The Rookies is an American police procedural series created by Rita Lakin that originally aired on ABC from September 11, 1972 to March 30, 1976. It follows the exploits of three rookie police officers working in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department (SCPD).

Michael Ontkean is a retired Canadian actor, long-based in the United States. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Ontkean relocated to the United States to attend the University of New Hampshire on a hockey scholarship before pursuing a career in acting in the early 1970s.