9 minor goofs from Charlie's Angels
Sorry, Angels, the devil is in the details.
On Charlie's Angels, despite all the danger and action, the stars of the show nearly always appeared flawless. Whether the action followed Kelly Garrett, Kris Munroe, Jill Munroe, Sabrina Duncan, Tiffany Welles, or Julie Rogers, these Angels stamped out stereotypes while fighting crime in sunny California, and they barely chipped a nail when they did it.
Or did they? We took a microscope to the glamorous detective show, examining extra-close all of the exciting capers that drove TV viewers out of the 1970s and into the 1980s with a lot of flash and fight. What we discovered were a handful of minor goofs and tiny flaws, including, yes, more than a few unpainted fingernails that stick out like sore thumbs in the chic world of Charlie's Angels.
So if you're enchanted with Charlie's Angels as they've returned to MeTV this summer, here are funny things to look out for, including errors with star characters, visual hiccups in high-intensity scenes and a couple times these Angels we all admired may not have always been as sophisticated as you likely first imagined watching the show the first time through.
1. The Angels' nails weren't always so perfect in closeups.
Watch for when the Angels hold an object - usually a piece of jewelry - and you'll notice that often when there's a closeup in their hands, it's clearly not the actress' in the scene. The giveaway is that their nails are often painted in scenes, but in the closeups, they're typically unpainted, as Farrah Fawcett demonstrates here in the first season episode "Night of the Strangler." It's a little more dramatic than just chipping a nail fighting crime.
2. They sometimes forget how Kris spells Munroe.
You'd think since there's two Munroes - Jill and Kris - they'd get used to the spelling pretty quick on the show, but all the way in the fifth season episode "To See an Angel Die," they make a pretty noticeable slip-up. After Kris' car is abandoned, it's rediscovered, and when the registration is pulled out of the glove box, it slipd with this misspelling of the famous TV name.
3. That's a lot of facial hair on those Angels driving away in the car.
Every now and again, when there's a scene where the Angels drive off in a car, you can catch the crew members doing the driving for them. It's especially obvious when they've got facial hair - Cheryl Ladd never rocked a stache, as far as we know...
4. What are all these dudes doing on a women's roller derby team?
In "Angels on Wheels," much of the episode takes place at a roller derby match that's supposed to be an all-female team. But if you look in the background during certain shots, there are male players dressed in the same uniforms as the ladies.
5. They can't decide if Jill Munroe should be up or down in this scene.
Look closely in the very first episode of Charlie's Angels, "Hellride," and you can see that Farrah Fawcett begins an intense scene by falling to the ground, then you follow Farrah when the shot pans, and you cab see her tiny figure snap up and run off to the side and rear of the car. She's taking cover, and we don't blame her! But when the scene cuts back in the next shot, Farrah's back on the ground in the same position she started. Maybe just consider her unnecessary sprint as a little extra action during an already action-packed show?
6. Is Bosley married or not?
The writers on the show seem to decide whether Bosley is married or not as a matter of convenience throughout the show. In this episode, he complains to the Angels that his wife packed his brown shoes, which obviously do not go with his tux. But in other episodes, when he's asked if he's married, he's joked, "Not lately" or else insists he's never been married at all. It kinda makes his married status a mystery within a mystery show!
7. The same guy seems to be in two places at once in this Vegas episode.
There's a scene in the Dean Martin episode of Charlie's Angels, "Angels in Vegas," where Dean and Kate Jackson are at opposite sides of a table, gambling. Despite their distance, in closeup scenes, the same exact guy appears to the right of both characters. It kinda gives new meaning to doubling down, eh?
8. This note was so nice, they apparently didn't want to write it twice.
In the Charlie's Angels episode "Angels in Paradise," there's a scene where we see a character interviewing a prisoner, and he's using a notebook to write down his questions. Despite making a big to-do about scribbling down the rest of his question that comes after "Wife working on your escape - " you can see right through the paper in the scene before that the next page already says "Why?"
9. Art fail: They're discussing Botticelli, but the book's about Michelangelo.
In the episode "I Will Be Remembered," someone involved with props forgot to sync up the artist on the cover of the book the Angels are reading with the artist they're discussing in the scene. Here, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith are looking so very serious about Sandro Botticelli (a painter who frequently made angels his subject), but the book is all about Michelangelo. So while the Angels are clearly brilliant detectives, they could maybe use some brushing up on art history.