"Take a look around you, Willie. Not much peace around. Just an occasional break in the war." - George Sanford Brown as Officer Terry Webster
The Rookies: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jude Clement
The Rookies: The Complete First Season introduces us to Officers Terry Webster (Georg Stanford Brown), Willie Gillis (Michael Ontkean, Twin Peaks), and Mike Danko (Sam Melville), three Southern California Police Department officers fresh out of the police academy. Gerald S. O'Loughlin is their gruff but patient superior, Lieutenant Ryker. Kate Jackson (Charlie's Angels) plays Mike's newlywed wife, nurse Jill. The Rookies is from the prolific production team of Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, the duo responsible for such pure-pop crime shows as Starsky & Hutch and Charlie's Angels. The Rookies serves as a bridge of sorts between these series. Although it isn't as relatively hard-hitting as Starsky & Hutch, it also isn't as campy as Angels. Instead, it straddles the two extremes like an earnest younger sibling eager to please.
Some of the early episodes are too eager to please, bordering on simple-minded. The first episode, for example, features the least scary gang ever committed to film. The season does improve as it goes along. In "To Taste of Terror," Jill Danko is stalked by a bad guy when a suspect pursued by her husband escapes prosecution. In "Time is the Fire," Lt. Ryker reveals a highly personal side of himself during a kidnapping scheme. In "Crossfire," a veteran cop reluctantly agrees to help out with a weekend camp meant to promote understanding between police officers and juvenile delinquents.
The series mostly works, however, because of its likable cast. Kate Jackson is just as sharp and compelling as she would be several years later as one of the Angels. Ontkean's Gillis, an amiable lunkhead, is extremely easy on the eyes. Sanford Brown and Melville are saddled with more serious roles, but both are charming.
Another strong asset is the series' propulsive theme song by Elmer Bernstein and its dynamic opening credits.
Season one includes several notable guest stars. Tyne Daly (Cagney and Lacey), George Sanford Brown's real-life wife at the time, appears as a crime witness with the mental capacity of a seven year old in "A Farewell Tree from Marly." In "The Commitment," Bo Svenson (Walking Tall) plays a shooter who may have paralyzed Willie for life. Louis Gossett, Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman) is an evangelist (and former drug addict) who becomes falsely accused of a crime ("Covenant with Death"). Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes) plays a hired killer in "Dirge for Sunday."
Other guests include Margaret Avery (The Color Purple), Vic Tayback (Alice), Arlene Golonka (Mayberry, RFD), Dabbs Greer (Little House on the Prairie), John Randolph (Angie), Kitty Lester (Little House on the Prairie), Shelley Morrison (Will & Grace), Cheryl Ladd (Charlie's Angels), Don Porter (Gidget), Earl Holliman (Police Woman), Eric Laneuville (St. Elsewhere), Clint Howard (Gentle Ben), Martin Sheen (The West Wing), Mike Farrell (M*A*S*H), Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough), Mark Lenard (Planet of the Apes), and Teresa Graves (Get Christie Love).
The twenty-three episodes that make up The Rookies: The Complete First Season are divided onto five discs. The discs are housed in three slim, clear plastic keepcases, two of which hold two discs apiece. The fronts of the cases include photos of the series' stars. The backs of the cases include episode titles and brief synopses. The interiors of the cases include larger stock photos. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve.
The DVD menus are simple and easy to navigate. Viewers can play all of the disc's episodes or choose them individually. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
