Episode 104: Return to the 38th Parallel

May 29th, 2022  |  1 hr 37 mins

1970s, 70s, cold read cons, james garner, jim rockford, ned beatty, p.i, rockford files, tank stealing, television, train to oxnard, tv

Nathan and Eppy get to hear some of Jim's Korean escapades in S3E9 Return to the 38th Parallel. An old commander of his, played by the always-delightful Ned Beatty, comes calling out of the blue. Down on his luck, he takes a case that Jim turns down - but it turns out to be only the first step in a more elaborate scheme to use Jim to get to a big insurance company finders fee. A fun episode that turns from a mystery to a chase, we really enjoyed talking about this one!

Episode 103: Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs

May 15th, 2022  |  1 hr 54 mins

1970s, 70s, flapjacks, green corn tamales, james garner, jim rockford, lauren bacall, p.i, rockford files, royalty, television, tv

Nathan and Eppy take on a stand-out double-length episode in S2E6 Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs. Lauren Bacall guest stars as a Kendall, a woman mysteriously marked for death. After a chance encounter at a restaurant, her friend and patron Princess Irene Rachevsky hires Jim to find out who's trying to kill Kendall. The investigation leads from yacht parties to hotel rooftops to organized crime and back, all while we get to enjoy Garner and Bacall's on-screen chemistry. One of the more memorable late-season episodes, this one gave us a lot to enjoy and discuss!

Episode 102: Beamer's Last Case

April 24th, 2022  |  1 hr 29 mins

1970s, 70s, beamer, electronic olive, james garner, jim rockford, p.i, rockford files, square jacks, television, tv, valentino

Nathan and Eppy return to Paradise Cove in S4E1 Beamer's Last Case. Jim returns from a shortened vacation to find that someone has stolen his identity - and not only that, but wrecked his car and gotten him into trouble with some serious people! Once Jim tracks down the culprit, a mechanic named Freddie Beamer, the rest of the episode is a quick-thinking quest to keep both Beamer and Jim from getting shot as a result of Beamer's mistakes. Plus, it features Jim's sometimes-cat Valentino! We found this a delightful romp to kick off the fourth season of the show.

Episode 101: Star Trek TNG: A Fistful of Datas

April 1st, 2022  |  1 hr 9 mins

1970s, 70s, beeswax, data, holodeck, james garner, jim rockford, p.i, rockford files, television, the ancient west, tng, tv, worf

Welcome to Twenty Dollars a Day, the podcast where we explore our favorite holodeck adventures in the Star Trek universe! Nathan and Eppy go back to the Ancient West in TNG S6E8: A Fistful of Datas. The Enterprise has some well-deserved down-time, and Worf can't invent enough work to keep him from spending quality time with his son Alexander in the Ancient West town of Deadwood. Elsewhere, a test of Data's interface with the ship crosses some wires, and suddenly the villains of the Western adventure... are all Data. Sure, it's a silly episode, but it's also charming in its enthusiastic homage to Western films, and we had a really fun time talking about it.

Happy April, everyone! This is our fourth look at a Star Trek holodeck episode that follows on the themes of our first love, The Rockford FIles. Hope you enjoy it!

Episode 100: Episode 100 Spectacular

March 27th, 2022  |  1 hr 4 mins

100 episodes, 1970s, 70s, james garner, jim rockford, navelgazing, p.i, recommended episodes, rockford files, spectacular, television, tv

It's our 100th episode of Two Hundred a Day! To celebrate this milestone, we draft our picks for recommended episodes of our own show. If you've joined us recently, these are some of our most fun, interesting and memorable episodes. Thanks so much for listening!

Episode 99: The Gang at Don's Drive-In

March 13th, 2022  |  1 hr 30 mins

1970s, 70s, freefall to ecstacy, hatted assassin, james garner, jim rockford, oxnard, p.i, rockford files, television, tv

Nathan and Eppy meet an old friend of Jims in S4E15 The Gang at Don's Drive-In. Jack Skowron, former best-selling writer and current alcoholic, is in LA chasing down stories for a new book with Jim's help. When he gets beat up, Jim starts to suspect there's more to his agenda, and has to uncover the sordid story behind a decades-old high school party gone wrong. A fun watch overall, with a sometimes-muddled story elevated by screen chemistry and some truly all-timer Rocky and Dennis appearances!

Episode 98: A Different Drummer

February 27th, 2022  |  1 hr 34 mins

1970s, 70s, james garner, jesse welles, jim rockford, p.i, rockford files, surgery, television, tv, your time is my time

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. Unfortunately, it has the least Jesse Welles of her three appearances, but her airheaded "anti-Rockford" is a memorable character to round out her time on the show.

Episode 97: A Plus Expenses Special

February 13th, 2022  |  56 mins 55 secs

1970s, 70s, james garner, jim rockford, mcgoohan, p.i, plus expenses, rockford files, television, theme songs, tv

We're starting off our 2022 with a public Plus Expenses episode. We record one of these before every episode of Two Hundred a Day, and it goes out to our supporters on Patreon. If you dig getting this kind of chat along with your main Rockford Files discussion, consider subscribing to the Patreon for as little as $1/episode. Thanks for listening!

Episode 96: Roundabout

December 26th, 2021  |  1 hr 33 mins

1970s, 70s, geronimo, james garner, jim rockford, p.i, rockford files, sad clown, television, tv, vegas

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, a clown selling hot dogs and the Hoover Dam. It's a fun one!

Episode 95: The Dexter Crisis

December 12th, 2021  |  1 hr 26 mins

1970s, 70s, ashtray, broken hand, james garner, jim rockford, p.i, rockford files, roulette, television, tv, vegas

Nathan and Eppy go to Vegas in S1E10 The Dexter Crisis. Jim is hired to find Susan, a woman 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 on to get paid, and the chase takes us down a number of scenic Nevada byways. A fun episode that features some foundational Rockfordishness, we enjoyed it despite a few little dangling plot threads.