Chopper One

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title: "Chopper One" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1974-american-television-series-debuts", "1974-american-television-series-endings", "1970s-american-crime-drama-television-series", "american-adventure-television-series", "television-series-by-spelling-television", "television-series-by-sony-pictures-television", "television-shows-set-in-los-angeles", "american-aviation-television-series", "american-broadcasting-company-crime-dramas"] description: "American television series" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopper_One" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American television series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

Field	Value
image	Chopper_one_title_card.png
genre	Police procedural, action
runtime	25 minutes
creator	Ronald Austin
James David Buchanan
producer	Ronald Austin
J. D. Buchanan
executive_producer	Aaron Spelling
Leonard Goldberg
starring	Jim McMullan
Dirk Benedict
Ted Hartley
Lou Frizzell
theme_music_composer	Dominic Frontiere
country	United States
language	English
network	ABC
company	Spelling-Goldberg Productions
first_aired
last_aired
num_seasons	1
num_episodes	13
::

| image = Chopper_one_title_card.png | caption = | genre = Police procedural, action | camera = | runtime = 25 minutes | creator = Ronald Austin James David Buchanan | developer = | producer = Ronald Austin J. D. Buchanan | executive_producer = Aaron Spelling Leonard Goldberg | starring = Jim McMullan Dirk Benedict Ted Hartley Lou Frizzell | narrated = | theme_music_composer = Dominic Frontiere | opentheme = | endtheme = | country = United States | location = | language = English | network = ABC | company = Spelling-Goldberg Productions | first_aired = | last_aired = | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 13 | list_episodes =

Chopper One was an ABC action-crime television series premiering in early 1974, depicting the activities of a fictional California police helicopter team. The program was produced by television powerhouse Spelling-Goldberg Productions. The series aired in a half-hour time slot on Thursdays at 8 p.m. Eastern.

The show aired as a lead-in to Firehouse, an action-drama series about a Los Angeles fire station which premiered on the same day. Chopper One was cancelled after six months with Firehouse promptly ending the following month.

Story and Characters

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Chopper_One_cast_1974.JPG" caption="left}}"] ::

Chopper One was directed by E.W. Swackhamer, featuring two flight 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

|background=#545A4B |overall=5 |total_width=100 |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |episodes=

| EpisodeNumber = 1 | Title = Pilot | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Burdick and Foley pursue a pair of gunmen who have taken a woman hostage. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 2 | Title = Strain of Innocence | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = A girl who is being held in a holdup goes into labor and gives birth as the helicopter rushes her to the hospital. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 3 | Title = The Bust-Out | DirectedBy = Phil Bondelli | WrittenBy = Don Balluck | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = The chopper is commandeered at gunpoint when Foley and Burdick answer an emergency call. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 4 | Title = The Boy Who Cried Wolf | DirectedBy = Bruce Bilson | WrittenBy = Sy Salkowitz | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = A young invalid ham radio operator disrupts the department with false emergency calls. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 5 | Title = The Informer | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = The crew is called upon to help protect a former underworld figure who is about to testify against the crime kingpin he worked for. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 6 | Title = The Drop | DirectedBy = Phil Bondelli | WrittenBy = Don Balluck | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Burdick parachutes onto a mountainside in an attempt to rescue a young girl who has been kidnapped. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 7 | Title = Ambush | DirectedBy = E.W. Swackhamer | WrittenBy = Ronald Austin & James D. Buchanan | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Foley and Burdick are menaced by rooftop snipers when a gunman sets out to avenge his brother's death. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 8 | Title = The Copperhead | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Foley and Burdick investigate a veteran police sergeant suspected of selling confiscated guns. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 9 | Title = Killing Time | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = 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. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 10 | Title = Deadly Carrier | DirectedBy = Lawrence Dobkin | WrittenBy = Ronald Austin & James D. Buchanan | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = An illegal alien suspected of carrying typhoid fever is the object of a desperate search by Foley and Burdick. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 11 | Title = The Scramble | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Clues to a series of market robberies are found at a scramble when Foley goes undercover as a bike racer. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 12 | Title = Downtime | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Burdick and Foley search frantically for a hidden bomb with thousands of lives at stake. | LineColor = 545A4B | EpisodeNumber = 13 | Title = The Hijacking | DirectedBy = | WrittenBy = | OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Hijackers of a gasoline truck are sought by Burdick and Foley. | LineColor = 545A4B

Home media and streaming services

Since its cancellation in 1974, Chopper One was reported to have rarely (if ever) been seen again in rerun syndication.

On July 12, 2016, Sony Pictures released Chopper One: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively in the US and is part of the Sony Pictures Choice Collection in partnership with Amazon.com and their CreateSpace MOD program.

As of 2023, all 13 episodes of Chopper One are available on free video streaming service Crackle.

References

References

1. (2007). "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present". Random House Publishing.
2. [http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Chopper-The-Complete-Series/22468 'The Complete Series' DVDs are NOW AVAILABLE!] {{webarchive. link. (2016-07-15)

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