Even by the standards of episodes featuring the super-entertaining Stuart Margolin (RIP) this episode is great. Angel witnesses a murder in his apartment building. He's not too enthused about being the DA's star witness. Turns out the perp is a mob hitman, so Angel gets 24-hour police protection in exchange for testifying.
Margolin gets a lot of funny lines. He absolutely owns this episode.
Nevertheless, I want to mention three of this episode's guests all intersecting at different times of their careers.
In one of his last appearances, Barry Atwater plays a gun seller who gives Rockford information about the shooter. Atwater looks like he's already had a stroke but he still has solid, dignified line delivery. You might remember him playing Spock's father from the original Star Trek. Total pro.
Then there's Barbra Rae in one of her 11 screen credits. She plays a friend of the murder victim and she's quite good in her scene with Rockford. I wonder why she had so few TV and movie credits. I hope that means she enjoyed a long career on stage.
And finally, Gerald McRaney is the DA. I wondered whether this was an early credit for "Major Dad." Turns out he'd been - and continued to be - in just about every TV show from the 70s before hitting big as the co-star of Simon & Simon. Check out the Wiki entry on that show. Nearly cancelled after Season 1, it was slotted into CBS's Thursday night lineup at Magnum P. I. where it turned into a Top 10 show for three seasons. Halfway through it's run NBC launched The Cosby Show at 8 against Magnum, and Cheers at 9 against Simon & Simon. Years later, FOX launched The Simpsons to go head-to-head vs Cosby. Talk about an all-time network battle involving iconic shows.