Charlie’s Angels

Network: ABC
Episodes: 110 (hour)
Seasons: Five

TV show dates: September 22, 1976 — June 24, 1981
Series status: Cancelled/ended

Performers include: Jaclyn Smith, David Doyle, Cheryl Ladd, Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Tanya Roberts, Shelley Hack, and John Forsythe (voice of Charlie).

TV show description:
Three attractive women graduate from the Los Angeles Police Academy, but find themselves doing light duty jobs, such as running switchboards and directing traffic. They’re then hired by the Charles Townsend Agency to work as private investigators. With their boss referring to them as his “angels,” the three work together on undercover cases and make effective use of their feminine wiles and abilities.

Charles “Charlie” Townsend (John Forsythe) is the boss, yet he’s never seen and only heard through the speaker of a phone as he assigns cases to the angels. When he needs something done in person, he works through his liaison, John Bosley (David Doyle), who is the only employee of the agency to have met Charlie in person.

Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) grew up as an orphan, She is the most sensitive of the angels and spends her personal time helping disadvantaged children. Yet, she’s also streetwise and tougher than she looks. Often her disguise is that of a dancer or model, and her specialty is a southern accent.

Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett) is the sporty and athletic angel. She spends her time coaching a kids’ basketball team, as well as involving herself in tennis, swimming, bowling, skateboarding, and rollerskating. She sometimes uses a cover of being a model and lives in a beach house. When she leaves the agency, she goes on to become a racecar driver, yet occasionally returns to the agency.

Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson) is the most feisty of the original team members, as well as being the “smart angel.” Sabrina has a slight Alabama accent and has a great sense of humor. Divorced, she’s the most direct when dealing with Charlie. While the other angels tend to work a case from the inside, Sabrina often works from the outside, as a reporter or city employee and often takes on a “brassy” persona. It’s usually her piecing the case together.

When Jill leaves the agency, her younger sister, Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd), takes her place. A San Francisco police academy graduate, Kris is the most gullible and also the “fun angel.” She also takes the inside covers, just as her sister did before her. Jill enjoys hot tubs, swimming, and surfing, which works out well since she lives in Jill’s beach house.

After Sabrina leaves the agency, she’s replaced by Tiffany Welles (Shelley Hack), the most refined and educated of the angels. Tiffany is the daughter of an old friend of Charlie’s and graduated from the Boston Police Academy. Typically more aloof than the other angels, Tiffany has mastered the violin, speaks Latin fluently, and has even studied parapsychology.

Tiffany doesn’t last very long at the agency, and is quickly replaced with Julie Rogers (Tanya Roberts). She was abandoned by her father and had an alcoholic mother so she was raised for the most part on the streets. She has a rough persona and is the only angel to not have trained at a police academy. She has been in trouble with the law before and even served time. Julie is hired by Charlie after she helps Kris and Kelly solve a case.