Angels investigate bizarre accidents on a major studio movie musical set. The film reunites a Broadway couple whose marriage is on the rocks. Kris played the second lead in summer stock, and...wait for it...after being charmed by the lead and singing with him, he refuses to do the film unless KRIS IS CAST. Well, yes. So of course...wait for it...she's cast. And i mean, singing and hoofing to beat the band. Now, over on track 2, i absolutely DEFY anyone to make ANY SENSE of the actions of the bad guys. I swear i am not making this up, it involves a mute being manipulated to protect a woman killed twenty years earlier. But you almost don't notice all that, because the couple (Gene Barry and Shani Wallis) are genuinely touching, and the songs are even kind of beautiful.
5 Reviews
Decent but Low-Action Adventure for the Angels
hypestyle16 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This adventure involves a middle-aged, estranged married couple (Gene Barry and Shani Wallis) who are hired to be the principals in a filmed version of the musical "Sweet Misery". However, various accidents are happening on set that are almost killed or gravely injured. The Townsend Agency is hired by the film's producer to find the villains and hopefully save someone from being killed, and more importantly save the producer from losing his job if the movie project falls apart.
All of the Angels are game for this assignment, especially Kris: She gets hired to be a co-star of the movie herself! This is a sly way for the producers to introduce Cheryl Ladd's real-life singing-dancing training (of the Broadway/cocktail-jazz sort). Meanwhile, Kelly and Sabrina take other jobs on the movie set, and run into an assortment of eccentric characters who could be suspects, or red herrings.
The episode is low on action and suspense. Mostly, it never seems very high stakes. The relationship between the divorcing couple is played for melodrama, and adding to it is a college-aged son who wishes they would both grow up. Bosley plays backup, of course, as always. Ms. Ladd is a good singer, and if you appreciate Broadway musical offerings of a certain vintage, the performances are just fine. (If not, you'll just have to endure. The middle aged audience of the time would likely have fond memories of these songs.)
The overall episode experience is a kind of tribute to Broadway musicals, and to a lesser extent, the older mythology of the movie studio world (pre-1960s).
All of the Angels are game for this assignment, especially Kris: She gets hired to be a co-star of the movie herself! This is a sly way for the producers to introduce Cheryl Ladd's real-life singing-dancing training (of the Broadway/cocktail-jazz sort). Meanwhile, Kelly and Sabrina take other jobs on the movie set, and run into an assortment of eccentric characters who could be suspects, or red herrings.
The episode is low on action and suspense. Mostly, it never seems very high stakes. The relationship between the divorcing couple is played for melodrama, and adding to it is a college-aged son who wishes they would both grow up. Bosley plays backup, of course, as always. Ms. Ladd is a good singer, and if you appreciate Broadway musical offerings of a certain vintage, the performances are just fine. (If not, you'll just have to endure. The middle aged audience of the time would likely have fond memories of these songs.)
The overall episode experience is a kind of tribute to Broadway musicals, and to a lesser extent, the older mythology of the movie studio world (pre-1960s).
An episode for the musical lovers
gridoon20246 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
One of those "Charlie's Angels" episodes that tells nearly everything about the plot to the viewer in the opening scene - the mystery here is very weak, but it's almost secondary; the emphasis is on the songs. There is a tremendously, almost inexplicably entertaining song-and-dance number by Cheryl Ladd and Gene Barry that makes the episode worth seeing all by itself (I wonder if they dubbed Cheryl's voice - if they didn't, she's definitely a talented singer). Barry and Shani Wallis play a divorced couple who keep throwing sarcastic insults at each other ("If we were still married, I'd poison your coffee" - "If we were still married, I'd drink it!") but, wouldn't you know it, deep down inside they still love each other. Wallis looks mature but still quite sexy. *** out of 4.
Movie Musical Angels
adamcshelby3 July 2021
This was a low stakes episodes. The Angels are hired by Shani Wells (of 1968's movie musical Oliver!) to find out who's trying to scare or kill her after a studio light almost crashes down on her head during film rehearsals. Interestingly enough, this repeats the exact beat from a first season episode called "I Will be Remembered". Funny how lights keep falling from the rafters when the Angels are on the job.
Indicative of the low stakes, there are numerous shots of the Angels watching the rehearsals for this musical (called 'Sweet Misery'), watching the film shoot itself, or watching the actors record songs for the musical in a recording studio.
There's no real mystery to who was trying to injure Shani's character, we see a man up in the rafters in the opening scene. I can only gather that Edward J Lasko (the writer) was a frustrated musical theater major. He not only wrote the ep, he also wrote the songs too. At best, they're serviceable, though they all seem somewhat similar.
Gene Barry plays Shani's ex-husband with a major gambling debt, who's forced to work with his ex-wife on the musical in order to pay what he owes. They share a bratty son who hates them both. The kid's storyline was an unfortunate subplot that only served to reveal just how slight the main mystery was.
Kris Munroe is hired to play a role in the musical at Gene Barry's insistence (c'mon now!), and they share a number together. Cheryl Ladd sings her own part and does an admirable job. She even dances too. That's quite an undercover assignment, being hired to work as an actress! As far as movie musicals go, it may have looked okay for TV, but for a film it looked horribly cheap. I've no doubt Sweet Misery would have failed... miserably at the box office, even with Kris Munroe on the marquee.
The scene where they recreate a scene from an old musical where an actress fell to her death (in order for the Angels to ensnare the so-called villain) was at least well done. Turns out the guy just had a broken heart. Overall, "Angels in the Wings" attempted something different, but forgot to add suspense and mystery. As such, it's a forgettable piece of melodrama that dissolves into sappy treacle at the end.
Indicative of the low stakes, there are numerous shots of the Angels watching the rehearsals for this musical (called 'Sweet Misery'), watching the film shoot itself, or watching the actors record songs for the musical in a recording studio.
There's no real mystery to who was trying to injure Shani's character, we see a man up in the rafters in the opening scene. I can only gather that Edward J Lasko (the writer) was a frustrated musical theater major. He not only wrote the ep, he also wrote the songs too. At best, they're serviceable, though they all seem somewhat similar.
Gene Barry plays Shani's ex-husband with a major gambling debt, who's forced to work with his ex-wife on the musical in order to pay what he owes. They share a bratty son who hates them both. The kid's storyline was an unfortunate subplot that only served to reveal just how slight the main mystery was.
Kris Munroe is hired to play a role in the musical at Gene Barry's insistence (c'mon now!), and they share a number together. Cheryl Ladd sings her own part and does an admirable job. She even dances too. That's quite an undercover assignment, being hired to work as an actress! As far as movie musicals go, it may have looked okay for TV, but for a film it looked horribly cheap. I've no doubt Sweet Misery would have failed... miserably at the box office, even with Kris Munroe on the marquee.
The scene where they recreate a scene from an old musical where an actress fell to her death (in order for the Angels to ensnare the so-called villain) was at least well done. Turns out the guy just had a broken heart. Overall, "Angels in the Wings" attempted something different, but forgot to add suspense and mystery. As such, it's a forgettable piece of melodrama that dissolves into sappy treacle at the end.
Too silky, too silly
aramis-112-80488028 October 2023
Hired to protect an actress making a movie the Angels find themselves in the midst of a family squabble.
Gene Barry and Shanni Wallis are the bickering couple. They're making the sort of musicals that were no longer being made in the late 1970s. They ought to be in a "Star Wars" five-and-dime knockoff.
What makes this episode silly is the male star's insistence that Kris co-star. In a big movie. With no experience. But she played the role in "summer stock"(!) In college I was part of a stage version of Rodgers and Hart's "The Boys from Syracuse"; if they made a movie of it I could hardly hope to be cast. That's just not the way Hollywood operates.
Cheryl Ladd was a singer (I believe she was one of the singing voices in the old cartoon "Josie and the Pussycats"). But Kris is a young woman who went to the San Francisco Police Academy.
I thought that episode was ridiculous when Kelly, another Police Academy recruit, snagged a job as a Vegas showgirl. But this defies belief and I have a very broad suspension of disbelief.
Also, it has an embarrassing role for old hand Nehemiah Persoff. He must have needed the money.
But . . . Dear me, Kris is soooo beautiful I'll forgive her anything. And I like a nice change of pace. If it had been a funny episode it would be different, but I think it's meant to be touching.
It's a beautiful episode with a nice musical number with a former cop singing her heart out. Having been in amateur dramatics I love backstage stories. But the only mystery here is how a total amateur gets a big movie role without sleeping with the guy.
Of course, at that time of the '70s that movie didn't have a chance at the box office, anyway, so why not?
Gene Barry and Shanni Wallis are the bickering couple. They're making the sort of musicals that were no longer being made in the late 1970s. They ought to be in a "Star Wars" five-and-dime knockoff.
What makes this episode silly is the male star's insistence that Kris co-star. In a big movie. With no experience. But she played the role in "summer stock"(!) In college I was part of a stage version of Rodgers and Hart's "The Boys from Syracuse"; if they made a movie of it I could hardly hope to be cast. That's just not the way Hollywood operates.
Cheryl Ladd was a singer (I believe she was one of the singing voices in the old cartoon "Josie and the Pussycats"). But Kris is a young woman who went to the San Francisco Police Academy.
I thought that episode was ridiculous when Kelly, another Police Academy recruit, snagged a job as a Vegas showgirl. But this defies belief and I have a very broad suspension of disbelief.
Also, it has an embarrassing role for old hand Nehemiah Persoff. He must have needed the money.
But . . . Dear me, Kris is soooo beautiful I'll forgive her anything. And I like a nice change of pace. If it had been a funny episode it would be different, but I think it's meant to be touching.
It's a beautiful episode with a nice musical number with a former cop singing her heart out. Having been in amateur dramatics I love backstage stories. But the only mystery here is how a total amateur gets a big movie role without sleeping with the guy.
Of course, at that time of the '70s that movie didn't have a chance at the box office, anyway, so why not?
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