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Do you remember this series!? What catches your spying-eye radar!?
“Charlie’s Angels” originally aired on ABC, 09/22/1976 – 06/24/1981. Created by Ivan Goff & Ben Roberts, this series was produced by the perennial Aaron Spelling. While it continually received mixed reviews & had a reputation as being “Jiggle TV”, it persevered & was popular with audiences then & now with a cult-pop culture following & airings on classic TV networks. The original 3 actresses took varying paths to the show: Kate Jackson (initially cast as “Kelly” but requested a switch to “Sabrina”) was 1st considered due to her popularity in the drama “The Rookies”; Farrah Fawcett-Majors also did not audition, but was offered the role as “Jill” because of her performance in 1976’s ‘Logan’s Run’ movie; Jaclyn Smith was among 100s of actresses who auditioned for “Kelly” & was selected because of her on-screen chemistry with the other 2 actresses. The original title of the series was “The Alley Cats”, but Jackson (who’d been given some control over development) disapproved of the title, which was then changed to “Harry’s Angels”, but then changed to “Charlie’s Angels” to avoid conflict with the TV series “Harry O”. The series’ original 90-minute TV movie aired 03/21/1976. I won’t go into the soap-operish details of the highly-publicized cast changes, which included Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack & Tanya Roberts (with other considerations including Barbara Bach, Connie Sellecca, Shari Belafonte, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bo Derek & Melanie Griffith). The 2 mainstay actors-characters were David Doyle (as “John Bosley”) & John Forsythe (the unseen “Charlie Townsend” who only spoke with the ladies through a Western Electric Speakerphone). Due to the show’s premise (different story each week), the series featured a “who’s who” of guest stars, including but far from limited to: Rene Auberjonois, Ed Begley Jr, Sonny Bono, Barry Bostwick, Dr Joyce Brothers, Stephen Collins, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr, Patrick Duffy, Bo Hopkins, Tommy Lee Jones, Casey Kasem, Christopher Lee, Gavin MacLeod, Craig T Nelson, Robert Pine, Marion Ross, Dick Sargent, Tom Selleck, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Urich & Jane Wyman. In 1 crossover, the ladies went on “The Love Boat” & met the crew. Other media influences include mentions in “The Golden Girls” & “Baywatch”.