Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee!

This week, Ponch and Baker are ordered to make life difficult for the Teamsters!

Episode 1.12 “Aweigh We Go!”

(Dir by Ivan Nagy, originally aired on December 22nd, 1977)

No, that’s not a typo.  The name of this episode is indeed “Aweigh We Go.”  It makes sense once you watch the episode.

Things get off to a classic CHiPs start, with Baker and Ponch chasing some rich scumbag in a fancy sportscar.  The driver doesn’t think he has to slow down or pull over, even when he’s being pursued by the cops.  He’s such a reckless driver that he nearly sideswipes a station wagon that is towing a boat.  The boat gets loose and crashes into a beauty salon.  No one’s hurt but Ponch is excited when he discovers the boat’s for sale.  He starts making plans to buy the boat from its owner (Sean Morgan), a guy who is named Sven Larson for no particular reason.

Unfortunately, Ponch makes the mistake of mentioning his plans in front of Sgt. Getraer.  Getraer proceeds to buy the boat out from under him.  Ponch, needless to say, is miffed and Getraer finally agrees to co-own the boat with Baker and Ponch.

That’s not the only surprise that Getraer has up his sleeve.  Because of an officer shortage, he is forced to send Ponch and Baker to work at a weighing station for a week.  Under the sarcastic command of Capt, Vogt (played by Bruce Glover, who is best-known for playing Mr. Kidd in Live and Let Die), Baker and Ponch learn all about how to weigh trucks to make sure that they are in regulation.  Interestingly enough, the episode devoted a lot of time to showing how a weighing station works.  You could probably argue that it actually spends too much time on it.  Myself, I have family in the trucking industry so I found it interesting to see what they would have had to deal with in the 70s.  I imagine all of the nitpicky rules and regulations are probably even worse today.

Of course, there’s still time for the usual CHiPs shenanigans.  Ponch and Baker chase down and arrest a hijacker played by a rather sinister Gerald McRaney.  And they rescue a baby from a crashed car.  As usual, the emphasis is on all of the members of the Highway Patrol working together to keep the world safe for drivers.

As for the boat, it sinks the first time Ponch tries to take it out on the water.  Oh, Ponch!  Usually, I’m pretty critical of Erik Estrada’s scenery chewing performance on this show but I will admit to laughing at his rather frantic facial expression as he watched the boat sink.

This was a pleasant episode.  I stand with the truckers!