SPEAKER_15 0:03

Heads up angels. While our podcast is suitable for all ages, keep in mind these episodes were produced in a different era and may include scenes of danger, crime, or themes some listeners may find sensitive or outdated. When doing our rewatch, we do our very best to discuss everything with care, context, and compassion, and always with a love for the show and respect for our listeners. Last time on Good Morning Charlie, it's beauty and disgrace. And coming up.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Oh Stewardus, I speak judge. Oh good. He said that he's in great pain and he wants to know if you can help him.

SPEAKER_15 1:24

Chris Berriam and fan favorite, and I got something to say.

SPEAKER_08 1:28

We'll say it.

SPEAKER_15 1:30

Oh. Although we haven't talked about me for about three months now, I nevertheless, because I'm a good person, and make no mistake about it, I am a good, good person, Colby. I have questions for you because I care. And I also said to the listeners, I would be asking you several probing questions because of all the adventures coming up. I'd think tomorrow you leave for your free flight to Canada. That's right. Free. What does he have to do for that? Nothing's free. And cruise to Alaska on Royal Caribbean.

SPEAKER_08 2:05

That is correct. I'm leaving tomorrow.

SPEAKER_15 2:07

Today?

SPEAKER_08 2:10

No, tomorrow.

SPEAKER_15 2:12

Oh, well, that's different, isn't it? Have you packed yet?

SPEAKER_08 2:18

I have like, I'd say 80% packed.

SPEAKER_15 2:23

Is it like 80% or 80%?

SPEAKER_08 2:26

Probably like, because I'm really not certain of that percentage.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

These people are completely literal.

SPEAKER_13 2:32

Metaphors are gonna go over his head. Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it.

SPEAKER_07 2:38

I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy.

SPEAKER_15 2:43

Follow-up question from the lady in the back.

SPEAKER_13 2:46

Thank you and kind regards.

SPEAKER_15 2:48

Are you able to take alcohol on board?

SPEAKER_08 2:53

No, you cannot take alcohol on board.

SPEAKER_15 2:56

Not even a bottle?

SPEAKER_08 2:58

Because they want you to purchase it. I've been receiving um little advertisements, because of course you have to download the app. Complete separate conversation that I don't want to get in a tangent about.

SPEAKER_15 3:12

No, I cannot wait to not talk about that.

SPEAKER_08 3:15

Like every week, about like the drink package is now 40% off. Like, don't you want to purchase it?

SPEAKER_15 3:22

Oh my god, don't you?

SPEAKER_08 3:24

I don't drink enough to to necessitate several drinks every day. No, I I don't drink that much.

SPEAKER_15 3:32

But this is your time too.

SPEAKER_08 3:34

I know. That is true. Um I just feel like after, you know, maybe a glass or two, I'm kinda done for the week.

SPEAKER_15 3:44

Do you understand? Do you know how much drinks cost, even just a beer? I don't even think it's a good idea. No, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_08 3:50

I would not be.

SPEAKER_15 3:51

I do. Do you? Okay. They're like Disney prices. You're gonna go and get a MiG Ultra, high $18, and then you need to tip on top of that, because bartenders work for tips as well, typically. I don't know what kind of international crew you may have. It's not gonna be Isaac. That's what I know.

SPEAKER_08 4:11

I might have some wine with dinner or something. Um we'll see how often that happens. If it's $20 a bop.

SPEAKER_15 4:23

A bop. A bop. I think you mean a pop. That song is a bop. Okay. Everybody, we just took an unscheduled break for me to yell at Colby with every fiber of my being. And listen to what this aggravating ginger is saying he won't do. I've had to pull up my calculator and I did some math. Why? Because I'm multifaceted. For $210, Colby, $210 your entire cruise, you get alcohol, coffee, soda, water, sparkling water. You're not do you understand? If you have one glass of wine per night, you're going to spend $200. And then when he orders a drink from Dunkin' Donuts, piloting the space shuttle has simpler instructions. You're gonna pay $12 a day for coffee, even if you just get one. $20 a night for your glass of wine with dinner. Well, again, I can't talk about myself, but I am. I am currently in Central Virginia. My sister just had a delicate procedure. That's with a capital D and a capital P. And I'm helping my sister with her delicate procedure. I bring that up because our listeners may recall she was our very first mini sode helping us learn a little bit more about the correction system after we covered Angels in Chains. Everyone, my sister's great. She flew through that surgery like she is 21 years old and owns 51% of this company. I've never seen anything like it.

SPEAKER_11 6:08

And please understand that I have a controlling interest in Denver Carrington.

SPEAKER_15 6:13

We're so thankful that she's doing well. Thank you. And Colby, what is today's assignment?

SPEAKER_08 6:18

Today's assignment is episode six, Angel Flight.

SPEAKER_15 6:22

Here is your case briefing. A college friend of Sabrina's. I already like this because it's a connection an angel has versus Charlie. I'm already completely invested. She's a lead instructor at a nearby flight attendant skill. She's being harassed left and right, and the caller won't tell her why. She, knowing Sabrina, works for the Townsend agency, enlists their help, and you will not believe. And you know, I can't believe it's not, I can't believe it's not how this seemingly one-note situation blossoms into something much larger.

SPEAKER_08 6:57

Here is your super secret intel from behind the scenes. The original air date is October 5th, 1977.

SPEAKER_15 7:03

Stop right there, Colby. Stop right there. You are going to have your mind blown by what the number one song was that we.

SPEAKER_08 8:00

I feel like the force is with me.

SPEAKER_15 8:02

Something's with you, most likely an STI after you get done with this cruise. I have the 45 of this because I'm an old. I have the 45 of this. I believe it. All right, back to you. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_08 8:13

That's all right. This episode comes in at 50 minutes. The story editor and producer is Edward J. Lasco, who you might have heard, I don't know, 25 times already. Written by Brian McKay and directed by Dennis Donnelly. Dennis Donnelly became one of the show's most frequent used directors, ultimately directing 13 episodes of Charlie's Angels between 1977 and 1981, more than any other director listed in IMDB's credits. Donnelly also directed the season 5 episode To See an Angel Die, which was written by Edward J. Lasco. Lasco ultimately amassed 32 writing credits, 23 story editor credits, and 47 producer credits on Charlie's Angels. Brian McKay had an impressive career as a feature film screenwriter before much of his television work. He had already written the season one Charlie's Angel episode, The Big Tap Out, with Edward J. Lasco serving as story editor. We recently shared a post of a Patreon member's connection to the Big Tap Out, and I think you should go check that out if you haven't seen it. McKay and Lasko were already working together before Angel Flight, while McKay was simultaneously an executive story consultant on Linda Carter's Wonder Woman. And now for some classified details. We have a location alert. The opening image of the North American Rockwell hanker appears to be one of the company's actual aviation facilities in the LAX Hawthorne area. This establishing shot for the Global Airways headquarters will be seen again in this episode, so the viewer knows: hey, we're back at the airport or the flight attendant training school question mark. Here's an interesting possibility. In 1976, only a year before Angel Flight was filmed, President Gerald Ford visited a North American Rockwell B-1 hangar in the Los Angeles area. White House Records describe it as the quote North American Rockwell B-1 Hangar, Los Angeles International Airport. While the Ford Presidential Library's photo catalog identifies the North American Rockwell B-1V Division hangar location as Hawthorne, California, it is possible we're looking at the very facility that President Ford visited the year before.

unknown 10:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_08 10:58

That is a lot of information. So before we get to the debrief, why don't we take a break?

SPEAKER_15 11:03

Hey, I got confused on one thing. You may have noticed I stepped away. What year was it President Gerald Ford visited a North American Rockwell B-1 hangar in the LA area?

SPEAKER_08 11:13

It was 1976. Is that significant?

SPEAKER_15 11:17

That's the year our nation celebrated its bicentennial. Before we go to break, you know what, Colby? We have an esteemed Patreon inner circle member slash Supreme Cult elder who could perhaps serve in an investigatory fashion and do a little bit of research on the North American Rockwell B1 hangar at the LA International Airport.

SPEAKER_08 11:42

Possibly, let's be as nice as we can possibly be to see if they will take on this assignment for us.

SPEAKER_15 11:51

Ditto, because I too would like a free flight to Canada, and it's clear your friends are not going to give this to me. We'll be back. Hold on, Colby. My sister's gonna put the cat outside. It's the feral cat named Cela. I love that cat. She loves that cat. But he is feral, and so when he meows, he needs to go out. Melinda, have I sounded exceptionally clever? Very much. Thank you. Has Colby sounded clever? You don't know because you can't hear him. I'll just answer for you.

SPEAKER_08 12:50

And we're ready to begin the debrief of Angel Flight. Take it away.

SPEAKER_15 12:54

Colby's trying to get on my good side because I'm so angry about his crew's choices. So he says debrief instead of debrief, which is what he's going to be doing a lot on this crew. We're going to have a new subsection of the debrief. I like to call the debrief disclaimer. And you know what that means. Whenever I announce a whole new section, that means Colby has to come up with a theme song on the spot. Colby, give us a theme song to the debrief disclaimer, as I like to call it, the double D.

SPEAKER_08 13:30

It's the debrief disclaimer for you and me. Debrief disclaimer.

SPEAKER_15 13:35

Double D.

SPEAKER_05 13:37

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_15 13:39

We're gonna be so famous. Here is your debrief disclaimer. Stewardess is an outdated term, but I'm using it throughout this breakdown because it's the term used consistently in this episode, and it's germane to what we're discussing. I realize Colby realize is the more inclusive term, and we're glad it's there is flight attendant. But for the world of angel flight, this is very specifically a stewardess skill for women only. And even the dorm complex slash apartment complex is exclusively for the female trainees. Everyone got that? That's why I'm using the term stewardess skill. And with that, here's how the episode opens. Global Airways is testing a fancy new autopilot system consisting of one button in a flight simulator. Pilot Jean Knox. That name sticks with me only because I live not too far from Knoxville. Pilot Jean Knox and Angela, the friend of Sabrina's, she's one of the airline's lead instructors at the Stewardess School, decide this is evidently the perfect time to either fool around what Gene wants. I had a lot to say about him, or discuss, as Angela wants, the reason they've already had their moment in the sun and everybody, everybody being Gene, needs to move on. Gene, mid-argument as to why getting it on in the flight simulator should be the better choice, reaches for his mug O Coffee, a mug we'll see again, and he's wisely placed it right on the cockpit console, which we all know the perfect place for a wide-open mug of coffee and discovers.

SPEAKER_08 15:20

Kobe, what does he discover? Tell us there's a black rose in his mug.

SPEAKER_15 15:27

If I had a nickel, so I would have reacted 0.00%, but Angela freaks out and Summersulp freaks out Isma and Emperor's New Groove her way right out of the simulator.

SPEAKER_13 15:40

Hey, what's going on?

SPEAKER_09 15:41

No. No, not again. Simulated altitude is now 100 feet. Hey, what's going on?

SPEAKER_14 15:51

No, Angela!

SPEAKER_15 15:53

And that opening scene takes us to the standard Townsend Agency establishing shot for our weekly what the what? meeting. Angela has finished freaking out and she's collected herself, and thank goodness she's stationed at LAX Stewardess School because she can quickly get to the Townsend Agency. She tells everyone she's been receiving black roses and places no one should have access to. Her office, her apartment, her locker, along with phone calls from a mysterious man. He refuses to tell her why he's doing this, but promises he'll tell her when he's ready. And we learn the connection. Sabrina and Angela were college roommates. Angela, having left college, teaches at the Global Airways Stewardess School, whose students live in an apartment facility slash dormitory nicknamed the Stew Zoo. Think about it, Stewardess the Stew Zoo. It took me a minute. Did you get it right away? I was thinking Brunswick.

SPEAKER_08 16:55

Well, when they said it, I was like, I don't think that they necessarily enunciated it quite good enough. Where did you go to school? I heard zoo and that was about it.

SPEAKER_15 17:08

Then I thought about the new zoo review coming after you. I, from this point forward, am going to name Colby's consistent and constant mood the Stew Zoo, because he lives in a state of stewing in his own juices, mad about everything, mostly me. So we've had two scenes, everybody Freak Out in the autopilot test simulator, in which they crashed. And then the Townsend agency. And here's the Townsend team plan. Sabrina will stay with Angela at the stew zoo, posing as what she actually is, an old college friend. That is no surprise because we all know immediately upon seeing the script, Kate Jackson refused to put on a stewardess outfit.

SPEAKER_08 17:51

I did think. Why is it the second episode in a row where Sabrina's like refusing to participate in whatever this undercover assignment is?

SPEAKER_15 18:03

Chris and Kelly pose as stewardess students and take an apartment right across the hall in case of emergencies. Bonsley, in an act of sheer bravery, stays at the office to water the plants and I guess answer the phone and do some light bookkeeping. As the angels settle into the Skews you, let's take a quick break and return with some guest star alerts from Cobir on Continental?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

How did you know?

SPEAKER_07 18:34

You're not using our overhead storage. Let's stow this up here and give your legs a little more room. Great. Dereo.

SPEAKER_13 18:42

Uh how much is it?

SPEAKER_07 18:43

Three. I'll take it. You can use some more.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

That's terrific. When it comes to business travel, Continental Airlines makes the difference. Fly us and see for yourself.

SPEAKER_08 19:02

Welcome back, everyone. We are gonna do a little guest star alert. The pilot that we meet at the top of the show, Gene Knox, is played by Robert Gentry. Gentry was a daytime Emmy nominated soap veteran, best remembered as Ross Chandler on All My Children and Ed Bauer on Guiding Light.

SPEAKER_15 19:22

Yes, ma'am, I remember that.

SPEAKER_08 19:24

His soap resume is extensive. He eventually worked on eight different daytime serials. One year after Charlie's Angels, he turned up on Fantasy Island in an episode whose title was Perfectly Enough, Charlie's Cherubs. And Charlie's Angels Overseas in Spain is called Charlie's Cherubs. He appeared in Agnes Moorhead's final feature. Oh my god, I love Agnes Moorhead anyway. The 1972 Southern Gothic horror movie Dear Dead Delilah The Witched also happened to end in 1972. I watch Agnes Moorhead and Vincent Price and the Bats like regularly.

SPEAKER_15 20:15

Well that explains volumes.

SPEAKER_08 20:17

Back to our guest star alerts. The Vassettapon.

SPEAKER_05 20:22

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_08 20:23

The Bassette upon Angela is Fawn Harriman. She was another daytime soap actor who would have been familiar to viewers in 1977, thanks to Somerset, the Another World spinoff, where she appeared in nearly a thousand episodes. My goodness. Harriman appeared in another aviation disaster production, the TV movie Flight to Holocaust, featuring Sid Caesar, Paul Williams, and Desi Arnaz Jr. Apparently Fawn Harriman spent much of 1977 having trouble with airplanes. And who hasn't?

SPEAKER_15 21:08

If you gave me Desi Arnaz and Paul Williams in the same room, I would not know which way to collapse. The Angels had barely begun their investigation when Big News After their first day undercover, Kelly and Chris, posing as students, and Angela returned at Angela's apartment. Even though she's a teacher, I bet as part of her perks and her Bennies, they'd give her free rent at the Stew Zoo. Otherwise, Angela wouldn't be there. They make certain the establishing shot of the Stew Zoo has the singles only sign prominently displayed, also with each and every following establishing shot. Colby's gonna give a scoop on that later. Everybody's debriefing. Sabrina's been there all day holding down the fort. Angela starts making coffee and Girl. She opens up her coffee container because that's how she did in the 70s, and there is a black rose inside the coffee container.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

That wasn't there this morning when we left. Have you left the apartment? No. Now somebody must have put it there while I was sleeping. How'd they do that?

SPEAKER_15 22:28

That black rose was not there that very morning. Meaning somebody got into Angela's apartment, A. And B, they did it while Sabrina was there hanging out. You can only imagine the amount of Isma and Emperor's New Groove Somersaults Angela does around the apartment.

SPEAKER_08 22:49

She really undone. She goes to 10 real fast.

SPEAKER_15 22:55

The next day, and we guess it's a weekend because everyone's down in the Stew wreck room. Remember, every every I'm being serious, Colby. Every 70s only complex, they had a rumpus room. That rumpus room area had all the things we see in this episode. I defy anyone to tell me I'm wrong. You had what we see.

SPEAKER_08 23:17

I mean a random exercise equipment just in the middle of the room.

SPEAKER_15 23:22

Exactly. You have some sort of rusty metal exercise equipment that was later used on the set of saw. You have ping pong, you have your couches, and uh so everyone's down there. And we start meeting.

SPEAKER_08 23:37

Could you sit sweat next to me while I sit on the sofa?

SPEAKER_15 23:40

I would like to play some canasta or pisha pesha.

SPEAKER_16 23:46

We play twenty-one. Well, uh, how do you play it? I've played old maid and uh Pisha Pesha a couple of times, just for matches.

SPEAKER_15 23:56

While you sweat yourself to Phil on your rusty metal exercise bike. The scene opens, everyone's playing cards. We meet our collection of possible suspects. Hey, there's Eddie Williams, he's the assistant manager of the complex, and they call him the resident peeping tom, which means he's quite naughty.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Oh, naughty.

SPEAKER_15 24:18

Then there's Gene Knox, the pilot. He comes by hoping for another chance with Angela. He just marches in the back door. Not only is this singles only, this is ladies only, like every party I throw. And he marches in like he owns fifty-one percent of the company.

SPEAKER_11 24:36

I shall fire you all on the spot and replace you with a board that will approve of the merger.

SPEAKER_15 24:42

And asks Angela to meet the new blood. My God, so gross. Men are disgusting. Chris is wearing the same sensible wedges as the last episode when she was gathered around the ye old pool piano practicing her song.

SPEAKER_08 25:00

Arve, hello!

SPEAKER_15 25:04

You're welcome. If that weren't so funny, I'd be mad. As Gene leaves, he meets some characters we're going to note later, and he makes an impressive collection of chauvinistic, sexist, and racist remarks, and a rec room full of female flight attendant students, with Angela being the only instructor. I am telling you what, they were sexist, chauvinistic, and racist even in the 70s. There's not been a time when those were not chauvinistic, sexist, and racist remarks. We're being set up, I feel, to not care very much for pilot Gene Knox as a pilot or part-time instructor for the stewardess skill, and they did a good job. Here are a few fun facts, though. I want to set the proper 1977 vibe for Colby and the rest of you who were not around then. The school is marketed specifically to women. A stewardess's job at the time was seen as a glamorous career. And your options were kind of limited throughout the time period. You could be a stewardess and have, I don't know, a little bit of agency. The dorm is marked singles only. And this is where the episode accidentally becomes a stepshot of a fascinating employment history. This aired in 1977. About a decade earlier, battles were still being fought with airlines over rules requiring stewardesses, female flight attendants to be unmarried and childless, and of a certain weight, restrictions that did not apply to the very few male stewards at the time. They would come up with all these rules. Uh, I'm gonna guess, old white men. Even when marriage finally became acceptable, pregnancy could still cost a woman her job. And this wasn't ancient history. When this episode aired, there were two U.S. Supreme Court decisions going on involving the aftermath of United Airlines' former no-marriage policy. These decisions came down just months before Angel Flight aired.

SPEAKER_08 27:17

Some airlines, including United, maintained wait requirements into the 1990s. So while some of what we're seeing had already changed in 1977, some of it was absolutely still happening.

SPEAKER_15 27:37

They're back at LAX. Today's instructors, because Angela's taking a little break, Gene Knox, we already know, and he's gross, and we do not care for him, even though I loved him in Guiding Light. And we have Captain Bill Glover. And Bill Glover stands up and he explains this marvelous new autopilot device their airline is currently testing is so easy, practically any of the girls could work it.

SPEAKER_14 28:02

Inside the cockpit on the automatic pilot panel, there's a red light with an activator switch. Now there's not a girl in this room who couldn't flip the switch and put the plane into landing approach at the nearest airfield. When the red light is on, the plane flies itself until you're 50 feet from the ground.

SPEAKER_15 28:20

Among the students is Mae Ling, and she was earlier the target of Jean's racist remarks and continues to be.

SPEAKER_08 28:28

Yes, so to piggyback on, even a woman could operate it.

SPEAKER_15 28:36

A girl, I think they said yes.

SPEAKER_08 28:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 28:41

Is this no equipment available now to all the planes?

SPEAKER_14 28:45

All the planes on this airline will eventually be equipped with it everywhere in the world, including in your country.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

This is my country. I live here.

SPEAKER_08 28:58

I think it's time for a break. The look that Mailing gives him, he looks irritated when he's like, Well, I didn't mean to.

SPEAKER_15 29:08

Before we have much time to ponder any of that, however, things turn deadly. That evening, after skill is over, the angels and Angela and a stewardess student named Marilyn all return together back to the Stew. They're in the parking area, downstairs parking area. Marilyn hops out and checks some things on her vehicle, and she is attacked in the parking area, just a few yards from where Chris, Kelly and Angela are standing. Kelly and Chris, because they're good at their job, rush to her. She is already dead, and lying on her body is a black rose. What we have though now is Chris and Kelly determine Marilyn is dead. Our harasser, our black rose-leaving call making harasser is now a killer. And I feel like I don't need to tell you what Angela was doing while Chris and Kelly ran to assist, but I will because I'm a good person. She was all hunched up by the elevator, freaking out somersaulting like Eisma. Now, time passes, and after Angela's freak out, she's doing what you would imagine one would do who's being harassed and now witnessing a dead body of a student and friend. She's in a shared laundry space and is alone because that makes perfect sense when one of your students is murdered a few feet away from you. Just humming away. I have we'll talk about that at the end of the episode. Humming away, sorting her whites from her darks, her colors from her lights, and she gets a call in the laundry room because Colby, we had wall phones everywhere. Don't even think we didn't. And the obvious question is, well, it's for her. How does the dude know where Angela is? It is the guy. He threatens to kill another friend slash student if Angela hangs up or tells anyone what's about to happen. He tells her to open up a dryer, and inside that dryer will be a cassette tape. Remember cassette tapes and recorders. There's gonna be a cassette tape with her orders. On the upcoming student orientation flight, we're not talking simulator, we're talking for real real, not for play play.

SPEAKER_05 31:17

For real real, not for play play!

SPEAKER_15 31:20

Angela is to drug one of the pilots, take a gun and dot dot dot. The scene ends. And Angela's entire demeanor changes because she just disregards the angels and Sabrina and takes off to a glorious 1977 Smokey Bar and Grill, vinyl booths, ashtray. Sabrina follows her there and tries to pin her down, but Angela will not talk. All she tells Sabrina is by tomorrow this will all be over. Well, tomorrow? Nothing particularly unusual about tomorrow, except wait a minute. That's the exact day of this student orientation flight I just mentioned. Well, nothing unusual about that. They do it with every class except oh my god. This is also the flight Global Airways is going to use to test their brand new one-button autopilot system. Colby will bring us back from break with some guest star alerts.

SPEAKER_17 32:36

And now we have women's sizes too. You know, I've been part of the Kmart family for 10 years. So to celebrate our anniversary and Mother's Day, my collection is specially prized. Ten years. Well, I guess we both believe in giving women what they want.

SPEAKER_08 32:54

We are back, everybody, and we have a few more guest star alerts. Philip Roth plays the Is he lecherous?

SPEAKER_15 33:02

How is he not lecherous? He's a peeping Tom. He ooos and goos all over the trainees, students, all over Sabrina, just oooy and gooeying gross.

SPEAKER_08 33:15

Icky, icky, icky. Well, he plays Eddie. And Roth has small parts in some big movies. You may know him from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, What's Up Doc, with another Ryan O'Neill connection, Catch22, and Harry and Tonto. His television credits include The Monkees, Get Smart, Barney Miller, Cagney and Lacey, Shana, and Tales from the Dark Side. But here is another fun fact. Like some of our other guest stars, Roth studied acting in New York with Lee Strasberg. And according to his biography, Roth was the first and only person ever to perform a scene with Marilyn Monroe at the actor's studio. Then there is Paula. So glad to talk about Paula. She has so much Charlie's Angels history. She is the very tall stewardess trainee. Gene has been making fun of throughout the episode. Paula is played by Lee Travis. And Travis becomes a Charlie's Angels semi-regular of sorts, returning as three different characters through 1981. She is in Angels in Vegas in season three. She is in uh Loveboat Angels in season four. Uh she is in Chorus Line Angels in season five. She also supplied the story for season two episode Antique Angels with Edward J. Lasko writing the teleplay. And here is the connection. Lee Travis eventually married Edward J. Lasco in 1985, my birthing year. They remain married until his death in 2009.

SPEAKER_15 35:07

Back to the debrief. And now, ladies, gentlemen, ladies, it's tomorrow. It's the test flight day for the stewardesses and the test flight day for the autopilot on an actual plane versus the flight simulator. Everybody boards the plane. Captain Gene and Captain Glover are in the cockpit. Because this is essentially a test flight rather than a normal passenger flight, things are doing multiple things. One, we have students portraying passengers. Sandbags are sitting in the seats to work out the weight and the balance, and sandbags are also in the cargo area to simulate the weight of supplies and passengers' bags and luggage. Angela sneaky sneakies into a place we wish we could go, which is the little goody area of first coins. Yeah, she's got all those baby bottles everywhere. I hate her. And you know what? Will Colby have baby bottles of alcohol around him on this cruise. He will if he does what I say and get that package. So zero percent chance. Angela has everything in her flight attendant, teacher bag, the mysterious caller ordered her to bring, that gun in the dryer, which is where everyone keeps their weapons in America. The cassette tape and the cassette player and drugs for the pilot's coffee. Turns out the pilot, the harasser murderer wants her to drug is Gene. And the complete instructions, which we didn't get earlier in the laundry room, are finally revealed. Angela is to drug Jean and he passes out. Hold Captain Glover, you know, the one who said so easy, even a girl could do it, ass, at gunpoint, and force him to fly the airplane toward Peru using some specific coordinates supplied by the dude on the tape. Everybody, the plane takes off. She goes into that cockpit. Remember, this is pre-9-11. I mean, the cockpit was just a cavalcade of whimsy with a disco ball. I remember being little and you could just go up and visit and have looky lose.

SPEAKER_08 37:21

That's where I met Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

SPEAKER_15 37:23

Wait, what? In the cockpit?

SPEAKER_08 37:25

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_15 37:26

You met Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

SPEAKER_08 37:28

No, I'm talking about airplane.

SPEAKER_15 37:30

I thought to myself, even as I asked this question, if he's making an airplane reference, I will wring his little ginger neck.

SPEAKER_08 37:39

I love their planes so much. It's so good.

SPEAKER_12 37:43

A minute. I know you. You're Kareem Abdul Jabbar. You play basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers.

SPEAKER_04 37:50

I'm sorry, son, but you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Roger Murdoch. I'm Nicole Pilot.

SPEAKER_12 37:56

I've been here the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense.

SPEAKER_15 38:01

Does everyone hear what I'm up against? My struggle bus is large. Alright. Because the cockpit back then is just all skate backward. She goes in there, gives Gene his coffee. He immediately just right out. She yonks the gun out and points it at Clover and says, You need to go to the blah blah at the blah blah blah coordinates. But then, oh my god, plot twist, no one's ready. This episode does a great job of some twists. Gene kind of comes to a little bit, kind of recognizes what's going on, and has kind of a redeeming moment. He reaches for the gun. And Captain Glover, instead of being thankful, stands up and karate chops him like Kong Kong fooie right back into submission into the co-pilot chair.

SPEAKER_04 38:51

I don't understand what's happening.

SPEAKER_17 38:53

Hey, hey, what is going on here, huh? I mean, I I have absolutely no idea what we're doing here.

SPEAKER_15 38:59

We realize, holy crap, pilot Glover is in on it. Angela also realizes I've been set up. Glover demands she lock that cockpit door, and when she hesitates, he lunges toward her, knocking her into the console. And she, like, you know, happens in all these episodes in the 70s and Nancy Drew books, is knocked unconscious. But when she's knocked unconscious, which kind of sounds delightful because God, I'd love some me time, the gun goes off, shoots Captain Glover dead, boom, on the floor. And now this leaves us everyone. Get your counter ready, get your bingo card in hand, with an airplane on which essentially everyone who knows how to fly it is either dead, Captain Glover, or unconscious. Angela and Gene. Meanwhile, here's a little bit of a new character. Meanwhile, Culver, that's his last name, he's an airline employee and another instructor I've sort of glossed over. We've seen him in the classroom scenes, and we don't quite know his role, but he's on the test flight. He's obviously someone important with grading the students. He pulls a gun. How many guns are on this plane? It's like Yosemite Sam. He pulls out a gun on everyone outside the cockpit, and he spills the tea, and we learned what this is all about. Culver, this character I've just introduced, and Glover, the pilot who's now dead, wanted to take the airplane to a foreign country on this test flight and sell the new one-button autopilot technology. Colby, did you see that coming?

SPEAKER_08 40:53

Um, no, I can't say that I did really see it coming when I saw this episode for the first time. I think ultimately it was kind of a nothing sandwich because Culver is useless and was easily dispatched by Paula, Chris, Mailing, and Kelly. Uh he I love that he had the gun and looked at them. And Chris and Kelly are like, Well, what the hell are you gonna do with that? They were non-plussed for sure, essentially told him to just sit down.

SPEAKER_15 41:28

I feel like you don't know what that word means. But they were unaffected, and they absolutely take him down. Gene comes to long enough there with the unconscious Angela and the dead Glover to realize something bad is happening, and hits that booper button on the autopilot, which whirls the plane around to LAX, but then he loses consciousness. Naturally, he's been drugged and can't open the cockpit door. Kelly outside the cockpit, they can't get in. She uses the emergency radio to contact air traffic control where Sabrina is, and they get some good news. Good news, the autopilot is bringing them back to LEX. Bad news, it shuts itself off at 50 feet. Holy crap! Meaning they have to get in the cockpit. Paula and Mailing are on that door with a crowbar, but the plane gets lower and lower. The landing gear engages, and lower, and lower. Until Mailing has had enough of this foolishness and she judo-kicks the hell out of that cockpit door. Mailing has her moment. The autopilot disengages, Kelly rushes in and grabs the yoke, Chris keeps the comms open with air traffic control, everybody else straps in. And just like that episode of Laverne and Shirley and numerous other 70s sitcoms, Kelly follows the instructions from ground control and lands the plane.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Kelly, you're a flyer.

SPEAKER_17 43:13

I'm a lander.

SPEAKER_15 43:19

Boom. Now Kelly Garrett can add to her resume landing a bow in 747. All right, let's wrap up because our Townsend Investigations debrief gets its typical debrief. Why couldn't Culver and Glover, both capable of flying the plane, just steal the plane and go to these coordinates?

SPEAKER_03 43:40

See, Glover and Culver were trying to steal the equipment, not the plane.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Why the elaborate scheme? Why didn't Glover simply take the plane and fly it away?

SPEAKER_06 43:49

Well, by playing the part of the helpless pilot, forced into the theft, Glover would never be suspected. He could pay off Culver, collect his money, go back home a hero, and he wouldn't have to be on the run the rest of his life.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

And Angela would never know Glover was a mysterious caller. Clever idea, actually. Provided it had worked, of course. Angela, how did Glover get access to your apartment? All those roses.

SPEAKER_09 44:13

Gene Knox once had a key to my apartment. Glover lifted it during a layover somewhere and had a duplicate made. That's how he got in and out so easily.

SPEAKER_15 44:21

Lesson learned. Everyone watch your keys. Angela will not be charged with a crime because she was blackmailed and acting under duress, much like I am every time Colby and I record a podcast.

SPEAKER_10 44:33

I blended Kevlar with carbine for durability under duress and cotton for comfort.

SPEAKER_15 44:38

What blows my mind as I wrap up my part is everyone at the Townsend agency is just laughing and smiling and hee hawing.

SPEAKER_17 44:49

I think before I answer that, Charlie, you better give me that weakened Pango Pango. That way my answer will be much less painful to you.

SPEAKER_15 45:26

And Angela being terrorized and blackmailed into hijacking an airplane, which even in 1977, Colby was severely frowned upon.

SPEAKER_13 45:36

Frowned upon like masturbating on an airplane.

SPEAKER_15 45:40

And Gene Knox came to, we presume, and returned to the Stewardess School the next day and continued to make sexist, racist, and chauvinistic remarks to poor students like Paula for being tall, and Mailing for not looking like how he looks. The and what an ordeal. Ordeal.

SPEAKER_08 46:10

Just terror in the skies. I don't know how the angels can do it.

SPEAKER_15 46:14

My everyday.

SPEAKER_08 46:17

Well, we have one more guest star alert. We are gonna talk about May Ling. She was played by Lisa Moore. Moore was born September 12, 1940, in Georgia and died relatively young in 1989 at only 48. Her screen career was concentrated mainly in the 70s. But here's our connection. Lisa Moore also played Ellen Andrews in the two-part Bionic Woman episode Fimbots in Las Vegas. Part one aired September 24th, 1977, and part two aired October 1st, 1977. And Angel Flight aired October 5th, 1977. Meaning television viewers could have watched Lisa Moore with Lindsay Wagner on Saturday night and four days later watched her with Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Cheryl Ladd on Charlie's Angels. And finally, the plane. How could a weekly hour-long television drama afford to completely redress an airliner as the fictional global airways for a few exterior shots? The answer? They didn't. The Global Airways jet scene in Angel Flight is a World Airways Boeing 707 that had played the very same fictional Global Airways aircraft five years earlier and the Charlton Heston movie Skyjacked. By the time Angel Flight aired in 77, the actual airplane had been sold to Saudi Arabia. So Charlie's Angels was using earlier footage of an aircraft that wasn't even flying under that registration anymore. The same airplane also appeared in Magnum Force, although there it was dressed as yet another fictional airline, Sovereign Airways, for the Dirty Harry sequel starring Clint Eastwood. So no, Aaron Spelling did not repaint an entire Boeing 707 for Charlie's Angels. Even he had his limit.

SPEAKER_15 48:23

I'm really tickled you broke that down for us because one, that's really good research. And two, you were obsessed with the airplane and the opening two-parter in Hawaii. Why do you think you're obsessed with airplanes? Is it because you s view it as a challenge to fly for free, no matter what the cost, to yourself and others?

SPEAKER_08 48:43

I do, and to others. You're exactly right. I thought so. Our last little tidbit of information is on singles only apartment complexes. These became a hit in the 70s, but faded by the late 80s. A new era had dawned, uh, and the children of baby boomers were leaving the nest. Young people were waiting a little longer and uh sorry, let me restart that. A new era had dawned and the children of baby A new era had dawned and the children of baby boomers were leaving the nest. Young people were waiting a little longer to get married and living on their own had started to become the norm, as well as cohabitating before marriage. Not to mention perhaps the sexual revolution.

SPEAKER_15 49:36

God, I can't wait to have mine.

SPEAKER_08 49:40

Apartments started being advertised as resorts with playful atmospheres that aided in meeting other singles. These complexes started adding swimming pools and clubhouses, lounges, and organizing social activities where children were not allowed. We may have one or two more episodes in the future that feature singles-only living apartments. In 1989, the Fair Housing Act had been expanded, which made discriminating against familial and marital status and housing illegal. Now, when you see a single-only sign, it refers to a unit that is designed for a single occupant only.

SPEAKER_15 50:24

It's what's written on my mailbox. So thank you everyone, yes, for joining us. Season two, episode six, Angel Flight. Colby, who was the MVP for you this episode?

SPEAKER_08 50:40

That's a good question. I'm Who is the MVP of this episode? I'm gonna have to say Bosley because he got to send out all of these stupid shenanigans. He got to miss all of the emotional breakdowns and people just simply not being able to contain their uh frustration at other people. He didn't have to put up with these gross men who say the dumb that come out of their mouths. Uh yeah, definitely Bosley's got my vote. Well, thank you everybody for joining us on another wonderful episode. And don't forget you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. And you can join our free Patreon for extra little tidbits each week.

SPEAKER_15 51:33

I can't wait for next week because we're covering episode seven Circus of Terror. And you tell me a circus that isn't terrifying. So until then. Oh my god. Until then, bye angels.

SPEAKER_08 51:45

Bye angels. Bye angels. That successfully wraps up another mission. Good morning, Charlie, is produced by Chris Berryman and me, Colby Smith. Editing provided by Inky Tips. Be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts, and click subscribe so you never miss a call from Charlie. Drop a review while you're there, because we love hearing from our angels in the field. Want more undercover fun? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for extras, and see even more top secret content on our Patreon. A special thank you to Laurel and Kevin, our Charlie's Inner Circle subscribers. Don't hang up that phone, Angels, because we will be back.