Two Hundred A Day

Nathan and Eppy take a look at the final episode guest starring Jesse Welles, S5E20 A Different Drummer. Jim witnesses a bizarre surgical procedure while in the hospital, and obsessively tracks down the surgeon to find out what's going on. Starting out a mystery, and transitioning to a character study of a horror-movie-inflected villain, this was an interesting episode to end the fifth season on....

**In Plus Expenses #40 we talk about: **Goodbye 2021, Eppy recommends The Spine of Night , Nathan just isn’t watching movies, the Rockford Files is still good!, the triple-edged (?) sword of making your hobby your job, Nathan recommends The Prisoner , TV theme songs, Crossbow , McGoohan Season continues, Be Seeing You (RPG), the Columbo episode Identity Crisis , the newest Bond film ( No Time to D...

Nathan and Eppy return to Las Vegas in S1E22 Roundabout. Jim is hired for a straightforward gig to find an insurance beneficiary - Nancy, the beneficiary, isn't making much money as a Vegas lounge singer, but it seems simple enough to give her a check. But when she runs, then is grabbed by goons, Jim has to act fast to save his paycheck. The final episode of Season One takes us to the Vegas lounge...

Nathan and Eppy go to Vegas in S1E10 The Dexter Crisis. Jim is hired by the titular Dexter to find Susan, his mistress who suddenly took off, and quickly ends up partnered with her roommate Louise as they head to the only lead they have: Las Vegas. They find Susan quickly enough, but then a sudden attack, a rival PI and a mysterious suitcase complicate the story. Jim needs to find out what's going...

Nathan and Eppy get to see Jim helping out a friend in S3E16: The Becker Connection. Becker's been moonlighting with the Narco squad, and suddenly some stolen heroin shows up in his car tire! Suspended while under investigation by internal affairs, Dennis turns to Jim for any help he can provide - which involves Angel, a washed-up Vegas comedian, and turning the tables on a crooked cop. We get to...

Nathan and Eppy dive into one of the most oddball episodes, S4E8 Irving the Explainer. It's an intentionally obtuse episode that really benefits from seeing it cold - if you haven't, be warned that we might spoil the fun with our discussion! Written by David Chase, this episode seems to be a pretty polarizing one, and we talk about the various lenses through which you can view it to find the fun....

Nathan and Eppy join Jim in an unexpected trip across the border in S4E18 South by Southeast. Due to a mistaken postal address, Jim is taken for a CIA operative and whisked away for a high-stakes meeting with a rich socialite, who he quickly discovers is in trouble herself. Despite a serious class divide, we watch romance blossom while Jim does his best to keep her from danger. This fun character...

Nathan and Eppy return to 1996 to talk about the fifth TV movie, Friends and Foul Play. Jim's friend Babs ends up dead after asking him to help her find out more about the murder of her son. Before he can even start to investigate, Captain Chapman turns up with a class of criminology majors, messing both with the crime scene and with Jim's efforts - so, of course, he has to join the class himself...

Nathan and Eppy answer some listener questions! We talk about the origination of Angel, the relationship between James Garner and his writers, the place of the show in the continuity of detective TV, music from the show, and more. Thanks again for all the great questions, listeners! There's a clip in the show from this TelevisonAcademy.com interview with James Garner: Interview part 4 (of 6) . Her...

Nathan and Eppy spend some time in the Firebird in S1E11 Caledonia - It's Worth a Fortune! Jim is hired by a woman who's imprisoned husband buried a treasure trove, and she wants to find it in order to help get him the medical help he needs. However, he only gave her part of the puzzle. After her old flame appears with the other half, Jim has to both deal himself in and somehow keep them working t...

Nathan and Eppy go to the comedy club in S4E6 Requiem for a Funny Box. Washed-up comedian Kenny Bell asks Jim for some help after his "funny box" is stolen, but the exchange draws Jim into a mob murder! Untangling the murder requires Jim to suffer through getting the real story from the self-interested Kenny. Content Warning: This episode has quite a reveal (which we talk about in our intro) havin...

Nathan and Eppy have talked about every episode of Season Two, and celebrate with a draft of our favorites! Both a retrospective of the season and a walk down memory lane for our own show, we really had a great time assembling this list of ten great episodes of The Rockford Files. We borrowed this format from The Incomparable (a recommended listen for geeky pop culture fans!) Spoiler Alert: Here's...

Nathan and Eppy finish out Season 2 of The Rockford Files with s2e7 The Real Easy Red Dog. Jim is hired to look into an apparent suicide, and indeed discovers some evidence of murder - but he was hired under false pretenses in the first place! Tina, also a PI, just needed Jim to throw the cops off from her own case, but now they have to work together to solve a murder before the killer comes after...

Nathan and Eppy cover the penultimate episode (for us) of Season 2, Ep17 Joey Blue Eyes. Beth has an ex-con friend who's running into trouble with their straight restaurant business, and despite initial friction, Jim finally agrees to help out. Between loan sharks, Beth, Angel, quick cons and sparkling dialogue, this episode just exudes Rockfordishness. It's also the first appearance of James Luis...

Nathan and Eppy continue the second season tour with S2E20 Where's Houston? One of Rocky's old buddies comes to Jim for help after receiving a ransom demand for his granddaughter Houston - but it shortly becomes clear that, not only did he not have any money, she wasn't even kidnapped! Unfortunately, he turns up dead, sending Jim on the hunt not only for who killed him, but what the whole fake kid...

Nathan and Eppy explore the origin episode of one of our favorite guest characters in S2E21 Foul on the First Play . Louis Gossett Jr. plays Marcus Hayes, a fast talking PI who needs Jim's help to untangle a sticky situation concerning the purchase of a new basketball franchise. Marcus was at one time Jim's parole officer and they didn't part on good terms... but once Hayes tricks Jim into taking...

Nathan and Eppy start wrapping up Season 2 with S2E5 The Deep Blue Sleep. Beth needs Jim's help to find out what happened to a model friend, and the search leads to a fashion designer, a shady business deal and, of course, the mob. One of the few creative contributions from producer Chas. Floyd Johnson, we enjoyed the twists and character business in this one a whole lot! We have another podcast:...

Welcome to Twenty Dollars a Day, the podcast where we explore our favorite fictional characters in the Star Trek universe! Nathan and Eppy discuss the adventures of Captain Proton in Voyager S5E12 Bride of Chaotica! Tom Paris and Harry Kim just want to have a nice time playing out the latest chapter of the Captain Proton holonovel, but the ship runs afoul of photonic beings that think the black-an...

Nathan and Eppy join Jim in S5E6 A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights, as he's hired to babysit the celebrity cop Frank Falcone (Hector Elizondo) in advance of a big toy line opening. Falcone isn't exactly the role model he's being advertised as, and after he beats up his ex-partner, Jim gets fired - but now they're both being followed by goons from Calumet City, IL. Jim and Frank need to work tog...

Nathan and Eppy complete the Richie Brockelman duology with S5E19-20, Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job. Richie's dad has been muscled out of the family printing business by an unscrupulous villain. The only way he can see to get it back is to run a con game on the mark... and that's where Jim comes in. Split into two episodes for syndication, this is another 2-hour-timeslot episode which gi...

Nathan and Eppy finally tackle a long-anticipated long episode, S4E21 The House on Willis Avenue. Split into two episodes for syndication, this episode is both a pilot for a spinoff show about young investigator Richie Brockelman, and an issue episode tackling the growing use of private data by unscrupulous private entities (in this instance, a technophile villain played to great effect by Jackie...

Nathan and Eppy spend some quality family time with Jim, Beth and her annoying cousin in S3E11 The Trouble with Warren. When Warren is framed for murder, Beth turns to Jim for help. Despite his best efforts Jim ends up investigating the case, and then once another body surfaces he needs to solve it in order to save both their hides. We found this one to be a "meaty middle" episode, with a lot of t...

Nathan and Eppy go under cover to talk about S5E19 A Material Difference. Angel has the perfect scam - pretend to be a hit man, take the half up front and move on. Unfortunately his first gig involves international espionage, and a chance meeting with Jim draws Rockford in against his will. This is a wild romp of an episode! We found it to not be totally solid around the edges but a joy to watch,...

Nathan and Eppy join Jim and Angel in group therapy for S4E5 The Dog and Pony Show. In lieu of a jail sentence for something Angel stole and hid in Jim's car, this therapy group is a pretty good deal, until fellow participant Mary Jo has someone actually break into her house. Jim agrees to help, and a couple of goons and one Firebird chase later realizes that something Mary Jo knows is putting the...

Nathan and Eppy take a road trip to S2E6: The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company. After Jim is ripped off in a small town, he needs to get his 10 grand back - but nobody is talking. He brings in Rocky and a fast-talking con buddy, but everything changes before they can run the con! While it felt to us like it didn't have the full Rockfordishness that we see in later seasons, this is a fu...