Anyone else like "CHiPs"?  It was a cop show starring Larry Wilcox (as Jon Baker) and Erik Estrada (as Frank "Ponch" Poncharello) as California Highway Patrol officers on Motorcycles.  It ran for 6 seasons (1977-1983)

The Season 1 DVD set was released last week (May 29, 2007) and I was super excited to get this.  I used to be glued to the TV when this show was on.  The acting on "CHiPs" was typical 70s TV, but the story lines were great!  The one thing that used to amaze me was when they'd show shots of the California highways, there are so many off and on ramps and highways that go in every direction, I wonder how people ever remember which ramps to take lol

On the DVD set, there is a feature called "Ponch's Police Tips" where Estrada reminisces on select episodes.  In one segment, he talks about a scene where Ponch and Jon pull into a gas station (where you can see the gas is 60.9 a gallon) and he's like "Notice the price of gas.  Yer never gonna see that again" ;D


http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c362/godeltsihw/chips-1.jpghttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c362/godeltsihw/chips-2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c362/godeltsihw/chips-3.jpghttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c362/godeltsihw/chips-4.jpg

I sorta remember watching reruns of it on TV during the 80's. What I remember most about it is that many of the scenes were filmed pretty close to where I grew up (the northeast San Fernando Valley, which is part of Los Angeles).

I used to love the show!!  I haven't seen it in years.

I used to watch it all the time when it first came out!  :D

Yeah, it used to be on a lot here as well.  There's something about Erik Estrada's teeth that made me wanna punch them in though  ;D ;D ;D

Yeah, it used to be on a lot here as well.  There's something about Erik Estrada's teeth that made me wanna punch them in though  ;D ;D ;D


He does have big horse teeth ;D

Was the speed limit in California 35 mph back then?  ::) ::) ::)

The one thing that used to amaze me was when they'd show shots of the California highways, there are so many off and on ramps and highways that go in every direction, I wonder how people ever remember which ramps to take lol




Everytime I drive the 405 to get to Beverly Hills I have to tell myself I am driving South I want to go left so I take the East exit NSEW  yeah sadly I have to repeat it several times to make sure I am doing it right.  But somehow I manage to get where I am going. 

I work for a Police department in Santa Barbara and we use what they call 10 and 11 codes. Some of the same codes CHP uses. When I started training I would watch CHiPs and listen to the radio traffic it helped me learn some of the codes. Of course they mostly used the 11-81 (traffic accident) or 11-85 (req for a tow truck)  codes but still it was cool... 

My favorite episode is the one called 11-99. This is the distress call that CHP uses for Officer Down.  In the episode there was a new dispatcher who SUCKED (I can say that cuz I am a dispatcher) and the Chippies were wearing these beepers that would go off if the officer was prone for a certain amount of time. Grossie was out chasing a dog and he fell and the pager went off. Of course the lady paniced. I use it in training as an example of how not to act in an emergency situation!

He does have big horse teeth ;D



I remember my mother saying how sexy she thought Erik Estrada was, and I about lost my Ovaltine!!!
He is weird-looking, and so are his horse teeth.

I so loved CHiPs when I was a kid.
I seriously wanted to be a motorcycle cop when the series was hot!

Hot studs, riding their motorized horse, picking up California hotties and busting the bad guys, who didn't want to be Ponch and John?

I remember when I finally moved to southern California in the mid 90's, I was looking all over for the CHiPies on motorbikes but didn't see any. Not even any CHiP patrol cars, after seeing them on TV so often I thought they would be everywhere, I was heartbroken to find they are a rare sight for regular surface street LA city/county dwellers. 

And to think, they now ride...gulp, BMW's.
CHiPies on bimmers, how image deflating... :(

I luv that show. :)

I so loved CHiPs when I was a kid.
I seriously wanted to be a motorcycle cop when the series was hot!

Hot studs, riding their motorized horse, picking up California hotties and busting the bad guys, who didn't want to be Ponch and John?

I remember when I finally moved to southern California in the mid 90's, I was looking all over for the CHiPies on motorbikes but didn't see any. Not even any CHiP patrol cars, after seeing them on TV so often I thought they would be everywhere, I was heartbroken to find they are a rare sight for regular surface street LA city/county dwellers. 

And to think, they now ride...gulp, BMW's.
CHiPies on bimmers, how image deflating... :(


You must have been looking in the wrong areas... they are all over Highway 101.

You must have been looking in the wrong areas... they are all over Highway 101.

Mostly they seem to stay away or have a lower profile around urban LA (I moved to Pasadena in '95, and they were scarce).

Funny, just took a trip up the 101 to San Louis Obispo (Madonna Inn, Hearst Castle) and only saw one CHP crusier, w/radar, I was doing 75. He wasn't even interested. ;)

Last night when I was driving home from work I was followed for a little while by a Kansas City P.D. motorcycle cop.  He was on a Kawasaki (the KCPD also uses Harleys as well) and apparently the design hadn't changed much since the early 80's because his bike still looked quite similar to the ones Ponch and John rode (aside from the paint scheme).

About 12 years ago I worked at the Kawasaki plant in Lincoln, Nebraska. They had several different assembly lines (for JetSkis, ATV's, and motorcycles), and I can remember seeing a few of the police bikes on the motorcycle line. (I guess Kawasaki quit making police motorcycles in 2005.)

http://www.motordoctor.net/assets/images/a_police_2.jpg

I used to love CHiPs.  My mom thought Erik Estrada was cute, but I was in love w/ Brodie Greer (Officer Barry "Bear" Baricza).

  Never got into CHiPs.  Dunno why...

Did anyone ever hear of the rumor that they were going to put the old, short run Abe Vigoda sitcom "Fish" on as a lead into this show?
I bet they would of been great together!  :D

  Never got into CHiPs.  Dunno why...
Beats me. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they tried to cast Donny Most (Ralph Malph) as a satanic rock star.  ::) ::) ::)

Coming to a store near you the first Tuesday in June ...

http://www.literaryillusions.com/photos/chipsseason2.jpg

"CHiPs" - Season 2.  I can hardly wait!

and of course, this set contains more police tips from Ponch, where Estrada reminisces about select episodes

I liked watching the reruns on TV in the 80's and 90's. Great that they're releasing Season 2.  :)

Three things I remember about that show:
They always had these dramatic looking rollover car crashes
The disco sounding theme music
Erik Estrada's white teeth

Oh, no...here it is: Ralph Malph, devil rocker!!! ::) ::) ::)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYf0ByjfEDo

I can't help but think that this was intentionally supposed to be funny.

I am loving "CHiPs" Season 2.  One episode features Danny Bonaduce and Christopher Knight as car thieves ;D

I use to watch CHIPS every Saturday night,I remember watching that and Emergency :)

Last week I saw a rerun of Password Plus with another actor from Chips, Robert Pine, dressed up in his uniform as Sgt Joe Getraer (am I spelling that correctly) and he looked pretty good in it too. Of the two main characters I think Larry Wilcox is way sexier than Erik Estrada IMO.

(BTW AL-B, I love that little picture you have posted there of Dubya being locked in that room by the two laughing puppets - that is hysterical!  ;D)

I always watched it but laughed at the cheesy car crashes as the empty cars jumped ramps into one & other
led me to believe "Ghosts Shouldn't Drive Cars"
Other than that they did try to keep it believable..
The rumors came late in the series about Ponch & John not liking to be in each others company...But that happens with a lot of acts!
Its said Kawasaki sold a ton of Z-1000s during that time!
& how odd that many of the shows actors were carrear finnished after the show ended!
Erick did the best of all of them!

I also watched Emergency...Where if you got a bloody nose or a leg amputation they administered "wringers Lactate with a d5w drip" ;D ;D ;D