‘The Rockford Files’ Starring David Boreanaz Gets Premiere Date, Post-NFL Launch On NBC

The Rockford Files, NBC‘s upcoming reboot of the 1970s series, is getting a special preview on Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, immediately following the network’s NFL telecast. The drama starring David Boreanaz will have its time slot premiere on Thursday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Deadline revealed in May that The Rockford Files, a wide-appeal 8 PM drama, will succeed The Traitors: New Blood in the Thursday 8 PM slot in January after the civilian incarnation of the hit Peacock reality competition series wraps its run. The close-ended character-based procedural joins NBC’s Law & Order Thursday block of Law & Order: SVU at 9 p.m. and the mothership series at 10 p.m.

In The Rockford Files, a contemporary update on the classic series, newly paroled after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford (Boreanaz) 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.

Boreanaz, Michaela McManus, Ilfenesh Hadera and Jacki Weaver star in the series from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. Writer Mike Daniels serves as showrunner. He executive produces with Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman as well as former FBI: Most Wanted and CIA showrunner David Hudgins, who boarded the series after the pilot.

Taking a page out of Better Call Saul‘s playbook, NBC is launching a fake billboard-style ad for Jim Rockford, complete with a hotline number, just like the AMC drama did with attorney Saul Goodman. The Rockford Files‘s stunt features a recorded message by Boreanaz inspired by the voicemail in the original series.