ANGELS
A Television History
A great deal of the hype was created by the episode "Angels
In Chains". One of the very first episodes, it has since
become a cult favorite, most strongly among gay men. I believe
in many ways this one episode is the best representational episode
for the whole series. First of all, we have the title, "Angels
In Chains", a very suggestive name. The titles of the episodes
helped perpetuate the myth that Charlie's Angels was a boldly
erotic S&M fantasy. Some of the other first season episodes
include such tasty titles as "Consenting Adults", "Dirty
Business", "Lady Killer" and "The Blue Angels"
(this last episode concerned the angels cracking a case in the
porno industry, of course). The title "Angels In Chains"
conjures up images of beautiful women bound and gagged participating
in some sort of game of pain and pleasure. In reality the episode
has nothing to do with mischievous sexual antics though there
is plenty of sexual innuendo within the plot. For a synopsis,
and further proof of "Angels In Chains" as being the
perennial episode, there is no better source than, again, the
'76 Time cover article which, only two months after the Angels
premiered, begins with a run down of that particular episode:
"The charges against them are all trumped up, of course, but the three lovely women could not care less. They are detectives working undercover to investigate the strange goings-on at a prison farm and becoming prisoners of that institution is the only way they can do their jobs. They are also, however, nice girls and their cool quickly disappears as a matron, dressed SS style, clearly lesbian in sexual orientation, growls: 'OK girls, strip down to your birthday suits.' After a mandatory shower each in turn must open her towel and submit to the warder's inspection as she sprays them with disinfectant. That's only the beginning. Beatings, threats of rape and enforced prostitution follow, not to mention an imminent triple murder when they find out too much.
What is this? A report on the latest skin flick? A case study on the fantasy life of a troubled adolescent? Nope. Just a plot summary of an episode from the hottest new television show of the season."
Virtually every reference source I found in connection to the
series' lasting legend mentions "Angels In Chains" in
particular. Indeed it is the perennial episode containing many
distinct touches repeated throughout the series. It opens with
a brutal killing of an innocent young lady by a bunch of chauvinistic
white trash prison guards when she escapes from a corrupt facility.
The Angels are quickly dispatched by Charlie to solve the murder
after a small segment featuring Farrah and Jaclyn lounging in
the detective agency's office braless in tight T-shirts, another
Angels' necessity.
Quicker than you can say cheesecake our heroines are picked up on bogus charges (the sheriff plants pot and pills in the back of Sabrina's bright orange Pinto) and they're hauled off to the women's prison farm. There they are forced to strip and humiliatingly sprayed for lice within the first ten minutes of the show. Later they discover that the warder is running a prostitution ring. Very often the plots of an average episode would revolve around some sort of a sexually oriented crime such as a maniac killing off centerfolds at a Playboy-like club or when the Angels discover that another maniacal killer in a different episode is really a jealous transvestite.
Another aspect of "Angels In Chains" that makes it stand out as the definitive episode to watch is the use of guest stars, though in the case of "Angels In Chains" it is accidental. Later episodes feature such TV graveyard celebrities as Imogene Coca, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Sonny Bono. "Angels In Chains" unwittingly began this tradition with appearances by unknown Lauren Tewes (who went on to become Julie, the cruise director on The Love Boat which the Angels would set sail on in a later episode) and by Mary Waranov, whose appearance generally guarantees cult status. Waranov began in the acclaimed films of the sixties by Andy Warhol such as the legendary Chelsea Girls and went on to even more obvious cult favorites such as Paul Bartel's Eating Raoul. The most noticeable accidental guest star of "Angels In Chains" is an unknown eighteen year old, Kim Basinger, who plays one of the poor innocent inmates. In fact, at the end of the episode Charlie gives Basinger's character a job as the Angels' receptionist but unfortunately she's never on the series again.
"Angels In Chains" became an overnight sensation. It received a 56% Neilsen share and a 52% share in rerun! Aaron Spelling, who confesses that it is his favorite episode, said that the network should just run it weekly until the ratings fell below 40% and then shoot a new episode. As I mentioned before, the network usually received around 18,000 letters a week for Charlie's Angels but after "Angels In Chains" ABC was flooded with 20,000 letters just concerning that particular episode with virtually all of them containing a plea for more of the same.