Learning the lesson
I once watched a pilot in an Alouette II chasing a car for a commercial. He did the same thing as the Airwolf pilot - banked a bit harshly and whipped the top off a small twiggy tree.
Not two years later he repeated the scenario in a 206, but this time it wasn't a twiggy tree but a hillside. He didn't survive.
I've been in a 205 landing in a tight site, and the pilot had no qualms about 'enlarging' it with some amateur tree surgery. Fortunately it didn't need it, but I reckon any contact between the heavy and tipcap-less blades and the light foliage wouldn't have caused any damage. Not something that should be done on a daily basis though.