"Chopper One" (1974) TV series

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Phil Bondelli

Writers:

Ronald Austin (writer)
Don Balluck (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

17 January 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

California cops Foley & Burdick fight crime from a helicopter.

Plot Keywords:

Helicopter | Police

Cast

Jim McMullan	...	Officer Don Burdick (13 episodes, 1974)
Dirk Benedict	...	Officer Gil Foley (13 episodes, 1974)

Runtime:

30 min (13 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Spelling-Goldberg Productions

Fond memories

If memory serves, "Chopper One" played in the half-hour before ABC's "Firehouse." Those were my two favorite shows at the time. I couldn't tell you whether the show was actually good, but it was probably on par with every other cop show (except maybe "The Rookies"). I was a much less critical viewer at age 9.

Although I haven't seen an episode since they first aired, I still have memories of them: At the beginning of one episode, for example, the chopper lands with a kite tangled in the rotor blades; Mitch calls it a "five-cent disaster" or some such colorful term. In (another?) episode, the chopper is hijacked by bad guys. Foley stays on the ground while Burdick flies the chopper; in an attempt to psyche out the bad guys, one of the cops says, "Engine goes out on a chopper, you drop like a rock." At the climax, the chopper flies behind a hill and there's a huge explosion. Foley subdues his bad guy and it turns out that Burdick cleverly dropped an external fuel tank to fake a crash. Classic.