(June 20, 2011.)               Annie Ilonzeh (“General Hospital”), Minka Kelly (“Parenthood”, “Friday Night Lights”), Rachael Taylor (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Ramon Rodriguez (“The Wire”, “Daybreak”) star in the modern remake of the television classic, Charlie's Angels, debuting as a part of the 2011-12 television season, Thursday nights at 8pm, on ABC.

          Everyone deserves a second chance. Even a thief, a street racer and a cop who got in a little too deep. After all, the three women who solve cases for their elusive boss, Charlie Townsend, are no saints. They’re angels. Charlie’s Angels.

Set in Miami, this fun, glamorous, action-packed take on the 1970s smash hit series introduces us to three new angels, all fearless detectives, head-turning beauties and close friends. There’s Abby (Rachael Taylor), a Park Avenue princess who became a world-class thief. Then there’s Kate (Annie Ilonzeh), a Miami cop who fell from grace, losing both her career and her fiancé. Finally there’s Gloria, a disgraced army lieutenant who has a way with explosives. When one of the angels’ missions ends in Gloria’s tragic death, Charlie persuades them to partner with Gloria’s childhood friend, Eve (Minka Kelly), a street racer with a mysterious past. They may not know each other yet, but one thing’s for sure, Abby, Kate and Eve will always have each others’ backs.

Beautiful women, beautiful clothes and beautiful cars all set in the beautiful city of Miami. This series is a chance to show off all of the amazing places and things that make up South Florida, without having to pay extra for all that extra production value. That thinking made a hit out of Miami Vice and C.S.I.: Miami and it will go a long way toward doing the same thing for this series. The city will also provide a wide variety of crimes and bad guys for the Angels to battle each week.

All three leading actresses seem to have the skills to deliver their lines and stand-up to the demands of the rigorous action scenes in this series. But I expect that both the quality of the action and of the drama will be lessoned in future episodes, as this crew goes from the luxury of having several weeks to create a pilot episode and transitions into the demanding production schedule of a weekly series. Yes, there are times a TV pilot is too good and this just might be one of them. Even at that, I think this show has a chance because of the smart way it empowers women of two generations. There is a trend towards using strong female characters in action movies these days, so a revival of a series that will empower both the present and past generation of television viewer is certainly smart TV. My concern is that Executive Producer Drew Barrymore has set the expectations higher than even she will be able to deliver.

There are a lot of action scenes in the pilot that are difficult and expensive to stage. The high level of action will be hard to maintain and because they have started with the bar set so high, when they reduce to levels that are more realistic for a television series, it will seem like the series has lost something. My hope is that the level of quality seen here can be maintained, because if this series can avoid a few pitfalls, it has a chance to become a runaway hit for the second time.

 

 - Editor