ABC has given the green light to its long-planned remake of Charlie’s Angels, the 1970s series about three ladies deemed too sexy for everyday police work, so they enter into indentured servitude to an unseen billionaire who keeps sending them on undercover investigations, despite the fact that their assumed identities are inevitably undone by their own sexy ladyness, and thus one of them ends up getting held hostage by their intended target every single time, but then somehow the others rescue her and everyone has a throaty laugh about it around the speakerphone.
As we reported earlier, the script is being handled by Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar, whose complete overhaul of the Angels’ origin story involves transposing the action from the dull, dishwater burg of Los Angeles to the caliente streets of Miami and giving it a “modern take.” Darker and grittier and 21st century, like perhaps one of them have a drug problem and/or is secretly a robot.
Also, Vulture is reporting that the show is close to hiring Robert Wagner to fill in for the late John Forsythe as the voice of “Charlie,” all stemming from a decades-old agreement between Wagner and Angels producer Aaron Spelling and a stake in the franchise granted as payment for Wagner starring in the TV movie The Affair. (Which was, in hindsight, probably totally worth it.) Wagner has since gone to court many times over the years seeking his share of Charlie’s Angels profits, including badgering Sony for a cut of those recent movie remakes produced by Drew Barrymore—and given that Barrymore’s also producing this new show, it’s probably safe to assume that she just doesn’t want to get into it with Wagner again, so here. As for the non-Robert Wagner roles, the studio is reportedly considering both familiar faces and newcomers, and presumably combing the pretty girl castoffs of every recently canceled show. There's probably an impromptu Dollhouse reunion happening right now.