CHiPs is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner, that originally aired on NBC from
September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle
officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
The series ran for 139 episodes over six seasons, plus one reunion television film in October 1998. CHiPs is an
action crime drama in a standard hour-long time slot, which at the time
required 48 minutes of actual programming. Over-the-top freeway pileups, which occurred frequently, especially in the later
seasons, were a signature of the show. For filming, traffic on Los Angeles
freeways was non-existent and most chase scenes were done on back roads. The
show was created by Rick Rosner, and
starred Erik Estrada as
macho, rambunctious Officer Francis ("Frank") Llewellyn
"Ponch" Poncherello and Larry Wilcox as his straitlaced partner, Officer Jonathan
("Jon") Andrew Baker. With Ponch the more trouble-prone of the pair,
and Jon generally the more level-headed one trying to keep him out of trouble
with the duo's gruff yet fatherly immediate supervisor Sergeant Joseph Getraer
(Robert Pine), the two were Highway Patrolmen of the Central
Los Angeles office of the California Highway Patrol (CHP,
hence the name CHiPs). As real-life CHP motor officers rarely ride
in pairs, in early episodes this was explained away by placing the
trouble-prone Ponch on probationary status, with Jon assigned as his field
training officer. Eventually, by the end of the first season, this subplot
faded away (Ponch completed his probation) as audiences were used to seeing the
two working as a team.