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

October 20, 1978

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.”

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