Customer Reviews

Angelic Heaven - A Fan's Guide To Charlie's Angels

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First of all the cover is awesome, a beautiful picture of the Angels with the Cheryl Ladd picture that I heard Farrah and Cheryl both chose. I bought this book because I collect anything on Farrah Fawcett and the Angels, but I really wanted to read Farrah's and Cheryl's forward, which are great, so are the pictures that Farrah and Cheryl donated to the book. It's fun to see all the advertisements from the show and the great collectibles that were from the show. It's a great way to re-live the series and it makes you wish even more for a Charlie's Angels re-union. Hopefully Farrah will be back to her beautiful self real soon, I do wish her well and hope she feels better and stronger everyday!!! This book is a must for fans of the series!!

I just recieved my copy of Angelic Heaven in the mail the other day and have read it through. Yes, it certainly has it's flaws....typos, sentences that just stop midstream, awkward type set, fuzzy photographs, photos with no captions, photos with mislabeled captions, etc. but it has it's good points too. Although the majority of the material is nothing I didn't already know, I did enjoy the episode guide (perhaps somewhat redundant, it did point out some small items I was unaware of here and there). The ads from TV guide were fun to see again as well as some of Fawcett and Ladd's personal photographs. The book also contains about 25 pages of "Charlie's Angels" merchandise and 8 pages of magazine covers that the Angels have graced, 4 pages of current photos of some of the locations that the series filmed at (including Charlie's office). There is a bio of each Angel as well as for David Doyle, John Forsythe, Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. There's even a memorial page for David Doyle where the Angels give their thoughts on their departed sidekick. Since the book was written by a fan for the fans, the more controversial elements surrounding the series have been glossed over. It does touch briefly on Fawcett's legal battles with the producers after she quit and on the investigation into the alleged defrauding of Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood (co-owners of the show) by the show's producers. Jackson's increasing difficulty on the set after being forced to give up her role in Kramer vs. Kramer is given only one small paragraph and her hot/cold relationship with Ladd is never even mentioned. Overall, the book itself probably rates a 3 star rating. I give it 5 stars simply because I've just recently read (from the book's author, Mike Pingel) that due to the many editing issues the book has, it is now out of print. This could very well mean that those of us who own the few books that are out there, probably own a collector's item and hopefully will be worth a lot more than it's purchase price in years to come. At least I hope so!

The book contains interesting facts and trivia about "Charlie's Angels", along with contributions from Farrah Fawcett and Cheryl Ladd. The highlight of Angelic Heaven are the personal photos of Farrah and Cheryl. Other than some pictures, there's nothing new here. Additionally, the book has many grammatical errors, which become distracting after reading too many poorly written or incomplete sentences. For a more comprehensive and a better well-written book about "Charlie's Angels" (with a brief introduction by Jaclyn Smith), buy "The Charlie's Angels Casebook" by David Hofstede.

Great job Mike it was easy and fun reading. Alot of facts and new pictures. One question, what took you so long?

keep the books coming

ANGELIC HEAVEN: A FAN'S GUIDE TO CHARLIE'S ANGELS is as Lighthearted and Fun as the TV show!

If you're a newfound Angels junkie or merely "Angel-curious" than there's no better book to catch you up to speed on the 1970's TV phenomenon. The use of the word "guide" in the title of this book is accurate since it provides a clear and brief history of the show's creation, it's "concept", a breakdown of all five seasons' episodes, and biographies on all of it's eight main characters. (Also, provided are biographies of cast members before and after their time on the show. Also, please note there's nothing about the motion pictures. It's a purely classic Angels read.)

If you're already a hard-core fan of the TV show and have seen just about all there is to see Angel-wise, please know this book isn't a copycat of Jack Condon and David Hofstede's 2000 publication CHARLIE'S ANGELS: CASEBOOK. Whereas, their book was low on pictures and great for an indepth read into the show and the people involved, this publication isn't something you'll cosy up to before bedtime - you'll devour within a day or two much like a kid with a comic book and find yourself skimming back over it again and again. Why? It's literally filled from front to back with EYE CANDY of rare or never published shots of the cast, along with TV guide ads, toy trade ads, magazine covers, etcetera. Some of it's photos were actually donated to the author Mike Pingel by Cheryl Ladd. (Alongside those pictures you'll find her personal remarks. Anyone else smile when seeing a youngTori Spelling hanging out with the Angels?)

Add to the rare photos all the minutia of off-the-wall trivia, than this book is like comfort food for most any Angels fans - new or lifelong.

This book does have it's glitches in both the proofreading and layout departments and these mistakes seem to occur more often as you get further into it's pages. Fortunately, these flaws are very few in number and won't leave the reader confused or lost, as the book is pretty basic in it's layout and is very easy to follow.

Personal Note: As a lifelong Angels fan, I want to give kudos to fellow fan and author Mike Pingel for all his hard work, as well as, the fun spirit he's injected into his book. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! If he ever needs any rope for the lynching of the editor and publishing house who've brought some pretty harsh and misdirected criticism upon him, he need not look far for a supplier. Best of luck to a fan among fans!

This book is very well researched and put together. Yes, my copy has typos and errors, but those can be overlooked when you see the wealth of information and photos here! I recommend this book very highly to any true "Charlie's Angels" fan. I've been a fan since I was 3-4 years old!

I can't really fault the content of this book. Although it tells many of the same Angel tales that have already been published or shown in interviews, its main failure to me is the utter lack of editing. The author apparently has never heard of spellcheck and apparently was to embarrassed to even have a friend read over the book to spot the many errors. The book has more typos, mislabeled photos, and sentences that are never finished than any published work I have ever seen. I gave it two stars because reading about the Angels is always interesting to me, but this is not the book that I hoped it would be.

This book is expensive, the paper is so thin that you can see right through it, there are many spelling errors, there are incomplete sentences, and there is really no "new" information regarding Charlie's Angels at all!

Having said that, this darn thing is big, fat, stupid, FUN! I swear it reads like an adult version of a teen FAN magazine right out of the late 70's. The pictures are not that clear, but the content is really worth the price. There are ad's featuring the angels, little boxes with Angel "factoids" inside, and goofy stuff SPLATTERED all over every page. (It kinda' makes you feel like a kid again!) Why else would I have used the word "splattered?"

I had to force myself to take it in small doses, because it would have been very easy to blow through the entire book in one evening! If you are a fan of Charlie's Angels, it will not be a problem for you to overlook the mistakes and the cost of this book. It's worth it.

This is actually an entertaining and fun book...IF you get the right version. It is a very well organized and nostalgic trip down memory lane. I particularly love the magazine-style layout and format of the book which contains lots of pictures and sidebars with tidbits and trivia. I enjoyed looking at the original TV Guide advertisements, the Angels merchandise, old magazine covers, and Cheryl Ladd and Farrah Fawcett's personal photos.

Unfortunately, the first copy I received was full of errors: mislabeled captions, fuzzy photos, incomplete sentences, etc. I was so disappointed that I promptly resold it. I'm sure it was the publisher's mistake, but many people here were quick to blame the author.

I recently obtained another copy, and I was surprised. All the errors had been corrected and the pictures were sharper (although still black and white).

Obviously, I got a corrected copy. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to distinguish one from the other. What I mean is, on the copyright page it doesn't say 2nd printing or 2nd edition--only copyright 2006.

I know I got a corrected version because on pages 42, Pingel writes about the Angels Emmy reunion tribute for Aaron Spelling and there is a picture of them on pg. 41. That event occurred in late August 2006-- a few months AFTER the book's first June publication date so there are 2 versions--just make sure you get the second version!

I give the book a 4-star rating. I would have given it 5 stars, but the pages and pictures have a xerox/photocopy-like quality to them. Also, there are a few minor text errors, but nothing major like the first copy I received.

I really love the book. i just wish there were more rare pictures of behind the scenes of the angels!!!