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Jiggle TV never looked so sexy - or fun.

I love vintage TV.

It’s fun to see the actors young, plots borrowed by modern TV (or are totally original), the cars, the spy toys… It all makes for a terrific ride.

Charlie’s Angels is, quite simply, a cultural phenomenon. It wasn’t just about Farrah Hair, though that screamed from every TV magazine around. It was about showing empowered women taking control of their lives and working successfully in high-stress jobs that were always considered manly.

When the show first aired with Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson, critics immediately pegged it Jiggle TV, or T&A TV. Feminists hated it because of the skimpy outfits. (Men loved them, I’m sure.) Some women loved the role reversal. And ABC - along with mega producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg - made some big bucks.

Fawcett quit the show mid-contract to become a film star, but was forced to make guest appearances through Season Four. Her final episode had her kidnapped, manhandled and nearly killed. For the time, it was likely built up as her final send off - Will Jill survive this encounter? There was even a warm and fuzzy shot of her sporting a big smile at the end, which struck me as poignant with her recent passing.

Cheryl Ladd came on board to replace Fawcett. She is Kris Monroe - Jill’s little sister, and just like her big sis, all the men want Kris. When Kate Jackson left after the third season, long-time model Shelley Hack - the former Charlie’s perfume girl - came on board for one season.

And that takes us into Season Four, 26-episodes of full-screen viewing pleasure for the vintage TV fan.

I really enjoyed the majority of the episodes. There were only a few I didn’t care for, including “Toni’s Boys,” a one-episode wonder that was supposed to be a spin-off for a manly Angels show. While it wasn’t terrible, it certainly wasn’t terrific. (Upon second viewing, I didn’t find it nearly as irritating as the first time. Go figure.) Starring Barbara Stanwyck as a sharp older woman who takes over her dead husband’s successful investigative firm, it just didn’t have the chemistry or coolness of Charlie’s Angels. It irritated me that that the men - Toni’s boys - had to step in to “rescue” the angels. The entire series was about empowering women during a time when they were to be barefoot and pregnant, not working. I think that is likely why I didn’t like it during the first watch. Based on some research, I cannot find anything more about this show, so I can only assume it didn’t make it past this screen test. If anyone finds something more on it, please leave a link in the comments.

A few episodes to watch include “Homes $weet Homes,” where the angels catch real estate robbers; “Harrigan’s Angel,” where Jill helps a drunken investigator while they work a case; “Three for the Money,” which includes not one but three cons on a con man; and “Of Ghosts and Angels,” when Hack’s Tiffany Welles reveals that she has psychic abilities.

The latter had some serious potential, but I’m not sure how the psychic angel went for that time, so maybe that is why it wasn’t played up nearly as much. I’d love to see an updated Angels series with a psychic.

For Love Boat fans, there is a crossover episode. Didn’t do much for me, but hey, I wasn’t a Love Boat fan.

This season, writers decided to put the Angels into continuous flux. Someone is always getting kidnapped, it seems. During the season finale, two angels fall for the same guy - and it nearly rips apart the team. The culmination of the guy’s death and the girls’ heart-warming make up session were a little cheesy, but the mystery around this two-part finale was pretty good. It was terrific to see Robert Reed play a very, very bad guy.

This season was filled with other stars you will recognize. Freddy Krueger himself - Robert England - starred as a bad guy in one episode. Robin Mattson (older All My Children fans will remember her), Patrick Duffy and Kim Cattral were among several celebs to make appearances this season.

It has been years since I’ve seen Charlie’s Angels (besides the film revitalizations) so I cannot compare Season Four to the prior three seasons. I can say, however, that the women were not scantily-clad throughout. I’m not sure if they seem clothed because of today’s TV skin scene, or because producers tried to make them more professional to appease feminists who hated how the characters used their sexual wiles to solve cases. Most say the show just didn’t have it without Farrah, but I didn’t really think it was terrible. The chemistry wasn’t bad between the ladies and David Doyle is always a riot.

Repeated annoyances: These women are supposed to be the tops of their classes - and incredible investigators. They just never got a chance to spread their wings in a real precinct. However, they made some seriously dumb choices - decisions that smart female investigators would NOT make.

And can someone tell me how these three successfully smart women cannot seem to get a look at Charlie? Even Stanwyck’s character had seem him, though she wouldn’t give a description.

Obviously, the car crashes looked incredibly fake, but I don’t think they had the abilities shows do today to make them look more realistic, so I consider that part of vintage TV. (There seemed to be angels in car crashes a lot this time around. Maybe it was just me.) It wasn’t so much the crashes themselves as the angels’ reactions to them. I’m used to the crash test dummies look, I suppose.

I was disappointed that there were no DVD extras. Interviews with the stars or talks with cultural researchers would have added to this set.

For the most part, Charlie’s Angels Season Four offers up some fun, sometimes twisty plots. Watching it sent me to Amazon to purchase the other seasons (and wanting to download the theme song to my iPod).

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