Nathan and Eppy enter the publishing world in S4E2 Trouble in Chapter 17. "Feminity not feminism" author Ann Louise Clement wants to hire Jim as a bodyguard, which isn't his beat. But after witnessing an apparent attempt on her life, he can't not look into it. Unfortunately for Jim, Ann Louise is more interested in publicity than preservation, and he begins to suspect it's all a farce - until her agent is killed in an apparent case of mistaken identity. This snappy Juanita Bartlett episode isn't...
Apr 23, 2023•2 hr 30 min•Ep 117•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to Twenty Dollars a Day, the podcast where we explore our favorite holodeck adventures in the Star Trek universe! Nathan and Eppy join the crew of Deep Space 9 for some thrilling spy action in S4E9 Our Man Bashir. Doctor Bashir is enjoying his new holo-adventure as a Bond-esque superspy when Garak crashes the party. Unfortunately, a transporter accident puts the patterns of the bridge crew into the story, and suddenly Bashir and Garak have to contend with the possibility of their actions...
Apr 01, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep 116•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy finish the Megan Dougherty cycle with S6E5 Love Is the Word. After a lengthy absence, Jim finally returns to Megan only to find that she's gotten engaged! Fair enough, but when her fiancé is accused of murder, of course Jim is going to help find out what's going on. This episode isn't really about the mystery, but it gives us an incredible look at the complicated relationship between Megan and Jim, and how they both process it coming to an end. We find this one a great, if bitter...
Mar 26, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy go to the first appearance of Megan Dougherty (Kathryn Harrold) in S5E9 Black Mirror. This double-length episode, split into two for syndication, gives us plenty of time to learn about Megan and see exactly why she and Jim have such a unique connection. Despite the length, this one flys by as the story turns from discovering a mysterious stalker to handling a serious psychological case, all while showcasing one of the most memorable relationships we've seen on the show. The chemi...
Mar 12, 2023•2 hr 55 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast In this Plus Expenses we talk about: We have Shirts! (https://ndpdesign.com/rockford) Plus, recordings and noise, sheep, deer, the Langley Bunnies (https://thisiswhidbey.com/2019/04/25/langley-bunnies-and-easter-eggs/), our public Plus Expenses, New Year's Fray 2022 (https://ndpdesign.com/fray), fun trading cards, Epimas, buying and selling PDFs, holiday theming, publishing calendars, hype cycles, jgarf.org (https://www.jgarf.org/), the Two Hundred a Day audience, reflections on the show, detect...
Mar 05, 2023•1 hr•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy return to the 90s for the sixth Rockford Files TV Movie, 1996's Punishment and Crime. A chance encounter with a woman from Jim's past, blind psychologist Megan Dougherty, leads to a reunion! However, Megan's cousin Patrick is in some trouble with Russian heavies, and Jim is, against his better judgement, drawn in. There's violence, romance and humor woven throughout this David Chase produced, directed and written effort. It definitely feels like one of the high points of the movi...
Feb 26, 2023•2 hr 7 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy learn a lot about family in S3E3 The Family Hour. Jim and Rocky find Marin, a young girl, seemingly abandoned on Jim's doorstep. They can't help but try to find her family, but are quickly drawn into some kind of scheme centering on Marin's father involving creeps, death threats, narcotics and a cattle prod. A patron suggestion, this episode also finishes our look at writer Gordon T. Dawson, who delivers another great script that is matched by compelling performances from both se...
Jan 29, 2023•2 hr 34 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy go to the courtroom in a "Bethisode", S3E21 Crack Back. Beth is defending a rising football star accused of murder during a violent robbery - but her defense is being compromised by someone stalking her. Jim wants to help her out with both, of course, but has to navigate what Beth wants (the best for her case) with what he wants (the best for her). It's our final wrap on prolific director Reza Badiyi, and with a great Juanita Bartlett script and wonderful performances from all of...
Dec 31, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy get in the ring with S5E10 A Fast Count. Jim is invested in a promising young boxer, but when his manager Morry is pulled in by the feds for a bribery charge, Jim reluctantly agrees to protect his investment by figuring out who is framing Morry and why. It seems that a rival manager and Used Car Queen "Right On Ruth" is behind it, but the more Jim digs the weirder the whole thing gets. This was a really fun episode to go into detail on, and we go to town on the math involved in t...
Nov 27, 2022•2 hr 49 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy take a trip to the first appearance of Eugene and Mickey in S5E3 The Jersey Bounce. Our "coupla guys" rent a house next to Rocky, and after some serious threats are made, a dead body shows up. Jim is implicated and needs legal counsel, finally hooking up with disbarred attorney John Cooper to turn the tables on our two dim-witted wannabes. Don't look for continuity, but this is a very Rockford-y episode that we enjoyed quite a bit! We have another podcast: Plus Expenses. Covering...
Oct 30, 2022•2 hr 30 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast After fielding the recordings on our answering machine, Nathan and Eppy take a trip to Jersey in S6E10 Just a Coupla Guys. This is a very Rockford-lite episode, centering instead on two hapless Jerseyites who want to make it in with the mob. A backdoor pilot for a never-produced show, this David Chase-written episode foreshadows a lot of what ended up in the Sopranos, but doesn't really give us what we come to the Rockford Files for. Interesting to talk about, though! We have another podcast: Pl...
Oct 16, 2022•2 hr 35 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy go to Bay City in S1E4 Exit Prentiss Carr. An old flame hires Jim to find her husband, but he only finds the body. When the Bay City police rule it a suicide, Jim has to figure out who is lying to him and why, all while keeping one step ahead of the local cops who have it out for him personally. A very well-paced early season episode, we really enjoyed watching Jim do PI things while still settling into the character we would get to know so well! We have another podcast: Plus Exp...
Sep 25, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy spend some time in the jury box with Jim in S5E15 The Deuce. It looks like a drink driver hit and killed a woman, but some trouble details give Jim reasonable doubts. The driver asks Jim to keep looking into it, and each thread he pulls on uncovers another lie. The strength of this episode is seeing so much of Jim's day-to-day, and an excellent performance from Mills Watson as the accused who takes an opportunity to turn his life around! We have another podcast: Plus Expenses. Co...
Aug 21, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast 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! We have another podcast: P...
May 29, 2022•2 hr 37 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast 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 memorabl...
May 15, 2022•2 hr 54 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Apr 24, 2022•2 hr 30 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast 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 downtime, and Worf can't invent enough work to keep him from joining 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...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep 101•Transcript available on Metacast 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! Our Recommended Episode List: * Ep 6: Just Another Polish Wedding * Ep 21: Hotel of Fear * Ep 30: The Big Goodbye (20 a Day) * Ep 32: So Help Me God (w/guest Jess Banks) * Ep 45: The Trees, The Bees and T.T. Flowers (2-parter) * Ep 54: I...
Mar 27, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 100•Transcript available on Metacast 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!...
Mar 13, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Ep 99•Transcript available on Metacast 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-Rockf...
Feb 27, 2022•2 hr 35 min•Ep 98•Transcript available on Metacast *In Plus Expenses #40 we talk about: *Goodbye 2021, Eppy recommends The Spine of Night (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3885422/), Nathan just isn’t watching movies, the Rockford Files is still good!, the triple-edged (?) sword of making your hobby your job, Nathan recommends The Prisoner (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061287/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3), TV theme songs, Crossbow (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140731/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0), McGoohan Season continues, Be Seeing You (https://timeoftribes.itch.io...
Feb 13, 2022•57 min•Ep 97•Transcript available on Metacast 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! We have another podcast: Plus Expense...
Dec 26, 2021•2 hr 33 min•Ep 96•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy go to Vegas in S1E10 The Dexter Crisis. Jim is hired by the titular Dexter to find Susan, his mistress 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 fe...
Dec 12, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep 95•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy get to see Jim helping out a friend in S3E16: The Becker Connection. Becker's been moonlighting with the Narco squad, and suddenly some stolen heroin shows up in his car tire! Suspended while under investigation by internal affairs, Dennis turns to Jim for any help he can provide - which involves Angel, a washed-up Vegas comedian, and turning the tables on a crooked cop. We get to see a lot of good character beats woven into a fun plot, and found this one a great episode that rea...
Nov 28, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy dive into one of the most oddball episodes, S4E8 Irving the Explainer. It's an intentionally obtuse episode that really benefits from seeing it cold - if you haven't, be warned that we might spoil the fun with our discussion! Written by David Chase, this episode seems to be a pretty polarizing one, and we talk about the various lenses through which you can view it to find the fun. Content warning: the episode isn't really about Naziism, but it contains references to Nazis and Naz...
Oct 31, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy join Jim in an unexpected trip across the border in S4E18 South by Southeast. Due to a mistaken postal address, Jim is taken for a CIA operative and whisked away for a high-stakes meeting with a rich socialite, who he quickly discovers is in trouble herself. Despite a serious class divide, we watch romance blossom while Jim does his best to keep her from danger. This fun character study of an episode uses the North by Northwest homage framing to get things going, so if seeing Jim...
Oct 17, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy return to 1996 to talk about the fifth TV movie, Friends and Foul Play. Jim's friend Babs ends up dead after asking him to help her find out more about the murder of her son. Before he can even start to investigate, Captain Chapman turns up with a class of criminology majors, messing both with the crime scene and with Jim's efforts - so, of course, he has to join the class himself in order to skirt Chapman's ire and bring Babs killer to justice! It's always a blast seeing all the...
Sep 26, 2021•2 hr 56 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy answer some listener questions! We talk about the origination of Angel, the relationship between James Garner and his writers, the place of the show in the continuity of detective TV, music from the show, and more. Thanks again for all the great questions, listeners! There's a clip in the show from this TelevisonAcademy.com interview with James Garner: Interview part 4 (of 6) (https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/james-garner?clip=chapter4#interview-clips). Here's ...
Sep 12, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy spend some time in the Firebird in S1E11 Caledonia - It's Worth a Fortune! Jim is hired by a woman who's imprisoned husband buried a treasure trove, and she wants to find it in order to help get him the medical help he needs. However, he only gave her part of the puzzle. After her old flame appears with the other half, Jim has to both deal himself in and somehow keep them working together to find the fortune. Directed by Stuart Margolin, this is a fun, concentrated romp chock-ful...
Aug 29, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan and Eppy go to the comedy club in S4E6 Requiem for a Funny Box. Washed-up comedian Kenny Bell asks Jim for some help after his "funny box" is stolen, but the exchange draws Jim into a mob murder! Untangling the murder requires Jim to suffer through getting the real story from the self-interested Kenny. Content Warning: This episode has quite a reveal (which we talk about in our intro) having to do with virulent homophobia and related off-screen violence. This is a good episode with some s...
Jul 25, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast 
