WHAT THE CRITIC'S THOUGHT- BEHIND THE CAMERA:  CHARLIE'S ANGELS

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels.'" March 08, 2004 By Ray Richmond Bottom line: It's an agreeably sassy look at a divertingly dopey sensation. 9-11 p.m. Monday, March 8 NBC Now here's a dilemma for you, TV-movie fans: "Charlie's Angels" vs. Judas and Jesus tonight at 9. Decision, decisions. It may surprise many that "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'" is the more entertaining choice, a camp journey back to the 1970s that fully embraces its trashy destiny. Not that any of us were necessarily clamoring for the real story behind the notorious girls-with-guns extravaganza that was once dubbed "massage parlor television" but would now be seen as uncommonly tame (not to mention stupefyingly lame). Still, this cheeky view of how the show became Must Squeeze TV has a grand time reveling in the absurdity of an unlikely phenomenon. First of all, you've got to love a film that has the balls to cast Homer Simpson himself, Dan Castellaneta, as none other than Aaron Spelling -- the man who gave the world not only Sabrina, Jill and Kelly but "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" and sudsy spectaculars too numerous to mention. Castellaneta the pipe-toking producer with the requisite wink and nod, while Dan Lauria of "The Wonder Years" fame is on target as a fiery Fred Silverman and Wallace Langham is pretty much perfect as Farrah Fawcett-Majors' ever-scheming manager Jay Bernstein. "Behind the Camera" smartly takes its subject only marginally seriously, with Tricia Helfer, Christina Chambers and Lauren Stamile doing a credible job as Farrah, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson, respectively. The show (which ran from 1976-81) started out with the title "The Alley Cats," but Jackson helped change their mind. She's later moved to defiantly point out, "We're private dicks, not purring pussies!"

Despite having the worst-testing pilot in ABC history, "Charlie's Angels" would grow quickly into a top-rated societal phenomenon that inexplicably made the cover of Time magazine (and has since, of course, led to a pair of feature films). Back then, it was the hit everyone at ABC was embarrassed to have, so much so that the network hired producer Barney Rosenzweig (played in the film by Michael Tomlinson) to make it more intelligent -- until it became clear that making the show too good would ruin it. It would turn Farrah into an icon (in tandem with that famed bathing suit poster) and lead to her decision to leave the show after a single season at husband Lee Majors' behest.

The script from exec producer Matt Dorff -- based on the book "Charlie's Angels Casebook" from authors David Hofstede and Jack Condon, the latter of whom consulted on the film -- is rife with divertingly cheesy dialogue like this exchange between Farrah and Jaclyn:

Farrah: "So, shampoo and conditioner finally meet."

Jaclyn: "Well, if the show doesn't work out, at least we'll still have silky, manageable hair."

Farrah: "And Ultra Brite smiles."

There's also one line here that tells you how little has really changed in the primetime landscape over the past quarter-century or so. A network suit, upset at some consistent actress overexposure, is heard declaring, "We can't put nipples on our network!" As we've learned from recent events, broadcast primetime still yearns to be nipple-free.

Period pop music from the mid-1970s provides an appropriately jaunty soundtrack to "The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels,'" which follows in the footsteps of last May's similar "Behind the Camera" on "Three's Company." Directed with offbeat style by Francine McDougall, it's a harmlessly enjoyable way to waste two hours of your life.

Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of "Charlie's Angels" NBC Michael G. Larkin Prods. and Conceive, Develop & Execute Entertainment Inc. in association with Jaffe/Braunstein Films

Credits: Executive producers: Michael Larkin, Matt Dorff, Howard Braunstein, Michael Jaffe Producer: Ted Bauman Director: Francine McDougall Screenwriter: Matt Dorff Based on the book "Charlie's Angels Casebook" by: Jack Condon, David Hofstede ______________________________________________________________________

VARIETY Sun., Mar. 7, 2004 Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of "Charlie's Angels"

By BRIAN LOWRY TV Reviews From the Same Period

With all the 1970s knockoffs in circulation -- including the current "Starsky & Hutch" feature spoof -- it's hard to believe another trip down memory lane in TV movie form could bring anything fresh to the party. Yet NBC's behind-the-scenes formula for dredging up old series gets a surprisingly clever addition with this affectionate, at times very inside look at "Charlie's Angels," which doubtless mangles TV history but manages to have quite a bit of fun doing it.

The post-sweeps airdate suggests that even the network wasn't entirely sure how this would play, especially since the main characters -- beyond the actresses involved -- are producers and execs, with Aaron Spelling (as played by Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson) front and center.

Still, there's something hilarious about a movie in which Spelling announces with a straight face that the writers "can't afford to make this show too good," and whose sort-of villain, for lack of a real heavy, is none other than ... Lee Majors!

Picking up at the People's Choice Awards after the show completed its first season, the pic flashes back to a hapless ABC -- overseen by Michael Eisner and Barry Diller -- with the former telling Spelling to "come back when you have some show ideas that won't make us the laughingstock of network television." Insert your own joke here.

Soon, Fred Silverman (Dan Lauria of "The Wonder Years") is in the programming hot seat and eventually relents to the campaign by Spelling and partner Leonard Goldberg (Bruce Altman) to greenlight a show about three sexy femme detectives.

Castellaneta occasionally sounds like he's doing an impersonation of Robert Vaughn, but it's still a toothy performance that has oodles of fun with Spelling's super-producer persona. Chewing on his pipe at a party, for example, he sees Farrah Fawcett-Majors (underwear model Tricia Helfer, last seen as a seductive Cylon in "Battlestar Galactica") in super-slow motion, wind blown and set to music.

At that point, Fawcett-Majors is the very contented wife of "The Six Million Dollar Man" star (Ben Browder), taking the gig essentially as a lark while her husband's working. Kate Jackson (Lauren Stamile) comes aboard too, though she's soon grousing about the show's sexism, without much support from Fawcett-Majors or Jaclyn Smith (Christina Chambers), previously a shampoo model.

Despite disastrous testing, "Charlie's Angels" premieres to boffo ratings, with its continued success prompting Spelling to backpedal on pledges to make the show less titillating.

Both Stamile and Chambers nail their characters' voices, as does an off-camera Orson Bean sitting in for John Forsythe -- who became the unseen Charlie as a last-minute replacement, we're told, after a big-name star showed up drunk.

Writer-exec producer Matt Dorff ("Growing Up Brady") and director Francine McDougall pepper the story with '70s tunes and knowing little references, such as Spelling's daughter Tori, then just a moppet, pleading, "Daddy, can I be on TV when I grow up?" There's even a debate with broadcast standards about the problem of "nipple protrusion," with Spelling helpfully offering to tape them down if need be.

If there's a beating heart in this mostly heartless little tale, it belongs to Fawcett-Majors, who is unprepared for stardom and wounded by the toll it's exacting on her marriage and increasingly jealous husband, played by Browder with a perpetually arched eyebrow.

None of this should be taken terribly seriously, though a few of the issues half-heartedly raised -- from exploiting women's sexuality to the dubious predictive power of focus groups -- certainly resonate in the biz today.

Granted, it remains something of a mystery why this particular era is viewed as such fertile terrain for TV and movie sendups, inasmuch as the younger half of the 18-49 demographic was at best barely sentient when "Angels" premiered.

Still, since everyone appears determined to fish out of that pond, there's something to be said for doing so with a touch of wit and style. In that respect, "Behind the Camera" comes away looking pretty good, nipples and all.

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TV Review: 'Behind the Camera' takes fun look at 'Charlie's Angels'

Monday, March 08, 2004

By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Hankering for a hunk of TV cheese? You won't do better tonight than "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels.'" It's not quality by any means, but it's absolutely entertaining for fans of television, its history, and the movers and shakers who make it happen.

Following on last year's "Behind the Camera" about "Three's Company," NBC pulls back the curtain on another ABC hit. There's not as much drama with "Charlie's Angels" as with the Suzanne Somers imbroglio on "Three's Company," but there's a lot more comedy. Most of the humor comes from "Charlie's Angels" producer Aaron Spelling, played by Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer on "The Simpsons." During a party, Spelling's wife brings daughter Tori, a toddler, down for a goodnight kiss. Daddy, can I be on TV when I grow up?" asks Tori, who would go on to star in Spelling's "Beverly Hills, 90210.""Someday I'll create a show just for you!" Aaron promises her. Sounds apocryphal, but it's still funny. As "Behind the Camera" tells it, Kate Jackson (Lauren Stamile, who gets Jackson's voice just right) was the brains behind the show. She suggested the characters be "angels" and the idea of Charlie communicating with the trio by speaker phone. She's also the most concerned about the objectification of women. Jaclyn Smith (Christina Chambers) has the least acting experience and the greatest concern about appearing on TV in a bathing suit. Farrah Fawcett-Majors (Tricia Helfer) is just doing the show so she has something to do while her husband, Lee Majors (Ben Browder, "Farscape"), is off filming "The Six Million Dollar Man. Behind the Camera" is at its best when exposing the absurdities that run rampant through Hollywood. An ABC executive is concerned about "Charlie's Angels" coming across as nothing more than "jiggle TV." Spelling brings in Barney Rosenzweig (Michael Tomlinson), who would later create "Cagney & Lacey," to elevate the series. But after it becomes a ratings smash, ABC execs decide to return to the original formula. All those improvements you've been making?" says Spelling's producing partner, Leonard Goldberg (Bruce Altman). "You need to stop making them. Now. And it's worth remembering that Janet Jackson wasn't the first person to make breasts an issue on TV. An ABC standards and practices executive lectures Spelling about some of the show's stars not wearing bras under their tops. The issue is nipples. We're seeing nipples," he says. "We must stop nipple protrusion on ABC." "Behind the Camera" is utterly disposable, but a lot of fun for pop culture fans. Besides, what's not to love about a biopic that takes time for a scene of Lee Majors, as Steve Austin, fighting with Sasquatch on the set of "The Six Million Dollar Man"? After the director yells cut, the actor playing Bigfoot tells Majors his son watches Farrah's show alone in his bedroom every week.

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No-brainer revisits frothsome 'Angels' fun

NBC movie is a behind scenes peek at '70s hit

March 8, 2004BY MIKE DUFFY FREE PRESS TV CRITIC It’s time to giggle about jiggle TV. 'Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'' THREE STARS out of four 9 p.m. Monday WDIV-TV, Channel 4, NBC

In the era of Janet (Wardrobe Malfunction) Jackson and her Super Bowl breast brouhaha, the pop cultural ruckus once stirred up by the sexy detectives of "Charlie's Angels" seems dizzily innocuous. Of course, the show itself -- starring insta-celebrities Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith -- was pretty darn dizzy and innocuous. But when "Charlie's Angels" first sashayed into view in 1976 on ABC, America was touched big-time by those "Angels." And now that nutty slice of channel surfing nostalgia is repackaged for our lightweight entertainment in "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels,' " at 9 tonight on NBC. There was spontaneous pop culture pandemonium as "Charlie's Angels" became a humongous hit. And Fawcett-Majors, well, she was the hottest "Angel" of all, creating a hair salon frenzy with her feathery signature mane. And let's not forget the cosmic lollapalooza vibrations of her fabulous poster, which quickly landed on the bedroom walls of millions of teenage boys and college horndogs. This playful peek behind-the-Hollywood-scenes at "Charlie's Angels" echoes NBC's very similar "Behind the Camera" movie about "Three's Company," also a blockbuster ABC show of the '70s and early '80s. Both movies offer cheeky humor and a witty retro appreciation for colorful, goofy 1970s fashions and style. Besides, it's hard not to smile when you see Dan Castellaneta as Hollywood uber producer Aaron Spelling, the man behind "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island," "Dynasty" and "Beverly Hills, 90210." Castellaneta is perhaps better known as the hilarious voice of Homer Simpson. D'oh. And, yes, you may detect brief echoes of Homer in Castellaneta's affable, nebbishy portrayal of Tori Spelling's powerful pop. "Let's do something really outrageous, a show about female detectives," Spelling enthusiastically tells his business partner during a 1975 lunch at the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel. "They're stylish! They're beautiful! But watch out for those karate chops!" The whole fractured fairy tale is narrated in droll style by Wallace Langham ("The Larry Sanders Show") as hyper-flamboyant Jay Bernstein, the self-promoting wheeler-dealer who served as Fawcett-Majors' agent and marketing Svengali. Bernstein would later turn Suzanne Somers into a big star on "Three's Company." "Behind the Camera" traces the history of "Charlie's Angels" from cockeyed inception (it was initially called "The Alley Cats") to the outrageous success and collateral controversy of its opening season. The controversy? All that jiggle. The ABC censors were particularly apoplectic over Fawcett-Majors' revealing outfits and braless look. "We must stop nipple protrusion on ABC," huffs one member of the network's standards and practices department. The film stars Tricia Helfer ("Battlestar Galactica") as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Lauren Stamile as Kate Jackson and Christina Chambers as Jaclyn Smith. Chambers bears an especially striking resemblance to the "Angel" she's playing. Director Francine McDougall and writer Matt Dorff ("Growing Up Brady") are fully aware they're not exploring a chapter in Hollywood rocket science history. Gushing about his hot new series in 1976, Castellaneta's Spelling announces, "This isn't drama. This is high-class glitz. " We're not sure about the high class part. But "Behind the Camera" delivers the glitz along with some jiggle TV giggles. However, may we suggest that you hit the off switch on your brain before viewing.

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NBC puts comic spin on hit show's real-life drama By JILL VEJNOSKA Cox News Service ATLANTA -- "The issue is nipples. We're seeing nipples . . . We can't put nipples on our network!" Sound familiar? Of course it does, although, surprisingly, it has nothing to do with Janet Jackson's Super Bowl halftime show. The year is 1976, and those words come from a nerdy-looking killjoy in ABC's Standards & Practices department who is trying to introduce some sense (if not a bra or two) into the production of a new series about gorgeous gal private investigators, "Charlie's Angels." It's just one more comically over-the-top scene in "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels,' " a guilty pleasure, inside-jokey movie that re-creates a supposedly less sophisticated era when disco ruled, no one had cable TV and the only celebrity bigger than Farrah Fawcett-Majors for awhile was Farrah Fawcett-Majors' hair. Not all the humor is intentional. For inducing rueful grins, there's the matter of just how much "Behind the Camera's" actresses look and sound like the allegedly one-of-a-kind Angels. And the way the movie almost accidentally points out how nothing ever really changes. On TV, and in society in general, sexy women in skimpy outfits have always been guaranteed to send ratings -- and outrage levels -- skyrocketing. To little lasting effect. But enough seriousness, already. Largely a genial goof, "Behind the Camera" is a fingerpaint-by-numbers saga of the hoary Hollywood deal-making, creative tensions and soap opera-worthy casting twists (Fawcett-Majors quit after one year in part because hubby Lee Majors wanted her home to cook dinner) behind "Charlie's Angels." Here, anyway, the grandest goof of all is Aaron Spelling, the colorful executive producer of "Angels" and other cheesefests like "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island." No wonder they got a cartoon character (Dan Castellaneta, aka the voice of Homer Simpson) to play him. It all starts with Spelling daydreaming in a restaurant: What if some diner slurping clams casino was actually a criminal mastermind? And the fetching female waitresses were really undercover P.I.'s? Before you can say, "Check, please," a hit was born. "They're stylish, they're beautiful, but watch out for those killer karate chops," says Spelling, barely controlling his enthusiasm or his waggling eyebrows. There's a certain "you had to be there" feel to this movie, with its nonstop montage of Time magazine covers and "Farrah Shampoo" ads, and knowing winks to Boomer viewers (At a party, a tiny Tori Spelling begs Aaron, "Daddy, can I be on TV when I grow up?" while a Ricardo Montalban look-alike passes by, mumbling the words, "rich Corinthian leather.") The little dramatic tension comes from Majors (Ben Browder) brooding over Farrah's (Christina Chambers) growing fame, which leads her to quit and get sued. Then there's poor deluded Kate Jackson (Lauren Stamile), who envisions the Angels as "trailblazers." "Now we have a chance to change critics' minds," she tells her co-stars after the fluffy pilot is picked up. "[To] show women how to take care of their lives." Yes, "Charlie's Angels' " lip glossed-over, anatomy-happy depiction of women had many critics -- mostly unattractive, badly-dressed journalists, if you go by what's seen here. Just as Spelling and his producing partner fear they may have to up the serious quotient, the first jiggly episode airs to huge ratings and suddenly, even the nervous network suits aren't all that concerned about nipples anymore. "Charlie's Angels" would air for five years and spawn a couple of hit movies two decades later.

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TOM SHALES Unauthorized 'Angels' story great for gossip, if nothing else

Tom Shales March 8, 2004 More fun than a barrel of blondes. What else could we be talking about than no, not the life of a TV critic, although the dreary life of a TV critic is brightened every now and then by something as sweet and silly as "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels,' " a new movie about the series that launched "jiggle" TV. The jiggling was done by the Angels, of course, for whom excuses were found almost weekly to be squeezed into bikinis. And yet, looking back on it now, it all seems pretty innocent. The Angels still look so perfect and plasticized that it's easy to see why little kids, in particular, adored them. They were living cartoons. How can a movie about backstage squabbles at a TV series be "sweet"? Especially when it's an NBC movie (airing tonight at 9 on KNSD/Channel 39) about an ABC series? The fact is, there have been so many movies and pop-documentaries about TV shows and music acts of the past that nobody needs to be told again how crazy and corrupt show business can be. It's a given. Naturally, behind-the-scenes shenanigans and skullduggery are big parts of the story. But this is neither fiery expose nor devastating satire. There's no bloodshed along memory lane. The movie is almost as fluffy as "Charlie's Angels" itself, a candy-coated crime show about three gorgeous women, coifed to a tease, who went about solving crimes. Charlie, their boss, was never seen, only heard, via speakerphone. Obviously, the movie follows in the footsteps of such previous productions as "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Three's Company,' " and in fact re-unites most of the production team from that 2003 movie. The films even share a common character, Hollywood deal maker Jay Bernstein, once again played by Wallace Langham. Bernstein was a consultant to the production yet still comes off as creepy. Notorious TV trashmaster Aaron Spelling gets very gentle, flattering treatment. Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson) plays Spelling in an appropriately goofy gray wig, but the script makes Spelling youthful and ebullient, not the cheesy weasel he really is. As for the actresses playing the actresses who played the Angels, they represent nearly as good a job of casting as the original series. Tricia Helfer as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Christina Chambers as Jaclyn Smith and Lauren Stamile as Kate Jackson all do admirable jobs of capturing the voices, mannerisms and sparkle of the originals. "Charlie's Angels" was an original, if only in the broadest possible sense, when it premiered on ABC in 1976. Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, then his producing partner, took a chance when they made the three women not sidekicks or "girls Friday," but the key protagonists. Jackson is credited with derailing one of the awful early ideas for the series, which was that a man would arrive to rescue the women each week. The show was a step forward in empowering female characters, but also a step backward, in feminist eyes, because the women were paraded around almost naked at every opportunity. One producer was quoted as saying they got the women "wet" as often as possible. "Unauthorized" opens in 1977 at the People's Choice Awards, where an actor in hilariously grotesque makeup portrays Telly Savalas, one of the hosts. "Charlie's Angels" wins a prize, and we're shoved into the obligatory flashback. Now it's 1975 and Spelling dreams aloud of doing "something really outrageous" for his next series. Writer Matt Dorff pauses now and then to point out things that never change. An alarmed ABC censor tells the "Charlie's Angels" producers that viewers can see through the actresses' attire: "We must stop nipple protrusion on ABC," he declares. Nearly three decades later, of course, the sight of a nipple at the Super Bowl rocked TV once again. Among other ironies, network boss Fred Silverman (Dan Lauria) is pitched an idea for what sounds like one of today's reality shows. "Viewers want to see stars on television," Silverman blusters, "not real people!" Later, on the phone, Silverman reacts to bad news with, "Robert Blake threatened to WHAT?!" Blake was an ABC star then, not yet charged a murder suspect. "Unauthorized Story" doesn't reveal raw, brutal truths. However ugly or unpleasant something seems in the movie, it was bound to be 10 times worse in real life. But then this is Hollywood, where real life is hard to find in front of the camera or behind it. Despite the limitations, the movie still has the appeal of juicy, glossy gossip. It may be 30-year-old gossip, yet it seems as fresh as next week's National Enquirer.

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He's Touched by 'Angels'

On the Air with Marvin Kitman March 7, 2004

TV art has passed me by. Reality shows, the highest form of TV culture 56 years in the making, make me wince. Paris Hilton's simple life is not only too boring but stupid.

Drama shows today seem to come in only two forms: "Law & Order" and "CSI."

It's not just TV art, come to think of it, but art itself that has passed me by. Neither pre-Minimalism, hyper-Minimalism, minimal Minimalism nor maxi-Minimalism is my bag. Like Miniver Cheevy of Edwin Arlington Robinson's epic poem, I find myself yearning for the days of yore. Not Thebes or the Medicis, but for the bad old days when TV had a different kind of fake reality.

If normal cultural turnover is too great to grasp and, as with me, causes mood swings and cultural despair, I call your attention to a show that evokes the age of pure escapism.

"Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'" on NBC/4 Monday night at 9 is not one of those clip shows, but a drama based on the making of a series of unflinching critical integrity by Mr. Escapism, Aaron Spelling, and his boy wonder sidekick, Leonard Goldberg. It's a two-hour re-creation of a pivotal moment in TV art, the launching of the first successful female private eye show since "Honey West."

It is often hilarious, an unintentional satire of the L.A. programming establishment. And they won't even see the humor, it's so real.

The original "Charlie's Angels" was my idea of reality TV when I was in knee pants. "Enough of this real stuff," as Spelling (played brilliantly by Dan Castellaneta) says, "people want to watch bad guys being chased by beautiful girls without having to think." What a pundit!

Those were the days - 1977 to 1981 - when 92 percent of all American males between the ages of 18 and 37 were at home watching ABC Wednesdays at 10. The other 8 percent were in the hospital recovering from auto crashes while trying to get home to see the show.

The basic plot, the first seven minutes - 10:02 to 10:09 - was that at least one of the three private investigators was trying on a wet T-shirt, or answering the doorbell in a towel after showering, or jumping up and down to test Newton's law of gravity. The plot twist didn't matter. The only important thing was the girls wore different T-shirts and were braless.

Keep in mind this was before we had great drama like "Sex and the City," which makes Janet Jackson's coming-out 15 seconds seem like a 15th century portrait in the Uffizi Gallery.

It was an action show. What we liked - those of us who weren't banned from watching the show by our doctors - were the Angels running down the street in Encino in high-heeled shoes yelling, "Stop - or I'll blow your brains out."

Produced by Michael Larkin, the NBC biopic captures the age of jiggly. It takes us back to that decadent period when a critic like myself wasn't even allowed to mention the abbreviation "T&A" in these pages. Even though I explained to the editors it stood for "Talent and Artistry."

This isn't serious drama, Spelling explains to that other leading intellectual at ABC, network boss Fred Silverman (Dan Lauria), during the pitch meeting. "They aren't three brain surgeons."

Even I could see they were supposed to be brainless, as well as braless.

There were those who favored the fighting feminist Kate Jackson (Lauren Stamile). Others were partial to crime fighter Jaclyn Smith (Christina Chambers).

For me, the mane attraction was Farrah Fawcett-Majors (re-created in all her toothsome beauty by Tricia Helfer), who became more than the biggest star in the world, as her agent says, but an icon, a role model.

It was the age of Big Hair. Who could forget Farrah's lovely hair flying naturally in the wind, being whipped by super Tornado fans off camera. Remember the Mane, I used to write.

The actual crime stories were not Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. But the those guys didn't have to dress up as bunnies to crack a crime at a Playboylike club. Or go undercover in a women's prison.

And the shows were educational. There was the episode in which the bad guys fed Jackie Smith some heroin in her tea, and she acted like a high school sophomore having her first gin and tonic.

The "Unauthorized Story's" real value is that it gives insight into the making of a TV cultural craze - from Spelling's and Goldberg's discovering a concept - Miss America meets Mod Squad - to the pitch meetings and the hard selling of it up, or down, the TV network food chain. It's all here, including the meeting with the ABC standards and practices executive, who counted the nipple shots in one episode (19).

Not to mention the show's revelations of Spelling's domestic problems. During one crisis, wife Candy is on the phone: "Bring home another case of Dom Perignon on your way home."

As Spelling says, summing up his contribution to culture and its rewards, "The elevator doesn't go any higher." His place in cultural history is secure.

Negativistic critics didn't appreciate the show. Even I used to poke fun at it for its mindlessness. Little did we realize that "Charlie's Angels" was Shakespeare compared to reality TV, a reminder of how far we have gone backward in the name of progress. ______________________________________________________________________

NBC movie looks at how 'Charlie's Angels' jiggled television By Beth Harris The Associated Press LOS ANGELES - In 1975, uber-producer Aaron Spelling came up with an outrageous idea -- a TV show about three female detectives. Back then, women didn't have leading roles in hour-long series and they certainly didn't run around without bras. Charlie’s Angels" changed all that, introducing a spellbound nation to "jiggle television" through a beautiful blond named Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Her rise to superstardom in a pre-Internet and cable world is shown in "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels' " airing at 9 p.m. today on NBC. Unknown actors play Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith. Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, is Spelling. Wallace Langham ("CSI") reprises the role of manager Jay Bernstein that he played in last year's hit NBC movie about the backstage goings-on at "Three's Company. The movie is based on the "Charlie's Angels Casebook" by David Hofstede and Jack Condon, who owns more than 8,000 items associated with the series and its stars. Castellaneta narrates the movie as Spelling, starting with his pitch to ABC executives Michael Eisner and Barry Diller, who went on to more powerful gigs in Hollywood. On the "making of" show, Eisner tells Spelling that his pitch has to be "one of the worst ideas I've ever heard," and Diller claims no one would ever watch it. Undeterred, Spelling got Jackson on board first, having worked with her in the ABC series "The Rookies." Fawcett-Majors and Smith were shampoo commercial veterans who had hardly acted. During the pitch process, Eisner leaves ABC and is replaced by Fred Silverman (played in blustery fashion by Dan Lauria of "The Wonder Years"), who approves shooting the pilot. Spelling likes Jackson's suggestions: Call the trio angels instead of alley cats and have them take orders over a squawk box from a never-seen boss. Castellaneta had never before played a character who is still alive, nor did he speak to Spelling, so he wasn't concerned about looking or sounding like the wizened, white-haired producer. I had to figure out what his relationship was with the angels and the network people," Castellaneta said. "He was like the man in the middle because he had to please the actresses and at the same time the network. He was an actor so he had sympathy for what actors go through. He also was a writer. He had a wide range of experience to be sympathetic. Spelling’s fatherly vibe helped when Smith, whose father was a Methodist minister, pitched a fit about her skimpy white bikini. He soothed her, saying, "We want our viewers riveted. Were they ever. More than half of America's TV sets tuned in on March 21, 1976, the biggest numbers at the time for an ABC pilot. Critics weren't kind, slamming the show for its jiggle factor and vapid acting. Castellaneta was in college during the series' run and watched it once. I thought, 'This is so bad it's funny,' and subsequently learned it was an intentional notion," he said. Tricia Helfer (Sci-Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica") closely resembles Fawcett-Majors. She never watched the show either, having grown up without a television on her family's Canadian farm. It’s funny it was called jiggle TV," she said. "It was fun and campy. It really opened doors for women as being able to be characters and draw an audience. Now, there's so many female shows. "Farrah mania took off, fueled by her manager Bernstein's idea for a swimsuit poster. Her long, feathered hairstyle swept the nation and Bernstein fielded offers for everything from Farrah dolls to faucet necklaces. I was using Farrah as a role model. Women wanted to be her and men wanted to marry her, not just sleep with her," he said in an interview. After the show's first season, Fawcett-Majors succumbed to the pressure of superstardom and husband Lee Majors' demands. He wanted her home nightly to cook dinner. He’s a very old-fashioned person, which I respect, but it put me in a really tough position," Bernstein said. Bernstein announced Fawcett-Majors wouldn't be back for the second season, triggering a lawsuit and hard feelings between Bernstein, Spelling and ABC. Eventually, it was settled in a courthouse restroom, when Bernstein offered a deal for Fawcett-Majors to make limited guest appearances over the next two seasons. Cheryl Ladd replaced her on "Charlie's Angels," and Fawcett and Majors divorced. I’ve been a villain since that time," Bernstein said. "ABC has refused to work with me since those days over 25 years ago. The same with several other places. I've lost millions and millions of dollars since then."