Kristi McNichols and Jodie Foster often competed for roles in that era, as they played the same "type".
The character of Joey Carston (Kristi McNichol) will later be reprised by Mare Winnigham in Ninety Pounds of Trouble (1979). It is unclear why, but this title involves her character having a major crush on Starsky. Kristi had already appeared in a previous episode, playing a (younger) tomboy who lives alone in a dilapidated apartment, after her father is killed.
Kristy McNichol appears as another character in season two's Starsky and Hutch: Little Girl Lost (1976) and
season one's Starsky and Hutch: The Hostages (1976).