CHiPs

CHiPs is an action crime drama in a standard hour-long time slot, which at the time required 48 minutes of actual programming. Over-the-top freeway pileups, which occurred frequently, especially in the later seasons, were a signature of the show. For filming, traffic on Los Angeles freeways was non-existent and most chase scenes were done on back roads.

The show was created by Rick Rosner, and starred Erik Estrada as macho, rambunctious Officer Francis ("Frank") Llewellyn "Ponch" Poncherello and Larry Wilcox as his straitlaced partner, Officer Jonathan ("Jon") Andrew Baker. With Ponch the more trouble-prone of the pair, and Jon generally the more level-headed one trying to keep him out of trouble with the duo's gruff yet fatherly immediate supervisor Sergeant Joseph Getraer (Robert Pine), the two were Highway Patrolmen of the Central Los Angeles office of the California Highway Patrol (CHP, hence the name CHiPs).

As real-life CHP motor officers rarely ride in pairs, in early episodes this was explained away by placing the trouble-prone Ponch on probationary status, with Jon assigned as his field training officer. Eventually, by the end of the first season, this subplot faded away (Ponch completed his probation) as audiences were used to seeing the two working as a team.

The cast of CHiPs (from left: Erik Estrada as "Ponch", Robert Pine as Getraer, and Larry Wilcox as Jon)

• Larry Wilcox as Officer Jonathan Andrew Baker (1977–82)
• Erik Estrada as Officer Francis "Ponch" Poncherello
• Robert Pine as Sergeant Joseph "Joe" Getraer
• Lew Saunders as Officer Gene Fritz (1977–79)
• Brodie Greer as Officer Barry "Bear" Baricza (1977–82)
• Paul Linke as Officer Arthur "Grossie" Grossman
• Lou Wagner as Harlan Arliss, Automobile/Motorcycle Mechanic, CHP (1978–83)
• Brianne Leary as Officer Sindy Cahill (1978–79)
• Randi Oakes as Officer Bonnie Clark (1979–82)
• Michael Dorn as Officer Jedediah Turner (1979–82)
• Bruce Jenner as Officer Steve McLeish (1981–82)
• Tom Reilly as Officer Robert "Bobby" "Hot Dog" Nelson (1982–83)
• Tina Gayle as Officer Kathy Linahan (1982–83)
• Bruce Penhall as Cadet/Officer Bruce Nelson (1982–83)
• Clarence Gilyard, Jr. as Officer Benjamin Webster (1982–83)

According to a 1998 TV Guide article, show creator Rick Rosner was a reserve deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. During a coffee break on an evening patrol shift in the mid-1970s he saw two young CHP officers on motorcycles which gave him the idea for this series. He later created 240-Robert, which seemed like a hybrid of CHiPs and Emergency!.

California Highway Patrol, "CHiPs" era, motor officer helmet

Episodes occasionally reference Jon Baker's service in Vietnam. This makes his character one of the earliest regular (and one of the more positive) portrayals of a Vietnam veteran on television. Indeed, Larry Wilcox served 13 months in Vietnam as a Marine artilleryman.

Production made use of then recently-completed (but not yet opened to the public) section of freeways in the Los Angeles area. For Season 1, the intersection of Interstate 210 and California State Route 2 in La Canada Flintridge was used often (along with a short stretch of Highway 2). For Season 2, a section of Interstate 210 five miles to the west in La Crescenta, California was used, until it too was opened to the public. For Seasons 3 - 5, the filming location was moved another 10 miles to the west, to the intersection of the Interstate 210 and California State Route 118 in Sylmar, California. When that section of freeway was finally opened, production shifted again to a short stub of a highway in Long Beach, California, as well as a long stretch of Pershing Drive, near Los Angeles International Airport.

Motor officers in CHiPs rode Kawasaki Z1-P & Z900-C2 in seasons 1 & 2 and KZ1000-C1 from season 3 onwards.

Despite the Ford Motor Company's credit as a vehicle provider for four of the series' six seasons, cars and trucks were supplied by several manufacturers. All of the police cars were Dodge models (´74 and ´78 Dodge Monaco), as they were actual CHP cruisers bought at police auction for the show. In the third-season episode, Hot Wheels (Episode 8) the show featured AMC Matador police cars in a one-off appearance.

Although doubles were used for far-off shots and various stunt or action sequences, Wilcox and Estrada did a great deal of their own motorcycle riding, and performed many smaller stunts themselves. Although Wilcox emerged relatively injury-free, Estrada suffered various injuries several times throughout the run of the series. In several early first-season episodes, a huge bruise or scab can be seen on his arm after he was flung from one of the motorcycles and skidded along the ground. His worst accident came when he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident while filming a season three episode in August 1979, fracturing several ribs and breaking both wrists. The accident and Estrada's subsequent hospitalization was incorporated into the series' storyline.

Prior to being cast in CHiPs, Estrada had no experience with motorcycles, so he underwent an intensive eight-week course, learning how to ride. In 2007, it was revealed that he did not hold a motorcycle license at the time CHiPs was in production, and only qualified for a license after three attempts, while preparing for an appearance on the reality television show Back to the Grind.

NBC aired reruns of this series on its 1982 daytime schedule from April to September.

During the original run of the series, syndicated reruns of older episodes were retitled CHiPs Patrol to avoid confusion.[4] Later syndicated reruns after the show went out of production reverted to the original title.

CHiPs episodes were usually a combination of light comedy and drama. A typical episode would start with Ponch and Jon on routine patrol or being assigned to an interesting beat, such as Malibu or the Sunset Strip. In roll call briefing, Sgt. Getraer would alert his officers to be on the lookout for a particular criminal operation, such as people staging accidents as part of an insurance scam, or punks breaking into cars. A few interesting, unrelated vignettes often transpired during "routine" traffic enforcement.

A light-hearted subplot would also be included, such as Harlan trying to hide a stray dog from Getraer at the office. A more serious theme, such as Ponch trying to keep a kid from his old neighborhood out of a potential life of crime, might also be included. After a few failed attempts to apprehend the gang that had been menacing L.A.'s freeways, the episode would invariably culminate in Ponch and Jon leading a chase of the suspects (often assisted by other members of their division), climaxing with a spectacular series of stunt vehicle crashes.

The show then typically featured a dénouement of Ponch and Jon participating in a new activity (such as jet skiing or skydiving), designed to showcase the pair's glamorous Southern California lifestyle. Often, Ponch would attempt to impress a woman he had met during the episode with his athletic prowess or disco dancing, only to fail and provide Jon, Getraer, and others with many laughs. As the preliminary end credits would start, the image would freeze multiple times, showing various characters laughing or otherwise enjoying the social scene.

(all times Eastern/Pacific Time; subtract one hour for Central/Mountain Time)

• September 1977 – March 1978: NBC Thursday, 8–9PM
• April 1978: NBC Saturday, 8–9PM
• May – August 1978: NBC Thursday, 8–9PM
• September 1978 – March 1980: NBC Saturday, 8–9PM
• March 1980 – March 1983: NBC Sunday, 8–9PM
• April – May 1983: NBC Sunday, 7–8PM
• May – July 1983: NBC Sunday, 8–9PM

NBC aired reruns of the series weekdays at 3PM EST between April 26, 1982 – September 10, 1982. The show aired on Me-TV from 12/19/2016-5/26/17. The show currently airs on Charge TV.

In the United Kingdom, the series was broadcast by ITV but was not screened nationally. The series started in January 1979 in the London region, but began with season two (the first episode shown was episode 2x02 "The Volunteers") by February most other ITV regions originally screened in the Saturday teatime slot around 17:35 but moved to the Sunday teatime slot in 1980. By 1981, as with many imported programmes of the era, the series was being broadcast at different times during the weekend throughout the year by the different ITV regions. The series shared its Saturday teatime slot with other series such as The A-Team, Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I. and Whiz Kids.

During 1984, most ITV stations continued with the Saturday teatime slot except for Anglia Television, Scottish Television (STV) and Television South West (TSW), who broadcast episodes during the weekend mornings or Sunday afternoons. By early 1985, the series was being broadcast during Saturday mornings by Anglia, Central, Grampian, Granada, STV and Tyne Tees, who all completed the series by end of the 1985. In other regions it had a Saturday lunchtime slot of 13:20 where, from September 1985, it rotated the slot with episodes of Airwolf.

HTV and Yorkshire completed the series by 1986, while LWT, TVS and TSW finished series six in 1987 after starting in 1985. A few companies repeated the series in 1987. It was previously shown on Bravo between 2002 to 2004. Now currently being repeated on Forces TV.

The entire series was shown in New Zealand on TVNZ in the 1980s.

Warner Home Video released the first two seasons of CHiPs on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4 between 2007 and 2008. On March 3, 2015 (over six years later), the third season was released on DVD in Region 1.[5] The fourth season was released in Region 1 on March 15, 2016.[6] The fifth season was released in Region 1 on March 14, 2017.[7][8][9] The sixth season and the complete series were released in Region 1 on June 6, 2017.[10]

All 139 episodes are at the iTunes Store.[11][12]

In the Galactica 1980 episode "The Super Scouts, Part I", a California Highway Patrol motor officer references CHiPs by lamenting to his partner, "How come this never happens to those two guys on TV?" when the two Colonial Warriors, Captain Troy (Kent McCord) and Lieutenant Dillon (Barry Van Dyke), escape the CHP duo by using flying motorcycles.[20]

The alternative rock band Seven Mary Three gets its name from Jon's call sign.[21]

Both Estrada and Wilcox reprised their roles in the 1993 film National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1.

The show was referenced in the Hawaii Five-0 episode "He Kane Hewaʻole" (An Innocent Man), in which cops pursue a suspect on the Kamehameha Highway and discover a severed head inside the suspect's car, sparking a murder investigation.

The 2014 Walt Disney Pictures film Planes: Fire & Rescue features a parody TV series titled CHoPs, with Estrada providing the voice of helicopter officer Nick "Loop'n" Lopez.[22]

On February 2, 2014, Estrada reprised his role as Ponch in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called".[23]

The character of Moltar in Space Ghost Coast to Coast is known to be a fan of CHiPs, watching the show numerous times on his screen starting from the episode entitled "CHiPs." When Erik Estrada guested on SGC2C, Moltar was overjoyed and had many questions for the star. Additionally, footage from CHiPs was used in the episode "Jacksonville" as a parody of "Last time on..." preludes.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CHiPs.

• CHiPs at IMDb
• CHiPs '99 at IMDb
• CHiPs Online wiki