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''Charlie's Angels'' is a Television Series that was broadcast on the ABC Television Network 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 Jill's little sister Kris Munroe ( 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 ). A 1974 Ted Mikels movie called '' Doll Squad '' featured three female crime fighters, one even named Sabrina. Whether the movie influenced Aaron Spelling is disputed. PREMISE The show's premise focused on Charlie assigning the Angels to a new situation each episode, where they would go undercover in order to investigate 'from the inside'. Their undercover characters often had to feign not knowing each other in the situation, until their cover was inevitably blown. The undercover aspect of the show created much of the plot interest and tension. In the early seasons of the show, the Angels, under their assumed identities, used a combination of sexual wiles and knowledge learned for the situation in which they were being placed. By the third and fourth seasons, the writing had a tendency to stray from the show's initial sex appeal (see "As 'Jiggle TV'") and focus more on the case at hand. AS "JIGGLE TV" The show became known as "Jiggle TV" and "T&A TV" (or "Tits and Ass television") by critics who believed that the show had no intelligence or substance and that the scantily or provocatively dressed Angels (generally as part of their undercover character — e.g., roller derby girl, beauty pageant contestant, maid, female prisoner or just bikini-clad) did so to showcase the figures and/or sexuality of the actresses as a sole means of attracting viewers. Farrah Fawcett-Majors once attributed the show's success to this fact, ''"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."'' EPISODES See Also: List of Charlie's Angels episodes NIELSEN RATINGS/ABC BROADCAST HISTORY Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of ''Charlie's Angels'' on ABC . ''Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May Sweeps . ''All times listed are North American Eastern Standard Time .'' CHRONOLOGY OF KNOWN ANGELS
POP CULTURE IMPACT The first season of ''Charlie's Angels'' caused an explosion of fan hysteria and press coverage that was unheard of in the mid-1970s. It was even highlighted as a cover story in '' Time '' magazine which analyzed the impact of the show on popular culture. Also, in the U.S census, it was found out that the name Charlie was more often used in naming children. The show has inspired many remakes and reinterpretations throughout the years and in different countries. TV series
Films The television series inspired two '' ( 2003 ), both directed by McG and starring Cameron Diaz , Drew Barrymore , and Lucy Liu as the three angels, with John Forsythe returning to voice Charlie. Bosley was played in the first film by Bill Murray , while the second film cast Bernie Mac as Jimmy Bosley, John's adoptive-brother. 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 1970s 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 "successors". 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, generally using guns. Physical struggles, were, however, common. In fact, the silhouette logo of the TV series does show one angel with her hands in a karate-like pose (and the other two with a gun and a walkie-talkie). The karate pose is often included when the show is being spoofed. The martial arts theme in the movies can be seen, in a way, as based on the original TV logo. 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 one time. Telefilm In '' aired on NBC . It depicted the true story of what happened during the first season of the TV show. Video games In July 2003, three ''Charlie's Angels'' games were released on three different gaming platforms: ''. According to Game Rankings , the GameCube version is the worst reviewed video game 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%. Collectible items During the show's run, many collectible items were produced, including (two versions of) dolls, countless games, trading cards, pipes, notebooks, and even record albums. A poster of Farrah Fawcett-Majors was also sold showing Farrah sporting a red bathing suit that became the biggest selling poster in history with 12 million copies sold. Comics Two British Comic Strip versions were produced. The first appeared in the Polystyle publication ''Target'' in April 1978, drawn by John Canning. ''Target'' was a sister title to the long-running '' TV Comic '' aimed at older children and featuring TV action and crime shows of the day. Proving unpopular, it folded in August and merged back into ''TV Comic'' where Canning's Angels strip continued until October 1979. The second strip was printed in Junior TV Times '' Look-In '', debuting in November 1979 (as soon as Polystyle's deal expired), written by Angus P. Allan and drawn by Jim Baikie and Bill Titcombe. In the on-line comic '''', in the context of which which the Erfworld story is placed, an Archon is a documented character. In Gnosticism , an Archon occupies a role similar to the angels of the Old Testament. DVD RELEASES Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released Seasons 1-3 of the series on DVD thus far. No release date(s) have been announced for the seasons 4 & 5 DVDs. ^''Based on the format in which episodes originally aired. Two-hour episodes are counted as one episode.'' ANGEL APPEARANCES This is a chronological list of appearances that two or more Angels have made together in support of ''Charlie's Angels''.
NOTES AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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