Last year, the US broadcaster ABC tried to expand the success of the cop series The Rookie with a spin-off called The Rookie: Feds. The spin-off began as a so-called backdoor pilot in the fourth season of the parent series and had a lively crossover exchange with the Nathan Fillion vehicle during the first and only season.
Longer than a season with 22 episodes The Rookie: Feds didn’t air before the network pulled the plug. Fans of the young law enforcement series should probably still take a look, as the series can also be streamed in this country.
The Rookie: Feds – the spin-off about special agent late bloomer
Actress Niecy Nash (Reno 911!, Claws) plays Simone Clark, who retired from her job as a counselor late in life, in The Rooke: Feds Special Agent at the FBI to become. As an investigative agency trainee, she was sent on patrol with Officer Nolan (Nathan Fillion) to locate a terror suspect who had a connection to her. As the investigation progressed, her superior, lead agent Matt Garza (Felix Solis), eventually accepted Simone into his team.
ABC
Scene from The Rookie: Feds
The first and only season of her own series begins with Simone’s first day as an FBI special agent in Los Angeles, where she initially works in the Profiler Department begins. At the same time, her boyfriend Brendon Acres (Kevin Zegers), a former actor, starts his job. A new phase of life begins in a new job that is full of dangers.
Why was The Rookie: Feds canceled?
The first Feds season was underway not as successful as the original series, but was considered a moderate success and showed an upward trend. According to TVSeriesFinale, the spin-off was watched by an average of 2.4 million viewers and achieved a rating of 0.30 in the targeted target group. For comparison: Season 5 of the parent series The Rookie, which was running at the same time, attracted an average of 3.9 million people to the screen and achieved a rating of 0.43.
However, ABC treated the series somewhat neglectfully from the start. Instead of giving it a perfect time slot with the original series as the lead-in (i.e. showing it immediately afterwards on Sunday evening), Feds was programmed in the late evening program on Tuesday, after the reality show Bachelor in Paradise with a completely different target group.
ABC
Scene from The Rookie: Feds
Feds was better received by critics than by audiences, as you can read on Rotten Tomatoes. 86 percent of the reviews were positive, while the audience score is only 18 percent. The format received additional online hate through racially motivated comments. However, the biggest factor for the cancellation is probably that bad timing because the decision to extend it came in the middle of the 2023 Hollywood strike, in which uncertainty in the industry undermined normal TV rules. So they waited until the end of the successful labor dispute to finally announce the dismissal.
Where to stream The Rookie: Feds?
In Germany there is one season of The Rookie: Feds on Sky One and WOW to find. The Rookie, however, is also available on Disney+ and Netflix.