Rockford Files - Mike Post (1975) 8/26/21

Coming in at #47 on Rolling Stone Magazine's "Top 100 TV Shows of All Time" (as of 2016), was "The Rockford Files!"

The show starred James Garner as Jim Rockford--a private detective who always seemed to be getting into trouble--thanks mostly to his "friend," Angel (played by Stuart Margolin). Of course, Jim's dad, Rocky (played by Noah Beery, Jr.) was always around to keep an eye on his son. The show ran from 1974 to 1980, and was nominated for several Emmy and Golden Globe Awards along the way. (Garner himself won the 1977 Emmy for "Best Actor in a Drama Series.") "The Rockford Files was known for a number of things, like Jim's Pontiac Firebird, his answering machine--which was filled with messages he almost never listened to...and the show's theme song, which became a "Great Song of the '70s," and won the 1975 Grammy for "Best Instrumental Arrangement." The song was written by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter, who together wrote dozens of other themes for shows like "Quantum Leap," "Magnum P.I," "Hill Street Blues," and "The A-Team." "Rockford Files" was one of the very first themes (and hit records) to use a synthesizer as the main instrument, which was augmented by harmonica and a guitar solo by Dan Ferguson. In late '75/early '76, it became a top 10 hit in Canada (#8), and in the US (#10). "The Rockford Files:" a "Great Song of the '70s" from a "Great SHOW of the /'70s!"