Linda's been watching a ton of Diagnosis Murder and Murder She Wrote while I roll my eyes. I do like seeing all the character actors I've forgotten. As I've mentioned, their names pop into my head because of the challenge game that Dad and I used to play.

We decided to watch the Rockford Files, which I remember fondly. We watch the first half of the pilot last night.

Wow. The pacing...we lived at a different pace back them. Five minutes of an old wino riding a bus, getting off and walking to a beach, being murdered, and the waves rolling in. Something that in a modern show would take a minute or two.

Everything looks so bare and plain. Rudimentary...almost poor. Not a computer or cell phone in sight, just file cabinets full of paper. Not a hint of what was to come.

James Garner is still charming, and the plot isn't too bad. I noticed right away that in the pilot, Rockford's dad was played by a different actor.

"I thought Wallace Beery, Jr. played his dad," I said to Linda. I looked it up. Actually, it was Noah Beery, Jr., who was Wallace Beery's nephew...

Lindsey Wagner is the client, who owns a bikini shop. (Would a modern show resist having her wear a bikini?)

Simpler times.

Oh, I'm a cruel, cruel man. I looked up the original "Champ" movie with Wallace Beery and showed Linda the last four minutes. She was in tears in the first minute...the ultimate tearjerker.

If I was really sadistic, I'd show her the last four minutes of City Lights. (Never mind the first few minutes of "Up" or the ending of "Grave of Fireflies." But I'd have to subject myself, and I ain't prepared for that...)