The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication

Television syndication

In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 to the present day. The show stars James Garner

James Garner

James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...

 as Los Angeles-based private investigator

Private investigator

A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

 Jim Rockford

Jim Rockford

Jim Rockford is a fictional character on the television series The Rockford Files. The character, played by James Garner, is a struggling private investigator operating in Los Angeles....

 and features Noah Beery, Jr.

Noah Beery, Jr.

Noah Lindsey Beery , known professionally as Noah Beery, Jr. or just Noah Beery, was an American actor specializing in warm, friendly character parts similar to the ones played by his uncle Wallace Beery, although Noah Beery, Jr., unlike his uncle, seldom broke away from playing supporting...

 as his father, a retired truck driver.

The show was created by Roy Huggins

Roy Huggins

Roy Huggins was an American novelist and an influential writer/creator and producer of character-driven television series, including Maverick, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files....

 and Stephen J. Cannell

Stephen J. Cannell

Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor, and the founder of Stephen J. Cannell Productions.-Early life:...

. Huggins had created the television show Maverick

Maverick (TV series)

Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...

 (1957–1962), which had also starred Garner, and he wanted to try to recapture that magic in a "modern day" detective setting.