From Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star:

• Rookie Blue writer sees reality of arrest
  “Noelle Carbone couldn’t believe the timing. On Wednesday, the day before Rookie Blue debuted, the 29-year-old writer on the new Canadian-made police series (airing on Global and ABC), was out with two engaged off-duty officer friends, when they had to leap into action to help corral a shoplifter.” Read more.

From Louis Peitzman of TV.com:

• Rookie Blue’s Greg Smith comes in for questioning
  “TV fans first took notice of Greg Smith during his four-season starring role as Ephram on Everwood. But his days of teenage angst are behind him, and he’s moving on to something a bit more high-stakes. In Rookie Blue, Smith stars as Dov Epstein, a police officer fresh out of the academy. I spoke to him about police training, the show’s twist on the police procedural, and why Canadians are awesome.” Read more.

From Casey Gillis of the News & Advance:

• ‘Rookie Blue’ more than summer fluff
  ABC’s Rookie Blue is that rare summer series that could probably make it during the regular TV season.” Read more.

From Joel Keller of TV Squad:

• Early Look: ‘Rookie Blue’ is Bland but Harmless Summer Fare
  “‘Rookie Blue,’ which ABC debuts tonight at 10PM ET, is harmless, good for a summer night when all that’s on is reality and baseball, and you’re not in the mood to watch either. Unfortunately, the harmlessness of the show is its biggest problem.” Read more.

From Todd VanDerWerff of AV Club:

• Rookie Blue – “Fresh Paint”
  “The show is an utterly generic cop show with Grey’s Anatomy trappings that mostly doesn’t try to upset anyone. It’s every cop show ever, tossed into a blender and set in a non-specific Canadian city that tries to stand in for the United States if you aren’t paying that close of attention. Now, passing off Canadian cities as our own is a long-standing tradition in American TV, but everything about Rookie Blue is as generic as can be, which makes the generic Canadian streets feel even more generic than they probably should. Everything about this show feels like an off-brand medication.” Read more.

From Brad Oswald of the Winnipeg Free Press:

• Canuck cop show walking the same tired beat
  “Rookie Blue is on probation, and the very strong likelihood is that summertime TV viewers are going to take one look and say thanks, but no thanks.” Read more.

From Daniel Fienberg of HitFix:

• TV Review: ABC’s ‘Rookie Blue’
  “Other than a couple actors I like, “Rookie Blue” didn’t do anything to tease my high hopes and it pretty well lived down to my expectations. Like “Scoundrels” and, to a slightly lesser extent, “The Gates,” “Rookie Blue” looks and feels like exactly what it is: A zero-risk summer burn-off for ABC. Viewers probably don’t expect much quality and ABC probably doesn’t expect many viewers, so if there are times when stars Missy Peregrym and Gregory Smith at least keep things vaguely likable? Well, there’s that.” Read more.

From Brian Tallerico of Hollywood Chicago:

• TV Review: ‘Rookie Blue’ Will Have to Handcuff Viewers to Keep Them
  “We’ve learned how to shoot and fight and drive a police car really fast.” I couldn’t make narration like that up. Even if it is tongue-in-cheek in its over-representation of the rookie class of police officers that make up the ensemble of ABC’s new Thursday night entry, it’s still a great example of why this show doesn’t work — it doesn’t sound like anything anyone would ever say in the real world.” Read more.

From Steven Herbert of the Daily Breeze:

• ABC police drama ‘Rookie Blue’ debuts tonight
  “The series was inspired by conversations executive producer and co- creator Tassie Cameron had with officers with a variety of specialties who served as consultants for Flashpoint, the CBS/CTV series she wrote and produced. ‘The one thing they had in common were these amazing rookie stories — heart-wrenching, funny, emotional,’ Cameron said in a telephone interview from Toronto.” Read more.

From Jarett Wieselman of the NY Post:

• Gregory Smith: If ‘Rookie Blue’ is a hit, I hope to get out of tickets forever
  “First up is “Rookie Blue,” ABC’s new cop drama that is more concerned with characters than crimes. As Dov Epstein, one of five newbies to the force, Gregory is put through the ringer — dealing with shoot-out’s, women in labor and posing as a prostitute. Yep, you read that right.” Read more.

From Tom Conroy of Media Life:

• ‘Rookie Blue,’ crimes of the heart
  “The premiere episode of ABC’s new cop drama “Rookie Blue” actually has two meet-cutes, signaling that in this show, the important crimes will be of the heart, with a secondary focus on the professional formation of a group of puppyish young police officers.” Read more.

From Matthew Gilbert of the Boston Globe:

• ‘Rookie’ mistake: a generic cop show
  “One of the most tired plots on every cop drama ever made is the rookie plot. Some newbie comes on the job, and some smug, hard-bitten veteran inevitably shows this “Bambi” the ways of the street. Rookie mistakes are made, lessons are learned, first days are finished with whiskey shots at the local bar.” Read more.