Jim Rockford may be going back onto the streets of Los Angeles.
NBC has ordered a pilot for an update on The Rockford Files, the beloved private eye series that starred James Garner. The project comes from Universal Television, which produced the original 1974-80 series, and writer Mike Daniels (NBC’s The Village, Sons of Anarchy).
Also Tuesday, NBC ordered a pilot for Protection, a drama centered on a law enforcement family targeted by an assassin. Also from Universal TV, the pilot is written by Josh Safran (Gossip Girl, Quantico) and counts Today fourth hour co-host Jenna Bush Hager among its executive producers.
The Rockford Files pilot will be a contemporary take on the show, which was created by Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins and famously had future Sopranos creator David Chase in its writers room for several seasons. The logline reads, “Newly paroled after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford returns to his life as a private investigator using his charm and wit to solve cases around Los Angeles. It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to land him squarely in the crosshairs of both local police and organized crime.”
The pilot is the second one centered on a private investigator NBC has ordered this development cycle. The network also has a comedy pilot about a P.I. from Brooklyn Nine-Nine alumni Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici.
After its initial run —and after Garner and Universal settled a long-running legal case over profits from the show —The Rockford Files spawned a series of eight TV movies that featured Garner and several members of the original show’s cast. The movies aired on CBS, whereas the original series —and now potentially the reboot —was on NBC.
Daniels is executive producing the pilot with Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman. Chris Leanza co-exec produces.
The description of Protection reads, “When a U.S. marshal falls in the line of duty, a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy as a family of law enforcement agents become the target of a mysterious assassin. Bridging personal differences and crossing professional boundaries, the Thornhill family must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice … even if it means betraying their sworn code.”
Safran executive produces with Bush Hager and Ben Spector.
Jan. 13, 3:10 p.m. Updated with the pilot order for Protection.