What Can I Say About Mike Danko?

I know I haven't posted in a while. My real life has been increasingly crazy. So, to make up for that, I'm going to try to do a couple of posts this week. As I mentioned in a previous blog, The Rookies entered my life when I was 12 years old. It was October of 1972, I was in 7th grade and the episode was 'To Taste of Terror.' Before that episode, the only person I ever wanted to be was Emma Peel from 'The Avengers.' I thought the leather boots were cool and she got to hang out with Steed. But, I was also seven years old. On this particular night in October of 1972, I decided I no longer wanted to be Emma Peel. I wanted to be Jill Danko. Why? Because she was married to the coolest man in the entire world. I fell in love with Mike Danko. Sure, Willie might've been cuter and Terry more hip, but there was just something about Mike that drew me in. I began to pray for what I called 'Mike time' in each episode. I was disappointed in the episodes where he didn't appear at all. Actor Sam Melville had great interaction with every other character on the show, but particularly with Kate Jackson, who played Jill. In the pilot, her character was played by Jennifer Billingsley and she was only in one scene with Sam, which was great because they had no chemistry! However, I do admit that I didn't see the pilot until years after the series had gone off of the air, so I might be a bit prejudiced. Anyway, I'm going off-track. I'm supposed to be talking about Mike. Everybody loved Mike. Lt. Ryker even commented on him in the pilot, giving us a glimpse of things to come. He didn't say anything about Terry or Willie, but he said that Mike looked like he could be 'his kind of guy.' In the pilot, we learned that Mike was an Air Force veteran. He left the service after 10 years to join the police academy. We kind of got the impression from a conversation he had with Terry that he left to save his marriage. This was never alluded to in the series. In the series, the Danko's were tight. Not so much in the pilot. In the pilot, Mike had been a missile silo technician--a scary job. He's the guy who holds the fate of the nation in his hands, in other words, one of the guys with the key. In the early episodes of Season One, he was still a silo technician. Later however, he was a helicopter pilot. As I say when I'm writing fan fiction, continuity error. We don't know how long Mike and Jill had been married, although she says something in 'To Taste of Terror' about being together for four years. This was in the shower scene that was cut when the episode aired on TVLand, although it does show up as a flashback scene in the last episode of the series. It also briefly shows up in 'Nightmare' with Edward Albert. Anyway, back to Mike. It was clear that this was a man who would willingly die for his wife. He almost does this more than a few times. It was also clear that this was a man who was clearly crazy about his wife. It was there in every look and every touch. But, as with Terry, Mike could also show that he was a loyal friend. As the series progressed, you could see that the bond between Terry and Mike was very strong. This was especially evident in the last episode 'Journey to Oblivion.' You could clearly see how the pain of Jill's possible plight was etched in both of their faces. Chris was very much the outsider in this episode and it showed at times (sorry, Chris fans.) Mike was also very tight with his boss and mentor, Lt. Ryker. To me, some of the best scenes were always between Mike and Lt. Ryker. Some humorous, some not so much. Mike was always the one chosen to drive Lt. Ryker around when it was necessary. Probably my favorite Mike episode is 'A Very Special Piece of Ground' with Earl Holliman. I think it's because it has my favorite Mike/Jill scene when he looks up after taking the shotgun away from the man threatening his wife and sees how much his job is affecting his wife, just by the look on Jill's face. It also shows that hero worship is not always a good thing. If this blog were working right, I'd add more, but right now, it's running together, so I think I'll close out. I'll post later regarding some season one episodes that stick out in mind as favorites.