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, Baker watches in awe as Ponch saves the day once again.

Episode 5.26 “K-9-1”

(Dir by Leslie H. Martinson, originally aired on May 9th, 1982)

While two thieves calling themselves “the new James gang” are busy hijacking city buses and robbing the passengers, Ponch and Baker work with a group of deputy sheriffs who are a part of the K-9 unit.  When one of the sheriffs is injured and her dog blinded by an explosive, Ponch steps in and proves to the crusty old supervisor (John Vernon) that the dog can still do its job.

(The dog, needless to say, is adorable!)

This episode felt like a callback to the early seasons of CHiPs, in which the emphasis was on all of the different divisions of law enforcement working together.  At the same time, it was verry much a season 5 episode in that, despite the fact that Baker had always been portrayed as the one who liked and was good with animals, it was Ponch who was assigned to work with the dogs.  Indeed, Baker is pretty much reduced to a cameo in this episode.

In other words, it’s….

In fact, CHiPs was about to become even more The Ponch Show.  With the fifth season coming to an end and contracts coming up for renegotiation, Larry Wilcox left the show because he felt that the producers always favored Erik Estrada over him.  (Judging from what I’ve seen, he was right.)  As well, Randi Oakes, Brodie Greer, and Michael Dorn (who all played other members of the Highway Patrol) left as well because they were dissatisfied with their contracts.  Of the old regulars, only Estrada, Robert Pine, Lou Wagner, and Paul Linke returned for the sixth and final season.

However, before we get to that season, we have one more fifth season episode to go.  Next week, season 5 ends with an episode that doesn’t feel like CHiPs at all.  See you then!