Charlie's Angels (the franchise) (1 Viewer)

[Emcee]

By franchise, I shall clarify:

The original ABC series (1976─81)
The reboot movies (2000 and 2003)
The rebooted ABC series (2011)
The second reboot movie(s) (2019─?)

Charlie's Angels is a classic example of pop culture bubblegum for the small screen. It generated the highest-recorded ratings for a debut series (television season) since The Beverly Hillbillies in the early 1960s. All three of the original leading ladies ─ Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Jaclyn Smith ─ were propelled to superstardom, with Fawcett-Majors' popularity eclipsing the other two. Her popularity was unquestioned, and she was soon branded a phenomenon.

Getting to the point: Who is your favorite Angel?

I am primarily familiar with the original series. I've seen the early 2000s reboot movies, but I haven't viewed them recently. I watched the first couple of episodes of the 2011 series, and I've seen the trailer(s) for the 2019 movie.

Let's discuss those ladies working for secretive millionaire Charlie Townsend, a la the Townsend Agency.

And go!

 

[Emcee]

I cannot believe no one's hit up my CHARLIE'S ANGELS discussion. I knew that this site had to be cluttered with fans of this slice of pop culture chewing gum, but maybe the page is been around so long that everyone's forgotten it's even here (or maybe there's already another one circling here and I'm unaware).

CHARLIE'S ANGELS is one of my favorite shows. It's one of the definitive pop culture shows in my mind. The original trio ─ Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Jaclyn Smith ─ will forever be identified with the show, whether they particularly like that or not. I'm all of them would also like to be known for at least some of their other work, but the phenomenal success of this sexy P.I. series cemented them as beautiful crime fighters that know how to get down to business.

The first season (1976─77) of CHARLIE'S ANGELS was really the show's pinnacle, if only in terms of public popularity. It was the fifth most popular show on network television. Farrah Fawcett exploded as the breakout star, but she wanted to do other things. Her agents and husband, television star Lee Majors, got in her ears and edged her out the door. It was a total shock. ABC did everything in their power to keep her; they offered a bigger salary (that wasn't big enough for Lee Majors apparently), and offers to do TV specials and movies during her hiatuses. She turned it down flat.

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ABC scrambled to find a suitable replacement Farrah, before they singled in on singer-turned-actress Cheryl Ladd. Apparently producer Aaron Spelling already knew of her, and he felt she would be a good addition. Ladd was rightfully nervous about replacing Fawcett, but eventually agreed to the role when the producers made her Farrah's younger sister on the show and agreed to allow her to be goofy and make mistakes. To ease the tension her first day on the set, Cheryl Ladd wore a t-shirt that said "Farrah Fawcett Minor", which was a play on Farrah's on-screen credit at the time being "Farrah Fawcett-Majors".

It's interesting to me how much the audience seemed to root for Cheryl Ladd when she came on CHARLIE'S ANGELS. The popularity of the show was not really wounded too bad. In fact, it's popularity probably got a little shot in the arm because all the tabloid publicity surrounding Farrah's exit and Cheryl's entrance. I actually really like Cheryl Ladd on the show. She brings a sweetness and goofiness that just gels perfectly, and she ends up being my second favorite Angel (just behind Farrah).

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CHARLIE'S ANGELS rode high on its popularity its second and third seasons. The show's third season (1978─79) ended up being the show's only season not to include a cast change. During that third year, however, Kate Jackson grew weary of continuing. She had been given a major role in the film KRAMER VS. KRAMER, but had to decline because the CHARLIE'S ANGELS producers refused to rework her schedule. The role ended up going to Meryl Streep, who won an Oscar. Jackson was furious, and rightfully so, and she turned in her resignation. Nothing was going to change her mind about coming back.

ABC interviewed hundreds of actresses as a potential successor to Kate Jackson, among them Michelle Pfeiffer, before they finally settled on Shelley Hack. Hack was most well-known for starring in the Charlie perfume television commercials. I'm still convinced that someone (probably Aaron Spelling) thought that her connection to the "Charlie" name made her perfect for CHARLIE'S ANGELS.

The transition for the fourth season cast change was not as smooth as it had been two years prior. Hack was given a rather bland introduction, but was then casually cast-aside for the next ten or so episodes while Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd got all the meaty stuff. Hack's co-stars, especially Ladd, took up for her and her mistreatment. Ladd always says "it certainly wasn't all Shelley's fault" and that the producers did her an injustice for "fitting her into scripts already written".

CHARLIE'S ANGELS took an immediate hit the ratings during the 1979─80 season. It placed as low as #47 one week, with almost all the blame going to Shelley Hack. Reviewers complained about her lack of experience and on-screen charisma, while comics made fun of her slender figure on a show typified as Jiggle TV. Hack was officially released from the show in February 1980. Apparently that Valentine's Day all the cast and crew got a boutique of flowers inviting them back for a fifth season ─ except Shelley. Hack has often spoke of how she was not shocked at her firing. She was the newest one, and the obvious one to replace to hopefully "fix" the show.

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For the second time in just over a year, the producers of CHARLIE'S ANGELS were shuffling through head shots for a new Angel in 1980. Shari Belafonte, daughter of singer Harry Belafonte, was apparently briefly considered to bring some interracial aspects to the show, but she was soon passed over for model Tanya Roberts.

That fifth season ABC decided to shuffle CHARLIE'S ANGELS around in its time slot to hopefully regenerate audience interest. What they didn't plan was a writers strike that pushed back the start of the season to November 1980. Tanya Roberts received a fair amount of publicity, but the show continued to decline. Commentators critiqued the show for becoming bland, and ratings fell to #59 out of just 65 network television shows. CHARLIE'S ANGELS was quietly canceled in 1981 after five seasons and 110 episodes.

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CHARLIE'S ANGELS has remained popular in the decades since it was canceled. There's been other attempts a reviving the trend of sexy women crime fighters, most notably Aaron Spelling's late eighties series called ANGELS 88, which resulted in a highly publicized talent search and little else. There's been a couple of movies and even a rebooted television series in 2011 that died an early death because of low ratings.