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Eight Is Enough was an American television "dramedy" series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Braden, a real-life father with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name. The series was rare in that it was one of the few hour-long television series to use a laugh track.

It centered around a Sacramento, California family with eight children (from oldest to youngest: David, Mary, Joanie, Susan, Nancy, Elizabeth, Tommy, and Nicholas). The father Tom Bradford (Dick Van Patten) was a newspaper columnist for the fictional Sacramento Register. His wife Joan (Diana Hyland) took care of the children. Hyland was only in four episodes before falling ill; she was written out for the remainder of the first season. Hyland died only 12 days after the first episode aired, and the second season began in the fall of 1977 with the revelation that Tom had become a widower.

Tom fell in love with Sandra Sue "Abby" Abbott (played by Betty Buckley), a schoolteacher who came to the house to tutor one of his children. They were married in one of Eight Is Enough’s special TV-movie broadcasts in November 1977. These two-hour television events usually occurred during sweeps periods and routinely grabbed viewing figures as high as a forty television share.

In another TV-movie event in September 1979, two of the children (David and Susan) were married off in a special double wedding extravaganza. As the show went on, Abby got her Ph.D. in education and started a job counseling students at the local high school.

After the end of the show’s fifth season, production costs and declining ratings caused the show to be canceled, along with seven other shows that season (Eight Is Enough seemed to grab the most headlines, as the press had a field day with ABC’s choice to bring "eight shows in" and kick "eight shows out."). Reunion movies were broadcast in 1987 and 1989.

The series jumpstarted acting careers for a select few of the "eight" and cemented teen idol status for Grant Goodeve, who played David, Willie Aames, who played Tommy, and Ralph Macchio, who played cousin Jeremy later in the series. Aames would go on to star with Scott Baio in Charles in Charge. Goodeve started a minor singing career, due to his rendition of the theme "Eight Is Enough to Fill Our Lives With Love." Macchio would gain the most fame in feature films such as The Karate Kid and its sequels, as well as My Cousin Vinny.

Cast list

The ages of the children are given alongside their character names; these are their ages in the first episode in 1977.

Mark Hamill was originally cast as David Bradford. Hamill, having just completed Star Wars, felt that the movie was going to be a hit and wanted to focus on his film career. He did play David in the pilot, but Grant Goodeve played the character for the rest of the show’s run.

[edit] Core cast members

* Dick Van Patten - Tom Bradford
* Diana Hyland - Joan Bradford (Season 1)
* Betty Buckley - Sandra Sue "Abby" Abbott Bradford (Seasons 2-5)
* Mark Hamill - David Bradford (23) (pilot only)
* Grant Goodeve - David Bradford (23) (Seasons 1-5)
* Lani O’Grady - Mary Bradford (21)
* Laurie Walters - Joanie Bradford (20)
* Susan Richardson - Susan Bradford Stockwell (19)
* Dianne Kay - Nancy Bradford (18)
* Connie Needham - Elizabeth Bradford (15)
* Willie Aames - Tommy Bradford (14)
* Adam Rich - Nicholas Bradford (8)

[edit] Recurring cast members

* Brian Patrick Clarke - Merle "The Pearl" Stockwell (1979–1981)
* Jennifer Darling - Donna (1978–1981)
* Henderson Forsythe - Big Bud
* Michael Goodrow - Ernie Fields (1979–1981)
* James Karen - Eliot Randolph
* Ralph Macchio - Jeremy Andretti (1980–1981)

http://www.charliesangels.com/

Genre Action adventure
Running time 50 minutes
Creator(s) Ivan Goff
Ben Roberts
Starring Kate Jackson
Farrah Fawcett
Jaclyn Smith
Cheryl Ladd
Shelley Hack
Tanya Roberts
David Doyle
John Forsythe
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel ABC
Original run September 22, 1976–June 24, 1981
No. of episodes 115
Charlie’s Angels was a television series that broadcast on the ABC Television Network from 1976 to 1981, about three women who work for a fictional private investigation agency, the Charles Townsend Agency. Their boss, Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), was rarely seen and is never seen full face - in some episodes he is shown from the rear only (where the viewer only sees the back of his head and his arms) and on the series finale where he appears in surgeon’s mask and outfit. He only ever contacted the "angels" by telephone, addressing them via a speakerphone on the office’s desk.

The three original "angels" were Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) and Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith). Later, when a character left (because the actress went on to other projects, etc) another "angel" was brought on to keep the number at three. Later angels were Jill’s little sister Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd), Tiffany Welles (Shelley Hack), and Julie Rogers (Tanya Roberts). Jaclyn Smith was the longest serving TV angel, remaining with the show for its entire five season run. Another major character throughout the series was Charlie’s assistant, John Bosley (David Doyle).

The show’s premise focused Charlie assigning the ’angels’ to a new situation each episode, where they would go undercover in order to investigate ’from the inside’. Their undercover characters often had to feign not knowing each other in the situation, until their cover was inevitably blown. The undercover aspect of the show created much of the plot interest and tension. (The show got permission to use the Alan O’Day hit song at the time, ’Undercover Angel’, and he subsequently re-recorded a version just for the show.) Under their assumed identities, the ’angels’ used a combination of sexual wiles and knowledge learned for the situation in which they were being placed.

The show became known as "T&A T.V." (or "Tits and Ass television"), because the angels would often be seen scantily or provocatively clad, (generally as part of their undercover character -- e.g., rollergirl, beauty pageant contestant, maid, female prisoner), to showcase the figures and/or sexuality of the actresses. Farrah Fawcett-Majors once attributed the show’s success to this fact, quoted as saying "When the show was number three, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.".
The original angels; (left to right) Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson
Enlarge
The original angels; (left to right) Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Movies
* 2 Video games
* 3 Pop Culture Impact
* 4 Other collectible items
* 5 Comics
* 6 List of Known Angels
o 6.1 During run of TV series
o 6.2 In between TV series and movies
o 6.3 During Movies
* 7 Notes and references
* 8 External links

[edit] Movies

The television series inspired two feature films from production company Flower Films: Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003). Each was directed by McG and starred Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as the three angels, with John Forsythe returning to voice Charlie. Bosley was played in the first film by Bill Murray, while the second film cast Bernie Mac as Jimmy Bosley, John’s adoptive-brother.

The second movie had more nods to the TV series than the first movie in the series did, perhaps due to complaints from fans of the TV series. Whereas most movie remakes of 1970s TV shows, like Starsky and Hutch, are actually remakes, the Charlie’s Angels films are set in a different time. The mythology goes that whenever an Angel leaves, she is replaced so there are always three (seen in the TV show). Liu, Barrymore and Diaz’s characters are not based on the Angels in the show, but are their "successors". To prove this fact, Demi Moore’s character, who is a ’fallen’ Angel, quotes; "Back in my day - we used guns", which refers to the lack of martial arts in the TV series, while it is the preferred form of combat in the films. In the TV series, the Angels were more police-like, generally using guns. Physical struggles, were, however, common. In fact, the silhouette logo of the TV series does show one angel with her hands in a karate-like pose (and the other two with a gun and a walkie-talkie). The karate pose is often included when the show is being spoofed. The martial arts theme in the movies can be seen, in a way, as based on the original TV logo.

Also, Jaclyn Smith reprised her Kelly Garrett role from the TV series, who Dylan (Barrymore) meets in a Mexican cafe when she decides to leave the Angels. Kelly persuades her to rejoin the Angels with an inspiring speech. This reinforces the fact that there were not just three Angels (in fact in the TV series the viewer sees six different Angels), but there have always been three Angels at any one time.

In 2004, a television movie entitled Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie’s Angels aired on NBC. It depicted the true story of what happened during the first season of the TV show.

In 2006, all three original Angels appeared together on-stage at the 2006 Emmy Awards, in a retrospective tribute to Aaron Spelling.

[edit] Video games

In July 2003, three Charlie’s Angels games were released on three different gaming platforms: Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and the mobile phone. The versions released on both the GameCube and PlayStation 2 were virtually the same, each given the same title: Charlie’s Angels. The version released for the mobile phone was fundamentally toned down to fit the technical restrictions of the platform, and was titled Charlie’s Angels: Road Cyclone.

Despite the critical success of both the TV show and the movies, the video games, aside from the mobile phone version, were a debacle. According to Game Rankings, the GameCube version is the worst reviewed video game of all time (an average of 23%, with Metacritic garnering the same results). Although the PlayStation 2 version didn’t garner enough reviews to be officially listed, this version is virtually the same as the GameCube version. The mobile phone version averaged a respectable 79%.

[edit] Pop Culture Impact

The first season of Charlie’s Angels caused an explosion of fan hysteria and press coverage that was unheard of in the mid-1970s. It was even highlighted as a cover story in "Time" magazine which analyzed the impact of the show on popular culture.

[edit] Other collectible items

The show sold many items during its run. These included dolls, (two versions), games, trading cards, notebooks, and even record albums.

[edit] Comics

A British comic strip version was produced, written by Angus P. Allan and printed in TV comic Look-In.


[edit] List of Known Angels

[edit] During run of TV series

* Sabrina Duncan (1976-1979), played by Kate Jackson
* Kelly Garrett (1976-1981), played by Jaclyn Smith
* Jill Munroe (1976-1977), played by Farrah Fawcett-Majors
* Kris Munroe (1977-1981), played by Cheryl Ladd
* Tiffany Welles (1979-1980), played by Shelley Hack