Lazy Saturday: More Angel and Charlie's Angels

First image from WaggingTales
Second image from OdeonDirect

As you can see, my weekend blogging is once again at an ebb. I'm quickly approaching my 2-year anniversary as a blogger, and it is fair to say that at times--especially weekends--I just want to get out from behind my computer screen a little.

So today, I embarked on a quest across the Las Vegas valley. After watching Real Time with Bill Maher on the DVR (a little more contentious this week, with two conservatives on the panel), I headed out across the valley with a goal in mind. I've just finished watching season one of Angel, the spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I wanted season two. I got the first set at Best Buy over on Rainbow Blvd., and figured that would be the best place to go.

Unfortunately, what was $17 a couple of weeks ago is $34.99 now. Bummer. So I tried Sam's Club next door. Nope. But I remembered that Costco had them for sale not long ago, and decided what the hey, I'm out this far, might as well run up to Charleston Blvd. and get it there. No dice. But looky there, another Best Buy in the same shopping center! But all they had was the complete box set for $124.99. And I already own season 1.

This Best Buy did have an interesting item, Charlie's Angels season 1. Last night, I watched Farrah's Story, the heart-rending documentary about Farrah Fawcett's tragic battle with anal cancer, and had already considered buying the set. And here it was, on sale, in a cute little tin lunchbox. But it was broken, and there was only one. Back in the car!

I decided to go back to the Rainbow Best Buy, buy the (overpriced) Angel, season two, and also to seek out Charlie's Angels season one. Well, I got Angel, but the little lunchbox was nowhere to be seen. I still had one more option, ironically the closest one to my house, Fry's Electronics at Town Square.

Fry's is one of those stores I can spend an afternoon in, sometimes walking out with either nothing, or with far more than I intended to buy. They have a very nice selection of movies and other DVDs, but the prices can fall just about anywhere from cheap to expensive. But, surprise! Angel, any season you want, is $29.95. And they have tons of them, so they don't look as if they'll run out. While they didn't have the lunchbox, they did have the first season of Charlie's Angels, at $19.95, so I bought it.

I hadn't known that Charlie's Angels debuted as an ABC-TV Movie of the Week, but was pleased to see it included in the set. The cast was the same, with a different office workplace, and an extra character (the recently out-of-the-closet David Ogden Stiers). I watched that and the first official episode, and found them. . .interesting. The crackling chemistry between Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and (my favorite) Kate Jackson was still there. David Boyle was great as Bosley, and John Forsythe was suave (and creepy with all the bimbos) as Charlie.

CA suffers from "70s action show syndrome" though, a peculiar malady that also infects Starsky & Hutch, CHiPs, Wonder Woman and countless other shows of the era. The pacing is odd, the plotting thin, and the character actors just a little too recognizable. Of course the clothing is terrible too, though not so much on the leads. And one comment has to be made about the men's wardrobe on 70s shows like this. I remember that pants were cut tightly back then, but I had no idea that you could almost tell the male characters' religion, if you catch my drift. Charlie's Angels was dubbed T&A or "Jiggle TV" for the lack of bras, but it wasn't just the ladies who were showing off body parts!

It was still a great deal of nostalgic fun, watching the first couple of episodes. Farrah is particularly gorgeous, with the other two ladies only slightly lower on the beauty scale. The trio seemed to really get along, and no matter how preposterous the plots might be, you never lose interest because you care about the characters. My review: Recommended

As for Angel, I only watched the first episode from the second season, but liked it a lot. David Boreanaz was very funny doing demon karaoke. I've got to wonder if he really sings that badly, or if he had to ham it up. Anyway, that's my Saturday, outside of other minor chores like grocery shopping. Hope everybody else had a productive day. For me, I might just knuckle down and get some blogging done.

Then again, I might not!