I used to watch "The Rookies" as a kid and out of nostalgia's sake, I decided to try watching the old episodes now that they are out on DVD...big mistake. I was appalled at how badly written the show was--but it's not the sort of thing an 8-11 year-old would notice (and that's how old I was when the show aired). I have now noticed several things about the show that all contribute to its sucking badly: the cops are really not cops but social workers, Kate Jackson is NOT one of these rookies but ends up in the show for no apparent reason (any time anyone goes to the hospital, Kate is THE nurse on duty who treats them), plot holes big enough to drive the USS Enterprise through and the ability to take a good plot idea and completely ruin it. Yup...this show sucks. If it hadn't eventually resulted in a good spin-off series ("S.W.A.T."), I would have nothing positive to say about the show other than it gave folks like Georg Stanford Brown and Gerald O'Laughlin work--and it did have a really cool 70s theme song.

Excellent show! The 70's was not only the best time for television but especially for the police shows. I hope it comes out on dvd as S.W.A.T did. You have to remember that this is an older show & we loved it back then. To watch it now would bring back memories of childhood & how much we waited to see it every week. To me, that is what the Rookies is all about.

The Rookies was one of my favorite "cop shows" from what I think was one of the best periods of time for television. Production quality was very high for a weekly series, each episode had the quality of an hour long feature film - only with commercial breaks. Of course, the clothes, vehicles, music, and a lot of the language is dated today, but I don't have a problem with that since I was in my early 20's during that time. The drama centers around three rookie police officers in a large metropolitan police force, who daily struggle with the social issues of the day -- drugs, crime, racism, homosexuality, prostitution, you-name-it. I agree with what one other commentor said about "reverse racism" in the manner that the Michael Ontkean character, Officer Willie Gillis, is used as an example of the social cluelessness of white, middle-class males. In fact, it was my observation of how the Gillis character was portrayed that woke me up to Hollywood's liberal agenda, and caused me to start thinking a lot more critically when shown something on the silver screen or TV labeled as "entertainment" but really meant as liberal political propaganda. The politics aside, this series gives one a look at very high quality TV production, and some great acting. The Kate Jackson character (Jill Danko) shows us a real woman -- caring, loving, concerned -- but without yet having grown the liberal, male-bashing chip on her shoulder that would later become sine qua non in future female characters. The men, however, seem to have been considerably "softened up" -- the Officer Gillis character in particular. This series probably draws the line between TV's golden era and the mandatory liberal indoctrination of the present day. This is where the Marxist social brainwashing started, but it is still enjoyable to watch.

If you are looking for a really cool cop show then the rookies is the show for you. It may have been made back in the 70's but the stories are really good. It also benefits from the fact that Kate Jackson is in it. She brings a clean polished performance each time she is on. And the 3 Rookies (actors) have a really great chemistry.