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 Prime!

This week, the computer goes down and Erik Estrada asks, “What’s a computer?”

Episode 5.25 “Overload”

(Dir by Robert Pine, originally aired on May 2nd, 1982)

Reni Santoni and Michael Anderson, Jr. play two thieves who hijack a truck that is delivering computer chips.  When the truck is involved in an accident, an old woman named Nettie (Helen Kleeb) spots Anderson hiding in the trailer.  She panics and flees from the scene.

Why do the criminals need the computer chips?  Reni Santoni’s cousin (Denis Mandel) is a genius who has built a device that allows him to hack into other computers.  As a test, he hacks into the Highway Patrol’s computer and rewrites their code.  Suddenly, the computers at HPHQ can no longer be used to look up addresses.  Bonnie is shorted on her paycheck.  Getraer, meanwhile, gets paid a thousand more than usual.  Ponch worries because he entered all the numbers in his little black book into the computer and now, he can’t get them out.  Listening to him deliver his lines, one gets the feeling that Erik Estrada didn’t have the slightest idea what Ponch was talking about and, to be honest, I get the feeling that whoever wrote this episode was equally as confused.  Myself, I’m wondering about the logic of using a work computer for that.  I mean, what if he wants to call someone from his swinging bachelor pad?

Eventually, the Highway Patrol does track down Nettie.  Nettie turns out to be one of the most annoying old biddies to ever appear on this show.  Strangely, everyone at the station is charmed by her, despite the fact that she fled from the scene of a serious accident that was largely caused by her bad driving.  Nettie should be going to prison!

This wasn’t much of an episode.  Larry Wilcox looked miserable and annoyed from beginning to end and it’s easy to understand why he decided not come back after the fifth season.  There are times when it really does appear as if he’s considering pushing Estrada off of his motorcycle.  Sorry, Larry, but we all know what show this is!

Only two more episodes to go before we complete this season!