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ONCE UPON A TIME...
Charlie's Angels on television - 108 episodes, from 1976 to 1981 overview by Donald Morefield and Rob Marshall |
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What started as the story of three little girls (ex-LAPD meter maids, filing clerks, phone operators
- we are told) became a hit show running five years, and was sold around the world by Aaron Spelling
- creator of 1970s' rather sexist phenomena of 'jiggle TV'. It concerned private detective agency, Charles Townsend Investigations, whose reclusive owner was never seen - but voiced by actor John Forsythe, who issued assignments and instructions via desktop speakerphone. John Bosley (David Doyle), a comically grouchy, bumbling fall guy - as far as the action was concerned, ran Charlie's office. There, our three beautiful heroines got together to look serious and interested during episode intros, and laugh about their adventures in closing scenes. The original line-up for Charlie's Angels way back in 1976 was - Farrah Fawcett as Jill Monroe, Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garrett, Kate Jackson as Sabrina Duncan. Fawcett was instantly famous as the all-American blonde poster girl with a lion's mane of tumbling curls. Later, when she married Lee Majors (star of The Six Million Dollar Man), her film and TV credits were as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, but she reverted back to Fawcett after they divorced. If you preferred brunettes, Smith was better looking (with a very sexy voice, too) and, by the time Charlie's Angels was eventually cancelled in the early 1980s, she was the only one of the original stars still with the programme. Though, undoubtedly, the best actress of this threesome, Jackson was the skinny but smart one with an irritating vocal whine, and (it must be said) without the legs for short skirts, so she wore the trouser suits. Angels delight... Despite having acquired a decidedly naff reputation, Charlie's Angels was actually very popular indeed as family rated TV fare during its first run - providing largely wholesome values and uncomplicated action entertainment, throughout an era of hard-edged violence in The Sweeney (1975-82), paramilitary gunplay in S.W.A.T. (1976), and macho posturing of The Professionals (1977-83). A regular feature of the show throughout its five seasons was episode titles that, well... here's several examples - Angels In Chains, Angels On Wheels, The Blue Angels, Angels In Paradise, Unidentified Flying Angels, Angel Baby, Angels In The Backfield, Angel On The Run, Angels In Vegas, Haunted Angels, Pom-Pom Angels, Angels Belong In Heaven, Angels On Vacation, Counterfeit Angels, Disco Angels, Marathon Angels, Angels In Waiting, Avenging Angel, Fallen Angel, Caged Angel, Angels On Campus, Cruising Angels, One Of Our Angels Is Missing, Catch A Falling Angel, Dancin' Angels, An Angel's Trail, Angel In Hiding, Waikiki Angels, He Married An Angel, Chorus Line Angels, Stuntwomen Angels, and Attack Angels... See what we mean? A typical assignment for the beautiful detectives involved undercover work in designer clothes, catwalk gear or bikinis - and any excuse would do for at least one swimsuit scene per episode (virtually a contractual obligation!), while the ladies pretended to be tourists, secretaries, reporters, press photographers, drivers, cocktail waitresses, dancers, singers, models, strippers... or whatever role-playing could get one or more of them into the most trouble with bad guys in the shortest time frame. Guns were always a last resort for Charlie's Angels, but they had their fair share of shootouts, especially during rescues. In 1977, new girl Cheryl Ladd replaced Fawcett-Majors on the show, as Kris Monroe (Jill's sister), although Fawcett (whose character left to be a racing driver!) returned later to guest star in a couple of episodes. By 1979, tall model Shelley Hack took over from departed Jackson (who left to start a family), playing debutante Tiffany Welles, but she only lasted one season, and so redhead Tanya Roberts was recruited as tough New York girl Julie Rogers to complete the new trio. And it's this particular aspect - three girls with guns - that most clearly refers to Charlie's Angels today. Have you ever really noticed that whenever three young females (pop or TV stars, movie starlets, models) are asked to stand together, they will almost invariably strike that classic Angels' pose? The Angels format continues to influence TV programming, even today. Remington Steele (1983-84), with its initial premise of a female investigator working for an unseen male boss, owed a substantial debt to Charlie's Angels, while shows such as the blandly innocuous BayWatch Nights (1995-97), and the blatantly derivative VIP (1998) or Britain's own C.A.T.S. Eyes (1985-87), would certainly not exist without the memorable example set by Charlie's heroines. Michael Mak's Asian Charlie's Angels (2001) is pilot film for a TV series starring Christy Chung as 'gutsy journalist' Chung, who teams up with private investigators Cindy (Kelly Lin) - nominal leader, Annabelle (Annie Wu) - martial arts expert, and Betty (Qu Ying) - reportedly the smartest of this trio so, naturally, they made her a computer hacker. It's supposedly about a serial killer who preys on Asia's young, rich socialites, and promises fast-paced, glamorous action. We haven't seen this, so no comment from us as to whether it's better or worse than the lacklustre American cinema outing that was directed by someone who calls himself simply 'McG'... Charlie's Angels (2000) stars Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu - as Natalie, Dylan and Alex... All fine performers but, unfortunately, wasted here - as this popcorn film is quite lacking in hoped for gunplay department. Perhaps this is because co-producer Barrymore decided early on that she wanted the heroines to practice kung fu instead of shooting people? This may have been in imitation of Teresa Woo's two 1995 Hong Kong action movies, Angels (aka: Iron Angels) and Angels 2, which starred Moon Lee and Elaine Lui, and were obviously inspired in part by the original Charlie's Angels. Perhaps the US filmmakers will correct that unforgivable error - in time for sequel, Charlie's Angels 2, due for release in 2003 (with the same cast as McG's spin-off) to be a proper girls with guns movie! |
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