The '70's was a golden age for U.S. television with groundbreaking shows such as 'Roots', 'Holocaust', 'M.A.S.H.' and 'All In The Family'. Created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, 'Charlie's Angels' was a huge step backwards. Even as a testosterone-fuelled teenager, I found it both mindless and demeaning to women. Very much a male creation.
The 'Angels' were three ex-policewomen recruited by a mysterious individual named 'Charlie' ( John Forsythe ) for covert missions. You can see how this idea happened. "Hey, guys!", some hot-shot executive probably yelled one day over an expensive lunch: "Why don't we do 'Mission: Impossible' with an all-girl cast?".
If the 'Angels' had been strong characters, fine. But they were bimbos. Nobody could act, the violence was cartoon-like, the marshmallow theme tune made my teeth itch, and the Identikit plots rarely rose above the tenth-rate.
Each week, the animated 'Barbie' dolls which composed three-quarters of the regular cast went undercover to trap some one-dimensional villain, which of course was nothing more than a pathetic excuse to get them into make-up and sexy clothes.
Farrah Fawcett was the first to jump ship. She later matured into a fine actress. Cheryl Ladd was her replacement. Her debut episode featured one of the most ridiculous scenes ever broadcast on television - Ms.Ladd stripping naked in the middle of a street so as to gain entry to an exclusive nudist camp, while an elderly security guard chortled with glee.
The girls came and went, but the show's entertainment value remained zero. It is amazingly now regarded in some quarters as a proto-feminist tract. 'Cagney & Lacey' it was definitely not!
The 'Angels' were three ex-policewomen recruited by a mysterious individual named 'Charlie' ( John Forsythe ) for covert missions. You can see how this idea happened. "Hey, guys!", some hot-shot executive probably yelled one day over an expensive lunch: "Why don't we do 'Mission: Impossible' with an all-girl cast?".
If the 'Angels' had been strong characters, fine. But they were bimbos. Nobody could act, the violence was cartoon-like, the marshmallow theme tune made my teeth itch, and the Identikit plots rarely rose above the tenth-rate.
Each week, the animated 'Barbie' dolls which composed three-quarters of the regular cast went undercover to trap some one-dimensional villain, which of course was nothing more than a pathetic excuse to get them into make-up and sexy clothes.
Farrah Fawcett was the first to jump ship. She later matured into a fine actress. Cheryl Ladd was her replacement. Her debut episode featured one of the most ridiculous scenes ever broadcast on television - Ms.Ladd stripping naked in the middle of a street so as to gain entry to an exclusive nudist camp, while an elderly security guard chortled with glee.
The girls came and went, but the show's entertainment value remained zero. It is amazingly now regarded in some quarters as a proto-feminist tract. 'Cagney & Lacey' it was definitely not!