Throwback Thursday: CHiPs (1977-83)

“7-Mary-3 and 7-Mary-4, responding”

I was only one year old when the first season of CHiPs debuted on NBC in September of 1977. Despite this, and due the fact that my family, especially my sister, loved the series, I became a fan of the show in its later seasons. It lasted for six seasons from 1977 to 1983, and has been in syndication since 1982, when NBC began showing reruns of the first seasons in 1982. Since last year I’ve been revisiting the series on the Charge! network and have fallen back in love with it.

The show primarily focused on straight-laced good guy Jon Baker (Larry Wilcox) and his rule-bending but well-meaning partner, Francis “Ponch” Poncherello (Erik Estrada) as they navigated the highways of Los Angeles, CA under the guidance of Sgt. Joseph Getraer (Robert Pine). While they were the stars of the show, a number of regulars appeared throughout the series that often had their own subplots in episodes. Some of the most frequently appearing officers on the show included Arthur “Grossie” Grossman (Paul Linke), Barry “Bear” Baricza (Brodie Greer), Sindy Cahill (Brianne Leary), Gene Fritz (Lew Saunders), and Harlan Arliss (Lou Wagner), as the patrol’s mechanic. Later seasons would see stars such as Michael Dorn, Randi Oakes, and Clarence Gilyar, Jr. added to the cast as others left the show. Bruce Jenner replaced Erik Estrada for three episodes as Officer Steve McLeish in the fifth season and Larry Wilcox exited the series in its final season and was replaced by Tom Reilly as Bobby “Hot Dog” Nelson. Despite the revolving cast, the series held up quite well across all of its seasons.

One particular highlight of the series was the many popular and soon-to-be popular guest stars that appeared on the show, some in multiple episode angles. Leif Garrett, Cindy Williams, Robbie Rist, Jim Backus, Edward James Olmos, Heather Locklear, Moon Unit Zappa, and Richard Simmons are just a few of the guest stars on the show. Danny Bonaduce appeared in four episodes as three different characters. Milton Berle, Cassandra Peterson, Heather O’Rourke, Bryan Cranston, Jay Silverheels, Tom Villard, and Amy Steel also had guest appearances on the show. There are literally too many other to list.

The series often featured ridiculous pileups on California highways. In most cases, there were almost zero casualties despite vehicles flipping multiple times, exploding, or being busted to pieces. The show featured a ton of humor and most of the dramatic moments in the show were resolved rather easily. Episodes often featured young kids that are befriended by Jon and Ponch. They also usually ended on a lighter note.

After the series ended in 1983, a made-for-TV reunion film, CHiPS ’99, was released. In 2017, the CHiPs film was released starring Dax Shepard as Jon Baker and Michael Pena as Ponch. The film, which greatly altered the backstories for Jon and Ponch and omitted almost all of the other regular series characters including Getraer, failed to win over audiences. Larry Wilcox openly derided the film and refused to make a cameo appearance. Erik Estrada did have a brief cameo as a paramedic but wasn’t enough to bring in fans of the classic series. There are no plans for a sequel nor has there been mention of a reboot. Thankfully we have the classic series available on Charge! to watch and relive the cheesy goodness of the show.

I highly recommend checking out this classic series. It’s available on home media and it’s also available on the Charge! network. Give it a look and you, too, can be as cool as Ponch!

Thanks for joining me on memory lane. See you again real soon!