I just started watching on MeTV and it's on season 5. As I recall, the first 2-3 seasons were pretty good with our heroes fighting crime in a variety of ways each episode. In 5, they only have one lame story throughout each episode.
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The later storylines became more about their personal lives, and for me, a man in uniform will hold my attention much longer.
Why ain't you at the garden party you heathen?
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I agree. After the 1979-80 season, it went to pot. The death knell came after Larry Wilcox departed.
shareWhatever season METV is currently showing is virtually unwatchable.
There's a not-so-fine line between enjoyably cheesy and stupid.
MrBuzzcut,
You're about halfway through season 5 of CHiPs as of 1/19/15.
The episode on right now is about the two female detectives (Mitchell & Woods) that the producers were trying to start a spin-off for. It's episode 12 of the season.
The episode was a tad too contrived for me (even for a CHiPs episode) and the two lead female characters weren't that likable.
The entire season hasn't been that well written with just way too many supporting cast members getting screen time. In season 5, the show should have been called, "The Citizens of Los Angeles" with the guest stars of the episodes being CHiPs characters.
I think the problems off set with Erik Estrada (his bad attitude with Larry Wilcox and his demands for higher salary) probably led to the problems many people started noticing around Season 4 and later.
I liked a lot of the previous episodes in succession, but now it seems every other episode is unwatchable. Hopefully tomorrow's is better.
The "Mitchell & Woods" episode is one of the worst of the whole series. It was meant to be a new pilot for a potential spin off series. They were obviously trying to rip off Cagney & Lacey, which was one of the hottest shows on the air at the time. It brings back Melanie and Paula from the episode "Ponch's Angels" (but played by very different actresses), only they have gone from rookie CHP motor officers to LAPD detectives.
But some say that the last episode ("Force Seven") of this season (Season 5) is even worse than this episode!
Ponch drops from a helicopter into the bed of a truck.
Hilarious!
But they couldn't stop there!
Ponch drops from one airplane into another to save the air show!
Are you serious?
Okay, the episode with the nerd shooting a laser from the back of a pickup at Jon who is riding a horse through the city streets of Los Angeles (and then a park) now has my vote as the craziest chase scene in the series. I've seen some pretty awful TV shows and movies in my years, so I can't say it's the craziest chase scene ever, but it's up there.
It's a good thing the guy was a bad shot with the deadly laser. How does Jon write this one up in his report?
"And then he shot the laser at me and I yelled, "Ahhhh!", but my BLIND horse (yes, he was BLIND) was able to make the correct turns at the right time and we saved the day!"
Oy vey ...
I guess I'll skip that one!
I agree Mitchell & Woods was really bad- and not even laughably bad, although the TJ Hooker roof ride and typical CHiPs car crash was funny.
It brings back Melanie and Paula from the episode "Ponch's Angels" (but played by very different actresses), only they have gone from rookie CHP motor officers to LAPD detectives.
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Yes, Force Seven was pretty dumb... basically an attempt to have karate masters fighting crime. When one of the characters is a ventriloquist with a stereotyped Asian dummy as a puppet, you've got serious problems, and even worse, it was Wilcox's last episode of the series.
So far, for me, THE worst episode of season 6 so far is a recently aired "Country Action", which has lots of orangutan hijinx and lots of country music. It was almost as if the writers just took the day off and said "oh, we'll just fill any gap with a country song or yet another monkey gag."
I understand Bruce Penhall's role became more prominent when Tom Reilly was arrested for drug possession. The real life CHP frowned at Reilly's conviction so Reilly's role was greatly reduced towards the end of the run.