bkoganbing Previous to Charlie's Angels the only female private detective I recall from television was Honey West with Anne Francis. Anne was certainly a sight to behold, but the male of the species got to gawk at three lovely beauties, all working for the never seen Charlie but with the voice of John Forsythe issued them their weekly case.Only Jaclyn Smith lasted the entire run of the show of the original female operatives. Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett were the other two original angels. Farrah was the breakout star, I can well remember that any kid whose hormones started to speak to him spoke the name of Farrah Fawcett. So what did she do but leave the show after one season for a career that never quite got off the ground. Proof of that her Jill Monroe character was guaranteed two or three guest appearances in succeeding years.Other angels included Shelley Hack, Cheryl Ladd and Tanya Roberts. The only other regular was David Doyle as Bosley who functioned like Higgins did for Robin Masters on Magnum, PI. I'm convinced Bosley was gay or he would have made some kind of move on one of the angels.Charlie's Angels featured beautiful women who competed and well in a man's game of private detective. I don't think Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler or Mickey Spillane ever figured on PIs like these.

garyldibert Once upon a time, three little girls went to the police academy. and they were each assigned very hazardous duties, but I took them all away from all that and now they work for me. My name is Charlie. Those famous words started the all time greatest TV show in history Charlie's Angels. When the pilot aired in March of 1976, it starred Farrah Fawcett Majors as Jill who was the athletic angel, Jaclyn Smith as Kelly who was the streetwise angel, Kate Jackson as Sabrina who was the cool smart, multilingual leader, David Doyle as John Bosley, David Ogden Stiers as Scott Woodville and John Forsythe as the voice of Charlie. Kate Jackson was aboard from the beginning of the project, and was set to play the lead angel. Farrah Fawcett was the next to join; filling the blonde role, but then the producers dropped the hair color concept and brought in Jaclyn Smith to complete the trio. Many of the scenes used in the opening credits of the show are from this pilot episode. Then in the fall of September of 1976 ABC introduce the three stunning, sexy and young former police officers, private detectives working for the Charles Townsend Detective Agency with the entire crew back except David Ogden Stiers. In the opening sequence of the first season no one knew where the Angels went to the police academy. The wealthy Charlie Townsend, their never-seen boss, relayed assignments via a speaker telephone. The Angels worked with their trusty male counter-part, John Bosley. After only 23 episodes, Farrah left the show at the end of the first season. When Farrah Fawcett left the series, her absence was explained by having her character Jill become a professional racing driver on the NASCAR circuit. Along with a new Angel, the show received a new time slot. The Angels remained on Wednesday nights, but moved from 10pm to 9pm. This change in time opened up a whole world of new viewers who wanted to know what the big fuss was all about and kept the "Angels" right where they belong - on top of the ratings! The 1977-1978 season ended with high ratings, proved that Kris, Cheryl Ladd, was every bit as popular with the viewers as Farrah. In the 1979-1980 season, the answer came with Shelley Hack, a model who had been prominent in Revlon's "Charlie" Perfume ads and commercials. Shelley entered The Townsend Office as Tiffany Welles, an Ivy League scholar who also was a graduate from the Boston Police Academy. Spelling and Goldberg had the idea that with this new Angel/model at the helm, she could bring an elegant and classy touch to Charlie's trio! Kate Jackson's absence was explained by having Sabrina getting married and starting a family. The writers treaded lightly as they tried to figure out how to make Tiffany Welles the new "Sabrina Duncan". The 1979-1980 seasons' problem was the sudden decline in ratings. The series found itself in the top 20's instead of the top 10 were it had been for the last three years. The ratings drop was directed at the new Angel and at the end of the season, Shelley was let go of her detective duties. Thus, beginning, for another hunt for a new Angel! By 1980, Charlie's Angels was beginning to feel its age and was declining fast. Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg wanted to go with a fresh new image. After careful consideration, they decided to hire virtually unknown actress, Tanya Roberts. This time around, the character would be a model-turned-detective, street-smart Julie Rogers. The new Angel showed her face in the three-hour 1980-1981 season premiere on November 30, 1980. High hopes were placed on Charlie's newest Angel to pull the series out its failing ratings. To help give it an added boost, the Angels were sent to Hawaii for the first six episodes. Hawaii wasn't only chosen to intrigue the audience but to keep the Angels scantily clad in swimsuits! Charlie's opening monologue has now undergone a complete overhaul. It begins, "Once upon a time, there were three beautiful girls. Two of them graduated from the police academy. The other graduated from a top school for models. And they each reaped the rewards of their exciting careers Bosley looks over brochures of Hawaii in anticipation of the Angels' possible assignment there. Charlie arranges for Julie to receive a probationary investigator's license and begin working with Kris and Kelly. Unfortunately, at this point, the audience was no longer keeping up with the Angels antics. In February 1981, the show went on hiatus and wasn't shown again until June of 1981. Charlie's Angels was not winning any viewers in the summer of '81 with its remaining episodes. The show that had made women crime fighters popular during the 1970's was taken off the air. Charlie's Angels was a huge success the moment it hit the airwaves in 1976. The Angels were on gum cards, doll boxes, T-shirts, board games, puzzles and posters. If you wanted to hire the Angels you had to call the office phone number was 555-0267. Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) was the only Angel to last the entire series. Kelly was an orphan. John Forsythe' was never on the set - his voice was recorded, and dubbed in later. The Angels all drove Ford automobiles. Jill (and later Kris) drove a Cobra, Kelly drove a Mustang, and Sabrina drove a Pinto. For the record, Bosley drove a Ford L.T.D. Although Charlie was never heard, he did actually appear in a couple of episodes, but his face was never shown. Kelly is the only Angel to have been shot throughout the run of the show. Sabrina was the only Angel that was previously married. She was married to a fellow officer when she was still a cop but the marriage ended in divorce.

j_mccall87 Charlie's Angels has became one of my all time favourite TV programmes since May of this year(2003). My family and friends think I'm really mad cos I'm always taping the episodes and watch them over and over again. Even as I'm typing I'm watching Charlie's Angels: "Counterfiet Angels" The show concentrates on three women fighting crime, under dangerous circumstances and going in deep to catch the culprit. what makes the show good is that it can have you gripped to whats going to happen and also have you laughing.Furthermore what makes it a great drama is the strong cast and the characters that they play. Each character brings something to Charlie's Angels, allowing for different aspects of their profiles to help in the capturing. Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcet)is the sporty athletic angel, who makes the other worry sometimes with her actions. Sabrina Duncun (Kate Jackson) is the smart angel, who brings ideas to the team and can handle her own. Kelly Garret (Jaclyn Smith) is street - wise and tough angel, however she is also really sensitive. Kris Muntoe (Cheryl Ladd) is the rookie angel, given many different strange covers and whose emotions heightens when the person hurt involves friends and sibling. In addition the closeness between the characters allows for strong emotion and adds to the storyline.Not only the girls add to the storyline, Bosley and Charlie also add unique points. Charlie's assistant John Bosley always bothered about where the money is coning from, being given the sometime not so glamorous covers and being confused adds humour to series. Charlie's character adds some wit, with the fact that he goes to lengths never seen by the angels, no matter how much they try. Although i find character somewhat less appealing with his fascination with woman, to be exact beautiful women, a different one each week. I was glad when it came to the later seasons that they played down this aspect of his character. In my opinion the best seasons are two and three, maybe its partly because when i started watching it it was these seasons that i saw, but i do prefer Kris Munroe to Jill Munroe .I would also like to add, that if you base watching the films on the programmes then you might be disappointed.Although the general idea is still there, the modernised version has certainly made it more male orientated with a lot of the scenes, especially the "Bay Watch" scene in film two.

kittykatkan I have seen complaints about the original Charlie's Angels series and how having beautiful stars in it negated any feminist notions about the series. I would like to disagree.In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were few enough female 'action' stars on television to be role models for young girls. The various women in 'Charlie's Angels' were (according to the OP) police officers before Charlie hired them -- and as female police officers, they were given stupid 'girl' jobs like handing out parking tickets, and handling switchboards, and so on. Charlie gave them jobs in which they could actually fight crime -- and they did fight crime, together. If one of them needed rescue, it wasn't a man that came to rescue her, but one of the other two 'angels'. They were independent, intelligent, single, employed women who worked well together and supported one another.The show is dated now, given how strong feminism has become since then. Back then, however, it was more than enough for at least one little girl to see that she didn't have to grow up and get married and have babies to be happy in life. Charlie's Angels -- the original show, not the fluffy movies (which are fun in their own way) -- remains to this day in my opinion an excellent example of how women should look at life: it's a challenge; meet it head on, and on your own terms.The fact that the women were all beautiful is irrelevant to the show except that it attracted a male audience.