The Rockford Files replaced by Pink Lady & Jeff?

The intersection of two favorite topics here in GGACP-land... Jim Rockford and Pink Lady+Jeff. In doing some research for an unrelated story, I realized that near the end of its last (injury-shortened) season, the Rockford Files moved from its longtime Friday night NBC slot to Thursdays... and that Pink Lady started airing on Fridays soon after.  Your read that right: The Rockford Files -- in theory -- was REPLACED BY PINK LADY & JEFF.

For real, though, here's what happened:

For the first half of the season (11 new episodes, plus various reruns, in 1979), Rockford aired on Friday nights

On 12/28/79 and 1/4/1980, the show was pre-empted for specials.

The last new episode then aired on Thursday, January 10. After that, the show went on a hiatus due to James Garner's health: no new shows or reruns for the rest of January and February.

On Saturday, March 1, Pink Lady premiered. On Thursday, March 6, Rockford returned (a rerun). Why wasn't Rockford back on Fridays? Because as of March 14, the time slot went to Pink Lady! And this would continue into early April, when both shows disappeared forever.

So, a case could be made that Pink Lady & Jeff replaced The Rockford Files.