Any ‘CHIPS’ fans here ?

Max Q · Tue Dec 13, 2022 5:16 am

I watched this TV series as a youngster, I was a big motorcycle enthusiast and thought their KZ1000’s were really nice machines

It may seem like a corny show now but it was something quite different, each episode would often have a positive message and the best part was it didn’t glorify the use of guns like many cop shows

In fact the two main characters, Jon and Ponch never even drew their weapons

Been watching reruns lately and it hasn’t lost its appeal !

SL1200MK2 · Tue Dec 13, 2022 5:23 am

I used to love it when I’d be home sick as a kid in the 80s.

Avatar2go · Tue Dec 13, 2022 5:38 am

It was a fun family-friendly show, that highlighted the California active lifestyle, complete with disco music.

My brother and I both had motorcycles that we often rode together, so we got a kick out of the scenes where Jon & Ponch were having conversations while riding on the freeway. The bikes were obviously trailered or used green screen. They were nice bikes though. We had smaller 500's.

SL1200MK2 · Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:20 am

Avatar2go wrote:
It was a fun family-friendly show, that highlighted the California active lifestyle, complete with disco music.

My brother and I both had motorcycles that we often rode together, so we got a kick out of the scenes where Jon & Ponch were having conversations while riding on the freeway. The bikes were obviously trailered or used green screen. They were nice bikes though. We had smaller 500's.

Please don’t ruin my fantasy that it was all 100% real!

Max Q · Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:12 am

Avatar2go wrote:
It was a fun family-friendly show, that highlighted the California active lifestyle, complete with disco music.

My brother and I both had motorcycles that we often rode together, so we got a kick out of the scenes where Jon & Ponch were having conversations while riding on the freeway. The bikes were obviously trailered or used green screen. They were nice bikes though. We had smaller 500's.

It really was family friendly and I agree it was a big booster of the California lifestyle

The trailer shots weren’t obvious to me when I was young but now you can see their handlebars are just inches apart !

Still there are plenty of real scenes and some great motorcycle riding

Being able to speak to each other at freeway speeds, well..

The other thing I thought would have been unwieldy is using a hand mic while riding a motorcycle, possible but not the best solution, I think motorcycle cops these days have built in headphones and a boom mic in their helmets

A great show though still and it holds up well

I didn’t know at the time that ‘Jon and Ponch’ couldn’t stand each other in those days, apparently they are friends now which makes me happy !

The best of the ‘70’s

NIKV69 · Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:40 am

Loved it! I think everyone though Wilcox would be the star but it turned out Estrada exploded and was the big star. Loved the intro too.

Max Q · Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:54 am

Max Q wrote:
NIKV69 wrote:
Loved it! I think everyone though Wilcox would be the star but it turned out Estrada exploded and was the big star. Loved the intro too.

You’re right, Estrada walked out over a pay dispute for a while and they ‘replaced’ him with Bruce Jenner as he was known then who perfected the art of zero personality with a bizarre weirdness to boot

The producers quickly realized their mistake and brought ‘Ponch’ back agreeing to his salary increase

The intro and that soundtrack was awesome !

ACDC8 · Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:31 am

Loved that show. Still one of the best TV theme songs ever :thumbsup:

stlgph · Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:42 am

SL1200MK2 wrote:
I used to love it when I’d be home sick as a kid in the 80s.

this is everything.

AntonioMartin · Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:12 pm

Im a CHPS fan who met Erik Estrada in person! I also a big SWAT and what was the name of that fire department show? fan.

Oh, I remember now...Emergency! Plus, Charlie's Angels!

Max Q · Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:35 pm

AntonioMartin wrote:
Im a CHPS fan who met Erik Estrada in person! I also a big SWAT and what was the name of that fire department show? fan.

Oh, I remember now...Emergency! Plus, Charlie's Angels!

Big fan of all those, was Estrada friendly in person ?

There was another show in the ‘70’s with a marine rescue unit, they had high speed boats with sirens and flashing lights similar to police cars ?

Can’t remember the name..

Kiwirob · Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:49 pm

There were lots of shows like Chips which were Sunday night dinner in front of the tv viewing when I was a kid, Jake and the Fat Man, B.J. and the Bear (I'm not sure this name would past the smell test today??), Dukes of Hazzard, Buck Rogers, Rip Tide, Remington Steel

ltbewr · Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:55 pm

What I best remember about the show was the spectacular crash scenes. The show also very serious about drunk/drugged and distracted driving, It did have some diversity Black, Hispanics/Latinos like 'Ponch', women officers in their characters.

Max Q · Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:58 pm

ltbewr wrote:
What I best remember about the show was the spectacular crash scenes. The show also very serious about drunk/drugged and distracted driving, It did have some diversity (Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos like 'Ponch', women in their characters.

I don’t think there was an episode where at least 3 or 4 cars didn’t get spectacularly airborne !

If you look carefully you’ll notice nearly every car in those scenes were quite ancient and decrepit already

910A · Tue Dec 13, 2022 1:41 pm

I was stationed at the CHP Central Los Angeles office when the show was on the air. I'm was in the background in some of the early office briefing scenes. Favorite actor was Robert Pine, who treated the "real" CHP officers with respect. Erick Estrada was a complete ass at that time. Most of the freeway scenes were filmed on what is now the I-210 which was under construction back then. It was funny to watch Ponch and Jon get on bikes which were on a trailer being towed for scenes. Anyways due to the success of the show in Japan our office became a stop for tour buses full of Japanese tourists. Anyways the show really declined when Bruce Jenner came on board.

NIKV69 · Tue Dec 13, 2022 2:59 pm

AntonioMartin wrote:
Im a CHPS fan who met Erik Estrada in person! I also a big SWAT and what was the name of that fire department show? fan.

Oh, I remember now...Emergency! Plus, Charlie's Angels!

Jaclyn Smith hair flick!!!!!!!!!! I lived for that.

stratosphere · Tue Dec 13, 2022 4:28 pm

Max Q wrote:
I watched this TV series as a youngster, I was a big motorcycle enthusiast and thought their KZ1000’s were really nice machines

It may seem like a corny show now but it was something quite different, each episode would often have a positive message and the best part was it didn’t glorify the use of guns like many cop shows

In fact the two main characters, Jon and Ponch never even drew their weapons

Been watching reruns lately and it hasn’t lost its appeal !

I enjoyed that show too along with Emergency which I have the whole DVD series on. I heard Jon and Ponch did not get along in real life unlike Roy and John in Emergency who are good friends to this day.

FLYFIRSTCLASS · Tue Dec 13, 2022 5:07 pm

I loved that show, did not get to watch it that often as I was never allowed TV on a school night, but yea it was great!

Tugger · Tue Dec 13, 2022 5:21 pm

Oh great, thanks. Now I have that syth-intro stuck in my head!

Enjoyed all the old late 70's into early 80's TV shows, though watching them now can be so painful! Campy with bad story lines and stunts or effects that are bad too (scifi of the time is notorious for reusing the same effect over and over, even them other shows), I can't believe how enthralled I was by them all. But they are great for all of it.

Tugg

NIKV69 · Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:16 pm

Tugger wrote:
Oh great, thanks. Now I have that syth-intro stuck in my head!

Enjoyed all the old late 70's into early 80's TV shows, though watching them now can be so painful! Campy with bad story lines and stunts or effects that are bad too (scifi of the time is notorious for reusing the same effect over and over, even them other shows), I can't believe how enthralled I was by them all. But they are great for all of it.

Tugg

TV legendry!

Max Q · Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:21 pm

Awesome, thanks for posting that epic intro !

LCDFlight · Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:26 pm

Loved the show. It (and Three’s Company, different type of show) both made California look really good in the late 70s early 80s. Positive lifestyles and people being good to each other.

NIKV69 · Wed Dec 14, 2022 12:06 am

LCDFlight wrote:
Loved the show. It (and Three’s Company, different type of show) both made California look really good in the late 70s early 80s. Positive lifestyles and people being good to each other.

John Ritter was one of the few comedic geniuses of our time.

Max Q · Wed Dec 14, 2022 1:40 am

Couldn’t agree more, three’s company was a light hearted delight

Max Q · Wed Dec 14, 2022 1:54 am

910A wrote:
I was stationed at the CHP Central Los Angeles office when the show was on the air. I'm was in the background in some of the early office briefing scenes. Favorite actor was Robert Pine, who treated the "real" CHP officers with respect. Erick Estrada was a complete ass at that time. Most of the freeway scenes were filmed on what is now the I-210 which was under construction back then. It was funny to watch Ponch and Jon get on bikes which were on a trailer being towed for scenes. Anyways due to the success of the show in Japan our office became a stop for tour buses full of Japanese tourists. Anyways the show really declined when Bruce Jenner came on board.

That’s very interesting, was that the station shown in the series ?

I think Estrada may have let his fame go to his head and has mellowed since then, in fact he is such a proponent of law enforcement he became a real police officer in Virginia

I recently watched a video on you tube where they had a reunion of most of the CHIPS cast, Erik Estrada was there and could not have been more gracious, friendly and self effacing, he sat next to Wilcox and it was obvious any grudges were history, it was a real delight and full of laughs, the only notable absence was the actress who played ‘Bonnie’

Robert Pine was just like you described, in fact he introduced himself by saying he prefers to be known as the father of Chris Pine, his Son and a well known actor now, a typically modest statement from him but also it showed what pride he has in his Son

Not sure what the idea was temporarily replacing Estrada with Jenner, I think the latter had zero acting talent and just came over as bizarre

AntonioMartin · Wed Dec 14, 2022 3:07 am

NIKV69 wrote:
AntonioMartin wrote:
Im a CHPS fan who met Erik Estrada in person! I also a big SWAT and what was the name of that fire department show? fan.

Oh, I remember now...Emergency! Plus, Charlie's Angels!

Jaclyn Smith hair flick!!!!!!!!!! I lived for that.

Oh yeah, she was hot!

AntonioMartin · Wed Dec 14, 2022 3:09 am

LCDFlight wrote:
Loved the show. It (and Three’s Company, different type of show) both made California look really good in the late 70s early 80s. Positive lifestyles and people being good to each other.

I loved Three's Company for the hot looking actresses in short shorts! Plus, it was funny!

AntonioMartin · Wed Dec 14, 2022 3:14 am

stratosphere wrote:
Max Q wrote:
I watched this TV series as a youngster, I was a big motorcycle enthusiast and thought their KZ1000’s were really nice machines

It may seem like a corny show now but it was something quite different, each episode would often have a positive message and the best part was it didn’t glorify the use of guns like many cop shows

In fact the two main characters, Jon and Ponch never even drew their weapons

Been watching reruns lately and it hasn’t lost its appeal !

I enjoyed that show too along with Emergency which I have the whole DVD series on. I heard Jon and Ponch did not get along in real life unlike Roy and John in Emergency who are good friends to this day.

I think Jon felt jealous of the attention Ponch got. Also, from what I heard, it seems the actor who played Jon was a bit racist in real life? But Im not sure.

Max Q · Wed Dec 14, 2022 5:28 am

AntonioMartin wrote:
stratosphere wrote:
Max Q wrote:
I watched this TV series as a youngster, I was a big motorcycle enthusiast and thought their KZ1000’s were really nice machines

It may seem like a corny show now but it was something quite different, each episode would often have a positive message and the best part was it didn’t glorify the use of guns like many cop shows

In fact the two main characters, Jon and Ponch never even drew their weapons

Been watching reruns lately and it hasn’t lost its appeal !

I enjoyed that show too along with Emergency which I have the whole DVD series on. I heard Jon and Ponch did not get along in real life unlike Roy and John in Emergency who are good friends to this day.

I think Jon felt jealous of the attention Ponch got. Also, from what I heard, it seems the actor who played Jon was a bit racist in real life? But Im not sure.

Never heard anything about Wilcox being racist, he was a Marine and served in Vietnam, I think he just had a different view on life but they were both great actors and I couldn’t say anything bad about them

NIKV69 · Wed Dec 14, 2022 5:32 am

AntonioMartin wrote:

I think Jon felt jealous of the attention Ponch got. Also, from what I heard, it seems the actor who played Jon was a bit racist in real life? But Im not sure.

Never saw anything to infer he was a racist. Only that he served his country honorably in the Marines before he became an actor.

Kiwirob · Wed Dec 14, 2022 6:55 am

LCDFlight wrote:
Loved the show. It (and Three’s Company, different type of show) both made California look really good in the late 70s early 80s. Positive lifestyles and people being good to each other.

The UK original Man About the House was better.

Max Q · Wed Dec 14, 2022 12:25 pm

Kiwirob wrote:
LCDFlight wrote:
Loved the show. It (and Three’s Company, different type of show) both made California look really good in the late 70s early 80s. Positive lifestyles and people being good to each other.

The UK original Man About the House was better.

Depends on the culture, I’m sure you know how different American and British humor are, often they’re not transferable

It’s not objective to say it was better, just different

910A · Wed Dec 14, 2022 1:30 pm

Max Q wrote:
910A wrote:
I was stationed at the CHP Central Los Angeles office when the show was on the air. I'm was in the background in some of the early office briefing scenes. Favorite actor was Robert Pine, who treated the "real" CHP officers with respect. Erick Estrada was a complete ass at that time. Most of the freeway scenes were filmed on what is now the I-210 which was under construction back then. It was funny to watch Ponch and Jon get on bikes which were on a trailer being towed for scenes. Anyways due to the success of the show in Japan our office became a stop for tour buses full of Japanese tourists. Anyways the show really declined when Bruce Jenner came on board.

That’s very interesting, was that the station shown in the series ? Yes it was, it was remodel about a decade ago and doesn't look nearly the same.

I

I recently watched a video on you tube where they had a reunion of most of the CHIPS cast, Erik Estrada was there and could not have been more gracious, friendly and self effacing, he sat next to Wilcox and it was obvious any grudges were history, it was a real delight and full of laughs, the only notable absence was the actress who played ‘Bonnie’ - I getting old, there was a dinner reunion for 35th anniversary of the show in LA - it was fun seeing the actors and officers as we aged..- Randi Oakes (Bonnie) lives in Oregon and she is married to the actor Gregory Harrison.

Larry Wilcox had a problem with alcohol, as did his brother whom he purchased a used car dealership for in Mesa, AZ. Larry was convicted in Florida on securities fraud. Sober now.

Going through the CHP Academy in 1978, the Instructors were always reminding us "this is not Chips"

Interesting times, and a good career.

Classa64 · Wed Dec 14, 2022 2:48 pm

Man that was a great show. I remember one of the big stunts that they had to do made it in the paper because of its complexity at the time. It took place on the Highway of course but a truck with glass panels jackknifed and the other drivers all had a wreck because the sun reflected in there eyes and then another car drove under and had the roof sheered off... Was pretty exciting back then.

Max Q · Fri Dec 16, 2022 6:19 am

910A wrote:
Max Q wrote:
910A wrote:
I was stationed at the CHP Central Los Angeles office when the show was on the air. I'm was in the background in some of the early office briefing scenes. Favorite actor was Robert Pine, who treated the "real" CHP officers with respect. Erick Estrada was a complete ass at that time. Most of the freeway scenes were filmed on what is now the I-210 which was under construction back then. It was funny to watch Ponch and Jon get on bikes which were on a trailer being towed for scenes. Anyways due to the success of the show in Japan our office became a stop for tour buses full of Japanese tourists. Anyways the show really declined when Bruce Jenner came on board.

That’s very interesting, was that the station shown in the series ? Yes it was, it was remodel about a decade ago and doesn't look nearly the same.

I

I recently watched a video on you tube where they had a reunion of most of the CHIPS cast, Erik Estrada was there and could not have been more gracious, friendly and self effacing, he sat next to Wilcox and it was obvious any grudges were history, it was a real delight and full of laughs, the only notable absence was the actress who played ‘Bonnie’ - I getting old, there was a dinner reunion for 35th anniversary of the show in LA - it was fun seeing the actors and officers as we aged..- Randi Oakes (Bonnie) lives in Oregon and she is married to the actor Gregory Harrison.

Larry Wilcox had a problem with alcohol, as did his brother whom he purchased a used car dealership for in Mesa, AZ. Larry was convicted in Florida on securities fraud. Sober now.

Going through the CHP Academy in 1978, the Instructors were always reminding us "this is not Chips" Interesting times, and a good career.

Thanks for the update, sorry to hear Larry Wilcox had those issues, hope he’s doing better now

I’m sure the real CHP was a lot different but I have to believe the TV series boosted recruitment ?!

AntonioMartin · Fri Dec 16, 2022 1:10 pm

NIKV69 wrote:
AntonioMartin wrote:

I think Jon felt jealous of the attention Ponch got. Also, from what I heard, it seems the actor who played Jon was a bit racist in real life? But Im not sure.

Never saw anything to infer he was a racist. Only that he served his country honorably in the Marines before he became an actor.

I read it on a tabloid some 36 years ago...but you know...tabloids....

AtomicGarden · Fri Dec 16, 2022 5:33 pm

Tugger wrote:
Oh great, thanks. Now I have that syth-intro stuck in my head!

ha, me too. Not my fav theme from the 80's, but a great one tho.

I was very young when this was broadcasted in my country (so basically I got reruns, early 90's) but I remember playing CHIPS with my friend when riding our bikes (bycicles, that is).

dampfnudel · Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:30 am

NIKV69 wrote:
LCDFlight wrote:
Loved the show. It (and Three’s Company, different type of show) both made California look really good in the late 70s early 80s. Positive lifestyles and people being good to each other.

John Ritter was one of the few comedic geniuses of our time.

I couldn’t agree with you more. Three’s Company is “comfort food TV” for me and John Ritter was a wonderful actor who left us far too soon. As for CHiPS, it was definitely another show I loved to watch when I was a kid during the eighties. Pluto has a Three’s Company channel that I often watch.

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