Chips

"CHiPs" is an acronym for California Highway Patrol. It is also the name of a popular television program which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983. "CHiPs" starred Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox (and later Tom Reilly) as CHP officers "Ponch" and "Jon" (and "Bobby").

Each week, these officers were shown riding their motorcycles through southern California as they kept the Los Angeles streets and freeways safe for citizens like you and me.

CHiPs was a TV show running on NBC from 1977 until 1983, airing 140 episodes (including a 1999 TV movie). The show starred Erik Estrada as Ponch and Larry Wilcox as John. John was later replaced with Tom Reilly, who played Bobby.

The show was about to California Highway Patrol men, riding around on their Kawasaki motorcycles, protecting the streets of southern California.

The show featured some of the most incredible and unbelievable car wrecks ever, and usually a good explosion or two each week. But John and Ponch were always able to get just far enough away, just as the car exploded.

The show did have some problems. Estrada missed some episodes of one season, in a contract dispute, and Wilcox left the show in the last season, apparently unable to get along with Estrada. All the major players were reunited for a TV movie that aired on TNT.

The following is a list of the major characters:

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

Guests: The guests for this episode were writer of the The Late Shift, Bill Carter and late night talk show legend Joe Franklin. They also announced Johnny Carson as a guest but things sorta went wrong so they had to deal with a mantis named Randy. Chances are it was a publicity stunt anyways.

Episode Premise: Moltar is obsessed with CHIPs, to the point that he does things like shirk his producer duties to watch the reruns, and credit Space Ghost and Zorak with "Poncherello" surnames on-screen. Meanwhile, Space Ghost is just interested in annoying Bill Carter as to why he wasn't in Bill's book, talking over all of Joe Franklin's appearance and project plugs, and shmoozing with Johnny Carson (which never happens due to Moltar "losing the feed"). Meanwhile, Zorak has an obsession with hairpieces. The CHIPs and hairpiece obsessions were the series' first real running gags, showing up in a number of episodes (most noably Untitled).

Elevator -- Bobcat

Chips (?), n. Naut.

A ship's carpenter.

© Webster 1913.