Yes, they watched it for the eye-candy. But it had a more serious tone than i remember it having. Despite the sleaze of old Charlie keeping young women around like some kind of slaves, it contrasts against with absolutely absurd gun-fight scenes and the immaturity in dramas like the NCIS shows, it holds up pretty well. People pretended it was exploitative of women, but there was real undercurrent of disdain for the behavior of men in it. Also, as a side note, Cheryl Ladd was kind of unsung, she's a decent actress.

On 2021-11-28 05:53:38 +0000, RichA said:
>
> Yes, they watched it for the eye-candy. But it had a more serious tone
> than i remember it having. Despite the sleaze of old Charlie keeping
> young women around like some kind of slaves,

They weren't slaves, they were simply employees, free to leave whenever
they wanted (as a couple of them did).

> it contrasts against with absolutely absurd gun-fight scenes and the
> immaturity in dramas like the NCIS shows, it holds up pretty well.
> People pretended it was exploitative of women, but there was real
> undercurrent of disdain for the behavior of men in it. Also, as a side
> note, Cheryl Ladd was kind of unsung, she's a decent actress.

On Nov 27, 2021 at 9:53:38 PM PST, "RichA" <rander3128@gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, they watched it for the eye-candy. But it had a more serious tone than
> i remember it having. Despite the sleaze of old Charlie keeping young women
> around like some kind of slaves, it contrasts against with absolutely absurd
> gun-fight scenes and the immaturity in dramas like the NCIS shows, it holds
> up pretty well. People pretended it was exploitative of women, but there was
> real undercurrent of disdain for the behavior of men in it. Also, as a side
> note, Cheryl Ladd was kind of unsung, she's a decent actress.

In almost every episode, the Angels catch the bad guy(s) in the last act, whip
out their little snub-nosed revolvers, and tell him to "Freeze!" and instead
of just running away, the bad guys always meekly give up and obey.

I'd be like, "You ain't a cop, I don't have to do what you say, lady," and
just walk away. It's not like the Angel could just shoot him. That would be
murder. Even wounding him would be attempt-murder. He may be a bad guy and has
committed some embezzlement or something but Sabrina or Kelly can't just plug
him for not obeying her. Yet every episode, as soon as the revolver comes out,
the fight goes out of every thug and they just glumly do whatever the hottie
says.

The Angels also repeatedly get within arms reach of the guys they hold at
gunpoint, providing a perfect-- though rarely taken-- opportunity for them to
be disarmed.

It's also very bizarre how the cops who arrive on scene to find one civilian
holding another at gunpoint seem to have no problem with the Angel and her
firearm. They just accept that she must be the good guy and he's the bad guy
and take him into custody while allowing the Angel to continue walk around the
scene armed, no questions asked.

Maybe it's just me, but if I roll up on a scene like that, I'm ordering her to
drop the piece and putting both of them on their faces and into cuffs until
everything is sorted out and I have full confirmation on everyone's identity.

A caveat to this is how on the BIONIC shows, Oscar, Jamie, and Steve always
turn their bad guys over to the local cops. Perps who have just tried to end
the world in a nuclear holocaust or something equally dire, and they just
stand by while the local uniform cop drives off with him in a squad car. No
FBI custody or anything. Just the Des Moines PD.

On 2021-11-28 12:54 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
> On Nov 27, 2021 at 9:53:38 PM PST, "RichA" <rander3128@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes, they watched it for the eye-candy. But it had a more serious tone than
>> i remember it having. Despite the sleaze of old Charlie keeping young women
>> around like some kind of slaves, it contrasts against with absolutely absurd
>> gun-fight scenes and the immaturity in dramas like the NCIS shows, it holds
>> up pretty well. People pretended it was exploitative of women, but there was
>> real undercurrent of disdain for the behavior of men in it. Also, as a side
>> note, Cheryl Ladd was kind of unsung, she's a decent actress.
>
> In almost every episode, the Angels catch the bad guy(s) in the last act, whip
> out their little snub-nosed revolvers, and tell him to "Freeze!" and instead
> of just running away, the bad guys always meekly give up and obey.
>
> I'd be like, "You ain't a cop, I don't have to do what you say, lady," and
> just walk away. It's not like the Angel could just shoot him. That would be
> murder. Even wounding him would be attempt-murder. He may be a bad guy and has
> committed some embezzlement or something but Sabrina or Kelly can't just plug
> him for not obeying her. Yet every episode, as soon as the revolver comes out,
> the fight goes out of every thug and they just glumly do whatever the hottie
> says.
>
> The Angels also repeatedly get within arms reach of the guys they hold at
> gunpoint, providing a perfect-- though rarely taken-- opportunity for them to
> be disarmed.
>
> It's also very bizarre how the cops who arrive on scene to find one civilian
> holding another at gunpoint seem to have no problem with the Angel and her
> firearm. They just accept that she must be the good guy and he's the bad guy
> and take him into custody while allowing the Angel to continue walk around the
> scene armed, no questions asked.
>
> Maybe it's just me, but if I roll up on a scene like that, I'm ordering her to
> drop the piece and putting both of them on their faces and into cuffs until
> everything is sorted out and I have full confirmation on everyone's identity.
>
> A caveat to this is how on the BIONIC shows, Oscar, Jamie, and Steve always
> turn their bad guys over to the local cops. Perps who have just tried to end
> the world in a nuclear holocaust or something equally dire, and they just
> stand by while the local uniform cop drives off with him in a squad car. No
> FBI custody or anything. Just the Des Moines PD.
>
>
These aren't problems specific to Charlie's Angels or the Bionic shows,
they're tropes common to many shows, especially of that era. Nobody
worried much about how things were done in the real world. Shows were,
to a large extent, morality tales and so the good guy always had to win
so once the bad guy had been captured, the details of how he was to be
charged, prosecuted, and punished were of little interest to the
writers; they simply did some hand-waving to indicate that those things
were going to happen but they weren't interesting enough to waste the
viewer's time on so they were summarized with the local PD arresting the
perp. The boring part was left to the viewer's imagination.

Unless of course it was a lawyer show! In that case, it was the
detection and arrest of the perp that was of little interest to the
writers while they focused on what happened in the plea-bargaining stage
or the courtroom.

--
Rhino

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
> On Nov 27, 2021 at 9:53:38 PM PST, "RichA" <rander3128@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes, they watched it for the eye-candy. But it had a more serious tone than
> i remember it having. Despite the sleaze of old Charlie keeping young women
> around like some kind of slaves, it contrasts against with absolutely absurd
> gun-fight scenes and the immaturity in dramas like the NCIS shows, it holds
> up pretty well. People pretended it was exploitative of women, but there was
> real undercurrent of disdain for the behavior of men in it. Also, as a side
> note, Cheryl Ladd was kind of unsung, she's a decent actress.
>
> In almost every episode, the Angels catch the bad guy(s) in the last act, whip
out their little snub-nosed revolvers, and tell him to "Freeze!" and
instead
of just running away, the bad guys always meekly give up and obey.
>
> I'd be like, "You ain't a cop, I don't have to do what you say, lady," and
just walk away. It's not like the Angel could just shoot him. That would be
murder. Even wounding him would be attempt-murder. He may be a bad guy and
has
committed some embezzlement or something but Sabrina or Kelly can't just
plug
him for not obeying her. Yet every episode, as soon as the revolver comes
out,
the fight goes out of every thug and they just glumly do whatever the
hottie
says.
>

I’ve seen the angels murder bad guys trying to escape lots of times.
There’s an early episode where they use their hand guns to shoot down and
blow up an escaping plane, something criminal minds swiped for their big
finale.

> The Angels also repeatedly get within arms reach of the guys they hold at
gunpoint, providing a perfect—though rarely taken——pportunity for them to
be disarmed.
>
> It’s also very bizarre how the cops who arrive on scene to find one civilian
holding another at gunpoint seem to have no problem with the Angel and her
firearm. They just accept that she must be the good guy and he's the bad
guy
and take him into custody while allowing the Angel to continue walk
around the
scene armed, no questions asked.
>
> Maybe it's just me, but if I roll up on a scene like that, I'm ordering her to
drop the piece and putting both of them on their faces and into cuffs until
everything is sorted out and I have full confirmation on everyone's
identity.
>
> A caveat to this is how on the BIONIC shows, Oscar, Jamie, and Steve always
turn their bad guys over to the local cops. Perps who have just tried to
end
the world in a nuclear holocaust or something equally dire, and they
just
stand by while the local uniform cop drives off with him in a squad car. No
FBI custody or anything. Just the Des Moines PD.
>

I’ve seen Steve Austin take out bad guys by setting off atomic weapons in
inhabited cities. Twice.

The last one I watched he stopped the super villain by throwing a telephone
pole through their van full of electronica equipment causing the thing to
go up in a fireball. I think there was lip service later that they turned
him over to the police. In what, a dustpan?

—
“The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on my list.”