A Classic Reborn (NOT!!): Charlie's Angels (2011)

 30 years after the original Charlie's Angels had solved their final case, ABC decided to dust off the concept, but there were too many problems, leading to a quick hook.

The new Charlie's Angels had a lot to live up to, and not just the original series (1976-81). There had been the movies featuring Drew Barrymore. ABC entrusted writer-producers Alfred Gough & Miles Millar, fresh from Smallville, to breathe fresh life into the franchise.

The problems?

*Location: The series was relocated from Southern California to Miami. This was the biggest mistake.

*Casting: Millar & Gough went with mostly unknowns for the three leads, the most famous name in the group being Minka Kelly, who at the time had been the armpiece of Yankees star Derek Jeter (they subsequently split). Former football player turned actor and Old Spice pitchman Isaiah Mustafa appeared in one episode at least as a detective. Millar & Gough wanted Robert Wagner as the voice of the never seen Charlie Townshend (voiced by John Forsythe in the original series), but when Wagner had a scheduling conflict, Victor Garber (ex-Alias) was brought in instead. Ramon Rodriguez was cast as John Bosley, repackaged here as an ex-hacker.

*-Scheduling: ABC, perhaps wary of past reboots, slotted the new Angels on Thursdays, just as they had done with the reboot of Night Stalker a few years earlier, when the original series had always been on Wednesdays, either at 9 or 10 pm (ET). I think this version was on too early (8 pm).

*-Missing the Spelling touch: Sony, which owns the rights to the franchise, produced this themselves, leaving Spelling Entertainment out of the loop. This, then, would explain the shift in setting from California to Miami, since a majority of Spelling's crime dramas were based in SoCal.

*Plotting: In order to fit Minka Kelly in the mix, one of the three other Angels was killed off in the opener, as you'll soon see. As a result, this played more like another Gough-Millar bomb, the adaptation of DC's Birds of Prey, with so much angst.

Let's check out the opener:

As we've previously discussed, Universal and NBC, having learned nothing from this debacle, tried the same relocation trick with their remake of Ironside two years later. That lasted a bit longer, though it was gone before the holidays.

When Dynamite Entertainment obtained a license to adapt Charlie's Angels a few years ago, they went with the original trio. Smart. Unlike this dud.

Rating: C-.