Appreciating Charlie's Angels

[tommie]

The 2011 reboot is actually one of those times when I've turned off a pilot in the middle of the episode. It was just bad.

I find season 5 of Charlie's Angels at least to be somewhat snark-worthy with the silly premise of Tanya's character plus her acting. It's pretty fun if you just watch it and rant to the tv.

 

[ClassyCo]

The 2011 reboot is actually one of those times when I've turned off a pilot in the middle of the episode. It was just bad.

I find season 5 of Charlie's Angels at least to be somewhat snark-worthy with the silly premise of Tanya's character plus her acting. It's pretty fun if you just watch it and rant to the tv.

I remember watching some episode of the 2011 series, but I didn't finish it. I agree... it was that bad!

I haven't tried watching season five that way. I need to give it a shot.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Don Chaffey used to direct for Charlie’s Angels. He directed four of the first five episodes in production order on The Prisoner, starring Executive Producer Patrick McGoohan, helping to set the visual style. He directed episodes of Danger Man, The Avengers, The Baron, The Four Just Men, The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Jason and the Argonauts, Man in a Suitcase, The Protectors, One Million Years B.C. and for Vegas, the Mission: Impossible revival series and much more.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've been reading some season-by-season reviews from someone watching the series on BD.

It's interesting to see it from the perspective of someone who watched primarily for the T&A, which means there are plentiful screencaps of Farrah's visible nipplage and Cheryl in her bikini. It might also explain why Sabrina is his least favourite angel. Though this does mean that he doesn't hold back on Kate's rumoured bad attitude in the Season Three review.

Anyway, they're clearly written by someone who appreciates the series itself, and offers a reasonably balanced view (once I'd got past a nasty throwaway comment about cancer in the first season review), so here they are for anyone who's interested:

Season One

Season Two

Season Three

Season Four

Season Five

 

[Payton Cross]

I love Charlie's Angels, I like all of them but Sabrina (Kate Jackson) is my most favorite on Charlie Angels, she was very funny too on the show, to bad only season 1-3 has been released on dvd here in Europe.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

I've been reading some season-by-season reviews from someone watching the series on BD.

Anyway, they're clearly written by someone who appreciates the series itself, and offers a reasonably balanced view (once I'd got past a nasty throwaway comment about cancer in the first season review), so here they are for anyone who's interested:

Season One

The reviewer wrote about going back further than The Avengers to Honey West. Honey West was created after Aaron Spelling saw Honor Blackman as Cathy’s Gale in The Avengers. Honor Blackman was offered the part of Honey West and declined. Of course, I know that Diana Rigg episodes were shown first in America.

 

[rlr718]

This popped up on my tube feed I thought it was interesting and shareable.

 

[rlr718]

Charlie’s Angels first 2 seasons including the pilot movie are on IMDb tv on amazon prime. It says free with ads but I have not seen any ads whatsoever. I have watched through Target: Angels which is episode 5.

 

[bmasters9]

And speaking of sexy, media watchdog groups would cite ANGELS as the most irresponsibly sexual show on TV year after year -- despite the program's prim lack of any sexual content whatsoever. The girls may have warn bikinis twice during the series' entire run.

Not just them, but church/religious people, probably most of all being Southern Baptist and IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist), who have held such a hardline view of sexuality that it even led one (Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association) to condemn another ABC show (Soap, a primetime comedy sendup of daily serials) before it even aired, IIRC.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Unexpectedly sedate 1976 pilot:

 

[ClassyCo]

Unexpectedly sedate 1976 pilot:

The pilot was very sedate compared to what was to follow. Apparently Kate Jackson felt that because of the pilot film that the series would focus on more "classy undercover drama". She patters with the notion of being misled or misguided and was usually dissatisfied with the quality of the show thereafter. Jackson seemed to always be arguing with the writers, producers, directors, and whoever about the quality of the show and how it could be approved upon. She hated that the series morphed into what she called "cop story of the week".

Kate Jackson wanted something with more depth to sink her teeth into, but she was given fluffy camp instead. In saying all that, she did she complimentary of the show in interviews, speaking favorably of its popularity and what advances it did for her career.

It's funny though because I remember when my father watched a couple of episodes of Charlie's Angels with me a few years ago, he commented on Jackson's beauty and how attractive he found her.

​

 

[rlr718]

Not just them, but church/religious people, probably most of all being Southern Baptist and IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist), who have held such a hardline view of sexuality that it even led one (Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association) to condemn another ABC show (Soap, a primetime comedy sendup of daily serials) before it even aired, IIRC.

Watching the regular season episodes it’s like did they drop the temps on set? Full on braless nipples.

 

[Seaviewer]

I read that Kate Jackson was offered her own show after appearing in The Rookies but came up with the concept of three female detectives instead. I've always found that unlikely and in any case she didn't get a creator credit.

 

[bmasters9]

Kate Jackson wanted something with more depth to sink her teeth into, but she was given fluffy camp instead. In saying all that, she did she complimentary of the show in interviews, speaking favorably of its popularity and what advances it did for her career.

Like becoming Washington, D.C. housewife Amanda King, mother of two sons, on Scarecrow and Mrs. King on CBS Mondays from 1983-87 (the Scarecrow of the title was Lee Stetson, who had that codename [played by Bruce Boxleitner]).

 

[rlr718]

I am currently on season 2 and left off the other night at this episode. Kris can sing!

 

[ClassyCo]

I read that Kate Jackson was offered her own show after appearing in The Rookies but came up with the concept of three female detectives instead. I've always found that unlikely and in any case she didn't get a creator credit.

After THE ROOKIES, Kate Jackson was a popular star for ABC. She was a fan favorite, and I think the way her contract read was that she had the choice of her next project. She heard about an Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg project called THE ALLEY CATS about a trio of women working in the alleys and fighting crime in the streets. It was a very gritty and edgy concept for the late 1970s, and Kate Jackson contacted Spelling-Goldberg to express interest in starring. The partnership readily agreed to Jackson's playing one of the three ladies, but they all felt there were changes that needed to be made. Jackson envisioned three private investigators working for an unseen multimillionaire who they only have contract with over the speakerphone. She noticed an oil painting of three angels above Aaron Spelling's desk and suggested that this man call his three ladies "angels", and the original title was HARRY'S ANGELS. The title had to be changed because ABC feared conflict with another series called HARRY O, and eventually the title CHARLIE'S ANGELS was chosen.

So she didn't really conjure up the idea for CHARLIE'S ANGELS, but she certainly had her hand in tweaking it into what it became. She had been originally cast as Kelly Garrett, who was supposed to be the unofficial leader of the trio, but at last minute, she decided she wanted to play Sabrina Duncan instead. That's why the ninety-minute pilot movie focuses heavily on Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garrett because the change had come too late in production for there to be any changes to the script.

What's funny about it all is that what CHARLIE'S ANGELS ended up being was not up to par with what Kate Jackson had envisioned. She constantly complained about the weak scripts and how there was stronger emphasis placed on cheesecake and skimpy clothes over any significant undercover work. She enjoyed what the show did for her celebrity, but she was often quite vocal about how she felt the show could've been better.

 

[rlr718]

I’m wondering what the contention between kate and Cheryl was. From what I read it stemmed back to them working on satans school for girls.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I am currently on season 2 and left off the other night at this episode. Kris can sing!

She sang in JOSIE AND THEPUSSYCATS.

I’m wondering what the contention between kate and Cheryl was. From what I read it stemmed back to them working on satans school for girls.

Kate has a rep for being very idiosyncratic and even neurotic. Nolan Miller has always spoken very derisively about her.

Even her buddy, jaclyn Smith, has said publicly that Kate "can, at times, be a bully."

 

[ClassyCo]

I’m wondering what the contention between kate and Cheryl was. From what I read it stemmed back to them working on satans school for girls.

Kate Jackson has a reputation of being bossy and sometimes hard to get along with. Just as Snarky said, even Jaclyn Smith, who was her closet friend on the CHARLIE'S ANGELS set, has said she was sometimes hard to get along with.

Nolan Miller, the famed costume designer that went on to DYNASTY among other things, loathed working with her. He has spoken quite frequently about the difficulty of finding her a wardrobe she'd approve. Evidently she was constantly bickering about how she flat refused to wear clothes she felt were demeaning and undermined the importance of women working as private investigators.

On the flip side, Nolan Miller has often praised Jackson's replacement Shelley Hack, who he and apparently everyone in the wardrobe "fell in love with" right off the bat because she wore clothes beautifully. Shelley had been a model after all, and she was evidently comfortable in wearing the designer clothes Miller and his crew conjured up for her where Jackson fussed about everything.

Kate Jackson was on THE TONIGHT SHOW starring Joan Rivers in the mid-eighties where she spoke about her time on CHARLIE'S ANGELS. She said that none of trios of angels were as close as the first season Kate/Farrah/Jaclyn trio. Jackson also said that no one as close as her and "Jackie" -- as she called Jaclyn Smith -- and that she and Cheryl Ladd "had never been close". She didn't say that in a snotty way, but in a professionally brush-it-off kind of way that made it clear that the two weren't buddies, but not necessarily clawing at one another's throats all day.

I've never really been able to find the "root" of the distaste Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd seemed to have for one another. Apparently they got close briefly while on location and the three women were forced to share a trailer, but it was short-lived. Cheryl Ladd often said how out-of-the-clique she felt when Farrah would come back to guest star when Kate was still on the show. Kate, Farrah, and Jaclyn would slide back into their first season clique, and leave her hanging.

 

[Seaviewer]

So she didn't really conjure up the idea for CHARLIE'S ANGELS, but she certainly had her hand in tweaking it into what it became. She had been originally cast as Kelly Garrett, who was supposed to be the unofficial leader of the trio, but at last minute, she decided she wanted to play Sabrina Duncan instead. That's why the ninety-minute pilot movie focuses heavily on Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garrett because the change had come too late in production for there to be any changes to the script.

It was the implication that she had turned down a solo show in favour of having two co-stars that I found unlikely but if she found a concept that appealed to her then that makes sense. I don't really see what difference it would have made if her character had been called Kelly Garrett. Jackson's and Smith's personas would likely have been much the same.