How do you review a remake of your favorite television show of all time? How do you review a show that reminds you of your childhood, that showed you that women were every bit as smart, strong and resourceful (usually more so) than men? With a shit load of bias's that's how.
My good friend, writing partner and fellow angel fan Anna and I run (well she runs I help) the most successful Charlies Angels fan forum on the web http://townsendagency.19.forumer.com/index.php and one of the fastest growing CA websites http://charliesangels.org/. We love the original show in all it's bad acting horrible script pseudo kung fu glory. It rarely took itself seriously and even though plot holes and unlikely events abounded the Angels had chemistry with each other and for the most part were strong, smart resourceful girl scouts who didn't think they were all that. The show was rarely slick and well produced but was almost always a lot of fun.
Which brings us to the main problem with Angels 11. It's not that much fun. Sure the Angels claim to be having fun but the show is much darker and takes it's self much more seriously than the original. The plot holes and cheesiness in the original worked because the show was kind of winking at you. The plot holes and cheesiness in the remake just come across as lazy producing because the New Angels think they are so damn cool. Worse still is their seems to be very little chemistry with this new crew. Minka Kelly (Eve) comes off the best with her natural cool performance and some much needed goofiness reminds me a lot of what Cheryl Ladd (Kris) brought to the original show even though Eve is supposed to be the street smart Kelly template.
Abby ("The Blond one" as Anna refuses to call her anything but) fares the worst coming off as cold and trying too hard to be a bad ass. Rachel Taylor as some have pointed out can indeed act but here her line readings seem forced. Maybe it's Aussie Taylor's focus on trying to maintain an American accent which is sabotaging her performance but she is my least favorite Angel.
Which brings us to Kate (Annie ) The Black Angel. On the plus side I'm glad the producers resisted the urge to make her the street smart angel, the theif or the ghetto angel. She seems to be the Sabrina of the new crew, the smart one they even gave her Sabrina's real name (Kate.. Ms Jackson if your nasty) and a ex cop love interest played by the Old Spice man. On the Minus side she seems to be the least developed of the three angels despite getting a lot of screen time. While Eve is the street smart car their who gets to steal cars and combat drive and Abby is the cat burglar who gets to pic locks, crack safes and scale building Kate is the former cop who gets to...shoot and fight. Cool except the other two seem to shoot and fight just as well. What does Kate bring to the table that the other two do not? And although the show resisted making the black angel the street smart one it could not resist the urge to make all the angels (and Bosley) former criminals. Since when has Charlie Townsend been in the habit of reforming criminals? Well since he started hiring black and Hispanic Angels and Bosleys apparently.
I'm not going to go into the plot details on the two eps I watched because plot has never been what CA is about but where the show fails the most is it doesn't DO anything better than other shows of it's ilk. Other shows featuring tough lead females are out there and down the line they do what they do better than CA. Charlies Angels 11 is not as well written as Buffy or even Alias, it's not as well acted as Dollhouse or even God help me Rizzoli and Isles and the fight scenes can't compare to Doll House or Nakita. The only thing the show has going for it is attractive actresses a like able Minka Kelly and Bosley and brand recognition. The Brand frankly...deserved much better.
RATING
"Pilot" D+
"Runway Angels" C+
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