Show Business: Viewpoints

THE ROOKIES. ABC. Monday, 8-9 p.m. E.S.T.

"You crossed over, pig," the black hood sneers at the black cop. "You're on the other side." Since this is a series that emphasizes Social Relevance 101—a basic course on TV these days—the hood in that episode is just a good ghetto boy who has been led astray, and the cop is good old Paddy on the beat. The black punk begins to find the right path, in fact, when the black cop (Georg Stanford Brown) and his white roommate (Michael Ontkean), another rookie, take him home to...