"CHiPs" Mait Team (1979)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

John Florea

Writers:

James Doherty (teleplay)
William D. Gordon (teleplay)

TV Series:

"CHiPs" (1977)

Original Air Date:

13 January 1979 (Season 2, Episode 15)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

California | Motorcycle | Highway Patrol | Police | Road

Cast

Erik Estrada	...	Officer Francis Llewellyn 'Ponch' Poncherello
Larry Wilcox	...	Officer Jon Baker
Robert Pine	...	Sgt. Joseph Getraer
Paul Linke	...	Officer Arthur Grossman
Brodie Greer	...	Officer Barry Baricza
Brianne Leary	...	Officer Sindy Cahill
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carmen Argenziano	...	Borlov
Lorraine Barkley	...	Citizen #2
Michael Bell	...	Margolis
Eric Braeden	...	Senator Larwin
Michael Christian	...	Ken Thomas
Dan Ferrone	...	Anderson
Bob Hevelone	...	Welch (as Robert Lone)
Scott Mulhern	...	Doctor
Lew Saunders	...	Officer Gene Fritz
Russell Shannon	...	Citizen #1
Wonderful Smith	...	DMV Supervisor
Peg Stewart	...	Mrs. Harris
Lee Terri	...	Barbara Daniels
Wade Wallace	...	Construction Worker
Ingrid Wang	...	Cheng

Trivia:

This is the first episode of the series with fatalities. Also, the eleven deaths in the opening car accident outnumber the deaths in the rest of the series.

Movie Connections:

Edited from "Emergency!" (1972)

Intense Stuff Instead of Usual Fluff

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

For anyone who has ever watched "CHiPs", it can be understood that the subject matter was for the most part "cheesy". However, occasionally a serious episode would turn up. Such is "MAIT Team". MAIT is the acronym for Major Accident Investigation Team. And how MAIT works was put to play in this episode.

The story opens with Officer Cahill driving her cruiser along a four lane road. Traveling next to her is a semi-truck. Inexplicably both the cruiser and the truck make contact and loose control. Cahill's car runs off the road and rolls over, knocking her unconscious...while the truck skids to a stop, blocking almost the entire four lanes of the undivided road. With nowhere to go and traveling at high speeds, a horrific chain reaction crash ensues. A compact car slices under the truck..loosing its roof, two cars impact the front of the semi, one sailing over the other and landing atop the truck's cab..and two cars trying to get around the wreck crash head on. As a result, 11 people die and nobody can explain what was the cause.

Cahill is blamed initially when a half eaten lunch is found in her car, so to find the true cause, the CHP officers assigned to the MAIT team reenact the accident up to the point of the crash. It is soon discovered that reflective sheets being delivered to a construction sight had blinded the truck driver causing him to swerve...thus starting the chain reaction crash.

This was an intense episode...not only because of the graphic crash and fatalities, but because of the inside look at how investigators try determine what causes highway crashes. Very interesting episode.