FEEDING FRENZY Original Air Date: October 15, 1976 Synopsis. Charlie Blaylock, a former oil executive who now runs a bait stand on the pier, embezzled $500,000 from his company three years before. Charlie has never spent the money, but his conscience has never stopped bothering him. Although the statute of limitations on the robbery is about to expire (which means that the police could not arrest him even if he confessed), Charlie hires Rockford to return the money to the company.

SECOND CHANCE Original Air Date: October 14, 1977 Synopsis. Now working as a bouncer at a dive bar in San Pedro, Gandolf Fitch has fallen in love with Theda Best, a onetime Las Vegas singer (played by real-life singer Dionne Warwick) who’s on the verge of getting another recording contract. Gandy and Theda’s happiness is threatened when she is kidnapped by her ex-husband, Joe Moran, a convicted murderer who was also once involved in a counterfeit poker chip operation, Moran received his parole through “Second Chance,” a rehabilitation program that serves as a front for a shady industrialist named Shapiro (played by Malachi Throne).

Mariette Hartley of Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story Original Airdates: Oct. 10-13, 2025 TVC 709.5: Ed welcomes Emmy Award-winning actress, producer, and author Mariette Hartley (The Incredible Hulk, Goodnight, Beantown, Breaking the Silence, Law and Order: SVU). Mariette stars, along with her husband Jerry Sroka (who we also hear from in this segment), in…

GHOST RIDER Original Airdate: October 13, 1957 Synopsis. Maverick has a bad day in the town of White Rock. First, he's robbed of $3,000 by a young punk known as "The Kid" (played by Edd Byrnes). Then he discovers that The Kid not only lost all of his money playing poker, but was shot and killed for cheating. Then Bret loses his coat (containing the $1,000 bill he keeps for emergencies) after helping out a red-haired woman who, according to the townsfolk, died ten days earlier.

THE BELCASTLE BRAND Original Airdate: October 12, 1958 Synopsis. In Wyoming, Bret collapses outside Belcastle Manor, the home of an eccentric family of British aristocrats. After the Belcastles nurse him back to health, Bret earns his keep by leading the family on a bear hunt across the desert. But the expedition comes to a sudden halt when the Shaughnessy gang robs the group of their supplies—and leaves them to die in the desert…

LIONS, TIGERS, MONKEYS, AND DOGS Original Air Date: October 12, 1979 Synopsis. A chance meeting at a posh Beverly Hills restaurant brings Rockford to the attention of the elegant Princess Irene Rachevsky, who wants to hire the private investigator to probe a series of attacks targeted at her close friend Kendall Warren. The dynamic onscreen rapport between James Garner and fellow screen legend Lauren Bacall highlights “Lions, Tigers, Monkeys, and Dogs.” It’s fun to watch the two of them together, and it’s clear that they both had fun filming the episode.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to…

THE ARCHITECT Original Air Date: Oct. 11, 1970 Synopsis. Monte Markham stars as Arthur McBride, a convicted bank robber and notorious interstate fugitive known in the underworld as “The Architect” because of his near-genius I.Q. level of 142 and his reputation for planning and executing large-scale holdups. McBride not only has a murder conviction (along with six convictions for armed robbery), but is a certified psychotic that the Bureau considers to be a “walking time bomb.” Erskine must find and apprehend The Architect as soon as possible.

THE CATS OF PARADISE Original Airdate: October 11, 1959 Synopsis. Bret goes into business selling cats to a town besieged by rats and mice. Bret doesn't realize that his charming partner, Modesty Blaine (played by Mona Freeman), is also a crafty, and completely amoral, con artist who robs him of $500 and nearly has him shanghaied. Maverick locates Modesty in Paradise, where he finds her conveniently protected by the town's two-faced mayor and its superstitious but equally corrupt sheriff.

SLOW MARCH UP A STEEP HILL Original Air Date: Oct. 10, 1965 Synopsis. In Baltimore, Maryland, Erskine investigates a series of bank robberies that appear to follow the same M.O. of a spree of crimes committed twenty-seven years earlier by notorious bandit Wayne Powell. At the same deal, he must also deal with his daughter’s pending nuptials to his field partner, Jim Rhodes—a marriage that Erskine vehemently opposes.

THE DEEP BLUE SLEEP Original Air Date: October 10, 1975 Synopsis. Police classify the death of premier fashion model Margaux Adams as either accidental or suicidal. But Beth, one of Margaux’s best friends, suspects foul play—particularly since she received a frantic phone call from Margaux shortly before she died. At Beth's urging, Rockford looks into the matter. After uncovering a romantic triangle between Margaux, fashion designer Adrienne Clarke (played by Janet MacLachlan), and accountant Bob Coleman (Robert Webber), our hero suspects that Margaux was killed once she learned that Coleman has links to organized crime…

DYNASTY OF HATE Original Air Date: Oct. 10, 1971 Synopsis. In Arizona, Erskine's investigation of the kidnapping of Jimmy Faron, youngest son of ailing cattle rancher Mark Faron, hits a snag when Faron's eldest son, Drake, insists that the family handle the matter itself. Unbeknownst to Erskine and Mark, Drake arranged for an ex-con to kidnap and murder Jimmy so that he alone can inherit his father’s estate.

ARIZONA BLACK MARIA Original Airdate: October 9, 1960 Synopsis. While camping in the Arizona desert, Bart finds himself the target of a determined Indian named Redfeather, who needs to collect one scalp in order to be named chief. Two gunmen rescue Maverick in the nick of time, but they steal his water as payment and leave him to die of thirst.

THE ASSASSIN Original Air Date: Oct. 9, 1966 Synopsis. The Bureau learns that Anton Christopher, an American expatriate who is also a notorious Communist operative, has been hired to assassinate Bishop John Atwood, a missionary and envoy who is attempting to broker peace talks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Erskine must prevent the killing, but faces two challenges: (1) Because Christopher has never been photographed or printed, he literally could be anyone, and (2) Atwood refuses to believe that he is in danger and insists on delivering an important speech at Soldiers Field in Chicago.

THE FRANKLIN PAPERS Original Air Date: Oct. 8, 1972 Synopsis. Latent fingerprints found in a getaway vehicle put Erskine and Colby on the trail of Alice Hobbs, a notorious interstate grifter and convicted forger who also suffers from a heart condition. After fleecing an Arizona rancher out of an $85,000 jewelry collection, Alice wants to lay low and rest for a while, but her partner in crime, convicted forger Harry Cando, prods her into pulling off one last con—this time involving a set of letters and drawings dated 1776 that were allegedly written by Benjamin Franklin.

BLOOD VERDICT Original Air Date: Oct. 8, 1967 Synopsis. In Cougar City, Oregon, Erskine poses as a newspaper reporter while investigating the death of a jury member on the night before the start of the trial of a man accused of murdering a federal game warden. LEARN MORE about this episode in THE FBI DOSSIER, everything you wanted to know—and more— about the long-running ABC-TV series produced by Quinn Martin and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. THE FBI DOSSIER is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

THE GOLDEN FLEECING Original Airdate: October 8, 1961 Synopsis. Bart enters the stock market when he oversees the investment of a mining company owned by the Albrights, a family of Quakers who rescued Maverick from drowning in the Sacramento River. Maverick must then protect the Albrights’ interests when a greedy industrialist and his equally covetous daughter plot to take over the company…

THE FAMILY HOUR Original Air Date: October 8, 1976 Synopsis. Jim and Rocky’s fishing trip to Baja is interrupted when they discover nine-year-old Marin Rose Gaily sitting outside Jim’s trailer. While Rocky takes care of Marin, Jim searches for her father Stu, a convicted drug smuggler on the run from Al Jollett, a crooked DEA agent. Although Jollett claims that Stu stole $100,000 in government front money, Rockford discovers Jollett had been using Stu and another convict named Marty Goss to plant evidence for a series of drug busts that Jollett had rigged to pad his arrest record.

BREAK-IN Original Air Date: Oct. 7, 1973 Synopsis. Latent fingerprints found on an abandoned prison truck put Erskine in pursuit of Harlan Slade, a convicted burglar who assaulted a federal prison guard after breaking out of the state pen. The investigation takes the inspector to Witchita, Kansas, where Slade plots the biggest score of his career: an elaborate bank robbery in the upscale suburb of Scottsdale, Arizona that could net him more than three million dollars.

Podcast Episode · TV Confidential with Ed Robertson · 10/06/2025 · 7m

Howard Smith, author of My Friend Johnny Original Airdates: Oct. 3-6, 2025 TVC 708.6: Ed welcomes Howard Smith, a retired tech mogul who not only found himself living four doors down the street from Johnny Carson in 1985, but became tennis buddies and, later, best friends with the legendary King of Late Night for the next twenty years.

TV Confidential Remembers Robert Redford Original Airdates: Oct. 3-6, 2025 TVC 708.5: TV Confidential pays tribute to Academy Award winner Robert Redford by playing highlights from conservations we’ve had with actors who either co-starred with Redford or were directed by him, including Hank Garrett (Three Days of the Condor), Basil Hoffman (The Electric Horseman, Ordinary People, All the President’s Men, The Milagro Beanfield War…

First World Series Game Telecast in Color Original Airdates: Oct. 3-6, 2025 TVC 708.2: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed look back to Game 1 of the 1955 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, the first time that a World Series game was broadcast in color. Mel Allen and Vin Scully covered the game for NBC.

How TV Covered the Death of Rock Hudson Original Airdates: Oct. 3-6, 2024 TVC 708.4: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed look back at how the print and television media covered the death of Rock Hudson. The legendary actor and screen heartthrob died from complications on Oct. 2, 1985.

ACCORDING TO HOYLE Original Airdate: October 6, 1957 Synopsis. Bret loses more than $17,000 playing poker with Samantha Crawford, a con artist employed by George Cross—who once lost $50,000 to Maverick and is determined to get it back. Samantha claims that Cross is her father and that he needs to recover the money in order to get out of jail.