52-Year-Old Crime Series That's Getting David Boreanaz Reboot Returns As Streaming Hit

Published Sep 24, 2026, 8:20 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

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David Boreanaz is the actor to call to lead long-running shows, and the original crime series that was released 52 years ago and serves as the basis for the star's new reboot is now trending again. Boreanaz's long list of TV shows includes quite a few series that ran for multiple seasons, and they all had the actor in central roles. Those include projects like the supernatural hit Angel, which had five seasons and was a spinoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Bones, the police procedural that ran for a high 12 seasons; and SEAL Team, Boreanaz's seven-season action drama.

Based on those shows, it is clear that Boreanaz has the credentials to bring back many classic crime series. In the age of reboots, revivals, and remakes, there are many old shows getting a chance to come back in new ways. For instance, Arrow's Stephen Amell is one of the actors who are leading a Baywatch reboot, bringing back a classic staple of TV in 2027. Next year will also see Boreanaz star in NBC's upcoming The Rockford Files reboot, with the star taking over the James Rockford role that was once played by James Garner, and the original has started trending again.

The Rockford Files Is Surging On Streaming At The Perfect Time

At the time of writing, 1974's The Rockford Files stands as the 8th most-watched TV show on the Apple TV Store in the United States, according to data from FlixPatrol. The Rockford Files entered the coveted chart on Wednesday, September 23. It only took a day on the list for the hit crime series to climb even higher, as the 52-year-old show gained three positions on the Apple TV Store nationwide in a single day, and it seems to want even more. The Rockford Files has left behind quite a few major shows, including both recent hits and classics.

Steve Carell's comedy The Office, the recent mysterious horror series From, the sci-fi series Snowpiercer, the star-studded Peacock original The Five Star Weekend, and the hilarious ted are among those beaten by the detective show. The original The Rockford Files shooting up charts before its reboot is the best possible news for NBC and Boreanaz. It could become even better if the classic crime series ends up getting past some of the few titles that currently hang above it on the Apple TV Store. Those include sci-fi series like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and more shows.

What's The Latest On David Boreanaz's Reboot?

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

The latest news on the reboot of the 52-year-old crime series is that Boreanaz's version of the show will arrive in early 2027, as part of NBC's mid-season premieres, given how it was not dated for the network's fall 2026 schedule. Besides featuring Boreanaz as James Rockford, a private investigator oozing charm in Los Angeles, the upcoming crime series will also star Michaela McManus as Kate, an LAPD detective who has a romantic past with Rockford, and names like Felix Solis and Jacki Weaver. The newfound success of the original The Rockford Files 52 years later sets the stage for the reboot.

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  James Garner

  Jim Rockford

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  Noah Beery Jr.

  Joseph "Rocky" Rockford