for twenty years.) David’s new eBook, From Fandom to Friendships: My Adventures with “The Dick Van Dyke Show” Cast, is available exclusively at TheWalnutTimes.com or Payhip.com/theotherdvd

David Van Deusen and Dick Van Dyke
Original Airdates: Oct. 16-18, 2026
TVC 752.3: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with David Van Deusen, longtime archivist for The Dick Van Dyke Show and the author of From Fandom to Friendships: My Adventures with “The Dick Van Dyke Show” Cast, a fun new eBook that not only recounts the many lifelong friendships David has cultivated with the people who brought us the Van Dyke show (including Rose Marie, Carl Reiner, and Dick Van Dyke himself), but provides an inside look at the making of the show. From Fandom to Friendships is available exclusively at TheWalnutTimes.com or Payhip.com/theotherdvd

In this segment, David shares a few memories of his friendship with Dick Van Dyke, including the time when Van Dyke not only spotted David in the studio audience during a break while taping an interview on The Rachael Ray Show, but publicly acknowledged David on the air once taping resumed.

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This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: “White on White and Nearly Perfect,” the first of two episodes starring Tom Selleck as Lance White, airs on Oct. 20, 1978. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

Posted on October 20, 2026 by admin
  1. WHITE ON WHITE AND NEARLY PERFECT
    Original Air Date:     October 20, 1978
    Synopsis. While investigating the disappearance of the daughter of a millionaire industrialist, Rockford must also contend with Lance White, a rival private detective whose intrepid yet oblivious approach to their profession nearly gets them both killed.

    This episode introduced one of Rockford’s most memorable characters: Lance White, a rival private investigator with a knack for landing in situations that the pragmatic Jim Rockford would normally avoid. Series co-creator Stephen J. Cannell patterned White after gunslinger Waco Williams, the title character of one of the most famous Maverick episodes of all, “The Saga of Waco Williams.”


    LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details

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This Date in MAVERICK TV History: “The Long Hunt” airs on Oct. 20, 1957. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

Posted on October 20, 2026 by admin
  1. THE LONG HUNT
    Original Airdate: October 20, 1957

Synopsis. Maverick befriends Lefty Dolan, a bank robber who rescued Bret from “a parcel of very disappointed poker players.” Their friendship is cut short when Lefty is gunned down by two other holdup men—but before he dies, Lefty tells Bret an incredible story. Several years earlier, he and three others had pulled a bank robbery in Dry Springs, Arizona. A man named Jed Ferris, who bore a slight physical resemblance to Lefty, was arrested and convicted for the crime. Lefty, whose conscience has bothered him over the fact that an innocent man has paid for his crime, asks Bret to do whatever he can to clear Jed’s name.

“The Long Hunt” features two of the most famous Pappyisms of all: “Hell has no fury like a man who loses with four of a kind” and “Love your fellow man, and stay out of his troubles if you can.”

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever
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This Date in MAVERICK TV History: Efrem Zimbalist Jr. stars as Dandy Jim Buckley in “High Card Hangs,” airing Oct. 19, 1958. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

Posted on October 19, 2026 by admin
  1. HIGH CARD HANGS
    Original Airdate: October 19, 1958

Synopsis. Bart and Dandy Jim Buckley join a mining camp in the Black Hills, where they await an opportunity to play poker with the other miners. While panning for gold, they meet prospector Genessee Jones, who has $8,000 in gold dust. But Jones is also a card shark who relieves Bart, Mike Manning and Joe Hayes (two other miners) of all their money. When Jones is found dead, Bart, Manning, and Hayes become the likely suspects. Knowing they all will hang unless the real killer confesses, Bart proposes that the three of them cut cards, and that whoever draws the high card must confess to the crime. When Bart wins the draw, he apparently faces the gallows—but it’s all part of a plan that he hopes will lead him to the real killer.

Bart’s relationship with Buckley is nowhere near as antagonistic as brother Bret’s. Bret’s associations with Dandy Jim are always against his will; even when he does side with Buckley, he never lets his guard down (he usually addresses Buckley by his last name). While Bart knows that Buckley is slippery, he not only seems less guarded with Jim, but seems to enjoy a genuine friendship (Bart often calls Buckley “Dandy”). This plays out in later episodes. In “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres,” for example, it is Bart who enlists Buckley in the con game that helps Bret get his money back.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever
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This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Marcia Strassman, Kristoffer Tabori and George Loros star in Part 1 of the two-part episode “Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die,” airing on Oct. 19, 1979. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

Posted on October 19, 2026 by admin
  1. ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WILL NEVER DIE (Part 1)
    Original Air Date:     October 19, 1979

    Synopsis. Pop music superstar Tim Ritchie (played by Kristoffer Tabori), already facing a palimony lawsuit by his former live-in girlfriend Diane Bjornstrom, hires Rockford to locate his record producer and longtime friend Bryan Charles, who disappeared after they had a major dispute seven days earlier. Jim learns that Charles supplied Evergreen Management, a rival record label run by mobster Bernie Seldon, with bootlegged copies of Ritchie’s latest LP Renegade Lotion—a move that has cost Ritchie’s company $1.4 million in profits. The matter turns to murder when Rockford finds Charles buried in the back yard of his own home.Marcia Strassman (Welcome Back, Kotter, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) later played Dr. Trish George in Friends and Foul Play, the fifth of the eight Rockford telefilms that James Garner produced for CBS in the late 1990s. George Loros previously appeared as tightly-wound mobster “Anthony Boy” Gagglio in “To Protect and Serve” and “The Man Who Saw the Alligators” and as equally paranoid hitman Tommy Lorentz in “The Dog and Pony Show.” LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details
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This Date in MAVERICK TV History: Patricia Crowley guest stars in “A Tale of Three Cities,” airing Oct. 18, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

Posted on October 18, 2026 by admin
  1. A TALE OF THREE CITIES
    Original Airdate: October 18, 1959

Synopsis. Stephanie Malone, a desperate young woman (played by Patricia Crowley), robs Bart of the $800 he won playing poker. After tracking Stephanie down, Maverick learns that she stole his money to pay off her father’s $1,500 debt to Sherwood Hampton, a card cheat who runs a gambling hall in a nearby town. After Stephanie promises to reimburse him, Bart tries to win back the money from Hampton.

Patricia Crowley previously appeared in “The Rivals,” the second-season episode that featured James Garner, Jack Kelly, and Roger Moore.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
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This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Joseph Cotten, James McEachin and Sharon Gless star in “This Case is Closed,” the 90-minute episode that sparked one of the most colorful chapters in the history of the series, airs on Oct. 18, 1974

Posted on October 18, 2026 by admin
  1. THIS CASE IS CLOSED
    Original Air Date:     October 18, 1974

    Synopsis. Warner Jameson (played by Joseph Cotten) believes that Mark Chalmers, the jet setting Ivy Leaguer engaged to his daughter Sue (played by Sharon Gless), is not all that he appears to be, so he hires Rockford to check into Mark’s past. Rockford’s investigation takes him to Newark, New Jersey, where he is hounded by local police and federal agents. The matter becomes worse when Rockford returns to L.A., to the point where he not only quits the case, but drops out of the private eye business all together.
    “This Case is Closed” fueled one of the most colorful chapters in the history of The Rockford Files. For more on that, see our discussion of “The Resurrection of Angie.” In the meantime, we’ll give you a hint: The story involves producer Glen Larson and ends with James Garner taking the matter into his own hands—literally.    Guest star James McEachin later co-starred with James Garner in First Monday (CBS, 2001), the short-lived series set against the backdrop of the United States Supreme Court. Garner played the Chief Justice of the court.

    LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details

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This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Dana Elcar, Noble Willingham and Bob Hastings guest star in “The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company,” airing Oct. 17, 1975. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

Posted on October 17, 2026 by admin
  1. THE GREAT BLUE LAKE LAND AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
    Original Air Date:     October 17, 1975

    Synopsis. En route to Los Angeles to deliver a client’s $10,000 bail money, Rockford becomes stranded in the small desert town of Great Blue Lake after his car breaks down. Needing a place to store the money overnight, he deposits the cash with Murray Johnson, a salesman at the Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company (the only building in town with a safe). But when Jim arrives to pick up the money in the morning, he finds that the money is gone—and that nobody named Johnson works for the company. With the help of Rocky and con artis Harry Danova, Rockford plots a sting to recover his money, but drops his plans when company president Walter Hart suddenly returns the $10,000. However, when the phantom Murray Johnson is found murdered, Rockford becomes the prime suspect.

    A variation of the classic Maverick episode “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres,” “The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company” also marks the first instance in which The Rockford Files used the Jim Rockford character to address certain social inequities. This is a characteristic for which Rockford would become particularly known beginning in the third season.

    LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details

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