The Rookies (1972)
The Rookies is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1972 until 1976. It follows the exploits of three rookie police officers working in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department.
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Episode 1 - Cauldron
Release Date: 1973-09-10Willie and Terry are kidnapped by a disturbed criminal who is dying. The criminal leaves the two rookies in the desert, abandoned, with no food source and little hope of being rescued. Willie, in this situation, struggles to saves Terry's life.
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Episode 2 - Margin for Error
Release Date: 1973-09-17While performing their routine patrol, Gillis and Danko unexpectedly stumble upon a robbery that is taking place. They radio for additional support and a veteran police team arrive at the crime scene. One of the veteran policeman is killed in the midst of the robbery, and his partner places fault on Danko. The veteran policeman makes the suggestion that Danko be appointed to ride with him, a suggestion that turns out to have almost catastrophic results.
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Episode 3 - Deadly Cage
Release Date: 1973-09-24Webster is asked to play the role of a prisoner at the State Prison. He disguises himself as an inmate, in an effort to aid the issue of prison reform. However, when the other prisoners discover that Webster is merely pretending to be a fellow inmate, pandemonium results.
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Episode 4 - Frozen Smoke
Release Date: 1973-10-01Juvenile detail is typically known to be a relatively easy tour. However, this is not the case for Willie. While on juvenile detail, Willie discovers that he is not as emotionally strong as he once thought. He is presented with pain and death, in amounts that are greater than he can manage.
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Episode 5 - Get Ryker
Release Date: 1973-10-08Jill, Danko's wife, is assigned to protect Lieutenant Ryker after he is wounded by a former prisoner who desires to take revenge. However, Ryker decides to take charge of the situation when Jill's life is at stake.
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Episode 6 - Cry Wolf
Release Date: 1973-10-15A lonely lady who resides by the beach places a call into the police station for aid. Willie and Terry ignore this routine call, only to find out that the call was legitimate and the woman has been robbed and beaten. The rookies are then thrown into a peculiar series of robberies.
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Episode 7 - A Matter of Justice (a.k.a.) Justice for Jill Danko
Release Date: 1973-10-22Jill Danko is seriously wounded by a seemingly demented gunman while dining with her husband Mike. Later, they find out that the gunman is unable to be prosecuted in court, because he is suffering from a brain tumor which appears to be the cause of his action. The rookies take it upon themselves to prove the man is dangerous and can place society in jeopardy.
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Episode 8 - Blood Brother
Release Date: 1973-10-29Like many Vietnam veterans returning home after the war, Jimmy Webster is angry at society for treating him as if he was an outsider, and not openly accepting him. He is unable to find employment and is left with an important decision to make: either he can fall back on his cousin, Terry Webster, and turn to him for support, or he can join a robbery operation and make a large amount of money.
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Episode 9 - Code 261
Release Date: 1973-11-05A young nurse suffers a terrifying ordeal when she is raped in the underground garage of Memorial Hospital. The rookies attempt to help the woman by offering support. They offer encouragement and assistance as the woman proceeds through the legal formalities which often are unsympathetic to the rape victim, and sometimes humiliate her.
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Episode 10 - Prayers Unanswered, Prayers Unheard
Release Date: 1973-11-12Lieutenant Ryker is selected to be personally in charge of an important investigation. A priest is murdered and a nun is badly beaten in a destitute neighborhood, and the community worries that religious restlessness with arise. As the investigation progresses, the rookies uncover a completely different motive.
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Episode 11 - Down Home Boy
Release Date: 1973-11-19A telethon featuring an extremely famous country western singer requests of the police department extra protection. The rookies are assigned to the event. Their placement on this assignment results in their protecting the singer from a couple of bitter and unforgiving country folk from Tennessee. The hillbillies hold the singer responsible for the death of their sister, who died while she was giving birth.
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Episode 12 - Lots of Trees and a Running Stream
Release Date: 1973-12-02Jill is confronted by her past when a former lover of hers appears at her home. Mike is currently out of town. The unanticipated visitor gives the impression that he is fatally ill, thereby luring Jill into becoming involved with him, despite her uncertainty. Only after a period of time does Jill realize the great lengths this former lover will go to try to get her back and claim her as his own.
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Episode 13 - Another Beginning for Ben Fuller
Release Date: 1973-12-10 -
Episode 14 - Trial by Doubt
Release Date: 1974-01-07Willie Gillis is assigned to ride with an older officer and, while on patrol, the man is killed. When the murderer is captured, the other policemen are inclined to take the law into their own hands. Falsely accused of incompetence, Willie is forced to search his soul to arrive at justice.
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Episode 15 - The Authentic Death of Billy Stomper
Release Date: 1974-01-14A college girl from Jamaica witnesses the murder of a notorious drug pusher and Terry Webster is assigned to get her testimony in the days that follow, they fall in love, but the girl is tracked down by the murderer and killed. Terry uses himself as a decoy to trap the killers.
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Episode 16 - The Late Mr. Brent
Release Date: 1974-01-28Mike and Jill Danko's marriage is strained by Mike's protective interest in the widow of a man Mike was forced to kill in the line of duty.
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Episode 17 - The Teacher
Release Date: 1974-02-04The rookies must contend with 'The Teacher' an ex-convict who masterminds several well executed robberies using the young boys who are in the city looking for excitement.
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Episode 18 - Eyewitness
Release Date: 1974-02-11A young man with a Jekyll - Hyde personality becomes a puzzle for Terry and Willie when he gives them a description of a suspected cop-killer. But for Mike and Ryker he poses a different problem: extreme danger.
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Episode 19 - Something Less Than a Man
Release Date: 1974-02-18An old friend of Ryker's, once a good policeman and now a pathetic drunk, is framed for the murder of a gangster who has terrorized the neighborhood. To gain favor from his daughter and neighbors, he pleads guilty, but Lt. Ryker, with the help of the rookies, finds a better way to give the man back his dignity.
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Episode 20 - Rolling Thunder
Release Date: 1974-02-25The Ludlow precinct institutes a Police Cadet Program. One of the boys involved becomes overzealous and is kidnapped, along with Terry, by his sister's boyfriend who is a fugitive.
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Episode 21 - Time Lock
Release Date: 1974-03-04A brilliant young felon holds Terry and three women, one of whom is pregnant, hostage in a bank vault in order to free his partner from jail.
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Episode 22 - Death Watch
Release Date: 1974-03-18Two ex-convicts are loose in the city carrying contagious meningitis. After Willie is exposed to it when he gives the ex-convict mouth - to – mouth resuscitation, the other rookies are given the task of finding the men and stopping a possible epidemic.