Editing Charlie's Angels (section)

==Development==
After the success of ''[[Police Woman (TV series)|Police Woman]]'', the first hour long drama starring a woman,<ref name="ames19781127">{{Cite magazine |last=Ames |first=Wilmer |date=1978-11-27 |title=Angie Keeps on Going |url=https://people.com/archive/cover-story-angie-keeps-on-going-vol-10-no-22/ |magazine=People |language=EN |access-date=2020-07-22}}</ref> [[Ivan Goff]] and [[Ben Roberts (writer)|Ben Roberts]] came up with the idea for a series about three beautiful female private investigators as a breakthrough but also as an escapist television series. Producers [[Aaron Spelling]] and [[Leonard Goldberg]] first considered actress [[Kate Jackson]] during the early pre-production stages of the series. She had proven popular with viewers in another police television drama, ''[[The Rookies]]''. Jackson was initially cast as Kelly Garrett, but was more attracted to the role of Sabrina Duncan, and her request to switch roles was granted. [[Farrah Fawcett]] was next cast as Jill Munroe but, like Jackson, did not audition for a role. She was offered a part by Spelling after he had viewed her performance in the 1976 film ''[[Logan's Run (film)|Logan's Run]]''. [[Jaclyn Smith]] was among the hundreds of actresses who auditioned for the role of Kelly Garrett. Despite liking Smith, Spelling and Goldberg were wary about hiring her because their initial concept concerned a brunette, blonde, and red-headed woman. Smith was the only brunette who auditioned for the role and was cast only after producers liked the on-screen chemistry she shared with Jackson and Fawcett.

Producer Leonard Goldberg had the initial idea, three years previously, for a show that would be a cross between ''The Avengers'' and ''Honey West'', a short-lived drama from the 1960s about a female private investigator.<ref name="sundaypost.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/charlies-angels-was-tv-heaven/|title=Charlie's Angels was TV heaven... but network had dismissed it as 'worst idea' ever - Sunday Post|website=Sundaypost.com|date=October 4, 2016 |access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref> Goff and Roberts had first titled the series ''The Alley Cats'' in which the three females (named Allison, Lee, and Catherine) would reside in alleys and wear whips and chains. Jackson disapproved of the title and, since she was given semi-control over the development of the series, she encouraged producers to find a new title. It was Jackson who decided the three women would be called "Angels" after seeing a picture of three angels hanging in Spelling's office, and the series became known as ''Harry's Angels''. This title was changed, however, when [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] did not want to run into conflict with the series ''[[Harry O]]'', and it thereby became ''Charlie's Angels''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The TV Guide TV Book: 40 Years of the All-Time Greatest Television Facts, Fads, Hits, and History |url=https://archive.org/details/tvguidetvbook40y00wein |url-access=registration |last=Weiner |first=Ed |others=Editors of TV Guide |year=1992 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-096914-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tvguidetvbook40y00wein/page/174 174]}}</ref>

In the initial concept of the series, the three females' boss would be a millionaire who often aided them in their assignments; however, Jackson and Spelling decided it would be more interesting to have the boss's identity remain a secret. With this, millionaire Charlie Townsend was an unseen character on the series who only spoke to the Angels via a [[Western Electric]] speakerphone. [[John Forsythe]], who played the unseen Charlie Townsend, recorded his lines in an audio studio and was never on set. Thus, Forsythe rarely met any of his female co-stars. Some years later, he bumped into Farrah Fawcett at a tennis court, as he recalled, "I was coming off the court when she came up to me and said, 'Charlie! I finally met Charlie!'". Forsythe was offered the 'Charlie' role in a panicky late-night phone call from Spelling after the original choice, [[Gig Young]], showed up too intoxicated to read his lines: "I didn't even take my pajamas off – I just put on my topcoat and drove over to Fox. When it was finished, Aaron Spelling said, 'That's perfect'. And I went home and went back to bed".<ref name="theguardian.com"/>

Spelling and Goldberg decided to add actor [[David Doyle (actor)|David Doyle]] to the cast as John Bosley, an employee of Charlie, who would frequently aid the Angels in their assignments. Although ABC had approved of a pilot film, they were concerned about how audiences would accept three women fighting crime on their own. ABC executives brought in [[David Ogden Stiers]] as Scott Woodville, who would act as the chief backup to the Angels and Bosley's superior; he would also be depicted as the organizer of the plan, in similar fashion to Jim Phelps in ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'', a series for which Goff and Roberts had written.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/03/david-ogden-stiers-dies-actor-known-as-major-winchester-in-mash-was-75-1202309755/|title=David Ogden Stiers Dies: Actor Known As Major Winchester In M*A*S*H Was 75|first1=Bruce|last1=Haring|date=March 4, 2018}}</ref>

The 74-minute pilot film initially aired on March 21, 1976. The story focuses heavily on Kelly Garrett (a role intended for Jackson before she and Smith swapped) who poses as an heiress who returns home to gain her father's successful winery. In the end of the film the three women are caught in a bind and Scott attempts to save them, but to no avail, leaving them to solve the dilemma on their own (and with the help of allies made during the story). ABC executives were somewhat disappointed in this initial project, fearing there was more emphasis on [[Camp (style)|camp]] than serious drama. After viewing the pilot, Spelling encouraged executives to delete Scott Woodville from the series; according to ''The Charlie's Angels Casebook'', audiences also reacted negatively to the character. Bosley was kept, made slightly less inept than depicted in the pilot, and was given many of Woodville's attributes and responsibilities. The series formally premiered on Wednesday, September 22, 1976, at 10:00pm.

The pilot film received enormous ratings, but ABC – who thought this was one of the worst ideas for a TV series they had ever heard – did not believe the figures and showed the pilot again at a later date to check. The ratings were just as high, even for a repeat screening.<ref name="sundaypost.com"/>

Each episode of the series cost between $575,000 and $600,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/152633948/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804170225/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/152633948/|title=Deficit Financing: OR, what's a big hit like Angels doing in a bind like this?|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=105|archivedate=August 4, 2024|date=May 16, 1980|accessdate=August 4, 2024|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>