This article is about the television series. For the 2000 movie see Charlie's Angels (film).

Charlie's Angels
Main title card
Created by	Ivan Goff Ben Roberts
Starring	Kate Jackson Farrah Fawcett Jaclyn Smith Cheryl Ladd Shelley Hack Tanya Roberts David Doyle John Forsythe
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	115 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Aaron Spelling Leonard Goldberg
Running time	50 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 22, 1976 – June 24, 1981

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.

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. Under their assumed identities, the 'angels' used a combination of sexual wiles and knowledge learned for the situation in which they were being placed.

The show became known as "Jiggle TV" and "T&A TV" (or "Tits and Ass television"), because the angels would often be seen scantily or provocatively dressed (generally as part of their undercover character — e.g., rollergirl, beauty pageant contestant, maid, female prisoner or just bikini-clad), to showcase the figures and/or sexuality 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 feature films from production company Flower Films: Charlie's Angels (2000) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (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.

In 2004, a television movie entitled Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels aired on NBC. It depicted the true story of what happened during the first season of the TV show.

In 2006, all three original Angels appeared together on-stage at the 2006 Emmy Awards, in a retrospective tribute to Aaron Spelling.

In July 2003, three Charlie's Angels games were released on three different gaming platforms: Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and the mobile phone. The versions released on both the GameCube and PlayStation 2 were virtually the same, each given the same title: Charlie's Angels. The version released for the mobile phone was fundamentally toned down to fit the technical restrictions of the platform, and was titled Charlie's Angels: Road Cyclone.

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%.

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 sold many items during its run. These included dolls, (two versions), 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.

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.

• Sabrina Duncan (1976–1979), played by Kate Jackson
• Jill Munroe (1976–1977, 1978, 1979, 1980), played by Farrah Fawcett-Majors
• Kelly Garrett (1976–1981), played by Jaclyn Smith
• Kris Munroe (1977–1981), played by Cheryl Ladd
• Tiffany Welles (1979–1980), played by Shelley Hack
• Julie Rogers (1980–1981), played by Tanya Roberts

Four women were selected to be in a show called Angels '88 and later named Angels '89 after production delays.

• Connie Bates (1988–1989), played by Claire Yarlett^[1]
• Pam Ryan (1988–1989), played by Sandra Canning^[1]
• Trisha Lawrence (1988–1989), played by Karen Kopins^[1]
• Bernie Colter (1988–1989), played by Téa Leoni^[1]

In the movie Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle former Angel Madison Lee (1980s or 1990s?), played by Demi Moore is introduced.^[2]

From 1998–1999, Telemundo and Sony produced a show called Ángeles.^[3]

• Adriana Vega (1998–1999), played by Patricia Manterola^[4]
• Elena Sanchez (1998–1999), played by Sandra Vidal^[4]
• Gina Navarro (1998–1999), played by Magali Caicedo^[4]

The weekly hour format did not catch on with Hispanic viewers, who are accustom to watch telenovelas nightly and the series was soon cancelled.

In 2002, a German version of Charlie's Angels, Wilde Engel,^[5] was produced by the German channel RTL. The first season showed the adventures of Franziska, Lena and Raven.

• Franziska (played by Susann Uplegger) was a rich heiress and bank director. She was taken hostage by Raven's lover, while trying to break into her bank in the first episode of the show.
• Lena (Eva Habermann) was the young rookie cop, trying to save her career from the false accusations of being corrupt and participating in the robbery.
• Raven (Birgit Stauber), a.k.a. Christina Rabe was the girlfriend of the robber, trying to save him from the real bad cop.

At the end of the first episode, seeing the stunts pulled by Lena, Franziska and Raven, Martin Grossmann (Filip Peeters) hired them to form a team of Angels.

The show was produced by Hermann Joha, Angela Strunck, and Melanie Mohr, but the cast was entirely changed around the second season, introducing new Angels:

• Rebecca (Vanessa Petruo)
• Ida (Tanja Wenzel)
• Aiko (Zora Holt)

and a new Bosley, Richard Voss (Udo Kier).

In the French speaking countries it was known as Anges de choc, and as Three Wild Angels in the English ones.

The first season had good ratings, but they were slipping by the second season and high production costs made it hard to go on. The show was stopped during 2005.

• NATALIE COOK (2000–2003), played by Cameron Diaz

This platinum blond with pale blue eyes is optimistic, starry-eyed, shy and somewhat goofy. A deceptively-brilliant blusher, Natalie has no idea that she looks like a supermodel, and no idea that she has enough charisma for three. Her mom was a large-animal veterinarian; her dad was the author/editor of The Cook Anthology of Science Fiction. Natalie was the class nerd: complete with a Princess Leia honeybun hairdo, glasses, and a mouthful of braces. She got her Ph.D. from MIT — by correspondence. She’s worked as a research scientist at the Swedish National Academy, a U.S. Navy test pilot, and a Lincoln-Mercury spokes-model. Natalie has a passion for anything on wheels. She’s brilliant at road racing, helicopter piloting, and motocross. Her favorite song is “Soul Man.” Natalie resides in a little white bungalow on a canal in Venice, California. She drives a red Ferrari Modena, license plate number 924-WNP. Natalie can’t dance to save her life, but she’s extremely proficient in kung fu and several other martial arts, as are fellow Angels Dylan Sanders and Alex Munday.

• DYLAN SANDERS, a.k.a. HELEN ZAAS (2000–2003), played by Drew Barrymore

This auburn-haired, green-eyed wild child is fearless and street-smart. Never having known her parents, Dylan was a rambunctious teenage rebel who graduated with lackluster grades. After that, she did a Kerouac and learned life’s lessons on the road. She had a very brief stint at her local Police Academy, due to assault charges filed for punching out a discipline-happy police sergeant. Since then, Dylan has whiled away her days at odd jobs: bartender, yoga instructor, field guide, rodeo entertainer…you name it, she’s done it. Dylan has a knack for choosing jerks for boyfriends, and she’s been through several. She always finds the good in people, even jerky guys. We learned in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle that she is in the Witness Protection Program because she witnessed a murder comitted by her boyfrined, who was a member of the famous O'Grady Crime Clan. Her former name was Helen Zaas before she testified against him. Dylan is impetuous and has a bad temper, leaping before she looks, but her determination is superhuman. So is her brawling prowess; she’s been known to take out a whole roomful of goons with her hands literally tied behind her back. Her bohemian L.A. pad is complete with lava lamps, incense burners, and a less-than-tidy walk-in closet on Melrose Avenue. She drives an orange-and-white 1969 Camaro convertible, license plate number 716-EKL. WORDS TO LIVE BY: “Don’t let your past hold you back.”

• ALEX MUNDAY (2000–2003), played by Lucy Liu

Alex is a sophisticated class act, with dark brown eyes and never a blue-black hair out of place. Her parents were professors of philosophy and economics at Harvard. By the time she was 13, Alex had academically eclipsed her parents. She spent the rest of her teenage years abroad, learning levitation with a Tibetan guru; safecracking and bomb defusing with a Parisian double agent; dancing for a time with the Stuttgart Ballet — the usual classical education. An expert fencer and horsewoman, Alex has been a government aerospace engineer and on-call consultant for NASA. She was also an early pioneer in the creation of the laptop computer. Alex is so on top of everything, it’s easy to bore her and hard to keep her amused. No known drawbacks. Smitten with actor Jason Gibbons, she resides in an impeccable loft in downtown Los Angeles. Alex drives a vintage silver Mercedes convertible, license plate number 340-JAN. She worships Martha Stewart, despite the fact that she is cursed in the kitchen.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released Seasons 1-3 of the series on DVD thus far. Seasons 4 & 5 are expected to be released soon.

• Charlie's Angels (the series) at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• Behind the Camera: The Charlie's Angels Story at IMDb
• Encyclopedia of Television
• Charlie's Angels Fan Resource
• Full episodes of Charlie's Angels free at AOL Video
• Townsend Agency - the best Charlie's Angels message board on the web