CHARLIE'S ANGELS hit the air when I was 8 years old and I've never
been the same. I truly believe the show and it's incredible characters shaped my views on feminism and gender roles
in society. There was never a time when I just watched it as an innocent bystander. I was emotionally involved
in everything that all six Angels did throughout the five year run of the show. I was so obsessed with the show that
while it was on the air I created over 100 comic books (for my family's reading displeasure only) that went beyond the show
and showcased the Angels as friends, as well as co-workers. When Sabrina left I still included her in Kelly's and Kris's
lives via phone calls and visits. Crazy? Yes! But I was just a kid.
Throughout the mid to late 1980's, CHARLIE'S ANGELS was scarce on the airwaves.
I certainly did not forget the series as the posters of all six Angels hung on my walls (and still do), but there was
no Ebay, no Columbia House VHS editions, or DVD box sets. I continued to listen to Cheryl Ladd records and review my
self-made scrapbooks of the show throughout these famine years. When TNT began airing the show in 1993 I began watching
it all over again with the same intensity I watched as a child. Many shows from my youth did not age well, but CHARLIE'S
ANGELS did. Not only was I still involved in each scene, I saw the Angels on an entirely different psychological level.
I began spouting my thoughts to anyone who would listen and it became entertainment to my friends.
With all the episodes securely taped on video, I now had access to CHARLIE'S ANGELS
whenever I wanted. Since my head was full of too much information on the characters and the show, it was a no-brainer
that I would write a book about the show. Writing the episode synopses and anecdotes was simple. The history of
the show and biographies on the actresses was much more involved and required months of research. I wanted my book to
focus on the character aspects of the show, even more so after reading all the negative press that surrounded it back in the
1970's. The Angels were considered paper dolls by the critics and even some of it's stars, but I didn't see it that
way. I wanted to prove that these were genuine characters in my eyes.
Since I lived in Detroit and did not have the resources to do first hand interviews
with the cast and creators, I had hoped to contact Jack Condon who I had seen on TV and in the newspaper to co-write it with
me. He is alleged to have the biggest CHARLIE'S ANGELS collection of all time. I knew he could
do a better job at writing the show's history while I could concentrate on the character studies. I scurried
through many California phone books but was unable to find him. Thus, I wrote a brief history of the show and biographies
on the actresses to include in my book. At the end of 1995 I had the book copyrighted and did get a literary agent.
The book went nowhere and by the spring of 1996 I was shoppin it around again. At this time I saw an advertisement in
a toy magazine regarding CHARLIE'S ANGELS. It was from Jack Condon and it included an address. I contacted him
as soon as possible and learned that he too was working on a book about the show. At the same time I also did get
a contract with another literary agent in New York who did shop the book around. I knew Jack's book was going to be
much more historically significant than mine and therefore a much more commercial venture. I decided to quit trying
to sell the book and turned it into a series of five fanzines, which I actually did sell to a few people around the globe.
When Jack's book The Charlie's
Angels Casebook got published in 2000, I knew I had done the right thing. It was incredible. Despite all the
research I had done, even I learned new and interesting things about the show's creation. But for years many of my friends
have urged me to pursue the project. It has been my intention to put the character studies on the internet for years
and now I'm finally doing it. There are many great websites out there for Charlie's Angels, most notably
Mike Pingel's Angelic Heaven ( http://www.charliesangels.com/ ) which is the ultimate resource for all news on Charlie's
Angels, but I do think there is always room for more.
I don't expect most people to agree with everything I've written about the
Angels. These are just my observations as an obsessed devotee of the show. In the book version of Charlie's
Angels Forever, I wrote incredibly detailed plot synopses, but for the 2000 edition of the fanzine, I trimmed down the
episode guide to summaries only, which are what appears on this site. But to help support my theories I kept in the
'Angel Clues" material which are key points to look out for when watching an episode of CHARLIE'S ANGELS. There are also many
articles regarding certain facets of the show that I noticed while studying it for the book. My hope is that the next
time anyone who has read these articles watches CHARLIE'S ANGELS they will have a new respect for the show.
To most people it is just a television series of nostalgic fluff, but to me it is so much more. However crazy or obsessive
that is, I plead guilty. Feel free to contact me with any insights you have about this site - good or bad. In the
meantime, enjoy!
Henry Branham Jr
