History Trivia / CHIPS

** Christopher Stone and his real-life wife, Dee Wallace, appear together in the episode "Death Watch".

* TheWikiRule: [[http://chips-tv.com/wiki/Main_Page The CHiPs Wiki]].

* NamesTheSame: A child actor named Jon Baker, who's a relative of series creator/producer Rick Rosner, appears in one of the early episodes...and yes, the character of Jon Baker is named after him!

* WrittenInInfirmity: Erik Estrada suffered a very serious motorcycle accident while filming an episode. Until he recovered, he literally shot scenes from his hospital bed.

** Tom Reilly was the AudienceSurrogate [[NewMeat new member]] of the ninja-cop team in the "Force Seven" PoorlyDisguisedPilot, the last episode in Season 6, then shows up in the next episode aired (the first episode of Season 7) as Ponch's new partner, Bobby Nelson.

* McLeaned: Midway through the final season, Tom Reilly (Bobby) was arrested for drug possession. This resulted in his role being reduced, with Bruce Penhall having his role as Bobby's brother Bruce being increased. The California Highway Patrol also threatened to revoke the show's use of their badge and related imagery, over the bad publicity, due to the arrest.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $25 million. Box office, $18,600,152 (domestic), $25,500,152 (worldwide). This comedic film version of the '70s TV show was lambasted by critics for relying too much on lowbrow jokes. Its opening weekend saw it smashed by an array of newcomers and holdovers.

** Gwynne Gilford, Robert Pine's real-life wife, played Betty Getraer, wife to Pine's character Sgt. Joe Getraer.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: As well as solving the case of the week, the officers would typically partake in a 70s pop culture fad (disco, bio-rhythms, pinball, etc.) Also, piles (literally) of vintage 70s cars.

* TheOtherDarrin:
** The parts of both Melanie Mitchell and Paula Woods were recast between their appearances in the season 4 two-parter "Ponch's Angels" and the PoorlyDisguisedPilot for the "Mitchell & Woods" SpinOff in season 5; in the latter episode, Mitchell is played by the actress who played Ponch's love interest Jennifer in "Ponch's Angels". They're also now working for the fictional "[[BlandNameProduct Ocean City Police Department]]" instead of the CHP; no explanation for the reassignment is given.
** Timmy Getraer, the son of Joe and Betty, appears in three episodes, each time played by a different actor: Marc Gilpin (the episode "CHP-BMX"), Lindsay Kennedy ("Vigilante") and Rossie Harris ("Diamond in the Rough").

* CoupleBomb: Downplayed; the film was a BoxOfficeBomb and is one of the only projects to feature husband and wife pair Creator/DaxShepard and Creator/KristenBell opposite one another, but Bell's character only plays a supporting role.
* CreatorBacklash: Larry Wilcox has expressed ''extreme'' displeasure with the film's main characters [[spoiler:pulling out guns]], something that his [[DoesntLikeGuns character from the original TV series does NOT do]]. Even his fans completely agree with this criticism. Averted with Erik Estrada, who agreed to cameo in it without any objections.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Ponch is shown to be a much worse motorcyclist than Jon, and engages is far fewer dangerous stunt-driving scenes as a result. This was done because his actor Creator/MichaelPena had no experience driving a motorcycle prior to filming the movie whereas Jon's actor Creator/DaxShepard is an avid motorcyclist in his spare time.

! TV Series:

* RecastAsARegular: Randi Oakes played an unnamed member of the secretarial pool in the first season episode "Baby Food", a car thief named Kim Balford in the Season 2 episode "Down Time", and joined the cast as officer Bonnie Clark at the beginning of Season 3.

* RealLifeRelative: Gwynne Gilford, Robert Pine's real-life wife, played Betty Getraer, wife to Pine's character Sgt. Joe Getraer.

* TheOtherDarrin: The parts of both Melanie Mitchell and Paula Woods were recast between their appearances in the season 4 two-parter "Ponch's Angels" and the PoorlyDisguisedPilot for the "Mitchell & Woods" SpinOff in season 5; in the latter episode, Mitchell is played by the actress who played Ponch's love interest Jennifer in "Ponch's Angels." They're also now working for the fictional "[[BlandNameProduct Ocean City Police Department]]" instead of the CHP; no explanation for the reassignment is given.

! Film:

* BackedByThePentagon: Thoroughly averted. The film opens with the message: “The California Highway Patrol does not endorse this film...''at all''.
** The department is referred to as “the CHP” while the real one [[SpellMyNamewithaThe is just “CHP” with no “the,”]] and the uniforms, badges, patches, and patrol cars are BlandNameProduct versions of the real thing.
* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $25 million. Box office, $18,600,152 (domestic), $25,500,152 (worldwide). This comedic film version of the 70's TV show was lambasted by critics for relying too much on lowbrow jokes. Its opening weekend saw it smashed by an array of newcomers and holdovers.

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/KristenBell is known for playing characters that are either out-and-out [[NiceGirl Nice Girls]] or at the very least extremely charming, but plays a loathsome HateSink here. Creator/DaxShepard admitted that he initially didn't want to cast her in the part of Karen because he worried that she would be too likable of a screen presence for the character to be as unbearable as he intended it to be.
* ProductionPosse: Creator/RyanHansen, who is a good friend of Creator/DaxShepard and has worked with both him and his wife Creator/KristenBell on several projects, appears as Officer Grieves, while Dax Shepard's ''{{Series/Parenthood}}'' co-star Creator/MaeWhitman cameos as one of the fairground coordinators.