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, Ponch is in trouble!

Episode 5.20 “Flare Up”

(Dir by John Florea, originally aired on March 7th, 1982)

While saving lives and being a badass at the sight of a highway crash, Baker accidentally inhales chlorine gas and has to go to the hospital.  Meanwhile, an embittered young man named Eddie (Alan Stock) claims that Ponch roughed him up at a traffic stop and gave him a black eye.  The truth of the matter is that Eddie hit his head on his steering wheel while he was trying to grab a beer can that had been thrown at him by a couple of obnoxious college students.

Baker survives the chemical attack but it looks like Ponch’s days of patrolling the highway might be over.  Fear not, though.  This is….

You can’t have The Ponch Show without Ponch!  Seriously, if Ponch loses his job, who is going to smile in the face of danger?  Who is going to disco dance?  Who is going to have four women in his apartment, making dinner?  CHiPs is a show of the disco age and it doesn’t get more disco than Erik Estrada.

By an amazing coincidence, another chemical spill produces a cloud of toxic gas that is heading straight for Eddie’s grandfather (Harry Carey, Jr.)  Ponch risks his life to save the old man and a thankful Edddie drops the complaint.  Actually, last week — didn’t someone drop a complaint against Baker after Baker saved someone’s life?  Is CHiPs repeating itself?

Of course, it is!  CHiPs always repeats itself.  That’s kind of the appeal of the show.  It’s predictable, it doesn’t require much thought to enjoy, and there’s always another dramatic car crash to which to look forward.

That’s what CHiPs is all about.