Ponch rides again

By sarah johnson Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

photos courtesy tbs, inc. Ponch (Erik Estrada) and Jon (Larry Wilcox) return to the California highways in "Chips '99," a new movie premiering on TNT on Tuesday, October 27. Sure, Wilcox and Estrada used to hate eachother, but a swift offer from Ted Turner's network is enough to ensure the resurrection of almost any partnership. And the roads will be so much safer will this fearsome twosome on the job!

Nobody - cast, crew or creator - could have predicted the success of CHiPS, a late '70s excuse to wear tight pants and ride fast bikes. Originally the brainchild of producer Rick Rosner, the television show focused on two fun-loving, yet dedicated California Highway Patrol officers on and off the job.

Character Jon Baker, played by Larry Wilcox, and Frank "Ponch" Poncherello, played by Erik Estrada, formed the perfect combination of responsible and carefree. Jon served as the baking soda to Ponch's grease fire. Any time Ponch would stretch the rules, Jon would be close behind to take the wrap and apologize for his partner's eccentricities.

From its pilot episode in 1979 to its inevitable end in 1983, neither Ponch nor Jon ever found reason to draw their guns. But CHiPS remained action-packed, with each episode averaging approximately two brake failures, one run-away diesel truck, three reckless drivers, and more heart-touching moments than can be found in the "baby's-first-birthday" aisle of Hallmark. In addition, no episode was complete without a few obligatory explosions, often the result of a simple Honda with brake failure colliding with a passing oil tanker (oil tanker being the vehicle of choice to most California commuters featured on CHiPS.)

Now, nearly 15 years later, TNT is reviving CHiPS in the same tried and true formula. In CHiPS '99', a special two-hour film premiering Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), the boys are back with the same charming demeanor, boyish camaraderie and (of course) obligatory explosions. What has changed? For one, these boys are no longer so boyish. Jon has become older and wiser, while Ponch has traded his black locks for silver and acquired a paunch of his own. They've each traded in their bachelor lifestyle for family. In addition, '90s technology is introduced ever so obviously... as if the set dresser were screaming, "LOOK! We've got laptops and e-mail, and BMW motorcycles!"

But all state-of-the-art technology aside, really what this movie is about is revisiting the past, looking at a time in television history when it was still plausible that an officer could carry out his duties without pulling his gun.

In the middle of the disco decade cheese fest, Erik Estrada found himself a sex symbol, American icon and Puerto Rican role model when he signed on with CHiPS. At the time, he was merely struggling to find work as an actor. He wasn't looking for fame and fortune, barely comprehended the important role he could play for Hispanic Americans of all walks of life, and had no idea of the potential of the CHiPS project.

"I didn't think of that. I thought of myself as a working struggling actor. And the role turned into that because of the public reaction to it," Estrada said over the phone from New York.

"I wasn't thinking of anything else but making a steady paycheck and taking care of my mother, getting her out of Harlem into a nice place."

Having achieved that, it doesn't bother Estrada that his acting career of late has produced little more than a slew of mid-afternoon reruns and a role in Dos Mujeres, Un Camino, a soap opera essentially unheard of by the American public except for an occasional glimpse found on Telemundo during channel surfing.

In true "Poncherello" form, it was Estrada's after-school skirt-chasing which ended up throwing him from his original course of becoming a New York City police officer. He became an actor after following a pretty face into his high school drama club. Now that he has achieved his goals and taken care of his family, he has had time to think about who he is and what he represents to his viewers. As a young actor, he never contemplated his race and culture until he found himself typecast as ethnic characters ranging from Mexican to Indian and even Pakistani. Years after his debut on CHiPS and a couple dozen Hispanic roles later, Estrada finally decided it was time to get in touch with his heritage.

"I really got into my roots at the age of 44 when I learned to read and speak my language [for Dos Mujeres, Un Camino]," said Estrada.

While this show is well-known in Mexico and Latin America, Estrada is still known to many American's as a '70s wash-up whose one-time best selling action figure doesn't even ring a bell with the average 23-year-old manager at Toys R Us. He remains good-natured about friendly mockery and often joins in the laughter.

"I'm the first one to poke fun at myself. I don't have a problem with that," said Estrada. He has appeared in many television sitcoms including Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Cybil and has had roles in music videos for bands such as The Butthole Surfers and Bad Religion, bands he enjoyed. "I thought they were cool!" Estrada exclaimed.

While Estrada may have adjusted well to a hipper and less polyester-obsessed '90s, he still takes momentary lapses back to a decade where he appeared as one of People magazine's "10 Sexiest Bachelors in the World" and perhaps the greatest thing to be feared was running out of Afro-Sheen. During that time, sex was free, drugs were a good thing to share with friends, and the monkey from "Outbreak" wasn't even a fetus.

"I think the '70s was a good time. It will never come back. As soon as crack cocaine hit the streets it changed everything. Crack and AIDS have changed everything," he said. Growing up in Harlem, Estrada has seen the effects of drugs and bad decisions all around him. He has watched as the neighborhood kids threw their lives away for drugs and has even seen some close friends, including his personal chauffeur, fall victim to AIDS. Yet somehow, this Hollywoodite and confessed party animal has kept himself safe.

"You just have to play the sex symbol in theory these days, because it's very dangerous out there," Estrada said, adding "you're playing Russian Roulette."

Pursuing a career and supporting his family, he has managed to stay away from the dangers du jeur. As a role model for children, he also understands how important it is to set a good example. In addition, he tries to spend as much time as he can contributing to children's causes, a side very few tie to this former Poncherello Puerto Rican.

"I try to do a lot of work with children. I am the national grand marshal and ambassador of good will for March of Dimes."

Reruns from yesteryear also continue to provide role models.

"In my opinion," stated Estrada, "after Ricky Ricardo, the next positive [Hispanic-American] role model on television was a motorcycle cop."