Series Description

The CHiPs TV show was a 60 minute drama series that aired on NBC for 139 episodes from 1977-1983. It was about two young officers who patrolled the highways throughout the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. The show showcased exciting chase scenes and dangerous criminals, but also showed the more routine parts of the patrolman's job. There was also a TV movie titled, "CHiPs '99" that aired on October 27, 1998.

CHiPs Cast

Erik Estrada .... Patrolman Francis "Ponch" Poncherello

Larry Wilcox .... Patrolman Jon Baker

Robert Pine .... Sergeant Joseph Getraer

Paul Linke .... Patrolman Arthur Grossman

Lou Wagner .... Harlan Arliss

Brodie Greer .... Patrolman Barry Baricza

Lew Saunders .... Patrolman Gene Fritz

Michael Dorn .... Patrolman Jebediah Turner

Randi Oakes .... Patrolwoman Bonnie Clark

CHiPs Trivia:

Jon and Ponch never once pulled a weapon on anyone during CHiPs' entire six season run!

Jon's unit ID was "Seven Mary Three"; Ponch's was "Seven Mary Four".

After CHiPs new episodes left the air, the TV 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 on CHiPs 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 the CHiPs TV show 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.