The setting is a glossy, gangster-run resort, and the killers have cornered three snoopy private detectives in a corral full of spirited horses. Obviously there's no escape. But, ah, just in the nick of time, the three pull guns and fire into the air. Which frightens the horses. Which stampede the no-goods. Which saves the day for righteous snoopers. Whereupon the resourceful three, long skirts flying, sashay victoriously from the corral, and the crew of Charlie's Angels applauds warmly.

Actually, stampeding the enemy into submission is routine stuff for Sabrina, Jill and Kelly - Charlie's Angels, played by Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith. It's all business-as-usual for them as they risk their gorgeous hides for their clients by racing stock cars, competing in roller derbies and fleeing in rafts, boats and brakeless cars (as a rule of thumb, any car they escape in is brakeless and headed downhill). Kelly even has to escape a lout chasing her with a hay baler. Realistic? "Anyone who thinks these girls are really private detectives," says executive producer Aaron Spelling, "is nuts." But the Spelling-Goldberg company is putting up more than a third of a million dollars per episode, the biggest series budget in its history, to back its belief that no one will really care.

Veteran director Dick Benedict tries to be calm. "In this show I got all kinds of locations, cars going off mountains, people in water, under water, on rafts, on boats, and all anybody asks me is 'How do the girls look?' A girl is supposed to be underwater two hours and she pops up and every hair has to be in place." Spelling adds, "On this show we're more concerned with hairdos and gowns than the twists and turns of the plots."

Charlie's Angels may be TV's first prime-time girlie show. In one scene, Farrah, in shorts and a T-shirt, comes bouncing into a bar. "Hey," a crew member whispers, "she ain't got nothing on underneath." Wardrobe set lady Geri Hayward confirms that Farrah is indeed braless. "ABC agreed to it because the girls are so lovely." ί But she adds firmly, "Please don't call that a T-shirt. That is an Ann Klein original."

Another scene calls for all the girls to be barelegged, a fate that seems to happen often to them in the series. Kate, the tallest, appears in high, high heels. An assistant explains that Kate is proud of her long, slim legs and likes to show them off to best advantage. Farrah and Jaclyn, in tennis shoes and bare feet respectively, demur, complaining flat-footed legs can't compete against high-heeled legs. The case goes to the producers, who decide, after heavy sighs, to cut Kate down.

Such artistic differences between the girls are rare. "The only time we have any conflict," says Farrah, "is when we knock each other down racing for the doughnut wagon." All three, shamelessly slim, insist they never diet. Their generally good spirits may perhaps have something to do with the company's efforts to make their lives as bearable as possible. Each is assigned a new $25,000 motor home bought just for her ("Renting would be tacky," producer Rick Husky explains) plus a limousine and a chauffeur. "Beautiful ladies should be pampered," says Husky.

The pampering extends to supporting players and extras. "It takes longer, but we hire the handsomest people we can find," Spelling says. "We also have extra hairdressers and makeup people. And quality sets. We don't want to plant these beautiful flowers in a garbage dump."
The three flowers accept all this calmly enough because they, like the girl in the commercial, know they're worth it. Kate, after modeling and soap operas, became nurse Jill Danko on The Rookies and at the end of its four-year run was drawing more mail than any other regular. Her success on the show lead Spelling-Goldberg to promise her a pilot, which became Charlie's Angels.

Kate is witty, outgoing, exuberant, while Farrah is quiet and calm and smiles a lot. Jaclyn, unlike the others, had to compete with "droves of pretty girls" to win her role and seems the most introspective. The producers have tried to tailor the roles at least roughly to the girls' outward characteristics. They decided Jaclyn's character should be a girl who had had a hard life, who maybe had even done a little hustling. Jaclyn vetoed the hustling, saying Kelly may have had it rough, but not that rough.

Farrah and Jaclyn are Texas-born-and-raised, and both became major commercial stars. By a quirk, Jaclyn is currently seen in Wella Balsam hair-conditioner spots written for Farrah. Jaclyn had been the Breck girl for years and when she was dropped, discovered her contract didn't have the usual clause forbidding her to work for a competing product. Wella Balsam signed her up immediately, giving her commercials written for Farrah but adding the preface, "I've switched." Farrah began pitching another Wella Balsam line, and she also sells toothpaste and cars.

Kate, from Birmingham, Ala., hated her modeling days: "There's nothing more miserable than sitting there wondering if a snip of hair is out of place." Her TV career began on Dark Shadows, where she played a ghost for three months. "I didn't have a line - which was ok," she says, "Because I was too scared to open my mouth. Then came my first speech... about a mile long. The soaps are taped, but there's so little taping time, you can't goof. I was doing the speech and the prompter was running too slow and this little kid started jumping up-and-down on my long gown. I wanted to croak! When I finished, I found the gown was on fire and the little trouper was stamping it out."

"I left my mark on Dark Shadows. One day I was doing my lines perfectly from Act 3. Everyone else was doing Act 2. Another time, I was supposed to hit Jim Storm with a breakaway vase. I smacked him and I never saw a better fadeout. Eyes bulging, tongue out, the works. I thought: 'What a ham!' They hadn't told me which end of the vase I was supposed to use. I think he was out 24 hours!" She recalls she spent much of her time on The Rookies doling out rather suspect medical reassurances. "There'd be this little boy on the cot and I'd pat his hand and say, 'You're going to be all right.' Then I'd turn my head and sob, 'Get a priest!'" "I also broke up a lot. I was doing a scene with Pippa Scott and she'd eaten a jelly doughnut or something and her stomach was making funny sounds. I tried and I tried, but every time the line came out, 'I'm sorry, but your baby died. . . hehehehehehehe'."

Charlie's Angels first worked together in the pilot, in which they were simply private detectives. In the series, they are graduates of a police academy who dropped off the force because life with Charlie is more exciting. But they aren't demolishing bad guys with karate chops or other acts of aggression. "It's more fun," says Husky, "to watch a pretty girl being chased than to watch her chase."

Charlie is heard, but his face isn't seen. The producers aren't telling who he is and only turn their faces when people guess he sounds like John Forsythe. It was originally decided to show only the back of Charlie's head. After selecting the voice they wanted, they sent out a casting call for actors who hoped the backs of their heads had possibilities . The victor has since padded his part so that his back, bottom and a forearm have also been seen. Apparently Forsythe is willing to be an anonymous voice but not an anonymous back of a head, bottom and forearm.

One day, the TV press from around the country was flown in for interviews. Charlie's Angels were shocked at harsh questioning, especially from female reporters, about the show's attitude toward women. "They said the show is sexist and we are playing sex objects," Jaclyn recalls. "They also wanted to know why we would do a show where we took orders from a man. It didn't do any good to say we think of it as a big, fun fantasy thing." Farrah, who looks as though she'd never had a care in her life, believes life is tougher for women and there isn't much that can be done about it - even if you are rich, blond Farrah Fawcett-Majors and have almost everything, including marriage to the Six Million Dollar Man (Lee Majors).

"I haven't been able to find a housekeeper lately and I've got a husband, a big house and three dogs," she says "Lee comes home at night, has a sandwich and shower, and flops into bed. I do women's work. I take off my nail polish, figure out a menu for tomorrow, maybe clean a room. In the morning I get up an hour and a half earlier than Lee and clean and get food ready and do half a dozen other chores. I've done a lot of work by the time that limousine rolls up at 5:30." Wardrobe is a problem because the show, even with its hefty budget, can't afford the clothes the girls ordinarily wear. "They could bring smashing things from their closets," wardrobe mistress Hayward explains, "but it would wreck our budget, first because they'd get torn or stained and we'd have to replace them, and, second, because we'd have to duplicate them for the doubles." In advance of the big stampede scene, Jaclyn was standing alongside the prancing horses, looking terribly uneasy. It wasn't the horses, she explained, "but this red dress. Isn't it awful? Why would they have me wear something like this? Do you think I'll have to wear it again?"

Husky understands their appreciation of fine clothes and maintains, "We aren't dressing them in rags. When a scene calls for jeans, they wear $70 French jeans specially tailored for their splendid behinds." On occasion, the clothes budget gets a break. One day Farrah and Jaclyn wear only towels. The next day Jaclyn works in a bikini, attempting to attract actor Robert Loggia's attention - and succeeding.

There is also the matter of Albert and Satchel. Albert is a black standard poodle who shares Jaclyn's bachelor home (which she has remodeled into a replica of Tara; she's a "Gone with the Wind" freak) and her motor home. Early on, Jaclyn announced Albert would have a recurring role, usually saving her life. A scene was duly written for Albert. Farrah, who is often accompanied to work by her black Afghan, Satchel, immediately imagined cameos in which Satchel could do interesting bits, such as saving her life. It was probably only coincidence, but about that time Albert was written out of the show. And if Albert was out, what chance would Satchel have to play a part?

Hair stylist Naomi Cavin may have the toughest job on the show. "Farrah and Jaclyn have made fortunes on their hair and they know exactly how it should be," she says. "And Mr. Spelling doesn't want them to appear on the set until their hair is right, no matter how long it takes."
The first show ran at least $11,000 over its budget - which is in excess of $345,000. Spelling admits that "What ABC will pay us won't come near that sum." He was reminded that Norman Lear, who uses tape instead of film, says he makes a profit on every episode he sells to the networks.

"Norman is a good friend," Spelling replies, "but I have seen the quality of tape and I won't be associated with it. But that's not all. Charlie's Angels, in beautiful film, will be playing 10 years from now. I'd hate to see one of his tapes 10 years from now. And our films are enjoyed all over the world. We get more from Starsky & Hutch in London alone than Norman gets from any of his shows in all of Europe."