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 California Highway Patrol is thoroughly incompetent.

Episode 5.19 “Silent Partner”

(Dir by Gordon Hessler, originally aired on February 28th, 1982)

This is one of those episodes of CHiPs where two “comedic” car thieves are stealing cars and it takes three high-speed, accident-filled chases before the Highway Patrol finally manages to catch them.  Episodes like this are always fairly odd to watch.  I’m not really sure if the show’s producers really understood what they were implying with an episode in which a bunch of professional law enforcers can’t seem to catch two buffoons who have no idea what they’re doing.

The first chase leads to an accident that leaves Grossman injured.  He doesn’t break his neck but he does have to wear a neck brace, which temporarily keeps him from talking and eating.  Those are Grossman’s favorite activities!  These car thieves must be stopped!

(Seriously, Grossman was usually the most entertaining thing about this show.  Taking away his ability to speak was not a good idea.  Needless to say, Ponch can still talk.)

Meanwhile, Baker arrests a man at the scene of Grossman’s accident.  Baker thinks that the man (Saul Brandt) must be drunk, just because the man did not react to Grossman’s sirens and he also doesn’t follow any of Baker’s orders.  Uh-oh, it turns out that man was deaf and now he wants to file a complaint against Baker!  And really, the man is totally justified in doing so.  Baker was pretty rough when he tossed him around and Baker really had no evidence that the man had been drinking.  Despite being totally in the wrong, Baker is still upset about being written up.  Luckily, Ponch starts dating a deaf social worker (Dawn Jeffory) and she helps the man to understand that Baker just made a mistake and he was only in a bad mood because he has to work with Ponch.  The complaint is dropped.

This episode featured two good car crashes and a lot of bad acting.  It was well-intentioned but I am starting to wonder if maybe the people of California deserved a better highway patrol.