Hawaii Five-O (the original series)

[OceanBlue]

In the past few weeks, have re-watched a further few episodes from Hawaii Five-O: The Fifth Season (the Region 2 UK DVD release):

- "The Clock Struck Twelve"
- "I'm a Family Crook--Don't Shoot!"
- "The Child Stealers"
- "Thanks for the Honeymoon".

Episode "The Child Stealers:

As said in my previous mini-review/review post, I didn't like "The Child Stealers" much when I first saw it (either on Granada Plus or from watching it from the UK DVD release of The Fifth Season). And that hadn't changed when I re-watched it. Despite having some very good, capable guest stars (Richard Hatch, Meg Foster and Richard Anderson), I didn't find the story very involving and the reasoning behind

[Show spoiler]the baby snatch/kidnap for eventual sale scheme

wasn't explained properly (some things in TV show plots don't need to be properly explained, with you filling in the blanks yourself, sometimes ending in you asking questions after the episode has ended. That wasn't the case with this episode).

Episode "Thanks for the Honeymoon":

The next episode however, was much better, despite what felt to me like an ordinary ending and one which has been done before more than once

[Show spoiler](the villain being made to believe that the only witness or their associate, is dead, when they're very much in fact still alive. It felt like previous episodes did this better).

Despite the very end (and maybe my mind wasn't as fresh and I interpreted the ending incorrectly), it was still very good. Guest stars included Patti Duke (who a few years previously, had starred in sitcom The Patti Duke Show with a cast including William Schallert (who among their credits, guest-starred in the Five-O season 1 two-parter "Once Upon a Time").

Patti Duke played a very good part in "Thanks for the Honeymoon" (the title I think was slightly ironic I think, when you see how the story goes). The episode was well shot, and what it did with a story which could have been completely unoriginal, was one of it's many positives. You have the main story with

[Show spoiler]McGarrett arranging for the witness (Duke) to have the wedding and honeymoon she wants, but with a few tweaks to it, in return for her testimony about a murder she witnessed. There were some lovely changes in direction where you the viewer and McGarrett weren't sure if she was telling the truth. Added to the mix was a female reporter/photographer (played by guest star Carol Lawrence) who initially could have been an associate of the villain, but it turns out was an old flame of McGarrett's. These two plots provided many memorable scenes.

One of my favourite episodes from the first third of the series where

[Show spoiler]McGarrett had a relationship with a woman which involved his marriage to the job, was "The Singapore File" (they were played in that episode by Marj Dusay). You know that in the end, his duty as head of Five-O wins out in the end, but that doesn't take away from the scenes. And that happened again in "Thanks for the Honeymoon".

[OceanBlue]

Note: the UK flag icon has been selected as I'm re-watching the fifth season from my copy of the UK DVD release.

Episode "The Listener":

I'm still torn about the very end of this episode (and the following episode too), as to whether the

[Show spoiler]dialogue spoken by McGarrett and guest star Robert Foxworth's psychiatrist character matched the high level quality of everything which had come before it.

A very tense and exciting episode and an original one at that, doing a plot/storyline I hadn't seen before on the show. It was very believable and I was willing the quality to go all the way through to the end, which is where I'm torn. Still, an excellent episode (I don't take too much notice of the IMDb score for the episodes of older and current TV series, but "The Listener" has one of the higher scores in Season 5. This is one of my favourite episodes in the fifth season anyway, regardless of the IMDb score).

Well written (including the dialogue) and shot (wide and closer shots for example).

[Show spoiler]The surveillance and electronics parts of the story made me think of a film I've heard of but not seen properly, which was released in cinemas a year or two after this Five-O episode originally aired in the States, the Gene Hackman-starring The Conversation.

The transfer on this episode was one of the better ones this season (they've all been remastered/transferred to HD, but so far they haven't all been consistent in the Season 5 DVD set). Something else, the yellow font on the cast and crew credits after the title sequence and on the end credits can be inconsistent (some of them are bright, full yellow in colour, and others are slightly faded yellow). Plenty of details visually (one of my favourite scenes was

[Show spoiler]when the money bag was dropped over the bridge, following the instructions of the blackmailer).

The key with getting episodes like "The Listener" right, is knowing when to

[Show spoiler]reveal the identity of the mystery person. In this case, the blackmailer who knows everything about the psychiatrist character. A lot is also about hearing and to an extent, paranoia.

I thought it was a well made episode. Just that ending I've torn over/divided about.

[PileOfFudge]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Note: the UK flag icon has been selected as I'm re-watching the fifth season from my copy of the UK DVD release.

Episode "The Listener":

I'm still torn about the very end of this episode (and the following episode too), as to whether the

[Show spoiler]dialogue spoken by McGarrett and guest star Robert Foxworth's psychiatrist character matched the high level quality of everything which had come before it.

A very tense and exciting episode and an original one at that, doing a plot/storyline I hadn't seen before on the show. It was very believable and I was willing the quality to go all the way through to the end, which is where I'm torn. Still, an excellent episode (I don't take too much notice of the IMDb score for the episodes of older and current TV series, but "The Listener" has one of the higher scores in Season 5. This is one of my favourite episodes in the fifth season anyway, regardless of the IMDb score).

Well written (including the dialogue) and shot (wide and closer shots for example).

[Show spoiler]The surveillance and electronics parts of the story made me think of a film I've heard of but not seen properly, which was released in cinemas a year or two after this Five-O episode originally aired in the States, the Gene Hackman-starring The Conversation.

The transfer on this episode was one of the better ones this season (they've all been remastered/transferred to HD, but so far they haven't all been consistent in the Season 5 DVD set). Something else, the yellow font on the cast and crew credits after the title sequence and on the end credits can be inconsistent (some of them are bright, full yellow in colour, and others are slightly faded yellow). Plenty of details visually (one of my favourite scenes was

[Show spoiler]when the money bag was dropped over the bridge, following the instructions of the blackmailer).

The key with getting episodes like "The Listener" right, is knowing when to

[Show spoiler]reveal the identity of the mystery person. In this case, the blackmailer who knows everything about the psychiatrist character. A lot is also about hearing and to an extent, paranoia.

I thought it was a well made episode. Just that ending I've torn over/divided about.

Great episode that still holds up very effectively technology wise. Probably my favorite Season Five episode. However, one of the most unrealistic aspects of this episode is a psychiatrist (?) hiding the diagnosis of a brain tumor from a young child. Even back in the early 1970’s, something like this would never happen. Greg Mullavey did an impressive job playing the crazed villain here.

[OceanBlue]

The UK flag icon has been selected because I'm re-watching the fifth season from my copy of the UK DVD boxset.

Episode "Here Today...Gone Tonight":

After the excellent "The Listener", another top-notch episode, but again having an ending which I wasn't quite sure about

[Show spoiler](in this case, a symbolic meaning, with the mastermind of the murder plot having risen up through the company to the top, only now going to jail (he asks "where are we going?", McGarrett replying with "Down", followed by them both in the outside lift going down (this lift on the outside of the office building was shown a few times in the episode).

In the back of my mind, I knew there was something about the episode which I remembered. Around halfway through, it came to me and yet it didn't take away the surprise

[Show spoiler](a very clever, well thought out scheme by the mastermind and the wife of the murder victim. Reminded me of the plan carried out by the IMF in the original Mission: Impossible TV series),

as I didn't remember everything and it still came across as fresh. A lot of details, word-wise and visually. A classic example of 'go into this episode cold'. Then just when it can't even more better, there is a

[Show spoiler]scene masterminded by McGarrett and Five-O, with the help of a female insurance investigator (no sexism in this episode that I spotted, compared to later episodes in the show's run (which did happen from time to time with female cops going undercover). This scene was very tense and well executed.

One of the surprises in the story was seeing

[Show spoiler]not another scheme where it could have been a mob hitman bumping off the head of the company, but instead it being simply someone working their way to the top of the company with the help of the company head's wife in a murder plot.

The guest-stars (including Monte Markham, in his third guest-star appearance in the series (in the previous two episodes, he played

[Show spoiler]a prisoner who was wrongly convicted

and a private investigator respectively) all played their parts very well.

One of my favourite episodes of the season. The remastering/transferred to HD picture/transfer was one of the better ones so far in the fifth season DVD boxset.

[OceanBlue]

Nearly caught up on my Season 5 mini-reviews/reviews from my re-watch of the fifth season (the UK DVD boxset).

Episode "The Odd-Lot Caper":

The guest stars included Richard Basehart (like with William Shatner and Robert Foxworth (and likely actors up to this point in the series which I've forgot), this was their only appearance in the series). The only other screen appearance of Basehart's I've seen was of Wilton Knight in the feature-length pilot of the original Knight Rider TV series (which originally aired in the States over nine and a half years after this Five-O episode). Also guest-starring was Jack Hogan (their second guest-star appearance in the series after the Season 5 episode "The Child Stealers").

I didn't enjoy "The Odd-Lot Caper" as much as I did the previous two Season 5 episodes, yet the story still kept my interest and had a sort-of good twist at the end (which, while I didn't fully understand it, I still got the gist of it). At times the pace of this episode took a while to get going, but the details in the mastermind's plot were enough to outweigh the slower pace of the episode at times.

[OceanBlue]

Episode "Will the Real Mr. Winkler Please Die?":

This episode has been one of my favourites from the second half of Season 5 (and a classic compared to the next episode). Well written with some good twists and memorable performances from guest stars Nehemiah Persoff, Mark Lenard and Malachi Throne. It had a Mission: Impossible (the TV series) vibe to it. Very talky at times, but this suited aspects of the story. It kept you guessing as to identities and motives, making you glued to the story. The location used at the very end of the story (and this was an example of your memory playing tricks on you), in my head was from the Season 6 episode "Death with Father" (thinking of when I saw that episode when Granada Plus repeated the first few to several seasons of Hawaii Five-O a long time ago).

Episode "Little Girl Blue":

Not a lot to say about this episode (the last on the fifth disc in the Fifth Season DVD set). It felt like a clips show, with what seemed like a lot of archive footage from a previous episode or two (it was mainly set at the same bunker lookout on the hill location previously seen in Season 4's "...And I Want Some Candy, and a Gun That Shoots" and another episode before that). The production codes for the show are a bit deceiving (towards the end of the fourth season that was certainly the case, with the actor playing Kono being missing in some of the last few episodes filmed in Season 4), which made it difficult figuring out if "Little Girl Blue" was filmed much earlier in the fifth season, or right towards the end of the season. I think it was filmed earlier on (Al Harrington's Ben Kokua was seen briefly at times and didn't get much of a look-in with the story). The transfer was rough-looking (compared to "Six Kilos" in the First Season DVD set, this did look remastered/transferred to HD, but the colours looked faded at times, and the overall transfer rough-looking).

The story was similar to one or two previous episodes (including "...And I Want Some Candy.."). As well, the guest stars' characters were not developed well.

*****

Am now caught up with my Hawaii Five-O re-watch mini-reviews/reviews. Four episodes of the fifth season left to watch (the UK DVD release).

[OceanBlue]

Just got the season 5 finale "Jury of One" to re-watch now. This mini-review/review is of the first three episodes on the sixth disc in the Hawaii Five-O: The Fifth Season DVD set (the UK release), "Percentage", "Engaged to Be Buried", "The Diamond That Nobody Stole":

Episode "Percentage":

Wouldn't say this was a great episode, but it wasn't awful either. The first episode of the show I'd watched in my re-watch since October last year. The story made sense on the whole, although

[Show spoiler]I don't recall Five-O (especially McGarrett) speaking to the book keeper of the gangster (played by Leonard Stone, with the gangster played by frequent guest star Seth Sakai).

Episode "Engaged to Be Buried":

I so wanted this episode to be at the least very good. It was set up well, with another exciting, tense action scene later on. The guest cast (including Erik Estrada and Simon Oakland) was promising-sounding. But towards the end, the episode went a bit flat (the ending was a bit disappointing).

Episode "The Diamond That Nobody Stole":

Now this episode, with the exception of the very end, I liked quite a lot, partly because of the classic Hawaii Five-O use of misdirection. Actor Eric Braeden has always been worth watching in the episodes of TV series I've seen him guest star in (including Mission: Impossible and Mannix), and he was no different in this. The

[Show spoiler]mastermind of the shooting revealed at the end I thought was done well, but the explanation of why they did it, I didn't 'get'.

On a separate note, have to say the remastering in these three episodes were very good (a shout out to the remastering on the episodic promo for "Engaged to Be Buried" especially).

[Hindustani]

Damn.....you on season 5 already.

I'm stuck on Season 2 like......forever.

Aah the good old, I mean "really" old days when they gave you 25 episodes per season.

grinding every plot out to the max

plus the Hawaii setting.....its like watching LOST all over again before LOST.

[OceanBlue]

Slowly but surely will be up to date with my Hawaii Five-O mini-reviews/reviews, which is why I haven't re-watched another Season 6 episode since "The Sunday Torch" (something like 2-3 months since I re-watched it). I didn't want to get too far ahead of the mini-reviews/reviews I haven't got round to doing yet. "The Sunday Torch" was top-notch, so I wanted to leave my re-watch of the series on hold for a while.

Finishing off the fifth season, "Jury of One" was better than I thought it was going to be. My recollection of my previous viewing was that the season ended on a whimper rather than a bang. I also had in my head, that the plot involved

[Show spoiler]McGarrett being one member of a jury in a court case.

It turned out not to be the case (instead,

[Show spoiler]Five-O were investigating the jury members, one of whom was being blackmailed).

I thought it was well written, it kept my interest and went in one or two directions I wasn't expecting (the episodic promos for example, while they give away some of what happens, the way they're edited they actually fool you at times (and in a good way). The story ended in a satisfying manner, and an episode doesn't have to have some big action scene or a sequence of action scenes to make it memorable.

There are always going to be some duff episodes, and in Season 5 they were mostly in the second half, especially towards the end.

[OceanBlue]

This is a post about the episodic promos in my copy of the UK (Region 2) DVD boxset of the fifth season. I noticed that in this season, the extra comments said by Jack Lord in the episodic promos since the second season (the first season to have them in the DVD releases) were (like in the fourth season DVD set) continuing to lessen. The episodes in the Season 5 DVD boxset which do have the episodic promos (narrated by Jack Lord), a lot of them just have Jack Lord talking at the beginning and the end ("This is Jack Lord inviting you to be with us next for [insert episode title]", and "Next..[insert episode title]. Be here, aloha".

The episodic promos initially began with "This is Jack Lord inviting you to be with us next week, for..". Which leads me to believe that it was shortened to "This is Jack Lord inviting you to be with us next, for..", because there would be gaps between new episodes (ie. CBS wouldn't be airing new episodes every week).

I had read on or off the web that these episodic promos have been edited for the DVD releases, but I'm not sure. In the DVD sets which have episodic promos (narrated by Jack Lord) - not the promos which were introduced in the Season 9 DVD season set onwards - they last for around sixty seconds.

One final thing about the episodic promos, going back to what I said earlier about Jack Lord's narration becoming less and less. At the end of the episodic promos in the fifth season which are in the DVD boxset, he wouldn't repeat the full episode title, it would be a shortened version. What I wrote down for the episodes in the DVD boxset which have episodic promos (just the bit at the end):

Season premiere "Death is a Company Policy":

"Next..Death is a Company Policy". Be here, aloha".

Episode "Death Wish on Tantalus Mountain":

"Next..Tantalus Mountain. Be here, aloha".

Episode "You Don't Have to Kill to Get Rich--But It Helps":

"Next..You Don't Have to Kill. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Pig in a Blanket":

"Next..Pig. Be here, aloha".

Episode "The Jinn Who Clears the Way":

"Next..The Jinn. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Fools Die Twice":

"Next..Fools. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Chain of Events":

"Next..Chain. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Journey Out of Limbo":

"Next..Limbo. Be here, aloha".

The "'V' for Vashon" trilogy:

"Next..The Son. Be here, aloha".
"Next..The Father. Be here, aloha".
"Next..The Patriarch. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Thanks for the Honeymoon":

"Next..Honeymoon. Be here, aloha".

Episode "The Listener":

"Next..The Listener. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Here Today..Gone Tonight":

"Next..Here Today. Be here, aloha".

Episode "The Odd-Lot Caper":

Next..Odd-Lot. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Will the Real Mr. Winkler Please Die?":

"Next..Winkler. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Little Girl Blue":

"Next..Little Girl Blue. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Percentage":

"Next..Percentage. Be here, aloha".

Episode "Engaged to Be Buried":

"Next..Buried. Be here, aloha".

Season finale "Jury of One":

"Next..Jury. Be here, aloha".

[OceanBlue]

Have selected the UK flag icon as these mini-reviews are from re-watching the Hawaii Five-O: The Sixth Season UK DVD boxset (the original series).

Finally got round to starting posting my mini-reviews of the sixth season (only have disc 6 to re-watch now). There have only been a couple of episodes so far that I've been disappointed in ("Tricks Are Not Treats" being my least favourite).

Season premiere "Hookman" and episode 2 "Draw Me a Killer":

First of all, the negative which stuck in my mind: the first two episodes both ended with near-identical closing shots (in "Hookman",

[Show spoiler]the Five-O team stand in a circle looking down at one of the killer's prosthetic arms,

and at the end of "Draw Me a Killer"

[Show spoiler]they stand in a circle around the wounded serial killer)

That nitpick aside, a strong season premiere (well-written, structured and filmed with a very good music score), that was followed by another strong episode (this second episode I enjoyed more than on the previous viewings).

On the previous viewings of "Draw Me a Killer", I couldn't get the Season 3 two-part season finale "The Grandstand Play" out of my head (the actor playing the serial killer obsessed with a young woman through his interest in a newspaper's comic book strip (Elliott Street), played the innocent son of Pernell Roberts' character in the two-parter). But on this re-watch, I 'got it' this time and thought the guest star played a convincing part.

I remember being told by a fellow Five-O fan that Season 6 is considered one of the best seasons. So far, I can agree with that. There have been less so-so episodes compared to the fifth season (although around the halfway point there is a short slump in the quality of the stories).

[OceanBlue]

Following on from my previous post in this thread, comments/observations on the next few episodes of my re-watch of Hawaii Five-O's sixth season on DVD (the UK release):

Episode "Charter for Death":

Didn't much care for this episode, but it was a bit better than "Tricks Are Not Treats". The set-up of the story was done well (a drifting yacht with just dead people onboard), and it had some good guest stars (Nehemiah Persoff and Bert Convy). It wasn't the grim tone of the story that I didn't like. It just wasn't as interesting as it should have been.

Episode "One Big Happy Family":

Now this one was much better (about a family of serial killers). Guest stars included Slim Pickens and Bo Hopkins. Thought it was written well on the whole and kept my interest.

Episode "The Sunday Torch":

The quality this season continued with this episode's story that involved a

[Show spoiler]serial arsonist.

In hindsight this was my favourite episode of the sixth season. I did a silent clap as the end credits rolled (even though an aspect of the ending reminded me of a scene in the season 4 episode "Didn't We Meet at a Murder?", where

[Show spoiler]McGarrett tests out a theory about a bullet and a pool-side sauna with a news reporting crew watching,

the end scene and set-up in "The Sunday Torch" was different enough for me not to think it was an example of the show repeating itself).

Plenty of twists in this episode with a story that kept me interested all the way through. It was well written and shot. Top-notch episode.

Note: the transfers so far in the sixth season I have very few complaints about (and this applies to the episodic promos as well).

[OceanBlue]

Continuing my mini-reviews of the episodes from my re-watch of Hawaii Five-O's sixth season:

Episode "Murder is a Taxing Affair":

Very good to excellent episode I thought. Wasn't too sure about the ending

[Show spoiler](the rogue IRS agent character played by Don Porter jumping off the cliff after being cornered by Five-O),

but the story was believable with some tense scenes. Well written.

Episode "Tricks Are Not Treats":

Did not like this episode at all (the fashion dating the episode being one of the reasons, along with the not very good script (tried to get into the story, but in the end, for me it was one of those dud episodes (which any show can get). If they'd done some Halloween-themed story I might have liked the episode more.

Episode "Why Wait Until Uncle Kevin Dies?":

Apart from a couple of tweaks they could have made to the script (guest star Lawrence Pressman's character

[Show spoiler]disappearing completely after their involvement in Five-O's sting operation,

and the close of the episode being slightly disappointing (despite the case coming to a satisfying end), I loved the detailed plot, details, twists and choice of locations in this episode. Never dull and it kept my interest. I nearly gave it a silent clap, as I was that impressed by it. One of my favourite episodes of the season.

[OceanBlue]

Continuing my mini-reviews of the episodes from my re-watch of Hawaii Five-O's sixth season (due to being way behind with these, have paused my re-watch, which will eventually continue with the start of the ninth season):

Episode "Flash of Color, Flash of Death":

This wasn't one of my favourite Season 6 episodes, despite the always entertaining actor Don Knight guest-starring (the third of six episodes he guest-starred in).

Episode "A Bullet for El Diablo":

Despite one or two tense and exciting scenes (including the ending), again, one of my least favourite episodes of the season (every season had it's duff episodes, and this was one of them).

Episode "The Finishing Touch":

A step up in quality, and while it's not full of action scenes, an episode doesn't have to be full of action scenes to be a good episode. I thought guest star George Voskovec was very believable in his role as a friend of McGarrett's who is brought in to help on a counterfeiting case. Some good camera shots and details in the episode, with a satisfying ending (you have to listen to it carefully to get what they were doing with the motivation of the mastermind of the counterfeiting scheme).

Episode "Anybody Can Build a Bomb":

My one criticism of this episode that marked the halfway point of the season (that I can remember) is that it was a bit too similar to the previous episode (this time, a scientist played by guest star Lew Ayres is brought in to help Five-O locate a nuclear bomb). How it got to the ending and it being anti-climatic in a way, reminded me of the Season 5 premiere "Death is a Company Policy" (where

[Show spoiler]the organization behind the plot got away in the end without Five-O catching them, leaving things open for a sequel episode that in hindsight didn't happen).

Episode "Try to Die on Time":

Have nothing negative to say about this episode. My favourite Hawaii Five-O episodes are the ones that are full of details, and this had them aplenty. You're rooting for the episode to be perfect from beginning to end, and in hindsight the ending and the explanation I think they did get right. No episode is perfect, but this had quality by the bucketload that far outweighed any possible negatives. One of those reliable actors who I think went under the radar in that he doesn't seem to get talked about much, is Fred Beir (he guest-starred in several seventies TV series).

[OceanBlue]

A long time coming, but am finally getting round to finishing off my mini-reviews of Hawaii Five-O's sixth season from the UK DVD release (doing it and the next three seasons differently so I can get caught up).

Highlights for me among the last eleven episodes of the season were:

"The Flip Side is Death" (guest stars included Don Stroud and Peter Haskell)

"The Banzai Pipeline" (an episode I previously didn't like much, but on this re-watch I liked it more)

"One Born Every Minute" (one of my favourite episodes of the season (a well written episode whose guest stars included Ed Flanders, Michael Strong and Lynnette Mettey)

"Secret Witness" (a decent to very good episode with a tense ending)

"Nightmare in Blue" (a classic episode in my opinion on the previous viewings (first on Granada Plus, then from the first viewing from the UK DVD release), and that opinion is the same now (it's also one of the best examples of what was one of Hawaii Five-O's best seasons)

"Killer at Sea" (enjoyed this more on the most recent viewing than I had done before (only nitpick is I wish

[Show spoiler]they had done a twist where the one of the culprits wasn't the obvious one)

"30,000 Rooms and I Have the Key" (this season finale I consider being an unofficial sequel to the two Hume Cronyn episodes and the end to what was a very well written and constructed trilogy (I would have liked to have seen Hume Cronyn back, but David Wayne did a very good job filling in his shoes).

[OceanBlue]

Thinking back to earlier today when seeing a red Ferrari on the road, it reminded me that from time to time I wonder what could have been if Jack Lord had agreed to make an appearance on Magnum, P.I. as McGarrett (ditto with James Garner as Jim Rockford from The Rockford Files). I did like that car that McGarrett drove in the original Hawaii Five-O (there was a memorable car/speedboat chase in the season 7 finale "6,000 Deadly Tickets").

[harry o]

Think it was a mercury ??

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by harry o

Think it was a mercury ??

Having double-checked (done a web search), there were three different Mercury cars used during the original series' twelve season run:

- the pilot "Cocoon" and stock footage (a '67 Marquis)
- Seasons 1-6 (a 1968 Mercury Park Lane Brougham)
- Seasons 7-12 (a 1974 Mercury Marquis Brougham).

[OceanBlue]

A pity the makers of the original Magnum, P.I. weren't able to get Jack Lord and James Garner to make an appearance. I do remember reading that the possible reason for James Garner not appearing was because of the legal case which started after production on The Rockford Files ended abruptly. With Jack Lord, I'm just not sure we will ever know the reason why they declined to appear on the show.