Chopper One

Chopper One
Starring	Jim McMullan Dirk Benedict Ted Hartley Lou Frizzell
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Aaron Spelling Leonard Goldberg
Running time	22 minutes
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	January 1974 – July 1974

Chopper One was a short-lived ABC drama/adventure television series in early 1974 depicting the activities of a California police helicopter team. The program aired in a half-hour time slot on Thursdays at 8 p.m. Eastern.

It aired adjacent to Firehouse, an action-drama series about a Los Angeles fire station. Chopper One was cancelled after six months and Firehouse ended in the following month.

Story and Characters

From left; Dirk Benedict, Ted Hartley and Jim McMullen.

Chopper One was directed by E.W. Swackhamer and was about two flying police officers (a pilot and an observer) and their adventures in a police helicopter. The helicopter was a Bell 206 Jetranger. It starred Jim McMullan as Officer Don Burdick and Dirk Benedict as officer Gil Foley. Benedict would later earn fame as Lt. Starbuck in the original 1978 TV show Battlestar Galactica and as Lt. Templeton 'Faceman' Peck in the TV show The A-Team.

Ted Hartley played their boss Capt. McKeegan and Lou Frizzell played Mitch, the crusty mechanic.

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate	Plot
1-1	"Pilot"	January 17, 1974	Burdick and Foley pursue a pair of gunmen who have taken a woman hostage.
1-2	"Strain of Innocence"	January 24, 1974	A girl who is being held in a holdup goes into labor and gives birth as the helicopter rushes her to the hospital.
1-3	"Bust-Out"	January 31, 1974	The chopper is commandeered at gunpoint when Foley and Burdick answer an emergency call.
1-4	"The Boy Who Cried Wolf"	February 7, 1974	A young invalid ham radio operator disrupts the department with false emergency calls.
1-5	"The Informer"	February 14, 1974	The crew is called upon to help protect a former underwold figure who is about to testify against the crime kingpin he worked for.
1-6	"The Drop"	February 21, 1974	Burdick parachutes onto a mountainside in an attempt to rescue a young girl who has been kidnapped.
1-7	"Ambush"	February 28, 1974	Foley and Burdick are menaced by rooftop snipers when a gunman sets out to avenge his brother's death.
1-8	"The Copperhead"	March 7, 1974	Foley and Burdick investigate a veteran police sergeant suspected of selling confiscated guns.
1-9	"Killing Time"	March 14, 1974	The wife of the chopper mechanic is held hostage by assassins who are planning the murder of a gubernatorial candidate, and want to keep the police copter on the ground.
1-10	"Deadly Carrier"	March 21, 1974	An illegal alien suspected of carrying typhoid fever is the object of a desperate search by Foley and Burdick.
1-11	"Undercover"	March 28, 1974	Clues to a series of market robberies are found at a scramble when Foley goes undercover as a bike racer.
1-12	"Downtime"	April 4, 1974	Burdick and Foley search frantically for a hidden bomb with thousands of lives at stake.
1-13	"The Hijacking"	April 11, 1974	Hijackers of a gasoline truck are sought by Burdick and Foley.

External links

• Chopper One on ABC at TV Guide
• Chopper One at IMDb
• Chopper One at TV.com