Appreciating Charlie's Angels

[Snarky Oracle!]

Instead of Hack and Roberts, they should have had a delicious black angel for the last two seasons.

 

[Toni]

There only was a delicious black angel...
...and had her own show!



But if they had gone for Pam Grier,
imagine where the ratings would have gone!​

 

[IDFfm0870]

Charlie's Angels was the very first series I watched. My favorite back then was beautiful Jaclyn Smith, and I used to have a glitzy poster of the season 4 angels in my room. Kate Jackson would be a close second, as she was the most interesting character of the bunch.

I have read somewhere that the season 4 order of episodes had been changed during the original broadcast, and Tiffany originally would have had a centric episode early in the season, which probably did not help to get to know Shelley Hack's character better back then. I did not see her in Charlie's Angels, but I recently saw her first episode and had a good laugh when Afton Cooper's real life sister Judy Landers was in that episode, playing some goofy blonde that was mistaken for Tiffany at first right?

I have not seen any episodes with Tanya Roberts either, only remember the actress for being in some bad Tarzan movie, Sheena or Sheba?

Anyway, guess it's time for a rewatch at some point. It's been a quite a while since I have originally seen it, but I enjoyed watching it a lot.

 

[Barbara Fan]

I wasnt allowed to watch Charlies Angels back in the day as my dad said it was "American rubbish"

And when i protested would quote me the often heard "when you pay the license fee you can watch whatever you want!!"

I quote that back at him to this day! lol

His work took him away from home from time to time so so a few

jacklyn Smith was my fav, at school the girls called kate jackson the ugly angel, and most girls for a while aimed for Farrah fawcett flick of their hair
I went for the Pam Ewing look instead!

 

[Grant Jennings]

I imagine Nolan Miller was as skilled at tact and diplomacy as he was at fashion or else he would not have had such a long career yet when asked about Kate Jackson, he didn't hold back. Miller said Jackson was an unprofessional, temperamental diva (I'm not quoting him, but that's the gist of it). I understand many in Hollywood shared this opinion.

Yes, as bizarre as it sounds the producers actually thought casting the model featured in the ads for "Charlie" perfume would be a good way to generate publicity for the series (as if it suffered from lack of publicity). I understand their desire to find someone to replace Kate Jackson as "the smart angel" but wouldn't acting ability be a prerequisite? Hack was supposedly so bad at simple line-readings that they gave many of her lines to Jaclyn Smith instead. Despite this, Martin Scorsese cast her in "The King of Comedy". I enjoyed her in "Vanities" (a stage play aired on HBO) and "Jack and Mike". I find it ironic that someone not up to the task of acting on "Charlie's Angels" is, in real life, extremely intelligent and accomplished.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I imagine Nolan Miller was as skilled at tact and diplomacy as he was at fashion or else he would not have had such a long career yet when asked about Kate Jackson, he didn't hold back. Miller said Jackson was an unprofessional, temperamental diva (I'm not quoting him, but that's the gist of it). I understand many in Hollywood shared this opinion.

Nolan did say, while holding Linda Evans' hand on DONAHUE (I believe), that Kate comes off on screen as being so sweet and cute, and that "she's not." And in a later interview, said that Kate was so neurotic that once, during a period in which they were barely speaking to each other, Kate came up to him and asked him if he wanted to join a group of them who were going to Paris for the weekend.

Even Jaclyn Smith, a good buddy with Kate, admitted Jackson can sometimes be "a bully."

But Miller doesn't always hold his tongue entirely regarding others: he said they were all glad to see Pamela Bellwood go (I'm sure she was complaining left-and-right about the writing), and then Nolan made noises about Diahann Carroll wanting to be "the first black bitch on television" which seemed to suggest he thought she'd succeeded.

And yet, when asked about Joan -- and Joan and Linda -- he's careful to not openly criticize Joan (for reasons of her stature) even though he as closer personally to Linda.

Yes, as bizarre as it sounds the producers actually thought casting the model featured in the ads for "Charlie" perfume would be a good way to generate publicity for the series (as if it suffered from lack of publicity). I understand their desire to find someone to replace Kate Jackson as "the smart angel" but wouldn't acting ability be a prerequisite? Hack was supposedly so bad at simple line-readings that they gave many of her lines to Jaclyn Smith instead. Despite this, Martin Scorsese cast her in "The King of Comedy". I enjoyed her in "Vanities" (a stage play aired on HBO) and "Jack and Mike". I find it ironic that someone not up to the task of acting on "Charlie's Angels" is, in real life, extremely intelligent and accomplished.

And she had a pre-cameo in ANNIE HALL!

Hack's acting may be like Victoria's on DALLAS: during the first four years, she was very hit-and-miss, especially after she cut her hair into that shag and started playing Pam as Mrs.GoodyTwoShoes. Her elocution suffered badly... But after she went to visit and threaten Roger the photographer, she rarely made a thespianic misstep.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[ClassyCo]

I've never seen the TV Tales of Charlie's Angels. I've seen The Golden Girls one, but not this one.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[ClassyCo]

I've seen the "Girls with Guns" one. I downloaded it to my computer off MP3 Rocket Player some time ago.

Instead of Hack and Roberts, they should have had a delicious black angel for the last two seasons.

Apparently before Spelling-Goldberg decided on Shelley Hack, singer-actress Shari Belafonte was considered as having potential to replace Kate Jackson. I don't know if a role was offered, but refused, or it a meeting with her switched the producers' minds. Couldn't say.

I recently read an article from People magazine about Shelley Hack's being axed from the show. Charlie's Angels, which once enjoyed ratings shares in the high 40s, had plunged to the low 30s during her tenure on the show. Apparently, the network and producers thought all the blame was rightful to be placed at Shelley's door. On Valentine's Day 1980, all of the cast received invitations for them to return for the fifth season, expect Shelley. She was quite simply not asked to come back.

Her likability with audiences was deemed too low, and her physical attractiveness seemed to have always been of some concern. Evidently, she refused the acting classes the network and producers had lined up for her, and over time, she became increasingly demanding about the direction and treatment of her character and over other issues, such as working hours and wardrobe. Costume designer Nolan Miller admits no one on the production ever expected her to turn out so fussy, a fact that lowered her already shaky employment.

It is quite shocking when one hears the names considered to replace Kate Jackson. Michelle Pfeiffer, Connie Sellecca, Shari Belafonte, Barbara Bach, and Catherine Bach among others. Hack was well-anticipated, but she didn't meet network-appointed expectations. She was cut. And the decision was made quick and without warning.

Shelley, on the other hand, never seemed concerned with her firing. She always stresses she wasn't expecting to be on the show longer than a year, and how she wished to further her career in films. She did both.

One thing puzzling about the aforementioned article was the last line. Apparently, it was touted that Farrah Fawcett, the first season's breakout star, was in talks with Aaron Spelling about coming back to the show full-time for Season Five, replacing Hack. I don't believe I've ever read this before. I wonder if it's true...?

 

[Toni]

Apparently before Spelling-Goldberg decided on Shelley Hack, singer-actress Shari Belafonte was considered as having potential to replace Kate Jackson. I don't know if a role was offered, but refused, or it a meeting with her switched the producers' minds. Couldn't say.

Well, watch one scene with Shari from "Hotel" and you will be able to say...

 

[ClassyCo]

Well, watch one scene with Shari from "Hotel" and you will be able to say...

I'll give some of her Hotel work a look later on. Thanks for the suggestion.

In the TV Tales episode featuring Charlie's Angels, there's one thing that stands out to me because of its inaccuracy. Charlie's Angels, to the best of my remembrance, had the highest ratings for a debut television series since The Beverly Hillbillies back in the early 1960s. In the spring of 1977, the cheesy and sexy P.I. procedural finished fifth in the Nielsen ratings, with an average 25.8 rating.

Okay, here's my beef:

There's this common misconception that the series did better its second season than its first. At the end of the second year, in the spring of 1978, the series was fourth in the ratings, but with a 24.4 share. (As we know, season two was when Cheryl Ladd took-over for Farrah Fawcett.)

The 24.4 rating share it ended with for the 1977─78 season was actually lower than the 25.8 rating share from the first year. The ranking was higher, however; it was #5 in 1977 and #4 in 1978. Only three shows were doing better in 1978, but the show(s) themselves all had smaller audience shares.

 

[ClassyCo]

I decided to revisit Season Four today with two episodes as my re-introduction:

The first was "Fallen Angel", the first episode of the season to feature Farrah Fawcett in the fourth of her six contract-obligated guest gigs. The Angel trio (consisting this year of Kelly, Kris, and Tiffany) are recruited to catch Damien 'Ice Cat' Roth (guest star Timothy Dalton), an infamous jet-setting jewel thief, who happens to be in love with Jill. All turns out well, however, because it turns out Jill was doing some undercover work for Charlie to help nail Roth.

I then flipped through the DVDs, and decided on "Catch a Falling Angel", which plots the Angels trying to salvage country girl Bess-turned-porno star Sally Storm from her pending doom at the fate of her ruthless producer boyfriend. They end up rescuing her.
​

It has been some time since I've watched any episodes of the show, so I wanted to revisit some I remember fondly. These episodes still let me know why I love the Angels, but I now look at this fourth year in a different light. We've been discussing Shelley Hack, her character Tiffany Welles, and the actress's tenure on the series a bit here, so that's a main reason I wanted to give Season Four another look.

There were a few things that certainly stick out from these two episodes. Tiffany (or Shelley, however you wish to reference her) has close-ups, but she hasn't too many with other characters. She has some with Bosley, but her shots with the other Angels, in these two episodes at least, are scarce. I recollect reading an article on Hill Post some time ago where they drew from the fourth season finale's final scene that concludes on a shot of Kelly and Kris together, but leaves Tiffany out. They reasoned that this foreshadowed the producers' dismissal of her, and thus preparing their viewers for the new Angel that would enter the following year.

I certainly don't think the Season Four ratings erosion can all be placed on Shelley Hack. She isn't the best of actress in these episodes, especially the earlier ones, but once she's given more screen time and more to sink her teeth into, I do think she fits in with the series rather nicely. Of course, kinks could have been ironed better and far earlier than they were, but I think she could have worked well enough to stay for the last season, especially since everyone knew the 1980─81 season would be the last year any way. Almost all knew Jaclyn Smith didn't want to extend her contract, Cheryl Ladd and David Doyle were weary to continue, and John Forsythe had already started filming Dynasty.

I think had the episodes been reorganized the reaction to Hack's Tiffany Welles wouldn't have been as harsh. This season is full of episodes placing an individual Angel at center stage and having the rest of the core cast more or less as wallpaper around them. The problem here is the Tiffany-centric episodes don't start until almost halfway through the season. Her episodes are decent, and some I'd argue are more entertaining than the Kelly and Kris ones.

Either way, it wasn't all Shelley Hack's fault. I wish they would have kept her.

 

[Toni]

I decided to revisit Season Four today with two episodes as my re-introduction:

The first was "Fallen Angel", the first episode of the season to feature Farrah Fawcett in the fourth of her six contract-obligated guest gigs. The Angel trio (consisting this year of Kelly, Kris, and Tiffany) are recruited to catch Damien 'Ice Cat' Roth (guest star Timothy Dalton), an infamous jet-setting jewel thief, who happens to be in love with Jill. All turns out well, however, because it turns out Jill was doing some undercover work for Charlie to help nail Roth.

I then flipped through the DVDs, and decided on "Catch a Falling Angel", which plots the Angels trying to salvage country girl Bess-turned-porno star Sally Storm from her pending doom at the fate of her ruthless producer boyfriend. They end up rescuing her.
​

It has been some time since I've watched any episodes of the show, so I wanted to revisit some I remember fondly. These episodes still let me know why I love the Angels, but I now look at this fourth year in a different light. We've been discussing Shelley Hack, her character Tiffany Welles, and the actress's tenure on the series a bit here, so that's a main reason I wanted to give Season Four another look.

There were a few things that certainly stick out from these two episodes. Tiffany (or Shelley, however you wish to reference her) has close-ups, but she hasn't too many with other characters. She has some with Bosley, but her shots with the other Angels, in these two episodes at least, are scarce. I recollect reading an article on Hill Post some time ago where they drew from the fourth season finale's final scene that concludes on a shot of Kelly and Kris together, but leaves Tiffany out. They reasoned that this foreshadowed the producers' dismissal of her, and thus preparing their viewers for the new Angel that would enter the following year.

I certainly don't think the Season Four ratings erosion can all be placed on Shelley Hack. She isn't the best of actress in these episodes, especially the earlier ones, but once she's given more screen time and more to sink her teeth into, I do think she fits in with the series rather nicely. Of course, kinks could have been ironed better and far earlier than they were, but I think she could have worked well enough to stay for the last season, especially since everyone knew the 1980─81 season would be the last year any way. Almost all knew Jaclyn Smith didn't want to extend her contract, Cheryl Ladd and David Doyle were weary to continue, and John Forsythe had already started filming Dynasty.

I think had the episodes been reorganized the reaction to Hack's Tiffany Welles wouldn't have been as harsh. This season is full of episodes placing an individual Angel at center stage and having the rest of the core cast more or less as wallpaper around them. The problem here is the Tiffany-centric episodes don't start until almost halfway through the season. Her episodes are decent, and some I'd argue are more entertaining than the Kelly and Kris ones.

Either way, it wasn't all Shelley Hack's fault. I wish they would have kept her.

I agree with you, Shelley Hack did her best given the conditions. She had a classic movie star aura à la Lauren Bacall, and as the pic above proves, she was a real beauty. Maybe more in the line of Jaclyn than Farrah´s or Cheryl´s. I don´t think the show needed Actors Studio alumni to star in it and Shelley was a good replacement for Kate. I don´t wanna be bitchy but this is especially true when we compare her with Tanya Roberts (who very obviously was chosen for her generous physique). TBH, I haven´t yet watched one episode with Tanya in it, and I´ve owned the complete series for awhile. And the "model academy" dumb stuff from the Opening didn´t help in that matter...I guess that if I were straight, things would be different though...I´m not really sure.

Cleavage is the name of the name...especially for Tanya.​

 

[Seaviewer]

Apparently before Spelling-Goldberg decided on Shelley Hack, singer-actress Shari Belafonte was considered as having potential to replace Kate Jackson. I don't know if a role was offered, but refused, or it a meeting with her switched the producers' minds. Couldn't say.

Well, watch one scene with Shari from "Hotel" and you will be able to say...

The fact that they later cast her in Hotel must mean that she couldn't have made too bad an impression.

Barbara Bach,

That I remember being reported at the time.

 

[ClassyCo]

The fact that they later cast her in Hotel must mean that she couldn't have made too bad an impression.

Perhaps they liked her, but didn't think she'd fit as an Angel, or maybe they were pressed for time, or maybe that simply decided to go another route. I suppose they kept up with her, and by the time her Hotel gig came around, they felt she was ready to proceed.

 

[Toni]

It was the time when famous last names meant something, remember? Presley, Belafonte, Oxenberg, Welch... The more famous, the least talented...

"I´ll say whatever lines I want to say,
I´ll wear whatever Travilla gowns I want to wear,
and if you disagree, the power of Elvis will fall on you...
Oh and Bobby loved emeralds just because I do..."​

 

[ClassyCo]

It was the time when famous last names meant something, remember? Presley, Belafonte, Oxenberg, Welch... The more famous, the least talented...

"I´ll say whatever lines I want to say,
I´ll wear whatever Travilla gowns I want to wear,
and if you disagree, the power of Elvis will fall on you...
Oh and Bobby loved emeralds just because I do..."​

Speaking of Presley and Welch, rumor has it they were each considered for as potential Angels in the show's earliest stages. Spelling apparently offered Presley a role and a rather lucrative paycheck, but she declined because "she disliked the show". What ever that means, I don't know.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Speaking of Presley and Welch, rumor has it they were each considered for as potential Angels in the show's earliest stages. Spelling apparently offered Presley a role and a rather lucrative paycheck, but she declined because "she disliked the show". What ever that means, I don't know.

She probably thought it was dumb. But she would have fit in perfectly.