MovieChat Forums > CHiPs (1977) Discussion > Little brother Bruce is annoying!

Little brother Bruce is annoying!

posted 10 years ago by caligirlbr323
17 replies | jump to latest

Do they really need him ?! He's annoying and he takes away from his big Hot brother Bobby's screen time! So silly when it is the three of them riding along together, Ponch , Bobby and there is Bruce tagging along. It's like Go away!!

I know they brought the actor in because of Tom Reilly's drug issues. Did they really think he would be so high or fall out on the set, and not be able to get through the taping, and Bruce would come in to save the day? LOL!!!!

[–] basterd7 10 years ago

I think the producers made the decision to hire Bruce Penhall before Tom Reilly got busted. Penhall just won the Speedway World Championships in 1982 and I guess that's part of what got him hired. You can tell when Reilly's arrest came later in the season because he pretty much disappears from the episodes and Bruce takes over as Ponch's partner.

[–] darkavenger77 10 years ago

Physical appearances and motorcycle racing skills notwithstanding, the whole cadet storyline is garbage. The CHP academy at the time was 6 hours from LA, so he and others can't come & go in a few minutes as was shown. Motorcycles are specialty positions. It's like being hired as an officer and being assigned a canine- does not happen. You work as a patrol officer for a while, and then you go on to the specialty position.

Even IF he was in a motorcycle training program, some of the stuff he did such as a solo pursuit would get him fired- as a non-sworn officer (no badge) he has no legal authority to do so.

Hollywood: See a gun, hear it get cocked!

[–] caligirlbr323 10 years ago

Bruce reminds me of Scrappy Doo! Being a tag a long of Bobby, like Scrappy is to Scooby !! LOL!!!

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQfhe-5qeYIWlYxHr qAtcc-Z7NAziBlSQ9WF-momCfkKTUmQu-X

[–] sjbradford 10 years ago

Also, poor Bruce can't act his way out of a paper bag. He makes Tom Reilly look like Sir Laurence Olivier.

The producers weren't worried about Reilly being high on the set. Back then, an actor being arrested for drug possession was a HUGE deal. They didn't want to break his contract and give him grounds to sue, but they wanted to minimize his presence on a family show.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] caligirlbr323 10 years ago

Yes he does! Bobby has a very good personality! I think he's fun! I love this Jersey Boy. His accent is hot! I love his voice! It's cool because usually on TV when a Jersey Boy is on, he's Italian! Cool seeing and hearing a white Anglo Jersey boy! He's sexy as hell!!!!

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 10 years ago

You make a good point about his ethnicity. When I see him and hear him talk, I keep thinking of Ken Wahl as Vinnie Teranova in Wiseguy, which hit television airwaves a few years later. It usually was an Italian, dark-haired type that was hired for such roles. But with Bobby, we get a different variation.

[–] caligirlbr323 10 years ago

Yeah exactly!! To hear him talk and not see him you would picture him to be dark haired, dark eyed and swarthy ! He looks like he would have a California surfer dude accent, and here is this really strong Joisy accent!

I think it's cool because Erik has a NY accent (it's a little different than a Jersey accent)! But he still has his accent from NY, and the both of them together, so east coast, it's cool! That is why I think it's so silly that they try to portray Ponch as being a Chicano from Los Angeles when he clearly is a New Yorker!

LOL!! And another thing, Bobby's little brother Bruce doesn't have a Jersey ( or any type of east coast accent at all)! Funny that one brother would and one wouldn't unless the parents split up when they were very young and one boy went with the Mom and one with the Dad, and grew in different parts of the country! And he's so much shorter than Bobby too, and they don't look alike at all except the blonde hair. Bruce really does look and act more like he would be Jon's little brother!

[–] charcas67 10 years ago

I find the incongruity between Reilly's appearance and voice quite interesting as well. California hunky surfer dude with a Joisy accent, lol!

I wonder if Penhall was cast in Season 6 before producers knew Wilcox was leaving? When did Wilcox announce he was leaving the show following season 5?

I like Bruce. Not much of an actor, but he's able to project personality. And he always got in an action scene, because let's face it, he was hired for his Motorcycle skills, not his thespian talents, so you got to find an excuse for him to do what he's best at.

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 10 years ago

I don't have a problem with either one of these guys (Ponch or Bobby) having east coast accents. When I was in 8th grade my family moved out west. And for the next ten years, even while I lived in southern California, I probably still had a midwestern sound. It takes years for regional accents to adjust, especially if your childhood was in a completely different place. So I can buy Ponch's family moving to Caifornia from New York, even if such a backstory was not intended by the writers-- or him spending summers as a kid back in New York with relatives and picking up part of the lingo.

However, having Bobby and Bruce with different accents, coming from the same family, is a bit of a stretch. Unless we were to find out they were half-brothers and Bobby spent part of his youth on the east coast with his other parent, while Bruce spent his whole life in southern California.

[–] basterd7 10 years ago

I think Tom Reilly isn't nearly as bad as I remembered him. The guy was basically in a no-win situation trying to replace Wilcox, and add to that most of the good secondary characters(Baricza, Jed Turner, Bonnie Clark) were given the heave-ho, along with the show's better writers and directors. Reilly stepped onto a sinking ship, and then pretty much jumped overboard with the drug bust. I'm guessing the arrest is really what ruined his career.

Penhall was a non-actor who did the best he could with the crap part that they wrote for him. In every scene he's in, it's like they need to give a reason for him to even be there. Seeing Danny Bonaduce in that high school episode, I think they should've given him the role of the young probie Chip, lol. Talk about adding conflict to every scene.

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 10 years ago

I like the new female officer added during season six. All the characters are expendable when you think about it. The focus is the CHP, it is not the officers. If someone who had never seen CHiPs before started with the beginning of season six, then went back to the first season, they would probably think Jon and Bonnie and the others were not as good or interesting to watch.

The problem is that people have a hard time adjusting to changes. There were still good stories and good directors during the final season.

I do agree that Bruce Penhall was new to the acting profession and it is obvious he lacks the skills that he should have as an actor. But he guest-starred on shows after CHiPs went off the air, and he improved. But he was hired for this role because of his ability with a motorcycle as well as his looks. He has a good screen presence and I don't mind his character.

[–] darkavenger77 10 years ago

If someone who had never seen CHiPs before started with the beginning of season six, then went back to the first season, they would probably think Jon and Bonnie and the others were not as good or interesting to watch.

The problem is that people have a hard time adjusting to changes. There were still good stories and good directors during the final season.

I have to disagree. Let's examine some of the S6 stories we've seen so far:
E2: Poncherello is "The Barcelona Man", a male model.
E3: An alien abduction.
E4: A devil-themed singer.
E6: Social issue about disabled kids.
E7: Beach patrol (the CHP does not do this) and a nude beach. Was that sweeps week? 
E9-22: Poncherello lost the love of his life in E8, yet she is forgotten by E9 and he has a GF of the week again by E12.
E11: A robot.
E14: An orangutan. Cattle rustling. Pretty blatant rip off of Every Which Way But Loose, to include the aspiring female country singer at the Palomino Club.

Now S1:
E1: Auto theft ring.
E2: Tow truck driver ripping off female motorists on the freeway.
E4: Stolen bus.

It had some stretched story lines to be sure (S1 E14 also dealt with cattle rustlers), but nowhere near as many or as bad as S6- or even S5 with its terrible spin-offs.

RIP Ron Swanson. Writers created your awesomeness in S1 and killed it in S7

[–] cluvonj 10 years ago

I never found him annoying at all. I liked Bruce. I don't remember the episodes so much when he was on there when Bobby was but later when he was Ponch's partner I really did like him and enjoyed all the time he was on the show.

[–] brmts 9 years ago

ok bobby was cute but little brother Bruce yes that hot little blond jock was the stud of this show. Yummy Bruce!!

[–] caligirlbr323 9 years ago

Really? To each their own!! He was the one I found the least hot of all the guys. Well OK add Steve/Bruce Jenner to the list. The short time he was on!! NOT HOT at all!!! Baby brother Bruce even rates higher than him!! LOL!!!

For me the hotties were Ponch, Bobby and he wasn't a motorcycle Chippy but Baritzca (Bear) was a hotty too! It's a shame they didn't feature him more in the show!

[–] caligirlbr323 9 years ago

OH!!! Adding to my last post! I forgot about Jon!!!!! On the hotness scale I'll put him above Steve and Bruce but not as hot as Ponch, Bobby and Bear!