The Rockford Files - Episode Guide

Episode: S01 Special | Airdate: Mar 27, 1974 (120 min)

The Rockford Files pilot movie later re-titled to Backlash of the Hunter.

Episode: 1x01 | Airdate: Sep 13, 1974

A wealthy but unlikeable young man hires Jim to solve the mystery of the death of his parents - the crime for which he stands accused.

Episode: 1x02 | Airdate: Sep 20, 1974

Beth ropes Jim into proving the innocence of her newest client, a poet who died under mysterious circumstances after crashing a party in Belair.

Episode: 1x03 | Airdate: Sep 27, 1974

Jim is helping a Countess avoid a blackmailer but is then charged for the blackmailer's murder.

Episode: 1x04 | Airdate: Oct 4, 1974

Jim finds the murdered body of Prentiss Carr in his hotel room and after reporting the incident to the police learns it has been classified as suicide

Episode: 1x05 | Airdate: Oct 11, 1974

Jim is hired by a newspaper woman to find her missing friend, who then insists on tagging along to "help" his investigation. The missing friend had a sordid past, and several of her old friends want to find her just as badly.

Episode: 1x06 | Airdate: Oct 18, 1974

Jim travels to Newark, and draws the attention of organized crime and the FBI. The FBI is protecting Jim's target because he is a former federal witness. The target is found dead, and Jim's client has some explaining to do.

Episode: 1x07 | Airdate: Oct 18, 1974

Episode: 1x08 | Airdate: Oct 25, 1974

Episode: 1x09 | Airdate: Nov 1, 1974

Rockford reluctantly takes a unique assignment: a beautiful mystery woman wants him to find her, to see if someone she fears could also track her down. With a check poised to bounce, the ex-con PI needs the retainer to balance his always-challenged checking account. When Rockford checks with a local police department, he worms out a chilling piece of data: she's been dating Denver Mafia capo-regime, hot-tempered Ralph Correll. But the more Barbara Kelbaker strings along Jim Rockford, the more he's charmed into helping the desperate 30 something

Episode: 1x10 | Airdate: Nov 8, 1974

Jim tails a woman just released from prison. She was involved in a robbery of a Marine Corps payroll. The mastermind of the crime and his henchman follow her as well. They search for the remaining robber who wound up with the loot.

Episode: 1x11 | Airdate: Nov 15, 1974

Episode: 1x12 | Airdate: Dec 6, 1974

Episode: 1x13 | Airdate: Dec 20, 1974

Episode: 1x14 | Airdate: Dec 27, 1974

Episode: 1x15 | Airdate: Jan 3, 1975

Episode: 1x16 | Airdate: Jan 17, 1975

Episode: 1x17 | Airdate: Jan 24, 1975

Episode: 1x18 | Airdate: Jan 31, 1975

Episode: 1x19 | Airdate: Feb 7, 1975

Episode: 1x20 | Airdate: Feb 14, 1975

Episode: 1x21 | Airdate: Feb 21, 1975

Episode: 1x22 | Airdate: Feb 28, 1975

Episode: 1x23 | Airdate: Mar 7, 1975

Episode: 2x01 | Airdate: Sep 12, 1975

Episode: 2x02 | Airdate: Sep 19, 1975

When Dennis is conned into investing in a hotel for mobsters, Jim impersonates a Texas oil man to get his friend's money back.

Episode: 2x03 | Airdate: Sep 26, 1975

After witnessing a mob payoff that is part of a big-rig hijacking scheme, Rockford's father becomes the target of assassins. Working to protect his dad, Rockford learns that the man's life contains secrets that he never imagined.

Episode: 2x04 | Airdate: Oct 3, 1975

After witnessing a mob payoff that is part of a big-rig hijacking scheme, Rockford's father becomes the target of assassins. Working to protect his dad, Rockford learns that the man's life contains secrets that he never imagined.

Episode: 2x05 | Airdate: Oct 10, 1975

Episode: 2x06 | Airdate: Oct 17, 1975

When his car breaks down in a small town Jim leaves $10,000 in a land company's safe. The next morning the money - and the man who locked the money up - are gone. When the man turns up dead the sheriff thinks Rockford did it.

Episode: 2x07 | Airdate: Oct 31, 1975

Christine Dusseau, a female private eye, first blindsides Rockford, then joins him in tracking down the murderer in a case the police have dismissed as a suicide.

Episode: 2x08 | Airdate: Nov 7, 1975

Episode: 2x09 | Airdate: Nov 14, 1975

Episode: 2x10 | Airdate: Nov 21, 1975

Episode: 2x11 | Airdate: Nov 29, 1975

Rockford takes a dislike to the small town he's visiting when a bogus repair bill is followed by phony criminal charges. Aided by his father and attorney, Rockford takes on the hamlet's corrupt mayor, sheriff and prosecuting attorney.

Episode: 2x12 | Airdate: Dec 5, 1975

Episode: 2x13 | Airdate: Dec 19, 1975

Episode: 2x14 | Airdate: Jan 9, 1976

Episode: 2x15 | Airdate: Jan 16, 1976

Episode: 2x16 | Airdate: Jan 23, 1976

Episode: 2x17 | Airdate: Jan 30, 1976

Jim helps one of Beth's clients, who is being swindled out of his business.

Episode: 2x18 | Airdate: Feb 6, 1976

Episode: 2x19 | Airdate: Feb 13, 1976

Episode: 2x20 | Airdate: Feb 20, 1976

Rocky's friend is killed thinking his Granddaughter was kidnapped leading Jim with the help of Rocky to untangle a crooked real estate deal.

Episode: 2x21 | Airdate: Mar 12, 1976

Episode: 2x22 | Airdate: Mar 19, 1976

Episode: 3x01 | Airdate: Sep 24, 1976

Episode: 3x02 | Airdate: Oct 1, 1976

A psychic claims that Rockford knows more about a disappearance than he admits.

Episode: 3x03 | Airdate: Oct 8, 1976

Jim and Rocky find an abandoned young girl that leads to Jim finding and helping her father.

Episode: 3x04 | Airdate: Oct 15, 1976

Episode: 3x05 | Airdate: Nov 5, 1976

Episode: 3x06 | Airdate: Nov 12, 1976

Episode: 3x07 | Airdate: Nov 19, 1976

Jim is called before the Grand Jury and cannot answer the questions about the kidnapping of a union boss put to him by the prosecutor. As a result, Jim is thrown into jail repeatedly and must avoid murder attempts in order to uncover the reason why people are convinced he has the answers to everyone's questions.

Episode: 3x08 | Airdate: Nov 26, 1976

Angel, Jim's former cellmate, is getting married and he asks Jim to be his best man. Later, Jim finds out that the marriage Is just part of Angel's plot to swindle Regina Boyajian's family in a real estate deal by posing as a wealthy Canadian into the beer business. Jim also discovers that the Boyajians too have a secret to hide regarding their property.

Episode: 3x09 | Airdate: Dec 10, 1976

Episode: 3x10 | Airdate: Dec 17, 1976

Episode: 3x11 | Airdate: Dec 24, 1976

Episode: 3x12 | Airdate: Jan 7, 1977

Episode: 3x13 | Airdate: Jan 14, 1977

Episode: 3x14 | Airdate: Jan 21, 1977

Episode: 3x15 | Airdate: Jan 28, 1977

Episode: 3x16 | Airdate: Feb 11, 1977

Episode: 3x17 | Airdate: Feb 18, 1977

Episode: 3x18 | Airdate: Feb 25, 1977

Episode: 3x19 | Airdate: Mar 11, 1977

An overly enthusiastic police buff simultaneously maligns the reputation of Detective  Becker and jeopardizes Rockford's efforts lo protect the life of the girlfriend of an underworld lawyer.

Episode: 3x20 | Airdate: Mar 18, 1977

Episode: 3x21 | Airdate: Mar 25, 1977

Episode: 3x22 | Airdate: Apr 1, 1977

Episode: 4x01 | Airdate: Sep 16, 1977

Jim returns from vacation to discover someone's been using his identity, his trailer and totaled his car. And that's just the beginning of his problems...

Episode: 4x02 | Airdate: Sep 23, 1977

Episode: 4x03 | Airdate: Sep 30, 1977

Episode: 4x04 | Airdate: Oct 14, 1977

Episode: 4x05 | Airdate: Oct 21, 1977

Episode: 4x06 | Airdate: Nov 4, 1977

Episode: 4x07 | Airdate: Nov 11, 1977

Episode: 4x08 | Airdate: Nov 18, 1977

Episode: 4x09 | Airdate: Nov 25, 1977

Episode: 4x10 | Airdate: Dec 2, 1977

Episode: 4x11 | Airdate: Dec 9, 1977

Episode: 4x12 | Airdate: Dec 16, 1977

Episode: 4x13 | Airdate: Dec 23, 1977

Episode: 4x14 | Airdate: Jan 6, 1978

Episode: 4x15 | Airdate: Jan 13, 1978

Episode: 4x16 | Airdate: Jan 20, 1978

Episode: 4x17 | Airdate: Jan 27, 1978

Episode: 4x18 | Airdate: Feb 3, 1978

Episode: 4x19 | Airdate: Feb 10, 1978

Episode: 4x20 | Airdate: Feb 17, 1978

Episode: 4x21 | Airdate: Feb 24, 1978

When a fellow P.I. is killed on the Ventura freeway, Jim and Richie Brockelman team up to find out if it really was an accident.

Episode: 4x22 | Airdate: Feb 24, 1978

When a fellow P.I. is killed on the Ventura freeway, Jim and Richie Brockelman team up to find out if it really was an accident.

Episode: 5x01 | Airdate: Sep 22, 1978

Episode: 5x02 | Airdate: Sep 29, 1978

Episode: 5x03 | Airdate: Oct 6, 1978

Wrongly accused of beating a man to death, Jim discovers the best legal advice he can find is from disbarred lawyer John Cooper.

Episode: 5x04 | Airdate: Oct 20, 1978

Episode: 5x05 | Airdate: Oct 27, 1978

Episode: 5x06 | Airdate: Nov 3, 1978

Episode: 5x07 | Airdate: Nov 10, 1978

Episode: 5x08 | Airdate: Nov 17, 1978

Episode: 5x09 | Airdate: Nov 24, 1978

Episode: 5x10 | Airdate: Nov 24, 1978

Episode: 5x11 | Airdate: Dec 1, 1978

Episode: 5x12 | Airdate: Dec 8, 1978

Episode: 5x13 | Airdate: Jan 5, 1979

A fashion model friend of Jim is found dead on the ground below her balcony. The police believe it's suicide, but having gotten a desperate phone call from her, Jim believes it's murder.

Episode: 5x14 | Airdate: Jan 12, 1979

Episode: 5x15 | Airdate: Jan 19, 1979

Jim finds his guilty conscience being manipulated by a former fiancee, who asks him to find out who is threatening her life.

Episode: 5x16 | Airdate: Jan 26, 1979

Episode: 5x17 | Airdate: Feb 10, 1979

A Brooklyn gangster, who believes Rockford got him sent to jail, wants revenge

Episode: 5x18 | Airdate: Feb 17, 1979

A gang of bikers beat up Jim and assault John Cooper's sister, leading Coop to seek vengeance by returning to a darker period in his past when he was in a biker gang.

Episode: 5x19 | Airdate: Feb 24, 1979

Episode: 5x20 | Airdate: Mar 3, 1979

Episode: 5x21 | Airdate: Mar 3, 1979

Episode: 5x22 | Airdate: Apr 13, 1979

Episode: 6x01 | Airdate: Sep 28, 1979

Episode: 6x02 | Airdate: Oct 12, 1979

Episode: 6x03 | Airdate: Oct 12, 1979

Episode: 6x04 | Airdate: Oct 19, 1979

Episode: 6x05 | Airdate: Oct 26, 1979

Episode: 6x06 | Airdate: Nov 9, 1979

Episode: 6x07 | Airdate: Nov 16, 1979

The special guest of a P.I. convention dinner is found murdered in the restroom, and Jim unhappily finds himself once more having to team up with flawless Lance White (Tom Selleck), while accident prone Freddie Beamer tags along.

Episode: 6x08 | Airdate: Nov 23, 1979

Episode: 6x09 | Airdate: Nov 30, 1979

Episode: 6x10 | Airdate: Dec 7, 1979

Episode: 6x11 | Airdate: Dec 14, 1979

This episode features none of the supporting characters and Rockford appears in only a few scenes. The episode is mainly a chance for David Chase to write about New Jersey mobsters. Except this episode isn't anything like "The Sopranos". The biggest problem is that the two protagonists (the "Coupla Guys" in the title) aren't very interesting characters.

Episode: 6x12 | Airdate: Jan 10, 1980

In the series finale, Jim Rockford drives off into a California sunset in his wounded Firebird, after being ensnared in a small-town council battle with big implications. While trout fishing in the mountains, the vacationing PI becomes the emergency proxy for a fellow angler, an environmentalist councilman, felled by appendicitis. But the seemingly-innocuous proposition for a Parma city park, attracts a trailer load of New Jersey mobsters who urge Rockford to keep his vote green, or sleep with the fishes. Meanwhile, this town council in the land of endless propositions, acts to force their temporary member Rockford to go fishing under the moonlight, but not in Parma.