CHIPS Television Series on DVD

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CHiPs - The Complete First Season on DVD

Amazon.com TV Show Review - Country boy Larry Wilcox got first billing, but Erik Estrada was the breakaway star of CHiPs, the popular late 1970s show about California highway patrolmen. With his blindingly white teeth, tight shirts, tighter pants, and exquisite '70s hair (which always emerged from under his helmet perfectly coifed), Estrada transformed his struggling career of playing hoodlums into becoming one of television's first Latino heroes--Frank "Ponch" Poncharello--and a skyrocketing sex symbol as well. CHiPs is basically Adam-12 on motorcycles. Ponch may have been a hothead, but there's not a hint that these cops are anything but perfectly upright and earnest in their duties--a far cry from The Shield or The Wire! Ponch and Jon Baker (Wilcox) cruise all over the southern California freeway system, grappling with car thieves, clearing away overturned trucks, and pulling beautiful girls out of car accidents.

Every episode has at least one high-speed chase and just about every episode features Ponch hitting on a woman with gloriously feathered hair; watching episode after episode may feel a bit repetitive, but there's no denying that the stories are efficiently laid out and crisply executed. Foiling crime and rescuing lost dogs was the show's meat and potatoes, but the dessert was preposterousness like Ponch competing with a squad of middle-aged housewives on a game show or chasing after spilled chickens. The extras on CHiPs: The Complete First Season are meager, but many episodes feature introductions by Estrada, who's gained some weight but lost none of his cocksure charm. --Bret Fetzer

CHiPs - The Complete Second Season on DVD

Amazon.com Review of CHiPs The Complete Second Season - CHiPs returned with even more spectacular car crashes and more cute girls for Ponch (Erik Estrada) to charm. The series really hit its stride in this second season (aired in 1978 and '79), balancing nerve-tingling stunts with human drama and whimsical escapades. On the high-tension side, you have a school bus that careens out of control and Jon (Larry Wilcox) has to jump on the roof to rescue the kids inside; trucks jackknife across the highway, causing multiple pileups; an ambulance overturns, trapping a girl in an iron lung; an investigation of dirt-bike vandals leads to angel dust dealers. Then, to lighten things up, Ponch gets a boa constrictor wrapped around his leg and has to help out a team of stranded cheerleaders. But more than anything, this second season was a showcase for Estrada's easy, perfect-for-television charisma. Not only was he handsome and cocky, he could be surprisingly gentle and compassionate, as when he rescued a suicidal woman about to lose her home. Wilcox, even at his best, never seemed fully comfortable in his role, but Estrada radiated the kind of relaxed pleasure that invites the audience's adoration. There were certainly silly moments (the Supercycle! A tiger in a deli mart! Ponch and Jon help a woman give birth in a disco!) and the increase in cars bursting into flame stretches credulity, but most of CHiPs stays reasonably down-to-earth and is all the more enjoyable for it. In fact, the low-key cinematography, without a lot of frantic editing, often makes the car crashes all the more vivid and jolting. This season also introduced more supporting characters, including the first significant female officer on the show, Sindy Cahill (played by the charming Brianne Leary). The boxed set features only one extra, a promotional featurette about the real California Highway Patrol, who love the show about as much as the show loves them--though the real cops' hair is decidedly less fluffy. --Bret Fetzer