i want you to hit me as hard as you can i'm going to be honest with you guys
i cannot stand charlie's angels it's nothing personal against cameron diaz drew barrymore
or lucy liu it's just that i'm resentful of the property itself
it started out easy enough as an okay movie but then that led to a bad sequel
then a tv series that lasted seven episodes then video games and comic books and a new remake
okay we get it the concept is awesome three super badass women kicking ass it's a merchandising gold
mine that caters to both men and women but can we just take a break for a bit
let's say 40 years but would the origins of charlie's angels be completely different from
the movie which has been sold to me can i change my mind and put down my pitchfork
well let's see by taking a trip back to the 1970s so sit back in your burnt orange and
maroon recliner open up a bottle of mr pibb and see if i'll have a change of
heart about these three foxy ladies in this episode of gone but not forgotten
charlie's angels was created by ben roberts and ivan gough although it was heavily developed by
legendary producers leonard goldberg and aaron spelling goff and roberts had first titled the
series the alley cats in which three women named allison lee and catherine would reside in alleys
and wear whips and chains which the creators said had nothing to do with sex
right okay guys whatever you say by this point one of the three angels was cast kate
jackson whom spelling and goldberg picked due to being popular on another series they produced
called the rookies the show's premise eventually evolved into that of three women going on missions
given to them by a millionaire boss named charlie who was supposed to be more involved in the series
as he would join them on missions from time to time but as kate jackson began to help in
the development she and spelling agreed that charlie should be more of a mysterious figure
who would never be seen and would just be a voice coming from a speaker handing out assignments to
our angels the original actor who was chosen to be the voice of charlie was academy award winner
gig young but young was fired when he showed up so drunk that he couldn't see his lines
sadly this would be one of many roles young would lose due to his alcoholism years before
he was fired by mel brooks when he showed up too drunk to stand on the set of blazing saddles
and his role would famously go to gene wilder john forsythe was then called by aaron spelling in the
middle of the night begging him to come in and do the lines for charlie forsyth said that he walked
into the studio still in his pajamas and recorded his lines john was very rarely on the set of the
show and never met the angels very often in fact he had a funny story of his first meeting with
farrah fawcett he was playing tennis when she came up to him on the court and hugged him squealing
that she had finally met charlie the original actresses cast to play the angels were kate
jackson jacqueline smith and the most famous angel of all farrah fawcett fawcett was cast
after spelling saw her performance in logan's run which was a big box office hit in 1976.
as for jacqueline smith she had the toughest time getting on the show auditioning with dozens of
other actresses including some girl named michelle pfeiffer gee i wonder whatever happened to her
yeah she probably didn't do anything cool smith almost didn't get the part because they initially
wanted a redhead but after seeing her chemistry with the rest of the cast in her audition
smith won the role so thus the cast was set kate jackson would play sabrina duncan the leader of
the trio who was very smart and clever as she could think on her feet in dangerous situations
the gorgeous jaclyn smith played kelly garrett who was the glue that held the angels together she was
like the big sister who could make connections with their clients putting their fears at ease
she could also develop informants during the show as she was the most outgoing of the bunch finally
we had the glamorous pharah fawcett playing jill monroe the angel with the bubbly personality
but also the most athletic the role of john bosley was played by david doyle originally
spilling wanted happy days star tom bosley for the role and even named the character after him
but when that didn't work out he chose david doyle instead funny story david doyle was often confused
for tom bosley god that must have been so annoying to him but doyle did a great job
in the role as he played bosley as both a father figure and a loyal sidekick for the
angels when spelling and goldberg went to abc and pitched the show they were met with a lot
of resistance being told that it was the worst idea they had ever heard the network executives
barry diller and michael eisner yes that michael eisner reportedly said women as leads of a show
women as action heroes who would believe that but eventually they relented as spelling had a deal
where he would get 25 000 for a pilot and they decided they would at least get something for
their money abc was still a pain in the ass about this pilot though they made spelling casts david
oddgen steers as scott woodville charlie second in command and bosley's boss the network said the
show needed more of a male presence since women leads would not be accepted by the general public
after the pilot aired and the show became a giant hit spelling convinced them to drop the character
and i have to say that this pilot is really good even by today's standards it mostly holds up the
episode's plot revolves around the angels going undercover to prove that a missing vineyard owner
named vince lemaire was murdered by his second wife and his foreman kelly pretends to be the
long-lost daughter of the missing businessman worming her way into their lives to try to catch
them off guard and incriminate themselves she even meets the daughter's childhood love arum played by
tommy lee jones what sorry did i get neuralized i can't believe this i mean look at his hair
hey wait doesn't he look like oh my god tommy lee jones is javier bardem's illegitimate father
oh man this makes the ending of no country for old men actually makes some sense at first kelly
pretends to be the lost heiress but then the bad guys realize that she's lying after finding out
the real daughter is in town with her lawyer but it turns out that this is also a scam because it's
really sabrina in disguise kelly then pretends to be a con woman who is trying to steal the swamp
on their property she says that the heiress has some hidden agenda so she offers to cut them in
then sabrina pretends to let them find out that the land is really full of oil
that's when jill pretends to be the owner of the land and scams them of all their money
by selling them the land which causes them to dig up the body of the murdered husband in front of
the police so that they get arrested hold on give me a minute this was an excellent pilot i would
argue that it's even better than some pilots being made today and much to the network surprise the
show was a massive hit ratings went through the roof and merchandise was selling like hotcakes
toys t-shirts and of course the pharah fawcett poster that every teenage boy
had in their bedroom did you know that this poster sold six million copies in one year
the poster is so iconic that you can even see farrah fawcett's swimsuit in the smithsonian
that belongs in a museum this brings us to the phenomenon that was fawcett mania while watching
the first season you could immediately tell that farrah fawcett was the breakout star to say that
fawcett was glamorous was an understatement to say the least the public became enraptured by her with
women going in droves to their local beauty salon to get their hair done to match hers it wasn't
just that she was beautiful but she could also be goofy and had a smile that could light up a room
she was the girl next door who you always had a crush on farrah fawcett was special and the
world knew it the first season had some other great episodes one of my favorites is on every
fan's top 10 list of best episodes it was called angels in chains this episode starts on a dark
note when a woman tries to escape prison and is killed in cold blood in the episode's first minute
i was shocked that something so dark like this could be aired on network tv at the time today
that's something we're all used to watching on tv but back then it was something that never happened
anyway it turns out this murder girl is the sister of a woman who hired the angels where is she now
well that's why i want to hire you our parents are gone elizabeth is the only family i have
i'm just not sure where she is ah yes the 1970s when acting was
optional this woman is trying to find her sister who was framed for carrying drugs and sentenced
to a prison that tends to make people disappear even though that opening scene was impressive
i kept wondering why this episode was such a fan favorite open your towel
oh i get it now yeah it's definitely on my personal top 10 list too in all seriousness though
this episode has its share of serious moments like when we find out the prison is a way to force
girls to become prostitutes to let the wardens curry favor with people in the local government
it also has some silly moments like when the girls are forced to work in the fields but yet they had
time to get their makeup and hair done one of my favorite moments is how the angels kill the bad
guys with potatoes also this episode features baby kim basinger oh look isn't she cute oh my god i
just realized that both vicki vale and twoface were featured on this show that's pretty cool
fun fact basinger actually auditioned to be one of the original angels but it didn't work out she
was set up at the end of this episode to have a recurring role as the secretary of the agency but
that also didn't work out now let me take a minute here to talk about their boss charlie wow what an
[ __ ] i'm serious this guy is a real prick he's always sending the girls on dangerous missions
while he's banging some bimbo and then at the end of the episode he takes credit for the success of
the mission what a class a jerk i have to say though they were very creative in how they hid
charlie's face one of the most memorable moments was when charlie gets kidnapped by criminals
in hawaii at the climax of the episode one of the angels finds charlie trapped on a yacht only to
discover that he's jumped out a window and swam to shore while they were fighting the bad guys why do
these women keep working for this slime ball the network wanted the producers to reveal charlie's
face at one point to increase the ratings but spelling refused and i admire that he never
buckled to the pressure it's refreshing to see someone not get bullied by a powerful network but
things behind the scenes were not pleasant after one season farrah fawcett quit the show spelling
and abc had a huge fight with her over the decision some people say that she left the show
because it was hurting her marriage her husband at the time was lee majors who was also on a hit show
the six billion dollar man people have speculated that because both of them were working at the same
time it left them little opportunity to spend some time together causing a rift between them however
the reason most people cited for her departure was to further her movie career and i think that makes
more sense considering her popularity at the time fawcett was eventually let go from her contract on
the condition that she would guest star in future seasons so jill's younger sister chris monroe was
introduced as the new angel played by cheryl ladd who had the incredibly hard task to replace the
public's favorite angel but she quickly won over the fans with her natural charm
and beauty much to the relief of the network the ratings stayed strong after lad's introduction
halfway into the third season though things took yet another unfortunate turn kate jackson was
cast in a starring role for an upcoming movie but she was forced to give up the role because of the
network and producer's unwillingness to give her the time off of the show that movie turned out to
be kramer vs kramer which led her replacement meryl streep to win an oscar for the role
jackson was pissed and bitter over the situation this caused her to be very difficult with the
rest of the cast and crew by the end of the season she was fired and replaced by
a new angel julie rogers played by tanya roberts i never liked julie rogers the chemistry with
the other angels wasn't there and she never gelled that well with the rest of the characters
it was by this point that ratings for the show began to dip and critics were becoming more vocal
on their hatred of what they said was jiggle tv and this brings up the common complaint of the
entire charlie's angels franchise sexism and the degrading image of women on tv
i can see why people think that i mean the show's intro certainly doesn't help once
upon a time there were three little girls who went to the police academy god it creeps me
out whenever he says little girls it reminds me of the world's creepiest song thank heaven
i don't care what people say that song is gross anywho the cast rejected this notion as they said
they would get fan letters and meet other girls who would tell them that they want to become
police officers they say that's what's often overlooked from the show is that these are women
who defeat the bad guys and claim their power against repression i for one could understand both
arguments but regardless the show did have a huge impact on the general public sadly by the fifth
season ratings were plummeting and the writing was on the wall the multiple cast changes had taken
their toll on the viewers and their interests began to fade the network began to scramble and
move the show around the schedule trying to figure out a time slot that would bring in more ratings
this only made things worse as the remaining fans couldn't figure out when the show was going to air
the nail in the coffin was the writer's strike that year and abc pulled the plug and on june 24th
1981 the angels went on their final mission so after watching this show has my opinion on
charlie's angels changed well i have to say in terms of the show yes it has i think charlie's
angels was a lot more fun than whatever i saw at my local movie theater and i've learned to
have more respect for a franchise that i had once written off in the past now should the show come
back no it should definitely not come back not only do i think we have charlie's angels fatigue
after the failure of the sequel the 2011 tv show and the 2019 remake but it just doesn't fit in
the tv culture today the only way i could see it being brought back on the air would be to have
a new take on the property maybe make the show more like the birds of prey comic books where you
have the angels recruited by a mysterious hacker known only as charlie but honestly the show is
too dated to work on tv anymore the problem with shows like charlie's angels is that the concept
of women kicking ass is no longer anything new in entertainment like so many older shows their
dna has been used for so many other properties that there's nothing creative left to do with
it charlie's angels is a historic show that can be appreciated for not only how it changed the
landscape of tv but for the introduction of strong and capable woman in pop culture we shouldn't need
to see it be remade the original is enough you can see most of the seasons of charlie's angels for
free on a variety of streaming services although it seems to be a jigsaw puzzle on imdb tv you can
watch the first season and some episodes of other seasons while on 2b you can see seasons 2 through
4 and i cannot find anywhere to watch season 5 for free regardless of what seasons you get to watch
the magic is there so if you can i would suggest that you take time out of your day to watch some
of the many adventures of this kick-ass angelic trio i guarantee that you folks will be pleasantly
his surprised
in my mind
tell me
how do you do
i'm jesse shades speaking on behalf of david arroyo for joeblow.com and thank you
for watching our show if you like what you see please subscribe to our joe blow videos channel
tell your friends who like the sort of content and turn on the bell to receive notifications
for all of our latest videos we're an independent company that appreciates all of your support
and we will see you next time for the next installment of gone but not forgotten
you