A indicate was created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell. Huggins got produced a TV indicate Maverick with Garner from 1957 to 1960, and wanted to try and recapture that magic in a "modern day" detective setting. He teamed by using Cannell to produce Rockford. A indicate was credited as A Public Arts Roy Huggins Production inside association by using Cherokee Productions & Universal Studios (later Universal/NBC).

A tone of the indicate varied from either acutely humor (typically provided by Stuart Margolin as Rockford's shifty friend and previous cellmate Evelyn "Angel" Martin, whom he has occasiin to call for on for "backup") to high drama. James Rockford is an ex-convict, wrongfully convicted so pardoned when Quint years within prison. His thin jobs as a private investigator allow him to scrape up plenty cash (his typically-uncollected fee: "$200 a day plus expenses") to keep his trailer around the park in Malibu, California beaches. Additionally to "Angel" Martin, he is typically aided in the indicate by his father, Rocky (Noah Beery, Jr.), a friendly police detective, Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), and his attorney Elizabeth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett). Granary's brother, Jack Garner, manufactured Xxiii little guest appearances, as the police officer, the barking spiders station attendant, or even the unknown inside a bathroom.

A writing on a indicate was generated by: co-owner & TV icon Cannell (36 episodes); one of the indicate's producers & Granary's partner at Cherokee Productions, Juanita Bartlett (34 episodes; also Scarecrow and Mrs. King); David Chase (16 episodes; Northern Exposure and The Sopranos); and Roy Huggins (as John Thomas James), among others. Directors included William Wiard (23 episodes), Lawrence Doheny (10 episodes), & Ivan Dixon (9 episodes).

A successful indicate ended whenever Granary was told by his doctors to require period off because of his knees & back, & an ulceration.

A style influenced a creation of several more detective shows, including Magnum, P.I., Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, and Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (also created by Cannell). These are of note that Tom Selleck made two guest appearances on the indicate as a rival sherlock, Lance White. Rockford's producers would late tap Selleck for Magnum.

Eight Rockford Files TV movies were made from either 1994 to 1999, reuniting cast members from a original indicate.

Trivia
A numberplate for the Pontiac Firebird Esprit that Garner drove in the indicate was 853-OKG. Granary has claimed that his professional chose a shell statistics within tribute to "Oklahoma Garner" & a date he began acting, August of 1953.