Crash Diet

Crash Diet
Episode #	119
Air Date	Feb 23, 1978
Briefing	A man throwing dirt and all about overweight officers

Brief Plot

One kind of loser: A man hurls debris at traffic. Other kinds of losers: Some CHPers must shed weight.

Plot

Right after Ponch predicts that something strange is about to happen, someone runs onto the highway and throws a ball of dirt at him. Ponch and Jon pull over and Ponch chases up a hill after the man, but loses him. As they're about to get going, a van full of naked female volleyball players drives by. Ponch and Jon chase the speeding van to a nudist colony. As the naked players exit the van, Ponch and Jon just stare into each other's eyes while smirking. They give the driver a ticket for speeding and failure to yield.

That night, the dirt thrower is at it again and nearly causes an accident.

At the morning briefing the next day, Getraer tells everyone about the dirt thrower. Next, he tells everyone that the Central division of the CHP has to lose 1,000 pounds as part of a "comprehensive physical conditioning program". He hands out computerized printouts for individual weight loss, starting with Hunter.

After the briefing, Ponch and Jon hit the bricks. Ahead of them on the freeway, a student driver is the next victim of the dirt thrower. The driver panics and ends up driving up a hill and back down onto the road. Ponch and Jon arrive right after it happens.

Back at Central, Grossman weighs in at 209. Shows Getraer photos of himself in high school, in the service, and just before he got married to prove he has always been overweight. Getraer insists he has to lose 18 pounds. In order to help out Grossman, Ponch suggests that they each lose an extra five pounds to help out Grossman.

Ponch and Jon go out looking for the dirt thrower. They don't find him but return to dirt covered motorcycles.

Back on the highway, Ponch spots an explosives truck driving down the freeway on fire. After the truck stops, the driver opens the back and causes the flames to flare up. Ponch holds the driver still while Jon drives the truck away from all the cars. Ponch gets a bystander to hold the driver while he follows the truck and gives Jon a ride away. Just as they get a few hundred feet away, the truck explodes and knocks them over.

At Central, Grossie is trying to do sit-ups. He gets to three.

Ponch and Grossie go to dinner that night. While Grossie gets the check, Ponch aids someone who's choking by giving him a really poor Heimlich. Someone thinks Ponch is attacking the man and it triggers a brief fight until Grossie gets people under control.

Later that night, Ponch and Jon are staked out in Jon's little car looking for the dirt thrower. After talking to him for a minute and learning his name is Leonard, he runs off.

Bright and early the next morning, Ponch and Jon meet up with Getraer and Grossman to go jogging. Along the jogging route, Ponch and Jon find the women's volleyball team from earlier, fully clothed this time. They join them for a game.

That morning at Central, a doctor from the VA hospital explains that Leonard hates cars because he was recovering from a Vietnam head wound when his wife was killed on the freeway.

The doctor joins Ponch and Jon out at Leonard's hiding spot. He hugs the doctor, but runs into traffic after spotting the CHP officers. They chase after him and put handcuffs on him.

At the final weigh-in, Grossman has lost 8 pounds, Jon's down to 175, Ponch is down to 180, and the CHP makes their 1000 pound weight loss goal. When Ponch, Jon, and Grossie ask Getraer to be weighed again, Grossie slips a weight on the scale so that it appears Sarge gained ten pounds and was up from 179 to 189. He gets all confused.

Great Quote

"I never ordered any moonlight monkeyshines and you know it!"

-Getraer

Guest Stars

• Don "Red" Barry as Truck Driver
• Steve Franken as Student Driver
• Paul Linke as Grossman
• Robert Lussier as Coach
• John Milford as Doctor
• Herman Poppe as Leonard
• Deborah Pratt as Carol
• Crystin Sinclaire as Linda
• Nita Talbot as Driving Instructor

Crew

• Executive Producer: Cy Chermak
• Produced by: Rick Rosner
• Written by: Rudy Borchert
• Directed by: Don McDougall
• Associate Producer: William O. Cairncross
• Production Consultant: Bob Hayden
• Unit Production Manager: Wm. L. Young
• Developed for television by: Paul Playdon
• Story Editors: William D. Gordon & James Doherty
• Music by: Billy May
• Theme by: John Parker
• Music Supervisor: Harry V. Lojewski
• Director of Photography: Robert F. Sparks
• Art Director: Joseph M. Altadonna
• Assistant Director: Nick Smirnoff
• 2nd Assistant Director: Randell Henderson
• Script Supervisor: Jack Gannon
• Production Assistance: Roni Rochin
• Set Decorator: W. Joseph Kroesser
• Technical Advisor: Mike Sylvia
• Editor: Michael Renaud / William Neel
• Sound: Maury Harris, Hal Watkins, C.A.S.
• Stunt Co-ordinator: Paul Nuckles
• Wardrobe Supervisor: Shelly Levine
• Makeup: John M. Norin
• Casting: Gary Shaffer
• 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

• This episode was originally titled "Full Moon Weekend".

Mistakes

• After the opening theme, one naked woman says, "There's a motorcycle cop following us." The next shot is out the back window of a car, but the shot is supposed to be from the van they're in. The window is completely different.
• While Jon is driving the explosives truck, we see a shot from Ponch's point of view. Notice all the cars. Where did they come from? Jon wasn't passing any and all the cars behind them were stopped. It's got to be stock footage.

Buy this episode

• Crash Diet on DVD at Amazon.com
• Crash Diet from Amazon Prime Video
• "CHiPs" Season 1 from iTunes Store
• Watch this video free on AOL Video

Preceded by: "Cry Wolf"

Crash Diet 119

Followed by: "Rainy Day"