“Charlie’s Angels” Debuted 40 Years Ago and TV Hasn’t Been the Same Since

The premise was simple amp8211 a trio of recently graduated police academy beauties as they were referred to at the time were recruited by Charlie the neverseen Charles Townsend given voice by John Forsythe to work as private eyes amp160amp160Newcomers Farrah FawcettMajors as Jill Munroeamp160and Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garrett would join Jackson as Sabrina Duncan rounding out the showamp8217s original castWhile critics were fast to label the series amp8220Jiggle TVamp8221 with little substance and lighter than air storylines audiences flocked to the show making the pilot one of the highestrated TV movies in history Even series creator Spelling would later admit to the shortcomings of the premise amp8220Charlie39s Angels was science fiction too but no one would believe meamp8221 he joked while promoting his supernatural series Charmed in 1998 amp8220I mean if anybody believes that three young ladies graduate from the police academyamp173 are given terrible jobs and are hired by a man over the telephone who pays them 500 a week and they wear 5000 Nolan Miller gownsamp8221amp8220Farrah and I we didn39t know about a hit seriesamp8221 Jaclyn Smith told me amp8220Kate had done The Rookies Farrah and I were sort of innocent Each week Aaron Spelling would call us with the ratings and it wasnamp8217t until we did Angels in Chains episode 4 that it clicked I think we realized then that this was really a hit and we were sort of at home with it by that episodeamp8221 See photo at rightamp8220When Charlie39s Angels became the No 1 show I thought that was just the way it happenedamp8221 reminisced Fawcett during our 2005 interview to promote her TV Land reality series Chasing Farrah amp8220Now I realize it doesn39t happen all the timeamp8221Following the pilotamp8217s staggering ratings Charlieamp8217s Angels was given a full series order and while the cast and crew were busy in production they had no idea of the showamp8217s cultural impact Before long even some of their harshest critics were eating their words amp8220We didnamp8217t get great reviews for the showamp8221 recalled series coproducer Leonard Goldberg amp8220It wasnamp8217t until Time magazine called asking amp8216Weamp8217d like to do a special shoot for Charlieamp8217s Angelsamp8217 I said amp8216Well weamp8217re really heavy into productionamp8217 They said amp8216This is for the cover of Timeamp8221 amp160A lot of publications The New York Times included gave us very bad reviews but as soon as the show hit they were very quick to put us on the cover of everything they could findamp8221Magazine covers werenamp8217t the only things the Angels graced at the time The merchandising bandwagon soon included dolls lunchboxes towels rugs puzzles Tshirts and mugs all fueled by the fact Fawcett had unwittingly launched what would become the poster phenomenon of the amp821670amp8217s by posing in a red swimsuit against a blanket in her backyard Fawcettamp8217s poster would go on to sell millions and follow Farrah until her untimely passing from cancer in 2009amp8220It39s interesting people that I work with younger directors and younger filmmakers tell me about my posteramp8221 she recalled in our 2005 interview amp8220They had it still have it loved it or it39s in storage in the attic I say it39s worth a lot of money keep itamp8221Charlieamp8217s Angels ran for five seasons on ABC Following Fawcettamp8217s departure after season one with guest appearances in subsequent seasons Cheryl Ladd would be introduced as her characteramp8217s younger sister Kris Monroe Jacksonamp8217s departure at the end of the third season would make way for the arrival of Shelley Hack Tiffany Wells in season four and then Tanya Roberts Julie Rogers for the final season after Hack was let goOne person fluent in the value of Charlieamp8217s Angels is amp8220Angelologistamp8221 Mike Pingel As an eightyearold discovering the show would be life changing in so many ways amp8220They were gorgeous women and as soon as they hit TV were huge superstars around the worldamp8221 he says amp8220The Time cover happened two months after the show premiered so it wasnamp8217t just me loving Charlieamp8217s Angelsamp160 The whole world did I was hookedamp8221While feminists were up in arms because the Angels often didnamp8217t wear bras Pingelamp160asserts that three women kicking butt as leads on TV show was nothing but positive amp8220Up until then women on TV were in the kitchen with the exception of Angie Dickinson in Police Woman amp160But she had men helping her Charlieamp8217s Angels had three women who got the job done Their sidekick Bosley David Doyle was just comic relief most of the time and Charlie was never there amp160He was just a voice on the phone Kids all over the world were playing Charlieamp8217s Angels for an adult show that was amazing They were idols and something kids could to aspire toamp8221 Pingelamp160is pictured below with Jackson Fawcett and SmithSoon an eightamp8211yearold Pingelamp160began keeping every Angels clipping and piece of merchandise he could find He kept them for years only to be told by his mother as a teenager amp8220It was time to get rid of themamp8221 Reluctantly he complied with the exception of the games and posters heamp8217d collected Following a move to Los Angles in 1991 he rediscovered the original Angel dolls at a friendamp8217s place and decided amp8220I have to have thoseamp8221 That was when he began collecting in earnest In the preeBay world he scoured thrift stores and toy shows for collectibles beginning with the four dolls heamp8217d coveted amp8220I would have liked to have bought everythingamp8221 he admits amp8220My roommate thought I was crazy with these boxes of Angels stuff arrivingamp8221In 1996 Pingelamp160took advantage of the burgeoning Internet taking his collecting to another level by registering CharliesAngelscom as a gathering place for people to keep uptodate with all things Angels amp8220I registered the domain as it was available and learned how to do a web site and that was itamp8221 he explains amp8220I didnamp8217t know what it meant on a business level at the timeamp8221Three months after CharliesAngels launched Yahoo named it Site of the Day and Pingelamp8217s new life as a publicist officiallyamp160began amp8220Media were coming to my house and wanting to know everything about the showamp8221 he laughs amp8220Sony tagged me as the Angelologist and Iamp8217ve been talking Angels for 20 years nowamp8221amp160Through the web site his association with Charlieamp8217s Angels moved into other areas He worked for a time as Fawcettamp8217s assistant and currently works with Cheryl Ladd and Tanya Roberts on their web sites Heamp8217s written two Angels books and continues to work with companies as an Angels expert ensuring that the legacy of the show lives onThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet management or associated bloggersamp160amp160

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“Charlie’s Angels” Debuted 40 Years Ago and TV Hasn’t Been the Same Since

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Steve Gidlow

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“Charlie’s Angels” Debuted 40 Years Ago and TV Hasn’t Been the Same Since

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