Rockford Files RIPOFF! The Ep That Sparked a Beatdown On Set

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-- Stolen Eps --
"This Case is Closed" (The Rockford Files)
Airdate: Oct. 18, 1974
Written by: Stephen J. Cannell
& John Thomas James (Roy Huggins)
Rockford (James Garner) is tasked with looking into the background of a socialite's (Sharon Gless) finance. But his digging gets him in trouble with the mob, the cops, the FBI, and even other private eyes.
This episode sparked a controversey when Glen A. Larson (Magnum, pi, Battlestar Galactica) copied the story (and even some of the dialouge) for an episode of his show Switch (starring Robert Wagner) called "Death by Resurrection." Though fined by the WGA, Garner decided to teach Larson a lesson on the backlot at Universal.
#RockfordFiles #JamesGarner #StephenCannell #GlenLarson

[@jeffreyhutchins6527]

Interesting that Switch is largely forgotten while the Rockford Files can still speak for itself.

[@tvsbesteps]

Yes I was kinda shocked to see it lasted three seasons.

[@bobjohnson205]

Must have been the writing! lol

[@tedhaulley9885]

I always thought Rockford itself took some inspiration from ‘The Sting’ considering how many episodes featured someone (usually Rockford himself) running some sort of con.

[@bobjohnson205]

@@tedhaulley9885 Yep. Plenty of those episodes.

[@tvsbesteps]

As one commenter pointed out, some in Hollywood pointed out that the first half of the Sting bore startling similarities to “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres” ep 2.10 (1958) of Maverick… created by Roy Huggins and starring James Garner.

[@gregorymotta3296]

No disrespect to Mr. Larson, but seeing Jim Gardner punch someone out IRL must have been awesome. We miss you Jimmie.

[@boris1932]

They don't make 'em like James Garner anymore. Jim also had a run in with a idiot driver one time and punched him. Jim was right in both cases. I wish I could have met the man. I have been a fan of his since I was a kid growing up on the Rockford Files.

[@stephenturner6075]

Who's Jim Gardner?

[@tracycase4520]

@@stephenturner6075 Karen

[@stephenturner6075]

@@tracycase4520 ?

[@bobjohnson205]

@@stephenturner6075 I think he's a distant relative of Jim Garner. He seems to get mentioned a lot. He must be a heck of a guy! lol 😉

[@InformationIsTheEdge]

James Garner was 6'5", weighed about 225 pounds and was a legit combat soldier in Korea. When he says, "Get your arm off me." it's basically a warning shot that Larson didn't heed.

[@bobjohnson205]

Actually he was 6'2", maybe pushing 6'3".

[@InformationIsTheEdge]

@@bobjohnson205 My Google search just suggested he was 6'3". I was sure, after reading your post, my recollection on the matter was wrong. Thanks for the alert!

[@anthonytripp2251]

Two Purple Hearts

[@jibbityjab2469]

Well, he wasn't such a badass when he got his ass kicked and needed stitches after a road rage incident around 1980

[@InformationIsTheEdge]

@@jibbityjab2469 Does that make you feel good? Trying to bring down a good man like that? He still served his country with distinction. He was loved by millions for his work in film and television. Do You imagine your little story invalidates that in any way?

[@Kevin-wr9um]

Everything I've read or heard about James Garner presents him as a genuine nice guy. But he was also a WWII and Korea combat vet, and not someone you wanted to f%^k with. It says a lot about how much respect he had in the industry that Sharon Gless would tell him about what was happening.

[@seanohare5488]

Agree well said

[@Hykje]

At one time I found out that an episode of "Remington Steele" and an episode of "Hart to Hart" actually used the same script, they just changed the names of the characters.

[@jeffkili8918]

I watched a new episode of Charlies Angels one day and was shocked it was almost identical to a rerun of the Mod Squad I'd seen that morning.

[@TheTurkaderr]

Yeah I used to notice the same thing when I’d watch THE FACTS OF LIFE and HOGANS HEROES, they’d just swap out MrsGarrett for a Nazi. Lol JK

[@kunserndsittizen2655]

@@TheTurkaderryou’re confusing that with an episode of DIFF’RENT STROKES where Mrs. Garrett was a Nazi and Arnold was HlTLER

[@RichardoBrit]

Do tell - what episodes?

[@Hykje]

@@RichardoBrit That was back in the days when there were only two TV channels and your choice was "Debate about economic policy" or one of those shows so I don't remember the names of those episodes -the only thing I remember was they had both exactly the same story.

[@KornPop96]

The Rockford Files is my favorite TV show ever.

[@johnclawed]

The best PI series ever, with the possible exception of the original Sherlock Holmes.

[@jeffrobodine8579]

853 OKG

[@DW3010]

I think that was almost like a trope in the 80s. Everybody had an episode about a biker gang being brought to justice by the heroes.

[@TheNameisPlissken1981]

Cannell wrote that episode himself, a handful of times, starting with The Greatest American Hero episode "Hog Wild" in 1981.

[@bobjohnson205]

"The Rockford Files" even had one!

[@johnclawed]

Then, in a more cynical time of anti-heroes, we got Sons of Anarchy.

[@americanbadass88]

The Fall Guy had an episode like that to only they dressed up as bikers to fight a corrupt town.

[@jaleach123]

@@bobjohnson205 With Dennis Burkley!

[@ericponce8740]

James Garner was physically fit and performed his stunt work on the Rockerford Files. Thus, he was more than capable of knocking out Glen Larsen.

[@markpreston6930]

Garner’s knees and hips were beaten running on concrete and stairs on Files.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

The guy was a Korean War Vet, he knew how to fight....

[@seanohare5488]

Larson a creep punk

[@johnfronczek2658]

I agree with James Garner. Great video.

[@tvsbesteps]

Thanks!

[@gerrydooley951]

It's interesting how some people in the comments are trying to defend Larson for stealing a script. I mean he literally stole a script from other writers. How would you feel if it was your script he stole?

[@LTPottenger]

You can't really steal a script without losing a lawsuit. Any real plagiarism will get you sued out of existence. Tossing around themes is another story and you can't make anything without similarity to and inspiration by something else.

[@seanohare5488]

Agree Larson a creep punk

[@rodneybray5827]

@@LTPottenger I agree. If you are going to punish stealing ideas, then there will be no more shows, novels, plays, etc. It's all been written and filmed already. There are almost no original ideas and even those that seem original still borrow bits that have already been done. And in a case of lifting exact lines, that should get a successful lawsuit and is a dumb thing to do. How would I feel about getting a script "stolen"? Well, I don't write but if you mean my ideas are taken by others, I would expect it. Because I'd likely "borrowed" ideas from others to begin with.

[@leongolgo9950]

If I already got paid, who cares? I wrote a thing, got my money. Anything after that is ego.

[@MarkMeans]

I would gladly take Glenn Larson's "plagiarism" over what passes for t.v. and movie "writing" today. That said, I was always a huge fan of Jim Garner and how he spoke his mind....regardless of the situation. We need more actors like Garner today.

[@vintagethrifter2114]

One of the shows that Larson made was Magnum P.I. staring Tom Selleck. Tom Selleck appeared in several Rockford episodes as a young private investigator. Magnum P.I. was originally going to take place in the Los Angels area before it was moved to Hawaii.

[@floycewhite6991]

Lance White.

[@ScoutSniper3124]

My Dad (in my eyes) has always been a cross between Lee Marvin and James Garner. Now I understand why. My father fought in the Pacific (as did Lee Marvin) and Korea (as did James Garner) and once when my two older sisters (then 3 and 5, I was yet to be born) tried to stop the neighbor's dog and their dog from fighting the neighbor did nothing, prompting my Dad when he got home from work and hearing about this from my Mom marched straight over and broke the guy's jaw. Thanks for the memories.

[@writeralbertlanier3434]

Jim Garner -who i will admit to being a fan of-was a man who had basic principles. Garner also helped run the Rockford Files show so though he was not a writer but the star, he was very involved with the program . So Larson blatantly ripping off Rockford didnt go over well with Jim. Keep in mind Jim had sued Warner Brothers in the past and later Universal. If you have a guy who will go eye to eye with movie studios, its no surprise he will teach a script thief a lesson in manners.

[@Dwayne-mb2uj]

When I was working for Roy Huggins he told me that the Fugitive was based partly on Shane .

[@spockboy]

The Fugitive was one of the BEST series. I envy your conversation.

[@seanohare5488]

The fugitive one of the best shows of the 1960 s and Shane my favorite western

[@anonygent]

The Incredible Hulk was a clear remake of The Fugitive.

[@user-zl6fg7qt9w]

Larson was supposed to be involved in Magnum P I. Selleck said he would not work with Larson so Bellesario worked on Magnum. Selleck had recently done two Rockfords as Lance White. Garner must have mentioned Larson to Tom for someone getting their fist series to make such a demand

[@greg6363]

The Magnum we see on screen was Don Bellisario's creation. The Writer's Guild granted the show creation credit to both Larson and Bellisario.

[@deboraballes9044]

I LOOOVED Alias Smith and Jones....BECAUSE it was a rip off of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, one of my favorite movies back then❤😎👍

[@xray606]

I worked in production for 16 years. This kind of thing is rampant really. I remember going to pre-pro meetings where directors would bring in videos, books, famous photos... and just literally tell everybody to go out and directly copy numerous things. Everything from the way the set looked, to the cars, to the script... Everything. Especially with commercials and music videos.

[@Simmer4Decades]

Another great episode! I’m torn on this one. Knight Rider was one of my top four childhood tv shows (Airwolf, Street Hawk, and Blue Thunder) I never missed. I’ve watched countless hours of interviews with Larsen about Knight Rider and can’t wait for the Knight Rider Historians to tour the country in the restored original semi and functional trailer. While I’m not a fan of the plagiarism, the fact that he never complained when others copied his work does suggest some self-awareness which I can respect. Love him or hate him, he was an 80s tv icon for sure.

[@HandGrenadeDivision]

The narrator is trying *way* too hard to make a case. Fans of Battlestar Galactica (the original) would argue there is very limited similarity to Star Wars - the concepts are different, the technology is different and the characters are distinct. BG had no doe-eyed farmboys like Luke Skywalker in it - unless one counts Zac, who was killed in the pilot episode. The rest of the heros are professional military pilots and commanders.

[@Jimvanhise]

Before Glen Larson died I had dinner at a restaurant with a group of people. One of them bragged that she was friends with Glen Larson so I brought up the story of James Garner punching Larson out for stealing a Rockford Files script. She had actually never heard about this as Larson clearly didn't talk about it, and he never sued James Garner because the last thing Larson wanted was to have even more people find out about his larceny.

[@rumarspencer7302]

Heard this story more than once, both died in ten yrs ago, how ironic.

[@ericwilliams626]

Doesn't seem like Larson had ideas. It seemed all he head was the golden goose of opportunity. What information did he have over some Universal Executive that allowed him access? Ideas are just ideas, getting them made requires access. That's just a fact like gravity.

[@geraldstephens6612]

Larson had his wake-up call from Universal about changes they were making in Battlestar Galactica when the series was renewed for the 2nd season. It was quite a wake-up call.

[@lanky-x782]

Sorry, I don't see any similarity between star wars and battlestar galactica other than being in space. Plot lines are completely different.

[@rogerwilcojr]

It's like saying Star Wars was based on Space 1999 just because it came first.

[@ericwilliams626]

It's the implication with locale and wardrobe. It was a new conceptual backdrop is why. Westerns have been around so people don't perceive it the same way. It's the nature of perception.

[@johnclawed]

If Battlestar Galactica ripped off anything, it was Erik van Daniken's absurd thesis of ancient aliens, which unfortunately has been absorbed into the Alien franchise and other works. Only the excellent 2004 BSG series made something good of it.

[@jamescarter3196]

@@johnclawed LMAO, why would you say it's "unfortunate" that fictional stories would use fictional story components? You're trying so hard to be angry that your attitude doesn't make sense.

[@johnclawed]

@@jamescarter3196 I don't know what you're talking about. Trying hard to be angry? I'm only as "angry" as I am, which is not angry but merely annoyed that van Daniken has had so much influence on science fiction. I didn't say it was unfortunate because van Daniken is fictional. I said it was unfortunate because he is absurd. "Here we see a stone carving of two people examining a box with another box inside. A nuclear reactor has a core inside a containment vessel [unless it's a Russian design], so this must be a diagram of a nuclear reactor. The Mayans couldn't have done that without help from aliens, so aliens must have visited ancient Earth." All that based on a rectangle inside another rectangle. Why would I say it's unfortunate that such crap influenced science fiction?

[@natturnertv]

Battle Galactica was more like Wagon Train than Star Wars. And Rockford was a TV version of Marlowe.

[@tedhaulley9885]

I believe Gene Roddenberry once said Star Trek is Wagon Train in space and said that Kirk and Spock were based on Paladin from Have Gun Will Travel. Imitations happen all the time.

[@StoicLion]

@@tedhaulley9885 Roddenberry wrote for "Have Gun, Will Travel", though. He won an award for at least one episode he penned. But I get the point.

[@TheNameisPlissken1981]

I always loved this story and I am so glad you put it all together in a neat package like this. Great job!

[@tvsbesteps]

Thank you so much!

[@dlhdonn]

In watching reruns of some of Glen Larson's shows...I caught on to a production technique he occasionally used that I think is pure genius and I've not seen other shows make use of. Obtaining music rights for a popular song, even a decades old song, can be incredibly expensive. That's why in most TV shows from at least the 60's and going forward...you'll hear canned or production music. It's generic, usually doesn't include vocals and is merely evocative of a music style or era. It's relatively inexpensive and it sets a scene. Several times that I've noticed...a Glen Larsen show will set a scene by having a tune played, usually on a car radio and it's an actual, popular song complete with lyrics. His trick was, he only had to pay for the rights to use the song and not pay a needle drop fee for playing the original recording, which can be an astronomical expense. This was prior to karaoke being popular, so there weren't backing tracks available. He would have had to hire a cover band and record them doing a version sounding as similar to the original as possible. It probably didn't cost him much more than buying the rights for generic production music...possibly less. He made good use of his background in the music business. I'm betting he didn't have to do more than pick up the phone, call a buddy and say, "I need a minute and twenty seconds of "Fun, Fun, Fun" by the Beach Boys. Can you get some guys together and get that to me by next Friday?"

[@visaman]

Happy Days did that with the jukebox songs. It was Anson Williams singing.😅

[@greg6363]

Larson had a lot of friends in the music industry from his time as a young singer and utilized those contacts throughout his TV producing career.

[@Paladin1873]

Recycling scripts was a common TV practice in the 1950s. I remember watching an episode of Cheyenne that was recycled into an episode of Maverick. As I recall, the writers caused a big stink over this because they were only being paid once for a script that was used twice.

[@writeralbertlanier3434]

That's certainly true but Larson was foolish to just build a career on being an Idea Thief. No one respects that even in TV.

[@Hykje]

An interesting thing is that the "Battlestar Galactica" episode "Experiment in Terra" from 1979 has great similarities with the whole premise of "Quantum Leap" from 1989.

[@tedhaulley9885]

I never thought about that, but you’re right. Interesting that Bellisario wrote many Battlestar episodes, but not that one.

[@Lensmaster1]

The original idea for Galactica 1980 was to have Apollo moving around in Earth's past and Starbuck working as a go between. The network didn't like that story element so it was dropped. Bellisario was working with Larson on creating the spin-off. He later used the rejected idea to create Quantum Leap.

[@jackiesmith2801]

I love binging Rockford on Roku.

[@TheNameisPlissken1981]

Larson had one great idea and that was to get credit for writing the theme song to his shows. He knew it was a way he could get paid extra every time any episode of one of his shows aired.

[@geoffgaenslen10]

And even that was an idea that Gene Roddenberry had first: he wrote some (abysmal) lyrics to Alexander Courage’s theme to Star Trek so he’d be entitled to half of Courage’s royalties.

[@brucerobinson1284]

Hollywood still does it they make the same movie twice Ants and A Bug's Life both came out in 1998 .

[@Typical.Anomaly]

Strangers On A Train / Throw Momma From The Train Fear And Loathing... / Where The Buffalo Roam The Flintstones / The Honeymooners

[@spockboy]

@@Typical.Anomaly Braveheart/Rob Roy

[@Lensmaster1]

​@@Typical.AnomalyThrow Mama was a tribute to Strangers. The two Hunter S. Thompson movies were based on his book. Neither one copied the other.

[@Typical.Anomaly]

@@Lensmaster1 Ya got me. Flintstones / Honeymooners, though? I don't want to deny _that_ parallel, just because I like it lol 🤷‍♂

[@Lensmaster1]

@Typical.Anomaly yes. The Flintstones was inspired by The Honeymooners. The Jetsons was inspired by Father Knows Best. The Characters on Scooby-Doo were patterned after the main cast of The Many Loves of Dobbie Gillis. Apparently it's easier doing that in cartoons.

[@user-sq4jz9up6g]

Larson wrote the Galatica script long before Star Wars He had more hits than Harlan Ellison ever had

[@tomloucks779]

You're not the first person say that.

[@OathTaker3]

And that name, Good Day at White Rock & the others was a rip off of, Bad day at Black Rock made in 1955 with Ernest Borgnine & Spencer Tracey. This movie was based on a short story called, Bad time at Honda, I loved this film & highly recommend it.

[@tvsbesteps]

Yeah I mentioned that but had to trim it for time. Plus the whole Wild One connection. But thanks for the recommendation and the clarification!!

[@OathTaker3]

@@tvsbesteps I just wanted to add a little info especially for others to hopefully get to watch it. BTW, great video & channel, I enjoy the content you choose too, I'll be watching ... 🤠

[@williamzander9708]

Bad day at black rock was a top 100 movies but can’t see how a tv show really matters that movie was ahead of it’s time . The remake of the magnificent 7 was a dud but sold tickets and American Graffiti and happy days the tv show were based off the movie .

[@steveparadis2978]

Roy Huggins: "When I walked into Universal on the morning "Sting" came out, Max Baer Jr. was...outside my office, and he says, "Roy, are you going to sue?" I didn't know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?" He says, "You didn't see 'Sting'?" I say no; he says, "Well see it, because the first half of it is 'Shady Deal at Sunny Acres'!"

[@tvsbesteps]

Which is one of TVs Best Eps. And def on my list. Thanks for the insight. For those interested: Maverick Season 2, Episode 10. And it is great.

[@HandyMan657]

Thanks for the episode, Eps. Take care.

[@greg6363]

Larson left Universal in 1980 and set up shop at 20th Century Fox where his first series (The Fall Guy) was a breakout hit. Unfortunately, his subsequent work did not catch on with audiences with shows like Manimal, Masquerade, Automan, Trauma Center, Half Nelson, Cover Up and The Highwayman which was the last pilot he produced for the studio after the production went over schedule and over budget. When NBC ordered the show as a mid-season replacement after the surprisingly good ratings generated by the two hour pilot, Fox turned down the order stating they could not produce the show without incurring a huge financial loss which forced Larson to secure foreign financing to cover the nine episode order. In the 90s, Larson signed on with CBS to produce several series including P.S. I Love You and One West Waikiki. His final series creation was the sci-fi superhero show Nightman for Tribune Entertainment which was syndicated to Tribune TV stations in the U.S.

[@tvsbesteps]

Great information! Thanks! I always wondered why nobody has written a bio of Larson. Esp given that Quinn Martin, Cannell, and Huggins have great bios out there. Maybe you should consider it!

[@dcavalli9]

Were "The Yellow Rose" (NBC) and "Dynasty" ripoffs of "Dallas"? "The Fugitive," about a brooding, solitary figure who.is wrongly convicted, inspired "Kung Fu," "The Incredible Hulk," "Renegade," "Run For Your Life," "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams," and even "The A-Team."

[@jannarkiewicz633]

Nice Dave Chase bait and switch :-) I saw the motorcycle gang episode on Adam 12 -- 1969 -- Log 103: A Sound Like Thunder

[@jeffalvich9434]

My mom Joan aka "Jodie" Shoemaker went to high school (same class) at Venice High with "RJ" Wagner and Larson.... went on one (and only one) date with "RJ" as he preferred to be known..... didn't think much about him (RJ) or any of his friends.

[@TowGunner]

Nothing like a knuckle sandwich to get your message across

[@zerogrey3798]

I used to skip school to watch the Rockford Files, that show is part of the reason I became a P.I. later in life. Make no mistake though, real life private investigators never do any of the shit you see in any of the tv shows. All I do is follow cheating spouses around (women cheat exponentially more than men by the way) and film people committing insurance fraud. I've yet to investigate a workman's comp case that wasn't fraudulent. I understand why every time I got hurt at work I was treated like utter crap when 99% of the time they're false claims.

[@TheTurkaderr]

While Star Wars is nothing like BATTLESTAR, I do think bj and the bear was a huge ripoff of Eastwoods movie

[@joerogers9413]

Nah, the movie was about a truck driver with an orangutan, the TV show was about a truck driver with a chimpanzee. That's completely different. : )

[@TheTurkaderr]

@@joerogers9413 well they’re both about big hairy animals who play with their own shit, and that’s just the humans.

[@greg6363]

@@joerogers9413 With a hint of Smokey and the Bandit as well.

[@joerogers9413]

@@greg6363 True. BJ and the Bear did introduce Sheriff Lobo. : )

[@HistoryOnTheLoose]

Sharks eating sharks.

[@sailordude2094]

I used to watch Switch, I barely remember any of it now but I was entertained, lol. Thanks for the TV history, I had no idea about how the product is turned out, very eye opening. BTW, The Rockford Files also had a biker gang episode, The Return of the Black Shadow. Season 5, made in 1979.

[@diosoth]

Quincy ME started out as "Columbo but as a coroner". Jack Klugman wanted to tackle social issue topics instead, with the network siding with Klugman & forcing Larson off the show in season 2. The 2 never really got along well. However Larson got a lot of royalties from the show which lasted 8 seasons, most of which was due to Klugman being showrunner.

[@tvsbesteps]

By all accounts Klugman HATED Larson. I could probably do videos of just Glen Larson stories and not run out of material for a year! Thanks for the comment.

[@scottnolan2833]

The best Star Trek (TOS) episode is almost word for word the submarine movie “The Enemy Below.”

[@StoicLion]

"Balance of Terror"?

[@scottnolan2833]

Correct. Thought I’d said that, but I guess I didn’t.

[@martinbrown2268]

The City on the Edge of Forever is the best original Star Trek episode.

[@spockboy]

Love James Garner. "Glen Larceny" LOL

[@anonygent]

Seemed like every TV show had the same idea(s) at the same time, like every show had a dolphin episode one year, and the trope of having a previously unknown but suddenly and mysteriously important person die off-screen has been done to death (so to speak). I remember being seriously disappointed that Home Improvement trotted out that old trope in one episode. (Mr. Binford)

[@fazole]

And imposters or evil twins 😂

[@floycewhite6991]

​@@fazoleI don't mind though when my girl puts on a blonde wig

[@davidroylance]

In the UK ITC Entertainment recycled ideas and scripts all the time. One episode of The Baron used a recycled script from The Saint and both ended up being screened on a US channel back to back!

[@seanohare5488]

Garner a Korean war veteran two purple hearts stood up for film crew against arrogant tv film stars stood up to Charles Bronson and james franciscus

[@markoutwithmark]

For the record, Larson also plagiarized the Knight Rider theme.

[@theoneandonly6431]

Glen Larson. I remember even as a kid watching his shows and asking myself: "Why is this so familiar? Oh wait! That's a copy of Star Wars, or Smokey and the Bandit!" Today my feeling is like: What did James Garner do that was so terrible?

[@xar3244]

Gil Gerard said a producer bragged about using an old western script and just substituting the Buck Rogers characters. That was when Gerard knew the days of the show were numbered. I assume it was Larson.

[@thack57]

Did anyone notice at about 0:42 seconds in, the scene of that kat playing guitar there's a really blonde Doug McClure standing behind the drummer looking like a surfer boy extra. That has to be him.

[@xar3244]

I was going to post that but you beat me to it

[@GooeyGluey]

Glen Larson was only guilty of doing what everybody in Hollywood had always done -- repackage existing stories. They were only using stories that had always been around. Of course, with so many others doing the same thing, it's only natural that two or more shows at the same time might seem oddly similar. Hollywood has never produced anything original. I was shocked, some years back, when I started listening to old 40s and 50s radio dramas and heard many of the same plots I had seen in TV and movies in the 70s and 80s. It made me realize that the repetition went even farther back. Plot lines of various TV series episodes were repackaged across all genres, again and again, as far back as the sixties. Big Valley, Kung-Fu, Six Million Dollar Man, Fall Guy and others -- all use many of the same episode plot lines. These shows are all in different time frames and genres -- they simply repackage plots. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Matrix -- and many others -- were nothing new, story wise. They were just repackaged well. Now, they've taken to just doing all out remakes. There is nothing new under the Sun. Yet somehow these stories still tug at us.

[@johnprudent3216]

Wow! I had no idea about this guy. I just always figured he was very good at coming up with stuff for shows, cuz I saw his name and a lot of them as a child in the mid 80’s

[@greg6363]

The other piece of the Garner-Larson feud was the Stu Phillips theme to Larson's 1976 pilot "Bennie and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover" which rips off a number of riffs from Mike Post's The Rockford Files theme.

[@engineer6250]

Well researched piece and well presented. Thank you.

[@tvsbesteps]

Thanks very much. Means a lot.

[@bobjohnson205]

Way to go, Jim! P.S. You should have used your right hand! 😉

[@petemccutchen3266]

Both of the “day” episodes were obviously drawn from the Spencer Tracy movie “Bad Day at Black Rock.” That sort of homage is fairly standard.

[@fbksfrank4]

Sadly nobody goes to the library anymore. Fresh ideas, heck, old ideas like Piers Anthony Zanth series.

[@impalaman9707]

In defense of Glen Larsen, he was a very wise man to turn the other cheek and walk away. Only a dummy would counter-sue for pain and discomfort or press charges against Jim Rockford. He came there in good faith and good intentions at a time when he thought there was water under the bridge. And as far as the charges of plagiarism, whenever this issue comes up, has it ever crossed anyone's mind that two people could have the same idea at the same time---like in rock music, for example, this comes up a lot. Does anyone ever think that perhaps someone could come up with the same chord progression as another artist, independent of them, just on their own? Or the name of a band? There is such thing as brilliant minds thinking alike. I believe I came up with the idea of a 24-hour Cartoon Channel long before Ted Turner did, but only he ever executed on it. But I'm not suing him for my idea. So there's that, also

[@willeel3750]

On the other hand when you put your hands on another person and won't take them off when told to, you deserve what you get. That's called aggression and being a jerk.

[@jdgoesham5381]

What a fun vid. Good stuff. While I don't blame Garner for this, he really was a POS himself.

[@nsnopper]

I remember The Rockford Files. I don’t remember Switch. It really didn’t matter if he stole a few ideas, did it?

[@visaman]

Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner. I vaguely remember ir myself.

[@nsnopper]

@@visaman I didn’t even remember that, and loved those guys: Eddie Albert from the hilariously Kafka-esque theatre of the absurd Green Acres, and Robert Wagner from It Takes a Thief (co-starring Malachi Throne). I remember THOSE details. But Switch is a total blank.

[@spockboy]

@@nsnopper kafka-esque is surreal in a "nightmarish" or "oppressive" manner. Green Acres was never that. Absurd? Absolutely.

[@nsnopper]

@@spockboy Yes, absurdist is the word I was looking for. Theatre of the absurd.

[@Beeznitchio]

Interesting. You generally only hear glowing descriptions of Garner. This is why it puzzled me that after Charles Bronson died, he did so much trash talk on Bronson. However, knowing he had a grudgeful side helps it make sense. It still would have been nice if he had publically trash talked Bronson while Bronson was able to respond.

[@jamescarter3196]

Or it would have caused an unnecessary public feud for no good reason, and there's nothing smart about complaining that somebody held back on insulting a living person. The whole 'don't speak ill of the dead' thing is just stupid.

[@Delmo5]

Or maybe Bronson would've done to Garner what Garner did to Larson.

[@KClouisville]

@@Delmo5 I doubt it. Supposedly Garner got in his face after Bronson was bullying some young guy who was lower on the totem pole during a gard game when they were shooting The Great Escape....and Bronson didn't do anything about it.

[@simplesimon755]

Unfortunately, every creative field has non-creative (or at least less) people like Glen A. Larson that leech off actual creatives. In a way it reminds me of the same argument currently against Artificial Intelligence. James Garner is a legend to many and with good reason. The Rockford Files is one of those shows that my family always watched together.

[@whtxombi4955]

Wow! Incredible story.

[@ml5444]

There was an episode of Rockford Files lifted directly from a Travis McGee novel.

[@tvsbesteps]

You might be thinking of season four's "The Competitive Edge" (4.19). However, this might be a case of author John Macdonald looking the other way. Yes, Stephen J. Cannell was a fan of Macdonald's Travis McGee detectives novels. But Macdonald himself was a big fan of Rockford Files. He wrote in TV Guide that Rockford had “…good tight dialogue, good pictorials, and a strong emotional evolvement keep the story afloat. And it is heartening to a book writer to note the success of the series that most nearly fulfills our scriveners’ standards.” So perhaps Cannell and Macdonald had a little unspoken mutual admiration society going.

[@user-in2fe6fy5g]

there is a movie that I have seen 6-7 versions of, with the main star being jack benny,and red Skelton just to name a few(the curse of skull island) and i have seen a story line used by ironside, police woman, the magician just to name a few. i do not know if these were just the writer doing a re-submit to the other shows, but it does happen

[@zirconic9]

I never really understood the Battlestar Galactica lawsuit. The show was very different than Star Wars. Star Wars had the Empire, the Rebel Alliance, the Death Star, etc. BSG was about humans fleeing a robotic adversary after a genocidal war. Other than space dogfights, they were not like each other.

[@floycewhite6991]

I wonder if Sharon Gless ever imagined she'd play a hypochondriac grandmother on a spy show in 2000?

[@dokskwyr4353]

Didn't know Garner could be such a jerk, such a creep.

[@YikesT542]

LOL! Actually he kind of was. He said neighbor Steve McQueen wasn't a great actor and always played himself. That's the case with tons of actors but I somewhat disagree. McQueen had more range than Garner. Soldier in the Rain, The Sand Pebbles and Papillon stick out. It was Garner that always played "himself." He seemed bitter McQueen had greater big screen success but at least acted like he couldn't care less. McQueen would ask for huge sums and get it.

[@Siloguy]

The Sting itself was accused of plagiarizing a Maverick episode called Shady Deal at Sunny Acres.

[@donovanbradford8231]

despite his age at the time Gardner if memory serves was not only a vet but was train by Bruce Lee along with other celebs piow Steve McQueen, James Corben, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and several others. Needless to say while Gardner was older was still someone not to pick a fight with.

[@devcybiko]

Damn - some of those clicks were so crisp and clear. Did you 4K AI remaster?

[@SaltyBob355]

Larson’s “Good Day at White Rock” is already a ripoff of the 1955 title “Bad Day at Black Rock”

[@blue.5058]

I worked with Larson on a show back in the late 90s. The show was a low-budget version of Batman, but without any of the bat-related items in it. He was the biggest content thief in TV, second only to JJ Abrams (also a content thief). Donald Trump was a golf buddy of Larson’s, and did a pre-“you’re fired!”, pre-WWE walk-on cameo on said show. Among other things, this led to my boss getting chewed out by Trump for thinking the latter was a celebrity impersonator.

[@kunserndsittizen2655]

This doesn’t make sense. You mean Trump forgot he did it?

[@macsnafu]

There was also an episode of Rockford Files, based on a book, that was redone for an episode of Simon and Simon. But I have no idea of Larson had anything to do with that.

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

0:12 In fairness to Larson, while the space combat had its similarities, the story arc and basic premise of Battlestar Galactica were so different to those of Star Wars that making a case for plagiarism is pointless. As for the visuals, John Dykstra worked on both; if there are unavoidable comparisons there, it's because the same hand was behind them, and it wasn't Glen A Larson.

[@wallacechannel8532]

Rockford Files is my all time favorite show

[@jeffpowanda8821]

Why would Huggins pass along Rockford scripts to Larson, whose reputation for ripping off screenwriters was already well established?

[@markothwriter]

Don Belesario created Magnum p.i. and it was originally set in San Pedro, Los Angeles. Only Glenn Larsen got them to move it to Hawaii because he had a house in Hawaii, and they had studio space there.

[@trenkamp]

Fun breakdown. For the record, "swarthy" refers to a person's skin tone. None of the White actors mentioned would be considered swarthy. Also, "swarthy" can have a negative connotation among non-White people. Thought you might want to know as I don't imagine you'd want unintentionally p!ss anyone off by using this word inappropriately. Really enjoying these behind the scenes stories. Keep going!

[@tvsbesteps]

Yeah thanks for the heads up. I think I misspelled suave and the grammar check changed it lol. Of course I didn’t notice while recording. Anyway, yeah, no offense was intended. Thanks for the encouragement.

[@MrJacMac1968]

you could say that people who are familiar with what show I am about to say that Beavis and Butthead were stolen from Wes Archer’s JacMac and Radboy Go! by Mike Judge

[@rick43pen]

The proof is in the pudding. Most people have heard of the Rockford files. Who's heard of Switch?

[@KnifePhD73]

From what I have heard about the stand up type of guy James Garner was, you must have done some shit for him to come after you.

[@andrewtaylor940]

Battlestar Galactica I always find fascinating. Amongst all the accusations of Larson creatively borrowing (ripping off) something else, it’s the one that everybody knows and points to. But it’s the one where the complaint holds up the least. Other than the special effects. Star Wars was Lucas “creatively borrowing” from Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, with some Flash Gordon splashed over the top. Battlestar Galactica was literally a SciFi retelling of The Book of Mormon. There was nothing even closely similar about the properties besides “Spaceships going pew pew pew”. The main similarities come from the spaceship designs. That’s because Larson hired the effects people who had just made Star Wars. People Forget, George Lucas did not form ILM until Empire Strikes Back. As soon as Star Wars wrapped, the incredible effects people who had made it were unemployed. And the main thing on their resume, the thing they had to get them hired by the next guy was Star Wars. BSG wasn’t Larson copying Star Wars. In fact nothing in the story concepts and ideas are even remotely the same. He did hire the Art Design and effects people from Star Wars. That was Lucas’s main bitch. He felt they were delivering to Larson designs and concept work that they had cooked up while doing Star Wars.

[@bertmustin]

The character of Thomas Magnum was clearly influenced greatly by Jim Rockford.

[@jawick]

Excellent. Hollywood history and retribution.

[@cdgates1]

Robert Wagner and Glen Larson was not high school classmates. Wagner is 7 years older than Larson

[@Siloguy]

Rockford recycled a bunch of Maverick scripts itself but Huggins owned the copyright to the scripts so it was fair game.

[@johnnynbk]

Rockford Files itself was based on Maverick show

[@tvsbesteps]

Yes but Roy Huggins produced both. So he based it on his own work.

[@randychase305]

@@tvsbesteps Doesn't make it any less unoriginal ...

[@gallery7596]

My problem with Larson's work was how sloppy and corner-cutting it tended to be (especially when it came to looping). Watch "The Fall Guy" and notice how often (for the purposes of exposition) actors are heard explaining some point about the story- even though at the time they aren't even on camera. It's cheap and irritating and Larson did it all the time.

[@ElwoodPDowd1970]

I thought the Battlestar Galactica pilot had been written and was floating around Hollywood before Star Wars released? Not saying the success of Star Wars wasn't the reason the show got greenlit, but I'm guessing things like that were why Fox didn't prevail in their lawsuit.

[@nautifella]

_James Garner_ was in the Merchant Marine during WWII. His is probably correct that his right handed punch may have k1lled the guy.

[@samuelchurch9892]

I am a big fan of James Garner and he probably shouldn't have punch Glen. That said, I do have respect for Glen Larson not filing charges or suing. Today it would be lawsuits and criminal charges and a lot of BS. Hollywood once had stand up guys who knew.

[@hugh-johnfleming289]

Nicely presented all in all. JAMES LYDON, not Lyndon, a great old character actor. AND, huge omission, Garner owned the show and the production company... Makes a big difference.

[@tvsbesteps]

lol yeah my bad.

[@gerrydooley951]

Garner is an interesting character. Over the years he's gotten great press because I think people have confused him with the Maverick character. They think he's very laid back and fun to be around. If you watch the bloopers from Rockford, you will sometimes see an angry man who would be somewhat scary to be around. He seems to be tightly wound with a bad temper. There are numerous reports of him punching people out and these are stories he himself seems to like to tell. Of course the one story he doesn't tell is the 1979 incident when another driver kicked his ass in a case of road rage. He has also bad mouthed other stars such as McQueen and Bronson, after they were dead. Again ,everyone seems to love Garner but there does seem to be this dark , angry side to him.

[@bobjohnson205]

Actually, the road rage incident occurred Jan. 16 '80. 🙂 He got beat-up - BAD!

[@gerrydooley951]

@@bobjohnson205 I was off by a month but correct regarding the incident

[@bobjohnson205]

@@gerrydooley951 Actually, you were off by a year! lol

[@gerrydooley951]

actually just about half a month, I said 1979 and it happened Jan16 1980

[@jamescarter3196]

Sounds like you've got some kind of funny little grudge against him that doesn't mean anything, and you have that goofy little 'don't speak ill of the dead' bs that you're really fragile about, so that's just a bunch of silly crybaby shit, and it's pathetic that you're trying so hard to paint this 'dark Garner' picture but you don't have anything meaningful to say about it. Pretty stupid bunch of rhetoric you got there.

[@varanid9]

Don't know how he avoided losing the lawsuits to some of these obvious blatant rip-offs.

[@NeuroDeviant421]

Other than "space" I don't see any similarity between Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. You might as well say that Star Wars "ripped off" Star Trek... similar names, huh?

[@tvsbesteps]

Yeah, in think the criticism is more about how it “looked” suspiciously like Star Wars. I know Glen wrote the original pilot “Adam’s Ark” in 1971 and based it more off his Mormon roots (and his association with Gene Coon of Star Trek). And he really only sold it because the network saw Star Wars and said “we want that on tv”. Plus he used the same SFX guy as on SW (John Dykstra) so the similarities would be inevitable there. Plus I thought BG had a better story. Thanks for the comment.

[@Lanier2369]

Two sides engaged in battle in space using space planes basically, the good side being a ragtag group that doesn't have as much experience or resources as the evil side that has the advantage and a bunch of disposable foot troopers.... I agree that there's more much similarities for brand confusion between Battlestar Galactica and star wars or them having a valid case against Galactica or anything but there are SOME small similarities, tho not enough and now similar enough. Definitely a stretch no matter how you look at it.

[@tvsbesteps]

Probably one of the reasons Fox lost the lawsuit.

[@Jelperman]

@@tvsbesteps Wrong. Fox won the lawsuit: At first, Lucasfilm was cooperative with Larson, who agreed to lease ILM's special effects equipment for Battlestar Galactica. But there were conditions: 1) The spaceships and blaster shots weren't supposed to look similar to the ones in Star Wars. The original Colonial Viper was going to look like the fighters used in Buck Rogers, but at the last minute Larson had them changed into 3-winged X-wings. The blasters deliberately copied Star Wars' tracer round look, too. 2) The equipment had to be returned before ILM started work on "Star Wars 2" by late 1978. Larson hemmed and hawed about returning it. 3) Battlestar Galactica would NOT be released in theaters. Larson/Universal reneged on that one, too. This led to several years of bad blood between Lucasfilm and Universal/Larson. Tom Selleck was all set to play Indiana Jones, but he was under contract to do Magnum PI (a Glen Larson production) and while Lucasfilm was willing to shoot around Selleck's schedule (both the TV show and part of Raiders of the Lost Ark were shot in Hawaii), Larson refused. A few years later, the parties settled. "On November 18, 1983, an Agreement for Settlement of Lawsuit and Release was agreed upon and, on March 5, 1984, a $225,000 settlement was paid to Twentieth Century-Fox." --From the late JW Rinzler's "The Making of the Empire Strikes Back" So the real winner in all of this was Harrison Ford.

[@guillermo3564]

No mention of Addams Family/Munsters, Bewitched/Jeanne, and look at how many westerns were on in the 50's/60's.

[@grannyweatherwax8005]

There are only so many stories. Claiming because they have a general similar premise, such as a detective in Hawaii, or they are both Westerns, is not plagiarism.

[@TheHuckster100]

You're talking about copying a genre, completely different than what this video is referring to.

[@randychase305]

@@TheHuckster100 Addams Family/Munsters, Bewitched/Jeanne ... I have no idea what you're talking about. Those are glaring examples.