Charlie's Angels was a
television series about three women who work for a
private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men. The series was broadcast in the
USA on the
ABC Television Network from 1976 to 1981 and was one of the most successful series of the 1970s.
Charlie's Angels was created by
Ivan Goff and
Ben Roberts and produced by
Aaron Spelling and
Leonard Goldberg. In pre-production, the original proposed title was
The Alley Cats.
Premise
Three women, the Angels (originally
Kate Jackson,
Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and
Jaclyn Smith), graduated from the Los Angeles police academy only to be assigned such duties as handling switch boards and traffic. They quit and were hired to work for the Charles Townsend Agency as private investigators. Their boss, Charlie (voiced by
John Forsythe), is
never seen full face — in some episodes the viewer gets to see the back of his head and his arms, talking through a phone while surrounded by beautiful women — assigning cases to the Angels and his liaison, Bosley (played by
David Doyle), via a speaker phone.