James Garner, star of many movies, may be a television regular again next season.


Remembered for his "Maverick" series, Garner appears on the tube this evening in a TV movie that is a pilot for a potential series! The new film is titled "The Rockford Files" and airs from 8 to 9:30 on NBC. It's part of an NBC movie twin bill, with another pilot, film, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," following from 9:30 to 11.


"The Rockford Files" reunites Garner with Roy Huggins, his former producer on "Maverick." It is a joint venture of 'Huggins' Public Arts Productions, Garner's own Cherokee Productions and Universal Television.


Garner plays Jim Rockford,a free-wheeling private detective who spent five years in a prison on a
bad rap. "ROCKFORD'S not just your run-of-the-alley private eye," the 6-foot, 3-inch actor mphasizes. "He's got style." When a private eye is in big danger, says Jim, "that's the cue for an actor to do one of two things: play it straight or inject a little 'Holy cow, I'm gonna get killed' humor into it. That's me, and that's Rockford."


Producer Huggins and executive producer Meta Rosenberg agree that the "essential Garner" comes through in the movie. What is the "essential Garner"? Says Ms. Rosenberg: "Anything that allows him, to inject that dry sense-of-humor. It's a rare kind of quality, this ability to convey
comedy with the flick of a finger. And Jim's got it, no question."


Says Huggins: "Rockford" is hand-tailored for Jim. It's designed to capture that dry sense of humor, the wryness, double-entendre, his innate sense of comedy timing."


ALSO STARRING are the young actress Lindsay Wagner, William Smith, Nita Talbot and Joe Santos. Lindsay starred in the movie "The Paper Chase," with Timothy Bottoms, and, before that, in the film "Two People," opposite Peter Fonda. Smith is perhaps best remembered as a star of the TV series "Streets of Laredo," in the role of a Texas Ranger. Garner's second TV series, "Nichols," didn't last long on the tube, but Jim thinks it should have. "I still love it," he says. "It just never realized its full potential, early enough. If it had, it'd still be on the air today."

Bob Martin