Though derided at the time for being the show that ushered in an age of ‘Jiggle TV,’ Charlie’s Angels has become a legend of its time, with legions of boys that drooled over hot babes fighting for justice and even more girls who wanted to be just like them – and some still do!  It was one of the most successful television programs of the 70s, breaking in their first season at #5 on the annual Nielsen ratings – a premiere season record that wouldn’t be broken for nearly two decades!  The success of the series built a franchise that at the time included dolls, but has since grown to include two include two feature films – films that helped the series move beyond the ‘jiggle’ and into empowerment and the fight for what’s right.

Three women, Kelly, Jill and Sabrina, had just graduated from the police academy (which we later learn the three were a part of the Los Angeles Police Department) and were hired on to work for the Charles Townsend Agency.  Though they interact with Bosley face-to-face, Charlie, played by John Forsythe, was a man shrouded in mystery, whose voice would come – as though from the heavens above – from a box.  Sometimes we’d get to see a shadow of him in his chair, facing the other way, of course. Every week, Charlie would send them out on new missions for which they’d have to go undercover to investigate.  That’s where the excitement and tension would come in.  Would they be ‘found out’?  What sort of sexual wiles would be used to get what they needed?  Oooh! 

The Angels even entertained a number of well-known individuals during their time on the air.  Notable guest appearances included Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., Sonny Bono, Dirk Benedict (who was then popular for Battlestar Galactica, and would later be known for The A-Team) and Tom Selleck (Magnum, P.I.). As time went on, writers dropped the sensationalism and went for more straightforward episodes, where they’d focus more on the case at hand than the sex appeal of earlier episodes.

Loved or hated, Charlie’s Angels made icons out of the female detectives that came from the show, glamorizing women being in the traditionally male environment of crime fighting.  Campy and glamorous at the same time, many have yet to decide whether it helped hurt the cause of women on television.  Despite that, the series has turned a new leaf thanks to the help of Drew Barrymore, who now owns the rights to the entire series.  In 2000, she produced the feature film Charlie’s Angels, which featured herself, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu as three angels, and Bill Murray as Bosley.  The formula proved successful once more, and three years later came Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.  Women everywhere could feel empowered and sexy, making any best friend photo op a chance to point your fingers into a gun, lean into each other and shake your sexy little heads, sending your long flowing locks, or lack thereof, into the breeze.