Trivia / The Rookies

• Directed by Cast Member:
  • Georg Stanford Brown directed several episodes of the series, near the end of the third season and into the fourth season.
  • Gerald S. O'Loughlin directed the episode "A Time to Mourn". He also directed an episode of another Spelling-Goldberg series, Family, but unlike Brown, decided that directing wasn't for him and continued his acting career.
• Fake American: Canadian actor Michael Ontkean as American Willie Gillis.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Only the first two seasons are available on DVD. Considering the poor sales of the first two sets, it's highly unlikely the remaining two seasons will be released.
• Playing Against Type: Jim Nabors in the episode "Down Home Boy" plays a man who's out to kill a country singer he blames for his sister's death.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Georg Stanford Brown's then-wife, Tyne Daly, appeared in each season of the series, in the episodes "A Farewell Tree From Marly", "Time Lock", "Cliffy" and "From Out of the Darkness".
  • Dan Spelling, Aaron Spelling's brother, guest-starred in a pair of episodes.
  • Real-life husband and wife Jerry Douglas and Arlene Martel play husband and wife in the episode "Vendetta". They split up around the time the episode aired.
• Similarly Named Works: The episode "The Shield" does not feature Michael Chiklis, Walton Goggins, or any other cast member from the series of the same name.
• Acting for Two: In the episode "The Shield", Jonathan Goldsmith, billed here as Jonathan Goldsmith Lippe, played both an accused cop killer and his lookalike, who happened to be the real killer.

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