‘Rookie’ fans are blue over show ending

Published 12:00 am Monday, July 4, 2016

Q: Is the series “The Rookies” going to be back on this summer?

— Ellen Warren, Lake Worth, Florida

A: Though ABC did have a police show titled “The Rookies” in the early 1970s, we’re assuming you actually mean “Rookie Blue” … and the answer is no. Last year’s sixth season marked the end of the Canadian-made drama’s run, with most of the parties involved reportedly agreeing that it reached its natural end with the wedding of Andy McNally (played by Missy Peregrym) and Sam Swarek (Ben Bass), whose up-and-down love story was the basis for much of the series.

Q: Why won’t “The Amazing Race” be starting the fall season on CBS, like it usually does?

— Bill Everett, Macon, Georgia

A: It came as a surprise to us, too, also factoring in how many Emmy Awards the show has won. We suspect that a big part of the decision was that CBS wanted to try something different to lead off its Friday lineup, the customary slot for “Race,” which it will be doing with a reboot of the adventure series “MacGyver.” (That will be the new lead-in for the returning Friday staples “Hawaii Five-0” and “Blue Bloods.”)

The good news is that whenever the Phil Keoghan-hosted “Race” might be needed, it’ll be ready to go … and if that doesn’t happen before the calendar changes to 2017, it’s sure to happen fairly soon after that. Just by virtue of how a season of the show plays out, it needs a certain number of weeks to cover the whole competition, so the network realistically won’t be able to leave it sitting on the bench past January.

Q: How many co-hosts has Kelly Ripa had on her weekday show?

— Terry Anderson, via email

A: Well, it’s hard to be precise, since that number continues to grow by the week as she has another set of changing guest hosts while her next permanent on-air partner is being determined. Obviously, Regis Philbin (whose show she joined after Kathie Lee Gifford left) and Michael Strahan have had the longest “Live” tenures seated next to Ripa.

It’s estimated that during the 2011-12 search that resulted in Strahan — who now is full-time on ABC’s “Good Morning America” — being chosen to succeed Philbin, Ripa had 60 guest co-hosts. If you add in the current co-hosts she has, some of whom have appeared in that role before (including Ripa’s husband, Mark Consuelos) if even for a single day that Philbin or Strahan had off, we’d say 100 is a safe ballpark figure to go with … maybe a little lower, maybe a little higher.

Q: Will “Jane by Design” Season 2 ever air in the United States or become available on DVD? I’ve heard that though ABC Family canceled the series after one season, they did in fact film Season 2 and it aired in New Zealand.

— John Huggins, Steubenville, Ohio.

A: There’s some confusion here, since only one 18-episode season of the Andie MacDowell-featuring “Jane by Design” exists. In New Zealand, the show ran in two batches with some distance between them (well over a year), as often happens with seasons of cable series in America. Though it might have been promoted as “Season 2,” the second chunk of what ran there actually was Episodes 11 through 18 of the single existing season.

On DVD, only “Jane by Design: Season 1, Volume 1” has been released in the U.S., containing the first 10 episodes. That was in 2012, and a “Volume 2” with the remaining stories has yet to be issued. However, streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon Video have had all of the episodes available. It’s also worth noting that Rachel Platten performed the show’s theme, before she hit it big on the charts with “Fight Song.”

Q: Is Will Estes, who plays Jamie Reagan on “Blue Bloods,” any relation to actor Rob Estes?

— Ellen Evans, Fayetteville, North Carolina

A: For all the times this question has been asked and answered here, he still isn’t. A big clue is that Will’s actual last name isn’t Estes, which is his middle name; his birth surname is Nipper, and he went by it through much of his early acting work that included the series “The New Lassie.” “Melrose Place” and “Silk Stalkings” alum Rob, however, was born Robert Alan Estes.

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