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The Best Episodes of The Rookies

Every episode of The Rookies ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Rookies!

The Best Episodes of The Rookies

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...

Seasons4

  1. Background image for Dead Heat
    9.2/10(21 votes)

    #1 - Dead Heat

    S4:E13

    Chris and Terry have their patrol car stolen by teenage vandals while investigating a major robbery in a department store and three heavily armed killers trap them there.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for From Out of the Darkness
    8.8/10(24 votes)

    #2 - From Out of the Darkness

    S4:E19

    Terry vows to find the murderer of Dan Kennedy, a retired cop turned security guard. Dan was the father of a blind girl, Terry's former girlfriend.

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    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for To Taste of Terror
    8.6/10(43 votes)

    #3 - To Taste of Terror

    S1:E10

    In an effort to prove he's no 'old man', Officer Danko chases down a fleeing criminal. While he succeeds in apprehending the thief, his partners Webster and Gillis fail to catch the criminal's brother, who is also running from the law. Danko testifies in court against the criminal he caught, thereby infuriating the brother who is unassumingly observing in the courtroom.

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  4. Background image for Three Hours to Kill
    8.6/10(35 votes)

    #4 - Three Hours to Kill

    S1:E19

    An extremely ill young boy is desperately waiting for a suitable bone marrow donor; without a bone marrow transplant, he will die shortly. However, the biggest obstacle is that the boy's father, who has compatible marrow and is the only possible donor, is currently on the run. He is trying to evade the police as well as the syndicate.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for A Bloody Shade of Blue
    8.5/10(32 votes)

    #5 - A Bloody Shade of Blue

    S1:E12

    Easy Wyatt is a cop with many years behind him on the force. His ranch has recently been the target of destruction in a new plan to build a freeway. Wyatt is becoming mentally unstable, and his instability is slowly spiraling deeper and deeper. Once the best officer in the squad, Wyatt's shaky state is evident when he attempts to prevent the bulldozers from digging by holding them at gunpoint.

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    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Rabbits on the Runway
    8.5/10(37 votes)

    #6 - Rabbits on the Runway

    S1:E14

    Gillis enters a tough situation when he is presented with a boy who is trapped in a police car which is on fire. He chooses to shoot the boy, promptly catching the internal affairs division's attention. They launch an investigation into the event and Gillis to see if he has committed a mercy killing, and to try to get closure in the case.

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    Director:Gene Nelson
    Writer:Unknown
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    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Rookies

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  8. Background image for Snow Job
    8.5/10(26 votes)

    #7 - Snow Job

    S1:E17

    An old friend of Terry Webster's unleashes an attack on a patrol car officer. Webster investigates further to try and discover the logic behind the seemingly nonsensical incident.

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  9. Background image for A Farewell Tree from Marly
    8.5/10(34 votes)

    #8 - A Farewell Tree from Marly

    S1:E22

    The rookies may be confronted with a problem worse than the nurse who holds a grudge against all police officers: they discover that her younger brother is associating with thugs who are the organizers of a current neighborhood protection scandal.

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    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Ladies Day (a.k.a.) Ladies Kill, Too
    8.5/10(29 votes)

    #9 - Ladies Day (a.k.a.) Ladies Kill, Too

    S4:E5

    Jill is working in a womens prison, fighting an outbreak of diphtheria. In order to protest for better food and working conditions, inmates take Jill Danko and Dr. Malcolm hostage.

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    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for The Code Five Affair
    8.5/10(27 votes)

    #10 - The Code Five Affair

    S4:E15

    The rookies stake out an abandoned factory where a heroin deal is about to take place, and are able to seize the drugs and arrest all but one man. This man must get the heroin back from the police.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Someone Who Cares
    8.4/10(27 votes)

    #11 - Someone Who Cares

    S4:E4

    An unidentified nine-year-old girl is accidentally hit by a car after two hedonistic ""swinging single"" men spike her lunch with narcotics. Before she dies, she begs Terry for help. Terry, reluctant to let her die a Jane Doe, investigates.

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    Director:Ivan Dixon
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Easy Money
    8.3/10(32 votes)

    #12 - Easy Money

    S1:E23

    No description available

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    Director:Lou Antonio
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Tarnished Idol
    8.2/10(29 votes)

    #13 - Tarnished Idol

    S1:E15

    In their off duty time, the rookies become involved in a camp for deviant, delinquent children and adolescents. Because of their involvement, the community's view regarding them, and the police force as a whole, is at risk.

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  15. Background image for The Bear That Didn't Get Up
    8.1/10(31 votes)

    #14 - The Bear That Didn't Get Up

    S1:E7

    Assigned with the task of protecting a valuable witness, Danko and the Officers must exercise caution regarding visitors to the prison. When a professional killer disguises himself as a professor seeking to interview Sol (the witness), Danko denies him the opportunity. Nevertheless, Danko does agree to help the 'professor' by accompanying him to an aircraft hanger where he claims he is meeting a friend.

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    Director:Jud Taylor
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Lamb to the Slaughter
    8.1/10(26 votes)

    #15 - Lamb to the Slaughter

    S4:E1

    When burglar Brad Gifford is arrested, his cop-hating, now orphaned son, Jody, is taken to Lambert Hall where he is befriended by Ryker, a former orphan himself. Jody is just beginning to trust and like Ryker when his father, aided by Augie Baker and P.G. Larkan, escapes custody and comes for him. Ryker is taken hostage. The group is traced down by Mike and Terry. In the resulting shootout, Augie is killed, P.G. arrested, and Brad Gifford is mortally wounded. Jody is taken back to the home where he is given foster parents, and a new life.

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    Director:William Crain
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for The Commitment
    8.0/10(35 votes)

    #16 - The Commitment

    S1:E4

    Terry and Willie become involved with Brother Toby, a former drug addict now turned evangelist. They admire his mission to help other junkies become sober. He is framed by the father of one of his followers, because of the father's disagreement with Toby's religious beliefs. He is put in the situation where it appears that he violates his parole by selling drugs. Willie and Terry have the harrowing task of proving Toby innocent.

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    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for A Deadly Velocity
    8.0/10(34 votes)

    #17 - A Deadly Velocity

    S1:E11

    The rookies are given the task of protecting a controversial Army General who has recently returned to the country after serving in Vietnam. The rookies must deal with mob control, as well as actively track down a sniper who hits the General. The rookies most valuable clue is an old army rifle, used in the General's shooting, whose owner the rookies must uncover.

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    Director:Unknown
  19. Background image for A Very Special Piece of Ground
    8.0/10(33 votes)

    #18 - A Very Special Piece of Ground

    S1:E13

    The rookies are on the hunt for a runaway girl. Their strongest clue to solving the case is a tattooed foot. However, the rookies are missing a vital piece of information: the man that claims to be the girl's father is actually the one who is out to murder her, and is the cause for her self-imposed disappearance.

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  20. Background image for Blue Movie, Blue Death
    8.0/10(18 votes)

    #19 - Blue Movie, Blue Death

    S4:E21

    The rookies are given undercover assignments in order to smash a syndicate-owned porno film company responsible for the deaths of some of its actors.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Time is the Fire
    7.9/10(38 votes)

    #20 - Time is the Fire

    S1:E6

    A young woman, Andrea Sloan, is kidnapped and held for ransom. Complications ensue.

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  22. Background image for Dirge for Sunday
    7.9/10(35 votes)

    #21 - Dirge for Sunday

    S1:E8

    Assigned with the task of protecting a valuable witness, Danko and the Officers must exercise caution regarding visitors to the prison. When a professional killer disguises himself as a professor seeking to interview Sol (the witness), Danko denies him the opportunity. Nevertheless, Danko does agree to help the 'professor' by accompanying him to an aircraft hanger where he claims he is meeting a friend.

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  23. Background image for Sudden Death (a.k.a.) Return from the Past
    7.9/10(19 votes)

    #22 - Sudden Death (a.k.a.) Return from the Past

    S4:E18

    Mike, a former helicopter pilot in Vietnam, becomes the prey of a deranged ex-POW who blames the policeman for his capture by the Vietcong.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for The Mugging
    7.9/10(18 votes)

    #23 - The Mugging

    S4:E20

    After a woman is fatally assaulted by three junkies, her son, a doctor in the same hospital where Jill works, announces his intention to get revenge against the three, who were released from jail on a technicality.

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    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Crossfire
    7.8/10(31 votes)

    #24 - Crossfire

    S1:E16

    A junkie addicted to dope sets his eye on swiping 82 million dollars worth of cocaine which has been confiscated. He will soon find that his plan is confronted with complications: the police have tagged the drugs for disposal in the ocean.

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    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for A Time to Mourn
    7.8/10(23 votes)

    #25 - A Time to Mourn

    S4:E9

    Chris' sister makes a surprise visit on her brother. He is suspended after conducting an unauthorized bust of the man who molested her.

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Best Episodes Summary

"Dead Heat" is the best rated episode of "The Rookies". It scored 9.2/10 based on 21 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/2/1975. This episode scored 0.4 points higher than the second highest rated, "From Out of the Darkness".