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, two opponents from the past return.

Episode 5.22 “A Threat of War”

(Dir by Leslie H. Martinson, originally aired on March 21st, 1982)

When Ponch and Baker try to break up a fight between a group of white kids and a group of Spanish kids, they discover that the white gang is being led by their old foe, Billy Rogers (Danny Bonaduce).  Billy still knows karate and his attitude has gotten even worse.

Suddenly, another old foe shows up.  Andy Macedon (Lewis Van Bergen) says that he’s no longer into the gang life and he’s trying to bring peace to the old neighborhood.  Ponch is skeptical so Andy challenges him to a karate match at the youth center.

Everyone tells Ponch that he shouldn’t show up for the fight but Ponch does show up.  Ponch back down from a fight?  No way.  There’s one thing that you can always count on when it comes to CHiPs in its fifth season.  Baker might still occasionally get to do something heroic but, for the most part, this is now The Ponch Show.  Baker gets to write tickets and occasionally tell people to slow down on the highway.  Ponch is the one who gets to sing, dance, flirt, skydive, and just about every other cool thing you could do in California in the 80s.  Needless to say, when the show needs someone to take part in a karate match, Ponch is the one who is going to be donning his black belt.

As for the match itself, Ponch and Andy fight each other to a draw and then they shake hands, showing that peace can be achieved.  It turns out that Andy was telling the truth!  He has reformed!  However, Billy Rogers is a lost cause.  Not even seeing Ponch and Andy clasping hands is enough to keep him from pursuing the gang life.  It would be a sad story if not for the fact that Billy is played by Danny Bonaduce.  Instead, it’s just kind of campy.

Considering that this episode revolved around karate, it should have been more exciting.  Instead, Estrada just smiled a lot and the episode end up neutering Andy Macedon, one of the best villains  that the show ever had.  The threat of war was not worth the cost.