The Rookies
The Mugging
TV Flash files “The Mugging” as hour 90 of 93 in the TV Flash guide — The Rookies (1972–1976) on ABC, season 4, episode 20, aired 1976-01-27, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E20: listed hour 90 of 93 in the The Rookies guide, hour 20 of 23 in season 4. It aired 1976-01-27 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “From Out of the Darkness” (S04E19). Next is “Blue Movie, Blue Death” (S04E21).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
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.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Mugging sit in the The Rookies guide?
S04E20 is listed hour 90 of 93 — hour 20 of 23 in season 4, season 4 episode 20.
When did The Rookies S04E20 air?
The Mugging aired 1976-01-27 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need The Mod Squad first?
No. This is a later youth-cop ensemble with Spelling-Goldberg earnestness. Related energy, not a sequel.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Young cops learn the badge on Spelling-Goldberg earnestness: idealism, brutality plots, and Kate Jackson before Charlie's Angels glamour. Youth-focused police ensemble bridging Mod Squad energy into the mid-1970s. Rookies who still believe the job, then get corrected by the street without losing the hour's pulse.
The idealism arrives before the Angels glamour. ABC, 1972–1976: young officers under Lt. Ryker face modern police work's moral gray zones in a Spelling-produced drama. Rita Lakin and William Blinn's The Rookies put Georg Stanford Brown, Sam Melville, and Michael Ontkean in the cars with Kate Jackson's Jill Danko and Gerald S. O'Loughlin's Lt. Eddie Ryker. Youth-focused police ensemble bridging Mod Squad energy into mid-1970s form. Social issues alongside action. **They were not just packaging a badge.** They were…
Filed against
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Sam Melville's Officer Mike Danko learned the badge on The Rookies — Spelling-Goldberg earnestness, idealism, brutality plots, Kate Jackson before Charlie's Angels glamour. Youth-focused police ensemble bridging Mod Squad energy into the…
- Michael Ontkean as Officer Willie Gillis
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- Kate Jackson as Jill Danko
Kate Jackson’s Sabrina Duncan is the original Charlie’s Angels trio’s cool register — feathered-hair poster economy around her, a speakerphone boss as alibi, glamour doing franchise work. ABC action as perfume-ad photography. On TV Flash…
- Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Lt. Eddie Ryker
Gerald S. O'Loughlin's Lt. Eddie Ryker ran The Rookies from the desk — Spelling-Goldberg earnestness, young cops, idealism meeting brutality plots in a 1970s youth-focused police ensemble. The lieutenant as the correction the street would…