Two Hundred A Day

Welcome to Twenty Dollars a Day, the podcast where we explore our favorite fictional characters in the Star Trek: TNG universe! Nathan and Eppy discuss the second appearance of holographic Prof. Moriarty in S6E12 Ship in a Bottle. Data and Geordie are just trying to enjoy some simple Sherlock Holmes programs on the holodeck, but there's some kind of fluctuation - and when Reg Barkley takes a look, it allows Moriarty to escape the hell of being trapped in system memory. He quickly launches a plan to con the access codes to the Enterprise out of Captain Picard, bringing us into a fun con-counter-con story. Happy April, everyone! We're happy to take our second annual look at Star Trek holodeck episodes that follow on the themes of our first love, The Rockford FIles. Hope you enjoy it! Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Ri

Nathan and Eppy discuss S1E16 Counter Gambit. Jim is hired by an unsavory acquaintance to find a woman, which he quickly realizes is a cover for some kind of valuable that this woman may or may not have with her. Once Jim does find her, however, the situation quickly becomes more complicated. This is a con game episode, and we really enjoyed the twists and turns of the con, and (as titled) the counter-con. Of particular delight is the first regular-season appearance of Angel Martin! If you can see this one cold, you should - there's a lot to appreciate once you know the story, but the layers of misdirection are deftly handled and worth experiencing at full effect, if possible! In addition to appreciating the script and performances, we talk about the phenomena of characters acting in certain ways in order to misdirect the audience (and not anyone else in the world of the narrative) as to their nature or intentions, versus misdirecting other characters while the audience watches. Want more Rockford Files tr

Nathan and Eppy cover our second two-parter episode, a Season Three gem featuring notable character actor Strother Martin as the titular T.T. Flowers, an elderly farmer who refuses to sell his land to a predatory real estate developer. Through a scheme involving his shady son-in-law and an ethically bankrupt psychiatrist, T.T. is hauled off against his will to a mental institution; but Rocky knows that something isn't right. Once he get Jim on the case, it's just a matter of time until he starts to uncover the scheme, but he faces numerous attempts on his life as he tries to find some hard evidence to prove the wild conspiracy. With a genius framing device that unites both episodes as one story, great performances all around and some great action sequences, we really enjoyed this one. Recommended! We mention this Legends of Film Podcast: Gordon T. Dawson during the show. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscri

Nathan and Eppy talk about S5E5 Kill the Messenger. Our good friend Dennis Becker is under a lot of pressure - not only does he have his Lieutenants exam coming up, the wife of the deputy chief police commissioner is murdered, and he gets assigned the case. Jim tries to help, but everything he uncovers about this murder just makes it harder for Dennis in one way or another. A spotlight episode for Becker, it really showcases Joe Santos's hold on the character, and we get to see some big changes in Dennis Beckers life. We really loved it! Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto Jim Crocker - keep an eye out for Jim selling our games east of the Mississippi! Shane Liebling's Roll For Your Party dieroller app Kevin Lovecraft and the Wednesday Evening Podcast Allstars Mike Gillis and the Radio vs. The

Nathan and Eppy talk about S2E22 A Bad Deal in the Valley. After an old girlfriend saddles Jim with a briefcase full of counterfeit cash, he has to figure out what her con is before the Feds get to him... or her. A solid, but unremarkable episode overall that shares many threads with other others we've talked about so far. We feel like it's a great introduction to the Rockford Files vibe, and fun to watch by itself, but it doesn't do anything in particular better than any other episode of the show. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto Jim Crocker - keep an eye out for Jim selling our games east of the Mississippi! Shane Liebling's Roll For Your Party dieroller app Lowell Francis's Age of Ravens gaming blog Kevin Lovecraft and the Wednesday Evening Podcast Allstars Mike Gillis and the Radio vs.

Nathan and Eppy discuss S6E10 The Big Cheese. Jim gets a phone call from a reporter friend telling him to expect something in the mail... just as he's murdered! He doesn't know what it is, but it's something that a crooked union boss wants to get ahold of. And when the package is finally delivered... well, it really "sharpens" the mystery (it's a wheel of cheese!). This is a remarkable episode in how it handles considerable back-and-forth tone shift between grittiness and humor - and it also reveals another emotional layer of the Jim Rockford character, as he reacts to the death of his friend Eddie. Quite recommended! Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto Jim Crocker - keep an eye out for Jim selling our games east of the Mississippi! Shane Liebling's Roll For Your Party dieroller app Lowell Fra

Your hosts Nathan and Eppy have a short conversation about what's changed over the course of the podcast so far, what has surprised us about the show, and what we're thinking about for the future. It happens to be Thanksgiving, so we also take a moment to say thank you for listening. Thanks so much! Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto Jim Crocker - keep an eye out for Jim selling our games east of the Mississippi! Shane Liebling's Roll For Your Party dieroller app Lowell Francis's Age of Ravens gaming blog Kevin Lovecraft and the Wednesday Evening Podcast Allstars Mike Gillis and the Radio vs. The Martians Podcast And thank you to Dael Norwood, Dylan Winslow, Bill Anderson, Adam Alexander, Chris, and Dave P! Thanks to: zencastr.com for helping us record fireside.fm for hosting us thateric

To celebrate our 40th episode, Nathan and Eppy take a look at the second Rockford Files TV movie, 1995's A Blessing In Disguise. The premise is that Angel has become a televangelist preacher, so it's worth watching for that alone! Though padded out in some odd ways to our eyes, this movie really showcases how rock-solid Garner and Margolin are in their roles as Jim and Angel, no matter how much time has passed since the original show. As a 2-hour TV movie, we use our entire episode to go through it, with overall impressions and digresses about the highs and lows of the storytelling. We certainly enjoy the performances and the character arc of the actual center of the story, an aspiring actress played by Renée O'Connor (Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess). However, it does feel more like a victory lap than a really sharply rendered story, with too many scenes that don't seem to do anything past provide a gag, and a story that simply drops threads as the movie goes on without any impact to the story. It's a

Nathan and Eppy discuss S3E22 Dirty Money, Black Light. Rocky finally gets a break and wins a vacation in Hawaii - but once he's gone, starts receiving thousands of dollars in cash in the mail. Jim, worried that he's been tricked into a scam, has to hustle to figure out what's going on and why in this episode full to the brim with crooks, loan sharks, feds, Angel, Dennis AND Beth! One of the Stuart Margolin-directed episodes, there's so much packed into this episode that some of the threads are hard to follow, but many of the specific bits are really well done. In our second half, we talk about the elements that contribute to the "overstuffed" feeling of this episode, including techniques for juggling a bunch of moving parts in a piece of fiction and our thoughts on ways to figure out when you have too much going on. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our G

Nathan and Eppy discuss S1E7 The Big Ripoff. Jim goes on a European jaunt to track down the truth about a widow who received a big insurance payout, but his client doesn't buy his conclusion that the husband is still alive. Trying to figure out a way to get paid for his work, Jim goes to the insurance company, leading him to yet another town in California to prove that Steve Nelson is still alive. We felt a very strong "back to basics" vibe with this episode, which features a fantastically tight script by series creator Roy Huggins, good humor, Jim pulling quick-thinking cons, and a fun mystery that keeps the energy moving with each reveal of the NEXT thing that's going on. In our second half, we talk about our a new approach to the show, where we don't get so into the nitty gritty of each episode in favor of talking about how the overall story is structured. We break down this episode and how it transitions from one "act" to another, how to use plot holes as part of storytelling, and the ways in which the

Nathan and Eppy discuss S4E14 The Attractive Nuisance. Rocky has started a road-side restaurant, but a mysterious figure keeps prowling around the place. Simultaneously, Jim is being threatened by a lawsuit from a guy who climbed onto his trailer to look at the interesting telescope that was up there. In trying to keep Rocky out of trouble and also track down why his roof was REALLY so interesting, both Rockfords are caught up in a knotty situation with roots in the Prohibition era mob/FBI conflict. Thankfully, a smooth Cannell script keeps watching this mess unfold entertaining and rewarding. Maybe an episode that actually is better the second time you watch it, but it has a lot of fun, noir-inspired characters, witty dialogue, and a strong set of motifs throughout that keep this messy mystery engaging. In our second half, we discuss how expertly this episode uses motifs in order to keep everything coherant and feeling like it's part of a single piece, even while the storylines don't all end up with neat en

Nathan and Eppy discuss S4E9 The Mayor's Committee from Deer Lick Falls. A group of stand-up citizens from Deer Lick Falls, Michigan employ Jim to find them a firetruck, but of course that's just a cover for their real intent: hiring a hit man! Once Jim rejects their offer, he needs to find the niece who's the target and try to convince the various bureaucracies involved that these "black-belts in respectability" have murder on their mind. A memorable episode that approaches the Rockford Files formula from a skewed direction, we really liked this one, and not just for all of the connections to Eppy's childhood haunts! In our second half, we talk about how this episode gives us a set of non-standard villains who manage to be simultaneously awful and endearing, and how it uses seperate mini-character-arcs within the group of them to achieve that. We also break open the idea of each step of the story raising the stakes for our hapless committee, and how to include that in your stories and games. Want more Rock

Nathan and Eppy discuss S5E8. We finally meet Angel's brother-in-law Aaron as he's being feted as the new Police Commissioner - but a cadre of socialist revolutionaries breaks up the party and steals the art of the hosts, John & Jeff, right off the walls! Jim is hired to track down the paintings while the police conduct their own investigation, but each thing Jim discovers leads to new questions. He has to untangle a dense web of motivations to solve this one, an effort hindered by Angel's newly-found position of influence, but aided by Lt. Chapman's fall from grace... it's a great episode! Funny and emotionally impactful, well-structured and full of great characters. Recommended! In our second half, we go deep into the idea of "status" among and between characters. This is a feature of the show that we touch on often, but this episode has a host of fluctuating status plays from beginning to end, and we break down what that means for a piece of fiction, common patterns, and how to "activate" the energy of a

Nathan and Eppy finally venture into Season 6 to discuss E7 Nice Guys Finish Dead. Featuring a returning Tom Selleck as Lance White alongside the also-returning James Whitmore Jr as Freddie Beamer, this comedic episode is all about watching these strong, counterpointed characters collide. Jim and Lance are trying to clear Beamer from being blamed for a murder that occurred right in the middle of a PI association conference! While this episode does have a lot of good gags and character work, it feels to us more like an excuse for the series to have a little fun with its own tropes than a fully realized mystery story. In our second half, Eppy unboxes a surprise, and then we dive into a discussion of out-of-continuity or out-of-tone departures in ongoing narratives, as well as a closer look at the layers (or lack thereof) in this story that kept it from being one of our favorites. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by

Nathan and Eppy discuss S4E19 The Competitive Edge. Hired to track down the disappearance of a bank executive by his wife, Jim stumbles upon the secret of an exclusive "health club" The Alphian Way, leading to his own abduction to a rural mental health institution! While leaning a little too hard on the comedic portrayal of the mentally ill, this episode is a tightly-plotted piece with a wonderfully broad cast of character actors, and we find a lot to like inside the fantastical story. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto Lowell Francis's Age of Ravens gaming blog Kevin Lovecraft and the Wednesday Evening Podcast Allstars Mike Gillis and the Radio vs. The Martians Podcast And thank you to Dael Norwood, Shane Liebling, Dylan Winslow, Bill Anderson, Adam Alexander, Chris, Dave and Dave P! Thank

Nathan and Eppy are joined by special guest Jess Banks to discuss one of the most memorable, and perhaps influential, episodes of The Rockford Files: S3E7 So Help Me God. Jim is called before a grand jury to testify about a case he knows nothing about, and when he invokes his Fifth Amendment rights he is jailed on contempt of court! This "issue episode" dramatizes the use of grand juries to compel witness testimony and exploit the mechanisms of justice to deprive innocent people of their rights, in a way that is compelling and educational, not preachy. Jess brings in the perspective of an activist for criminal justice reform (among other things!) and really brings a lot to our discussion. Enjoy! Find Jess Banks at her blog (profbanks.com) and on Twitter @ProfBanks. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victo

Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto John Adamus, The Writer Next Door Lowell Francis's Age of Ravens gaming blog Kevin Lovecraft and the Wednesday Evening Podcast Allstars Mike Gillis and the Radio vs. The Martians Podcast And thank you to Dael Norwood, Shane Liebling, Dylan Winslow, Bill Anderson, Adam Alexander, Chris and Dave! Thanks to: zencastr.com for helping us record fireside.fm for hosting us thatericalper.com for the answering machine audio clips spoileralerts.org for the adding machine audio clip Freesound.org for the other audio clips Two Hundred a Day is a podcast by Nathan D. Paoletta and Epidiah Ravachol. We are exploring the intensely weird and interesting world of the 70s TV detective show The Rockford Files. Half celebration and half analysis, we break down episodes of

Welcome to Twenty Dollars a Day, the podcast where we explore our favorite fictional characters in the Star Trek: TNG universe! Nathan and Eppy discuss the character of Dixon Hill as introduced in S1E11 The Big Goodbye. When Captain Picard decides to destress by bringing up his favorite noir detective program on the newly upgraded holodeck, it all seems like fun and games - until a remote probe sends things haywire and the fictional and real dangers facing the Enterprise start to converge. This is a well-constructed episode with some poignant moments among all the scenery chewing. (Happy April, everyone!) Apologies for the audio issues in this recording - but, while this episode started as a "prank" we really did enjoy discussing this episode, and pulled some real lessons out of in our second half as well. We will be back to our normal Rockford discussion in our next episode. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by su

Nathan and Eppy discuss S4E12 The Queen of Peru. Rockford is trying to handle an insurance company client recover a stolen diamond, but things go pear-shaped as the crooks try to pull a fast one and the diamond ends up in... the RV of a family from Indiana? The Wronkos steal Jims grill, where the diamond happens to be, and well things just spiral from there. This comedic episode combines a sparking David Chase script with some great characters, and is rightly considered a Rockford Files classic. We really enjoyed it! Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto John Adamus, The Writer Next Door Lowell Francis's Age of Ravens gaming blog Kevin Lovecraft and the Wednesday Evening Podcast Allstars Mike Gillis and the Radio vs. The Martians Podcast And thank you to Dael Norwood, Shane Liebling, Dylan Wi

Nathan and Eppy discuss S5E12 Local Man Eaten by Newspaper. Jim goes undercover at a scandal rag to figure out why his client, a doctor to the famous, has been burgled; meanwhile, a local mob boss is facing pressure from inside the family due to rumors spread by that very newspaper. This episode features two separate storylines that intertwine as the pressure mounts on each side, focusing on the increasing dissolution of Natalie, the woman driving her husband Augie to take over the mob family. This episode doesn't give us as much Rockford as usual but it paints a compelling portrait of the villains of the piece, making it a compelling episode of television and giving us a lot to talk about in our second half! Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files! Support the podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/twohundredaday. Big thanks to our Gumshoe patrons! Check them out: Richard Hatem Victor DiSanto John Adamus, The Writer Next Door Lowell Fran