September 15, 1977: “CHiPs” Premieres

Left to right: Erik Estrada, Robert Pine, Larry Wilcox

September 15, 1977: CHiPs premieres on NBC. The title is a nickname for the CHP, the California Highway Patrol. The Sixties were over, and it was okay to think of cops, even in Los Angeles, as not only good guys, but good-looking.

This being the Seventies, L.A.'s skyline looks a lot sparser than it does now. Also being the Seventies, the uniforms were tight. Another sign of the times was the opening sequence, with a great theme song, composed by John Parker. You don't see over-one-minute opening sequences anymore. These days, you're lucky if you see any opening sequences.

One of the main characters was supposed to be Italian and named Francis Llewelyn Poncherelli, or "Ponch" for short. But when Erik Estrada, a Puerto Rican actor from New York, was cast, the character was made Puerto Rican (unusual in California, where most Latinos are of Mexican descent), and the surname was changed to "Poncherello."

Officer Ponch was the fun-loving heartthrob. Such a character, especially if he's a cop -- or, often seen in later TV shows, a consultant working with the police -- has to have a straitlaced cop partner whose personality the lead brings out. This was Officer Jon Baker, played by Larry Wilcox.

Also in the main cast were Robert Pine as their boss, Sergeant Joe Getraer; Lew Saunders as Officer Gene Fritz, Brodie Greer as Officer Barry "Bear" Baricza, Paul Linke as Officer Artie Grossman, and Lou Wagner as the mechanic for their motorcycles, Harlan Arliss.

For Season 2, they brought in a female Officer, Brianne Leary as Sindy Cahill. Saunders and Leary left the show after Season 2. They were replaced, respectively, by Michael Dorn as Jebediah Turner and Randi Oakes as Bonnie Clark. For Season 5, 1976 Olympic hero Bruce Jenner was brought in as Officer Steve McLeish.

After Season 5, in 1982, Wilcox, Jenner, Dorn, Greer and Oakes all left. New additions for Season 6 were Tom Reilly as Officer Bobby "Hot Dog" Nelson, Tina Gayle as Officer Tina Gayle, Bruce Penhall as Officer Bruce Nelson, and Clarence Gilyard Jr. as Officer Benjamin Webster. That turned out to be the last season.

In 1998, Ted Turner's cable network TNT premiered CHiPs '99, a reunion movie. Returning were Estrada, Wilcox (Baker was now a Captain), Pine (as the CHP Commissioner), Greer and Linke. In 2017, a CHiPs feature film was released, starring Dax Shepard (Mr. Kristen Bell, and he also directed) as Jon, and Michael Peña as Ponch. It tanked.

As of September 15, 2022, CHiPs is believed to be the earliest scripted American TV show for which all actors in the original main cast are still alive. Pine and his wife, former actress Gwynne Gilford, are the parents of actor Chris Pine. Dorn went on to star in the Star Trek franchise. Jenner went on to marry and divorce Kris Kardashian, and transition to Caitlyn Jenner.

In real life, the California State Police was founded in 1885, and the California Highway Patrol as a separate entity in 1929. They were merged in 1995.

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September 15, 1977 was a Thursday. Basketball player Jason Terry and actor Tom Hardy were born. And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Yankee Stadium. The Sox scored 6 runs in the 5th inning, preventing Mike Torrez from being the winning pitcher, and making Sparky Lyle the losing pitcher, in a season where he otherwise became the 1st reliever to win the American League Cy Young Award. Reggie Jackson and Thurman Munson hit home runs for the Yankees. The Sox hit no homers, but Carl Yastrzemski and Bernie Carbo each had 3 hits, and Denny Doyle went 1-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

Thus, the Sox salvaged the last game of a series, after the Yankees won the previous 2, including the night before, when Reggie hit a walkoff home run.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Randy Lerch outpitched Craig Swan, who didn't get an out in the 2nd inning. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-4 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Toronto Blue Jays were leading the Baltimore Orioles, 4-0 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, after 5 innings, when the game was called due to rain.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rod Carew went 2-for-5 with an RBI, raising his batting average to .381. He finished at .388.

* A doubleheader was split at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the opener, 4-3. Lou Brock drove in 2 runs with a pinch-hit single. The St. Louis Cardinals won the nightcap, 10-7. Brock went 2-for-5 with 2 more RBIs. Willie Stargell did not play in either game.

* The Kansas City Royals swept a doubleheader from the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 and 5-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Both games were won in extra innings: Pete LaCock singled Willie Wilson home in the 11th inning of the 1st game. John Wathan went 4-for-4 with an RBI. Al Cowens hit a home run in the 10th inning of the 2nd game, in which Wathan only appeared as a pinch-hitter. Over the 2 games, George Brett went 4-for-9 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 6-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 8-7 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dale Murphy, then a catcher and not yet a star, led off the top of the 10th inning with a home run, for his 2nd homer of the game. Dave Winfield went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Pete Rose went 1-for-4. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* And the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Seattle Mariners were not scheduled.