Fallout

Fallout
Episode #	610
Air Date	December 19, 1982
Briefing	Harlan's joining the LAPD/Protest at a defense plant.

Title screen

Brief Plot

Ponch and Bobby give a ticket to the driver of an old school bus carrying "No Nukes" protesters, and discover Getraer's daughter among them. Ponch helps a young boy who's been hit by a car, and suspects his stepfather is beating him after he finds bruising on the boy's back.

Plot

Bruce Nelson standing outside the hospital with Ponch's Firebird parked in front of the hospital.

When Ponch and Bobby come upon an accident caused by a "No Nukes" bus, they meet Getraer's daughter, Ellen. After the briefing, a kid gets hit by a car while playing catch with his step-dad. Ponch discovers bruises and possible child abuse.

Later, Getraer visits his daughter at the protest headquarters. Back at Central, Ponch is leading the CHP in riot training. When they finish up, Ponch, Bobby, and Bruce go to the hospital the abused kid admits that he was beaten by his step-father. Ponch, Bobby, and Bruce chase after the step-father as he leaves the hospital. The arrest him after he crashes into several parked cars.

Later, the "No Nukes" bus is going under a bridge and its brakes give out. A it crashes, a fire breaks out, and everyone is trapped inside. Ellen manages to keep everyone calm and helps them out. Ponch enters the underpass with a single fire extinguisher, puts out the fire, and gets everyone out. Later, when the protesters refuse to leave, they are arrested...including Ellen. Getraer goes to bail out Ellen and everything turns out fine for them.

Back at Central, Harlan shows up to his goodbye party but we learn that he failed his physical because of his eyesight.

Guest Stars

• Lynn Holly Johnson (as Ellen Getraer)
• Adam Rich as Louis
• Bruce Penhall as Bruce Nelson
• Tina Gayle as Kathy Linahan
• John Elerick as Reverend Porter
• Marc Vahanian as Harry

Co-Starring

• Clarence Gilyard, Jr. as Webster
• Constance Ball as Carol
• Paul Tulley as Hal

Featuring

• Carol Connors as Woman Driver
• Dennis Haskins as Plant Worker
• Steve Kinnett as Cadet
• Murry McMurry as Plant Worker
• Howard Stover as Cadet
• Chet Walker as Cadet

Crew

• Executive Producer: Cy Chermak
• Supervising Producer: Paul Mason
• Teleplay By: Norman Hudis and Larry Mollin
• Story By: Norman Hudis
• Directed by: Nicholas Sgarro
• Executive Consultant: Rick Rosner
• Executive Story Consultant: Joseph Gunn
• Creative Consultant: Larry Mollin
• Story Consultant: Gerald Sanford
• Associate Producer: Randall Torno
• Developed for television by: Paul Playdon
• Music by: Luchi De Jesus
• Theme by: John Parker
• Music Supervisor: Harry V. Lojewski
• Director of Photography: Robert F. Sparks
• Art Director: Stephen Myles Berger
• Editor: William Neel
• Unit Production Manager: Donald Gold
• First Assistant Director: Nate Haggard
• Second Assistant Director: David Newman
• Set Decorator: W. Joseph Kroesser
• Script Supervisor: Suzi Alter
• Production Consultant: Bill Udell
• Stunt Co-ordinator: Paul Nuckles
• Production Associate: Bonnie Jo Chermak
• Rerecorded at: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
• Sound: Harlan Riggs, M. Curtis Price, C.A.S.
• Wardrobe Supervisor: Shelly Levine
• Makeup: Richard Cobos, S.M.A., Jane Aull
• Hair Stylist: Don Lynch
• Sound Editor: John Murray
• Music Editor: Tommy Carlin
• Casting: Al Onorato, Jerry Franks
• With Appreciation to Glen B. Craig, Commissioner California Highway Patrol
• Motorcycles Furnished by: Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
• Filmed in METROCOLOR / Titles and Opticals MGM
• Rosner Television in association with MGM Television

Fun Facts

Jump near the Ocean Center Building, Long Beach

• The footage of Ponch and Bobby on the freeway that appears behind the episode title was previously used behind the episode title on This Year's Riot.
• Some of the footage from the opening crash is recycled from Anything But The Truth in season 5, which was filmed about half a mile away.
• Lynn-Holly Johnson (Ellen Getraer) was a professional ice skater. She appeared in For Your Eyes Only (1981) where her character, Bibi, tried to seduce James Bond.
• Some of the tire barriers for the Long Beach Grand Prix can be seen when the step-father is being chased. The area has changed enormously since filming - most of the background buildings have been replaced, the ramps joining Shoreline Drive to Queens Way have gone, and the car park where the jump takes place is now part of The Pike at Rainbow Harbor. One of the only constants is the Ocean Center Building. View in Google Maps
• Dennis Haskins, who plays one of the plant workers (blink and you'll miss him), is probably best known for playing school head Richard Belding in Saved by the Bell. By coincidence, one of the editors of CHiPs season 6 is called Richard Belding.
• The Stepworth Industries defense complex is actually the Terminal Island Treatment Plant. View in Google Maps

Mistakes

• When the bus crashes, just after the guy is pulled out of the green car, there's a close-up of a gray container just before it explodes. The writing on the container ("Lacquer Thinner") shows that the shot has been mirrored.

Preceded by: "Return to Death's Door"

Fallout 610

Followed by: "Day of the Robot"