"Charlie's angels" find solid ground in TV remake

If you thought "Charlie's Angels" were just kick-ass female superheroes, think again. "Charlie's Angels" are storming back to U.S. television in September in a high-stakes remake of the classic 1970s series that producers say will bring the crime-fighting trio back down to earth. "We know a show like this has a big target on its back," creator and executive producer Al Gough said on Sunday. Gough said the two hit feature films based on the series, starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu, were "like superhero movies for girls." "We wanted to make this more grounded, make these women feel real, to give them a past. We wanted audiences to have something to come back to each week. The show is about redemption and second chances," Gough told television reporters. The iconic TV series, which aired from 1976 to 1981, made the late Farrah Fawcett an international sex symbol, and girl power found a new generation of fans in the 2000 and 2003 movies. "Grey's Anatomy" actress Rachael Taylor, Minka Kelly of "Friday Night Lights' and Annie Ilonzeh, last seen on "General Hospital," will take on the roles first made famous by Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson. Fawcett died in June 2009 of cancer. ABC's new series, premiering in September, switches the action to Miami. It will put more emphasis on the relationships among the three Angels and how they juggle their action-packed jobs and personal lives, as well as fleshing out their mysterious, never-seen boss, Charlie. Actor Robert Wagner provided the voice of Charlie in the ABC pilot but has since dropped out because of what producers called "scheduling issues." The program makers are still looking for a new Charlie, someone whose voice has the sufficient "mystery, paternalism and authority." Leonard Goldberg, producer of the original "Charlie's Angels,, said the idea for a TV remake had come first from Sony Pictures. "We did the movies and they were very successful. There was real enthusiasm from Sony and ABC to do this," Goldberg said.