The Rockford Files. Season 2, Episode 8. "Resurrection in Black and White" Reporter tries to get a prisoner released for a murder he never committed.
For the second episode in a row, Jim has a real client and it happens to be a big name female guest star. Last time it was Stefanie Powers and this time it's Joan Van Ark. I'm a huge fan of both ladies, so it's great to see them getting lots of screen time on one of my favourite shows. But the episodes are very different.
The Powers episode ("The Real Easy Red Dog") was a hoot from start to finish. It was complex and half-way through it turned out to be something completely different to what it appeared to be at the start. I love that. It's rare to see it done well and none does it as well as The Rockford Files. The Van Ark episode is a different kettle of fish. Van Ark is excellent, of course, and there's a lot of fun to be had from watching her character play off Rockford for an hour. But, beyond that, there's not much to enjoy. The story plods along and it's not very engaging. I didn't care very much about any of the characters or understand how the story fit together in a logical way. Sure, I followed the progression and was ahead of the detectives on a couple of occasions (rare for that to happen on TRF) but when it was all over, I confess that it didn't make a huge amount of sense. And I didn't care.
Great guest start, weak story.
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The Rockford Files. Season 2, Episode 8. "Resurrection in Black and White"
