# Charlie's Angels (1976)

> Three glamorous, highly skilled female detectives take weekly cases on orders from an unseen boss named Charlie.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/3217

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 115
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: action, crime
- Created by: Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, Tanya Roberts, David Doyle, John Forsythe
- TMDB rating: 6.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073972/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: campy, breezy, playful, glamorous, nostalgic

## What critics say

Viewers mostly recall the show as campy 1970s fun with a strong early run and a weaker later stretch, with audience ratings mixed overall.

## Synopsis

Charlie's Angels (1976-1981) is a United States network crime-action series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts for ABC. Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) leads a team of glamorous, sharp-witted private investigators who take orders by speakerphone from a never-seen employer named Charlie. Alongside Kelly, the Angels include Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett) and later Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd), with John Bosley (David Doyle) serving as their field handler. The engine of the show is simple and sturdy: each week the women go undercover in disguises, infiltrate a suspect's world, and use martial arts, fistfights and their considerable charm to crack a seemingly impossible case. Across five seasons the series is built around a self-contained case of the week, an episodic format that keeps the stakes light and the pace brisk. Set in 1970s Los Angeles and California, it moves through sunny locales, bright costumes and polished sets. The tone is breezy, campy and nostalgic, with a playful sense of fun that fans of The Bionic Woman, Hart to Hart and The Rockford Files will recognize. It is a fizzy, escapist piece of seventies television with a wink to its own glamour.

## Shows like Charlie's Angels

- [The Mod Squad (1968)](https://ember.film/tv/3806)
- [Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983)](https://ember.film/tv/3249)
- [The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977)](https://ember.film/tv/2785)
- [Knight Rider (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/2264)
- [Three's Company (1977)](https://ember.film/tv/2551)
- [McMillan & Wife (1971)](https://ember.film/tv/10092)
- [Remington Steele (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/556)
- [Moonlighting (1985)](https://ember.film/tv/1889)
- [Barnaby Jones (1973)](https://ember.film/tv/554)
- [Magnum, P.I. (1980)](https://ember.film/tv/696)

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