CHiPs followed the adventures of two hunky California Highway patrolmen, Francis "Ponch" Poncherello (Erik Estrada) and Jon Baker (Larry Wilcox). Ponch was the wisecracking ladies' man, while more reserved Jon played Ponch's straight man. But when it came to busting criminals and protecting the good drivers of California, Ponch and Jon were all business. Estrada and Wilcox were supported by a strong cast, including the long-suffering, no-nonsense Sergeant Joseph Getraer (Robert Pine) and luckless Officer Grossman (Paul Linke).
Cast & Characters
- Larry Wilcox as Officer Jon Baker (1977-1982)
- Erik Estrada as Officer Franck "Ponch" Poncherello
- Robert Pine as Sgt. Joe Getraer
- Lew Saunders as Officer Gene Fritz (1977-1981)
- Briane Leary as Officer Sindy Cahill (1978-1979)
- Lou Wagner as Harlan (1978-1983)
- Paul Linke as Officer Grossman
- Randi Oakes as Officer Bonnie Clark
- Michael Dorn as Officer Turner (1980-1982)
Broadcast History
First Telecast: September 15, 1977Last Telecast: July 17, 1983
Network:
NBC
Seasons: 6
Episodes: 139
List of CHiPs episodes
Original Primetime TV Schedule:
- September 1977- March 1978, Thursday 8:00-9:00pm
- April 1978, Thursday 8:00-9:00pm
- May 1978- August 1978, Saturday 8:00-9:00pm
- September 1978- March 1980, Sunday 8:00-9:00pm
- March 1980- March 1983, Sunday 8:00-9:00pm
- April 1983- May 1983, Sunday 7:00-8:00pm
- May 1983- July 1983, Sunday 8:00-9:00pm
Theme Song & Opening Into
Watch opening intro:Listen to theme song:
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CHiPS Trivia
Jon and Ponch never once pulled a weapon on anyone during the entire series!Jon's unit ID was "Seven Mary Three"; Ponch's was "Seven Mary Four".
After CHiPs new episodes left the air, the show went into syndication and was called, "CHiPs Patrol".
Erik Estrada's character was originally supposed to be of Italian descent with the name Poncherelli. When Estrada was cast, they simply changed the last letter to an "o".
Randi Oakes joined the CHiPs cast in the third season. In episode #35 (2nd season), however, she first appeared on the series as a car thief named Kim! Randi was a top fashion model before becoming an actress. She didn't remain in showbiz long after CHiPs ended but it was a delight to see her on 3 episodes of "Fantasy Island" and 2 episodes of "The Love Boat"!
Erik Estrada actually got in an extremely serious motorcycle accident while filming one episode but, thankfully, he recovered!
The chase scenes and multi-vehicle crashes were filmed on freeways that were under construction but almost finished.
There was an actor in the pilot episode named Jonathon Baker! That was the nephew of CHiPs' creator, Rick Rosner. Jonathon played a little boy that the guys stopped for riding his bicycle on a highway. And, of course, he was also the source of Larry Wilcox's character's name!
In order to keep production costs down, the patrol cars used on CHiPs were used ones that they bought at auctions. If you know your cars, you'll see that they are always 3-5 years older than the date that the episode was produced.
Erik Estrada has somewhat remained in the public eye over the years but people often ask, "What happened to Larry Wilcox". Well, as of August 2006 Larry has had 19 credited roles on television since leaving CHiPs. He formed a company called "Wilcox Productions" which produced "The Ray Bradbury Theater", and the TV movie, "Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story". In the mid-1990s Larry ran a pharmaceutical company called "Team Elite". Today Larry continues running Wilcox Productions and is also president of MediaCore, a software company.
