CNN anchor Jake Tapper and his son are fans of the ABC show "The Rookie." (Photo by Scott ... [+]
CNN anchor Jake Tapper made a brief appearance Sunday night on his old network, ABC, but he wasn’t talking politics. Tapper and his son, Jack, made a brief cameo and ABC’s The Rookie, popping up as trick-or-treaters, with Jake Tapper wearing a Philadelphia Phillies uniform and his son dressed as a character from the film Saving Private Ryan.
The Tappers are fans of The Rookie, a police procedural about a man in his forties—played by Nathan Fillion, who also starred in Saving Private Ryan—who becomes the oldest rookie cop in the LAPD. When Fillion’s character John Nolan answers the door he says “God, you look remarkably like that fellow from CNN, what’s his name?”
“Jake Tapper,” Tapper says, only to have Nolan respond, “no, that’s not it.”
Back in 2021, Tapper tweeted to Fillion about the show and how he and his son “really love it.” That led to the pair’s prime time walk on.
Tapper told The Philadelphia Inquirer that after his tweet, “Fillion wrote back and invited the pair for a set visit once COVID protocols were eased. That was scheduled for August, but a few weeks before the visit Fillion asked whether the Tappers wanted to film a cameo on the show. They leapt at the chance.”
Actor Richard T. Jones, actress Afton Williams, actor Nathan Fillion, actress Alyssa Diaz, and actor ... [+]
For his part, Tapper said he and his son had an amazing time on the set of The Rookie, calling out Fillion and co-star Alexi Hawley, saying that everyone was “just as nice and cool and kind as you would hope.”
How’s Jake Tapper’s acting, you ask? Judge for yourself. You can stream the episode (Season 5, Episode 6, “The Reckoning”) at ABC.com.
