Kind of OT, but possibly of interest to James Garner fans:
I vaguely remember one or two episodes where he was being bugged by a guy who wanted to be a PI and even had a “PI kit” that he had ordered from the back of some magazine or comic book. Anyone remember that?
But Rockford Files wasn’t just about solving a crime. It was about how everything went wrong in the process, yet the injured parties (who were often not his customer) usually got justice, and Jim either didn’t get paid, or somehow spent more than he earned on the case (and often got the crap beat out of him in the process).
He would use Angel in a scam to get back from the bad guys, and everything would go wrong, but he’d pull off a win at the end.
“Jim, thanks for taking little Billy fishing, he had a great time. Turns out he really wasn’t seasick. Um, have you ever had chicken pox?”
Freddie Beamer, played by james Whitmore, Jr. In fact, there was an episode with him and Lance White (Tom Selleck).
I just watched that one on Netflix. It also had PI Vern St. Cloud and Larry (Rick from Magnum, PI) Manetti.
Lots of great lines and scenes.
Lance, Beamer, and Jim are going over the discovery of the body back at Lance’s office and Lance is describing these minute details to a disbelieving Jim:
Lance: ~I remember almost everything that happens, Jim. I have total recall.
Beamer: The mind is a wonderful tool, Jim.
Jim: How would you know?
There were places years ago (although the 1970’s seems a little too recent) where the beach areas were very run down and considered scuzzy real estate. Malibu, like Topanga Canyon, was slightly remote to L.A., and although I don’t know the exact value figures then, I can almost believe Rockford could afford such a place, given a few breaks (maybe he inherited the land, maybe he got a sweet deal for whatever reason, maybe he won it in a card game…).
An example is the Venice, CA area. Originally designed as a weekend getaway for second-homers from LA in the early 20th century, it fell into hard times in the 1960’s and was quite a fetid dump next to unsightly, unmaintained canals. Then it was revived partly thru Upwardly-Mobile Hippies who bought land cheap, remodeled, and sold it dear, and it became not only respectable again, but highly desirable.
Maverick is his name.
Wild as the wind in Orgeon blowin’ up a canyon, easier to tame. 
I can remember watching Red River again after seeing the Rockford Files and thinking it was easy to see why they chose him as Garner’s dad.
(I love that shot of him in the montage after John Wayne says, “Take 'em to Missouri.”)
Then a moment ago, checking for this post, I googled Noah Beery Jr images, and it’s uncanny how much the old James Garner also looks like the old Noah Beery.
Here’s an entry in tv.com about the episode that sounds like it may have been Beamer’s first appearance.
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-rockford-files/beamers-last-case-18037/
Wow, did Tony Randal ever age?