Magnum Mania!

I just heard that Larry Wilcox is being sentenced in Florida for securities fraud which is a bit of a shocker. HFO just had an episode with Steve and Dano watching CHiPs on tv and they were arguing about who they wanted to be Ponch or John (I'm thinking it is back to Ponch).

Larry Wilcox got lucky, just three years probation, after he admitted he knew about the scam the whole time. I mean, I'm glad he admitted he was wrong and did a very bad thing, but my crush dwindled a little.

I loved CHiPs when I was a kid! I remember building the model of their motorcycle with my dad. I haven't seen it since its first run, but something makes me think it doesn't hold up these days. Anybody see it lately?

I haven't seen CHiPs since the early nineties. I remember it being cheesy then but still fun to watch. I think TV Land, and networks of the such, need to do a better job of getting these older shows on air.

I always joke with my motorcycle riding buddies that I can tell which ones watched CHIPS and which ones were influenced by Easy Rider. The CHIPS riders have the "baggers", in other words, they look like a police bike with all the bags, the windshield and fairings. The Easy Rider crowd likes the basic bike where you can actually see the rear wheel and handlebars!

LOL Steve!

And the ones who ride a crazy Harley-Triumph hybrid watched Happy Days!

J.J. Walters wrote:LOL Steve!

And the ones who ride a crazy Harley-Triumph hybrid watched Happy Days!

I thought the Fonz rode a Bonneville for the most part and a Harley in some shows. Was it actually a Frankenbike?

Larry Wilcox is a scumbag. He'd been accused years ago of domestic abuse.

Seaver41 wrote:Larry Wilcox is a scumbag. He'd been accused years ago of domestic abuse.

Certainly a sure sign of a scumbag. But if a court didn't convict him, how can we?

What a fun series, CHiPs is definitely in my top 20 favorite shows.
I always loved the guest stars, one of my favorite guest star was Elvira.

When I was in High School and took the Drivers Ed class we did the simulator where you watch the 16mm films of some driving and had to copy what was happening on the screen. Those films always reminded me of CHiPs, I think it was because the film was shot in the late 70's and shot in the neighborhoods in Calf.

Steve wrote:I always joke with my motorcycle riding buddies that I can tell which ones watched CHIPS and which ones were influenced by Easy Rider. The CHIPS riders have the "baggers", in other words, they look like a police bike with all the bags, the windshield and fairings. The Easy Rider crowd likes the basic bike where you can actually see the rear wheel and handlebars!

IIRC they rode Kawasaki KZ1000Ps. I've always wanted one. I ride a Harley Sportster now, but I'll buy a KZ police bike when I have the money. I've seen a few locally pretty cheap, but it sucks not having a job. I've actually got a black and white helmet that looks like a cop helmet already.

The Birdman wrote:

Steve wrote:I always joke with my motorcycle riding buddies that I can tell which ones watched CHIPS and which ones were influenced by Easy Rider. The CHIPS riders have the "baggers", in other words, they look like a police bike with all the bags, the windshield and fairings. The Easy Rider crowd likes the basic bike where you can actually see the rear wheel and handlebars!

IIRC they rode Kawasaki KZ1000Ps. I've always wanted one. I ride a Harley Sportster now, but I'll buy a KZ police bike when I have the money. I've seen a few locally pretty cheap, but it sucks not having a job. I've actually got a black and white helmet that looks like a cop helmet already.

I actually have a 2001 Sportster and a '93 Kawasaki Vulcan 750 (darn thing just keeps going and going).I love them both and have customized both............

Nice bikes.
Well since it's turning into a bike porn thread:

SWEEEET!!!!!!

A CHiPs thread ... love it. Time to bring it back to life after 10 years of dormancy? Why not!

Should I be embarrassed to admit I've watched pretty much all of these during lockdown? Probably. UK satellite TV channel 'Forces TV' has broadcast all of these again including the much maligned season 6.

To be fair, I loved this as a kid and watching it again (with jno jr) has been a lot of fun.

Where do I begin? Erik Estrada ... is there ANYTHING this guy can't do? Of the two characters I must confess that Baker is my favourite, Ponch is a bird bandit, with more notches on his bedpost than Tom Jones.

Good family show? Absolutely. Just like the Dukes you can sit down and watch this without fear of blood, gore and excessive violence. Good morals? Hell yes.

Cheap and nasty? Definitely - the amount of goofs and stunt ramps visible on CHiPs is shockingly bad. Nevertheless, I still love it.

Then we get to season 6. Oh dear me, by this point there's regular shark jumping and the show descends into a weekly stroking of Ponch's ego and becomes a festival of cack. 'The Spacemen Made Me Do It' is Ponch vs Aliens, Ponch gets married, 'Day of the Robot', Bobby replaces Baker, Right Turn Clyde joins the CHP - seriously season 6 is embarrassing to watch.

To be fair there were some real stinkers during the Baker era (first five seasons) too. Most notably:

1. Season 5's 'Mitchell & Woods' - I had to turn it off it was so bad. This possibly the worst 50 minutes of American TV I've ever watched. Failed pilot 1, and this was an epic fail of mansize portions.

2. Season 2's 'The Greatest Adventures of CHiPs' which is a compilation of clips for 2 hours(!) intertwined with comments from the team - I almost fell asleep. Fast forwarded through the repeat parts, this was a painful watch.

3. 'Force Seven', Baker's final episode with Fred Dryer in it. John Rhys Davies as the ninja super villain is complete rubbish and for Baker to leave on this story is poor. Jon and Ponch just ain't in it either. Another failed pilot.

On the whole though, it's impossible to hate this show. The CHP are the good guys after all.

I'd be interested to know whatever became of season 6 actress Tina Gayle (Hernandez) who played Officer Cathy Linnahan - she seems to have done nothing TV wise after CHiPs and has disappeared off the radar.

I can't be the only one on here with fond memories of CHiPs?!