Charlie’s Angels aired 110 episodes between 1976 and 1981. While modern TV audiences will criticize the show, citing a focus on beauty and a lack of substance, the angels have a lock on TV nostalgia. Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz rebooted the idea with a movie (and a sequel), and ABC even tried to reboot the series again a few years later. Now, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska are bringing it to the big screen again in a continuation of the previous chapters. Before heading out to see the modern take, we’re looking back at the best hours of the original run.
The Internet Movie Database allows users to rate movies and television series on a scale from one to ten stars. One star is the worst while 10 stars would indicate a perfect movie or hour of television. The original Charlie’s Angels television series has a 6.5 on the scale, but its best-ranked episodes range from 7.7 to 8.1 stars in a pretty narrow ratings window.
Angels In Paradise S2E01 (7.7)
Charlie’s Angels frequently got to take trips to exotic locations for their cases. In the season two premiere, that location was Hawaii, and the trip was to save a kidnapped Charlie. It’s fitting that this episode leads off the top 10 for other reasons than a trip to Hawaii, however.
“Angels In Paradise” ushered in a trend of two-hour specials for the series. It also began a new era for the show. This episode was the first to feature Cheryl Ladd as a main cast member. She joined the series as the younger sister of Farah Fawcett’s character, and stayed with the show until the end.
Angel Hunt S4E11 (7.8)
Charlie’s Angels did its own take on the movie The Most Dangerous Game. In the movie, men hunt humans for sport. The Charlie’s Angels take was slightly different.
Kelly, Kris, and Tiffany visited a private island under false pretenses. The people there had a plan. They lured the angels in to hunt them, hoping to use them as bait to then lure out Charlie. The three women did a pretty good job at evading their would-be captors with Kris and Kelly setting traps, though Tiffany did wind up held hostage. Charlie never had to make himself known, of course.
Angel In Hiding S5E01 (7.8)
With the start of season five, the angels lost another one of their team members. Tiffany left the team between seasons four and five, but this episode added a new ally.
Julie, a woman who attended a modeling school rather than a police academy as all the angels had in the past, worked with Kelly and Kris on a case involving, who else, models. Julie’s ability to think quick on her feet earned her the respect of the team. Her commitment to catching the bad guy, which involved hanging on the roof of a car during a getaway, helped her earn a permanent spot on the team.
Angel On My Mind S3E10 (7.8)
Fans had more than a season to get used to Kris as a member of the team before they got to get inside her head. This episode was all about who Kris was as she needed a little reminder.
“Angel On My Mind” was unusual only because it didn’t feature a client hiring the angels for a case. Instead, Kris witnessed a murder herself, but suffered from amnesia. That amnesia meant she wandered away from the scene of the crime, making her the case. Sabrina and Kelly had to track her down and save the day.
Island Angels S5E04 (7.8)
Trips to Hawaii are apparently very popular with Charlie’s Angels fans. “Island Angels” featured the team traveling to the island state again on a different case.
This time around, the team consisted of new recruit Julie, as well as veteran team members Kelly and Kris. It’s Julie who uncovered a plot to assassinate a diplomat in Hawaii. While there, the angels split up. Kris worked undercover as a bartender while Kelly teamed up with the local law enforcement. Even Bosley got in on the action while he and Julie posed as a reporter and photographer team, making it one of the few episodes where Bosley got to do something other than show up for Charlie’s phone calls.
Love Boat Angels S4E01 (7.8)
Like most of the season premieres for Charlie’s Angels, the season four episode featured a casting change. Sabrina left the series under the premise that she wanted to start a family. It was in the season four premiere that Tiffany joined the team, though she only lasted that single season.
The season premiere also featured some familiar faces for TV fans. Charlie’s Angels crossed over with The Love Boat for a two-hour premiere. The Townsend Agency found themselves tasked with finding an art thief on board the cruise ship.
Caged Angel S4E06 (7.9)
Similar to a season one episode that also makes it into the top ten, “Caged Angel” required some serious undercover work by the angels. When an inmate at a women’s prison was killed, her father hired the agency to find her killer. Instead of everyone going undercover in the prison, Kris was selected to go in by herself. The episode provides one of the best performances by Cheryl Ladd as a result.
“Caged Angel” is such an iconic episode, that it even provided some undercover inspiration for the Charlie’s Angels movies from Drew Barrymore’s team. In the episode, Kelly and Tiffany pose as nuns to provide Kris with some important information, a scene that is referenced in the movies.
Counterfeit Angels S3E14 (7.9)
Devious doubles are often employed as a trope in science fiction and fantasy properties, but not as often in crime dramas. This top-three episode sees Kris, Kelly, and Sabrina deal with a case of mistaken identity in an interesting way.
Instead of obvious doppelgängers, three women decide to get their hair and makeup as close to that of Charlie’s Angels as they can. They pose as the Townsend Agency investigators so they can rob an arena. It’s only once warrants are issued for the arrest of the real angels that the women take matters into their own hands to investigate.
Angels In Chains S1E04 (8.1)
“Angels In Chains” is the only episode from the first season of the series to make the top 10, which is a shame because Farah Fawcett was a great angel. This is the episode that likely inspired “Caged Angel” three seasons later.
In “Angels In Chains,” Kelly, Sabrina, and Jill all went undercover in a small town prison. They deliberately got themselves arrested and wound up in a “prison farm.” It’s there that they uncovered a corrupt system prostituting women in exchange for lighter sentences.
“Angels In Chains” was one of the most controversial episodes to air in the first season, but it proved that the series could handle serious topics.
Three For The Money S4E22 (8.1)
It’s no surprise that “Three For The Money” lands so high amongst the top Charlie’s Angels episodes. It’s an unusual one for the series because it saw the angels break a lot of rules.
The Townsend Agency took on three separate clients in the episode, but they all had the same objective. All three were conned by the same man. So, the show got the group to take on three cases at once, which was already unusual. Likewise, in order to get justice for their clients, the angels had to con the conman themselves. That meant this episode didn’t feature the average undercover work, but instead, all three women breaking numerous laws to get the job done and swindle a crook out of the money he already stole.
It’s a fun episode that’s more in the vein of a heist movie than it is a crime drama.