Name Your Price

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Name Your Price
Episode # 111
Air Date Dec 8, 1977
Briefing Rolls Royce thefts
Ponch on Name Your Price

Brief Plot

High rollers: Femme thieves specialize in Rolls Royce cars. Ponch seeks his fortune on a game show.

Plot

As the show opens, a woman in black is walking through a cemetery during a funeral. She hops into a Rolls Royce and drives off. "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away."

Meanwhile, at Central, Getraer helps Grossman with a report and confirms racquetball plans with Baricza. While Ponch is going through his mail with Jon, he finds a letter from Name Your Price.

At the Tail o' the Cock restaurant, another Rolls Royce pulls up to the valet parking. While the valet is away parking another car, a woman slips in and drives away in the Rolls, leaving a confused valet.

Back at Central, Ponch tells Jon and Getraer that he plans to win a fortune on a game show called Name Your Price. Getraer informs Ponch that his wife has been to the show three times but hasn't been picked to play the game.

Out on the Hollywood Freeway, Baricza, Ponch, and Jon chase a stolen Rolls. It cuts off a chicken truck and causes some to fall off and get loose. After Ponch and Jon lose the Rolls, they return to help Grossie, Baricza, and some other people help catch the chickens as a press photographer shoots photos.

Across town, another Rolls Royce is stolen from the driveway of a mansion.

Later, while eating at Carney's Express Limited, Ponch and Jon discuss who they'll take with them to watch the game show. After lunch, they stop a Rolls with no plates driven by stars of the soap opera, The Troubled World. Jon has them wait while he runs the VIN number on the car.

Off duty, Ponch and Jon are out naming prices in the department store. Ponch gets all the prices exactly right.

The next day, a speeder forces a car off the road and down a hill. When our heroes catch the speeder, he confesses to forcing the car off. Ponch races back to check it out while Jon arrests the driver. When Ponch arrives at the accident, he discovers the victim can't speak English. Jon arrives and notices he has a medic alert bracelet that says he's a diabetic. Ponch gives the guy some of the candy he keeps in his saddlebag and keeps him alert by talking about tennis until an ambulance arrives.

Meanwhile, the next car theft occurs when a woman drives a Rolls right out of the showroom floor.

The next day at Central, Ponch finds his picture on the front page of the paper with the chickens. At the briefing, Getraer kids Ponch about the chickens, but praises him for saving a life. Then the discussion moves on to the Rolls Royce thefts. After the briefing, Ponch gets a tennis racket as a gift from the diabetic.

Out on the streets, Ponch and Jon find a kid in the middle of the street telling his dog, Elmo, to get up. They manage to get the dog off the street with more junk food.

At the Pacifica Hospital, the car thieves are really on a roll and take off with yet another. When dispatch relays the message about the latest stolen car, Ponch, Jon, Baricza, and Grossman go on overtime to find it. Ponch and Jon end up on the freeway just in front of it. After pulling off the Harbor Freeway, they follow it to a warehouse on a pier. The crooks notice the "two CHiPpies" and speed off and hide in a used car lot. Jon feels the hoods of the cars to see which one is hot. They find the crooks in the car next to the Rolls and arrest them.

That night at the game show, Ponch is called and gets to play Name Your Price. The prize is the same motorcycle that Ponch rides every day (Kawasaki Z1R 10-15cc with a double overhead cam, smoked bikini bearing, drilled brakes, and alloy wheels..."One of the finest and fastest street machines anywhere"). Ponch's final answer ($3697) is $2 too high and he loses to a little old lady.

Great Quote

"What happened to him? He run into a tree without his helmet?"
"Yeah, well, the nearest I can tell, he became rich and famous."
"Yeah, and I just became the Commissioner."
-Getraer and Jon talking about Ponch

Also starring

Guest Stars

Crew

Fun Facts

  • When the woman is in the cemetery, there is a tombstone for "Joseph M. Altadonna". That is the name of this episode's art director.
  • Early in the episode, a car is stolen from valet parking at "McHenry's Tail O' The Cock," View photo of exterior which was located at 12950 Ventura Blvd.
  • Ponch's letter from Name Your Price is addressed to:
California Highway Patrol
777 West Washington Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Attention: Frank Poncherello
  • The return address on the back of Ponch's letter is:
Name Your Price
Metrovision Entertainment City
9000 Media Circle * Los Angeles, CA. 90020
  • Although "Media Circle" is a fictitious street (at least in 2008), Ponch's address is the actual address of the Central Los Angeles office of the California Highway Patrol.
  • Getraer's "I just became the Commissioner" comment is a bit of distant foreshadowing. He is the Commissioner in "CHiPs" '99.
  • Although it is alluded to in "Highway Robbery", this is the first time Getraer specifically mentions he has a wife.
  • An overhead shot from the Rolls-Royce chase is the same shot used in during the theme. The shot shows two CHP coming toward the camera (from above) and then going away from the camera. It comes after the "CHiPs" logo is displayed and before the close-ups of Ponch and Jon.
  • The home where the second Rolls-Royce gets stolen (the woman with the dog) is at the intersection of Glendower Ave. and Cromwell Ave. View in Google Maps
  • Ponch and Jon eat at the Carney's at 8351 W. Sunset Blvd. View in Google Maps
  • According to Erik Estrada on Ponch's Police Tips, he was covered with chicken poop and smelled like chickens for a couple of days after the chicken scene.

Mistakes

  • Baricza is pursuing the Rolls-Royce northbound on the Hollywood Fwy. at Sunset Blvd. Jon reports that they will respond from Western. Both of these are plausible, however, an (Baricza's) car shot shows a sign with Lyons Ave. and Newhall. This location is on the Golden State Fwy (I-5), approximately 27 miles from where they report being. A subsequent sign says Pico Canyon Rd., which is near Lyons and the Golden State Fwy.
  • Ponch reports that they lost the Rolls-Royce in the vicinity of Lankersham Blvd. and the Hollywood Fwy., however, they are mere blocks from Saticoy St., from which they turned from before stopping. These locations are 8 or more miles apart.
  • When Ponch gets the letter from Name Your Price, he says "Alright!" and then turns it around. Why is he so excited by the front? All the front has is his name, address, and a canceled stamp. The return address is on the back and he doesn't see that until after he shouts with excitement.

Buy this episode


Preceded by:
"Highway Robbery"
Name Your Price
111
Followed by:
"Aweigh We Go"