CHiPs: Season 1
Country boy Larry Wilcox got first billing, but Erik Estrada was the breakaway star ofCHiPs, 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.CHiPsis basicallyAdam-12on 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 fromThe ShieldorThe 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 onCHiPs: The Complete First Seasonare meager, but many episodes feature introductions by Estrada, who's gained some weight but lost none of his cocksure charm.--Bret Fetzer