At the beginning, Rockford has just had dental surgery which concludes a long-running gag about his dental troubles. On several earlier shows, the recorded telephone messages concern his failures to keep his dental appointments which eventually results in his dental surgery.
This episode and the opening episode of B.J. and the Bear (1978), (which aired on the same night), were both plagued by heavy rains during location filming, which made it impossible to shoot while the cast and crew still had to be paid. Universal Television went to NBC with a proposition; make both shows into 90-minute specials (and paying an additional 50% fee for a regular hour show). NBC agreed, and the scripts for both shows were expanded, and the new material was filmed quickly, bringing the episodes in much closer to budget than they would have been at normal length.
One of many episodes where there is a mob figure, either in person, or by reference, with a name ending with "ette". In this case, the character is Joseph Minette, a New Jersey mob boss trying to get Anthony Boy, who was just paroled, to return to New Jersey and go back to work for him. There have also been mob characters named Manette, Pinette, Frishette, Binette, Gillette, and a few others.
When Mr. Minette says Richie's mother was the 'prettiest in the baths', he was referring to the Brighton Beach Baths - a decades-long fixture of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn - which closed in the late 1980's, and was subsequently demolished and luxury townhouses were erected in their place. The "Baths" referred to had been a former sizable private club.
Joe Santos & George Loros later had recurring roles on "The Sopranos", created & produced by David Chase. Another foreshadowing is that the character names of the villains, Anthony and Syl, plus their victim, Adrianna, would become important on "The Sopranos."