Kidnap

Kidnap
Episode #	318
Air Date	January 26, 1980
Briefing	none

Title screen

Brief Plot

A couple of kids are supposed to be touring the courthouse after winning a traffic safety contest, but, after starting one of the CHP bikes they hide in the back of Rolls Royce. Two fleeing criminals jump into the Rolls and drive off, initially unaware that the kids are in the back. After briefly losing the Rolls, Ponch decides to follow undercover in a borrowed car, and leads his colleagues to the kidnappers with his "La Cucaracha" horn.

Plot

While Ponch, Jon, and a reporter are entertaining two essay winners at the courthouse, two criminals manage to escape. While the reporter puts a microphone on Ponch, the kids start his motor. Just before they're supposed to go into the courthouse, the kids check out a Rolls Royce. Pete and Ray hide in the Rolls.

Shortly, the two escaped criminals steal the Rolls and don't notice the kids until after they drive off. Ponch and Jon follow the Rolls at a safe distance.

At the courthouse, Getraer organizes his forces. The kids talk their kidnappers into stopping at a gas station. When they pull off the highway, Ponch and Jon start following another Rolls. They pull up close and realize it's the wrong one. As the Rolls drives out of the gas station, Bonnie shows up and follows them. Arriving at the gas station and talking to the attendant in Spanish, Ponch and Jon find a note with "405N" left behind by the kids. Ponch gets a bright idea to borrow a car for $40 from the gas station and use it to persue undercover. As some guys in a van drive by the limo, they realize there's a kidnapping going on. When they cause a scene, Jon pulls them over and tells them to stay out of the way.

When Getraer and Grossie catch up to Jon, they decide to try another rolling traffic block. The kidnappers play with the radio in the Rolls and find the police band. The Rolls speeds off and intentionally causes an accident. The kidnappers go to a residential alley and steal a station wagon. When Ponch finds the Rolls, he learns they stole a station wagon and signals to Jon with his "La Coucaracha" horn. The kidnappers drive into the car wash and Ponch is on their tail. Ponch continues to chase them and all the CHP officers center in on him just after he crashes into the station wagon and arrests both of the kidnappers. In the end, everyone has a good laugh as the kids honk Ponch's fancy horn.

Guest Stars

• Timothy Agoglia Carey as Solkin
• Warren Berlinger as Bickel
• Judy Strangis as Karen Costello
• Brad Savage as Pete
• Jayne Kennedy as Pat Blake
• Paul Linke as Grossman
• Brodie Greer as Baricza

Co-Starring

• Christopher Holloway as Ray
• Edward Call as Delman

Featuring

• Patrick Crenshaw as Carpenter
• J. Victor Lopez as Attendant
• Michael Barbera as Dink
• Randy Bowser as Oggie
• Randi Oakes as Bonnie Clark

Crew

• Produced by: Cy Chermak
• Written by: Stephen Kandel
• Directed by: Gordon Hessler
• Executive Consultant: Rick Rosner
• Story Editors: William D. Gordon & James Doherty
• Associate Producer: Paul Rabwin
• Developed for television by: Paul Playdon
• Music by: Alan Silvestri
• Theme by: John Parker
• Music Supervisor: Harry V. Lojewski
• Director of Photography: Robert F. Sparks
• Art Director: Les Gobruegge
• Editors: William Neel, Quinnie Martin, Jr.
• Unit Production Manager: Ron Grow
• Assistant Director: Bob Jeffords
• Second Assistant Director: John Peter Kousakis
• Script Supervisor: Jack Gannon
• Set Decorator: W. Joseph Kroesser
• Production Consultant: Dave McDannel
• Technical Advisor: Bill Kuethen
• Stunt Co-ordinator: Paul Nuckles
• Assistant to the Producer: Randy Torno
• Recorded at: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
• Sound: Harlan Riggs, M. Curtis Price C.A.S.
• Wardrobe Supervisor: Shelly Levine
• Makeup: Richard Cobos S.M.A., Walter Schenck
• Hairdresser: Don Lynch
• Casting: Michael O. Hanks
• Locations by: Cinemobile Systems
• With Appreciation to Glen B. Craig, Commissioner California Highway Patrol
• Motorcycles Furnished by: Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
• Automobiles furnished by: Ford Motor Company
• Filmed in METROCOLOR / Titles and Opticals MGM
• Rosner Television in association with MGM Television

Fun Facts

Panaderia y tortilleria.

• The building used as the Los Angeles County Courthouse is actually the John Ferraro Building (formerly known as the Water & Power Building until 2000). Its car park was used for a shootout in The Terminator (1984). View in Google Maps
• As Jon and Ponch start their pursuit of the Rolls Royce, they cross Temple Street and head down the same on-ramp that's seen at the beginning of the opening titles in each episode. The chase then immediately jumps to the intersection of the Foothill Freeway and (what is now) the Ronald Reagan Freeway over 20 miles away.
• The chase comes to a conclusion in a parking lot just south of Sunburst Street in Pacoima. The panaderia y tortilleria building seen in the background was knocked down around 2003 and replaced with the current building. View in Google Maps

Mistakes

• When Getraer and Grossman leave the courthouse, they head south-west on Hope Street, away from the freeway and the kidnappers heading north.
• On both occasions that the Rolls Royce leaves the freeway it uses the same off-ramp, the Paxton Street exit from the Foothill Freeway.
• When Ponch pulls alongside the Rolls Royce in his undercover car, his car should be visible in at least one of the interior shots from the Rolls, but isn't.

Preceded by: "E.M.T."

Kidnap 318

Followed by: "Off Road"