'' was a
Television Series broadcast from
1976 to
1981 , about three women who work for a fictional
Private Investigation agency, the Charles Townsend Agency. Their boss, Charlie (voiced by
John Forsythe ), was rarely seen and is
Never Seen full face - in some episodes he is shown from the rear only (where the viewer only sees the back of his head and his arms) and on the series finale where he appears in surgeon's mask and outfit. He only ever contacted the "angels" by telephone, addressing them via a speakerphone on the office's desk.
The three original "angels" were Sabrina Duncan (
Kate Jackson ), Jill Munroe (
Farrah Fawcett-Majors ) and Kelly Garrett {
Jaclyn Smith ). Later, when a character left (because the actress went on to other projects, etc) another "angel" was brought on to keep the number at three. Later angels were Kris Munroe (Jill's sister) (
Cheryl Ladd ), Tiffany Welles (
Shelley Hack ), and Julie Rogers (
Tanya Roberts ). Jaclyn Smith was the longest serving TV angel, remaining with the show for its entire five season run. Another major character throughout the series was Charlie's assistant, John Bosley (
David Doyle ).
Because the show's premise focused on the angels using a combination of sexual wiles and fierce knowledge (of seemingly every subject in the entire world) the show became known as "T&A T.V." (or "Tits and Ass television"). The angels would often be seen scantily clad for no apparent reason other than to showcase the figures of the actresses. Farrah Fawcett-Majors once attributed the show's success to this fact, quoted as saying "When the show was number three, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.".
The television series inspired two '' (
2003 ). Each was directed by
McG and starred
Cameron Diaz ,
Drew Barrymore , and
Lucy Liu as the three angels, with John Forsythe returning to voice Charlie. Bosley (John of that ilk) was played in the first film by
Bill Murray , and in the second (as John's half-brother Jimmy) by
Bernie Mac .
The second movie had more nods to the TV series than the first movie in the series did, perhaps due to complaints from fans of the TV series. Whereas most movie remakes of 70s TV shows, like
Starsky And Hutch , are actually remakes, the Charlie's Angels films are set in a different time. The mythology goes that whenever an Angel leaves, she is replaced so there are always three (seen in the TV show). Liu, Barrymore and Diaz's characters are not based on the Angels in the show, but are their "descendants". To prove this fact, Demi Moore's character, who is a 'fallen' Angel, quotes;
"Back in my day - we used guns", which refers to the lack of martial arts in the TV series, while it is the preferred form of combat in the films. In the TV series, the Angels were more police-like, and never fought physically, only with guns.
Also, Jaclyn Smith reprised her Kelly Garrett role from the TV series, who Dylan (Barrymore) meets in a Mexican cafe when she decides to leave the Angels. Kelly persuades her to rejoin the Angels with an inspiring speech. This reinforces the fact that there were not just three Angels (in fact in the TV series the viewer sees six different Angels), but there have always been three Angels at any time.
In 2004 a television movie entitled aired on NBC. It depicts the true story of what happened during the first season of the TV show.
In was fundamentally toned down to fit the technical restrictions of the platform, and was titled Charlie's Angels: Road Cyclone.
Despite the critical success of both the
T.V. show and the
Movies , the
Videogames , aside from the
Mobile Phone version, were a debacle. According to
Gamerankings , the Gamecube version is the worst reviewed videogame of all time (an average of 23%, with
Metacritic garnering the same results). Although the
Playstation 2 version didn't garner enough reviews to be officially listed, this version is virtually the same as the
Gamecube version. The mobile phone version averaged a respectable 79%.
A
British Comic Strip version was produced, written by
Angus P. Allan and printed in TV comic
Look-In .
