The Rockford Files
Deadlock in Parma
TV Flash files “Deadlock in Parma” as the listed series bookend — The Rockford Files (1974–1980) on NBC, season 6, episode 12, aired 1980-01-10, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E12: listed hour 123 of 123 in the The Rockford Files guide, last listed hour of season 6. It aired 1980-01-10 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Just a Coupla Guys” (S06E11). No later hour is listed in this guide.
Deadlock in Parma, January 1980. No parade. A series closer that looks like a man who has been punched for a living — which is the honest bookend.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
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.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Deadlock in Parma sit in the The Rockford Files guide?
S06E12 is listed hour 123 of 123 — last listed hour of season 6, season 6 episode 12.
When did The Rockford Files S06E12 air?
Deadlock in Parma aired 1980-01-10 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
The Kirkoff Case. The answering machine, the fee, and the beating are already the series. If you bounce off the 1974 lighting, jump to The Italian Bird Fiasco and come back.
In the series
Why this series still plays
For the bruise: a PI hour that treats exhaustion, small checks, and an answering machine as style. James Garner's Firebird is cool; the joke is how little the job pays — and how often he goes through the door anyway.
The opening is a machine that picks up. Not a gun. Not a skyline. An answering machine, a joke, a man who is already tired before the A-story starts. The Kirkoff Case, September 1974, teaches the contract: Jim Rockford will take a beating, cash a small check, and fail to look like a fantasy of competence. Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell built a private-eye hour against the hardboiled poster. Garner is the argument. If you came for a cool car, you can have the Firebird. The cut is how often he would rather not…
Filed against
- James Garner as Jim Rockford
James Garner’s Jim Rockford answered machines, drove a beat-up Firebird, and made PI work look exhaustingly human on The Rockford Files. Anti-hardboiled charm aged into pure cool; studio lawsuits became Hollywood lore. On TV Flash he is…
- Noah Beery Jr. as Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford
Noah Beery Jr. played Joseph “Rocky” Rockford on The Rockford Files — the father who made James Garner’s anti-hardboiled PI a person with a trailer, a bruise, and someone waiting on the other end of the answering machine. NBC crime wanted…
- Joe Santos as Sgt. Dennis Becker
Joe Santos’s Sgt. Dennis Becker is The Rockford Files as the cop friend who will help and also arrest you — character-first crime television, a Firebird, an answering machine, real exhaustion. James Garner’s anti-hardboiled PI needed a…
- Stuart Margolin as Angel Martin
Stuart Margolin’s Angel Martin is The Rockford Files’ friend as a recurring bruise — James Garner’s anti-hardboiled PI, a beaten Firebird, a beach trailer, and crime television that treated exhaustion as craft. On TV Flash he is the…