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"She Spies" was strange syndicated syndicated show - part action, part comedy - that was inspired by the fun tone of the "Charlie's Angels" movies. After it's premiere in 2002, it racked up 40 episodes of adventure and silliness.

The show delivered just what it promised: female spies. Three young women - Shane, Cassie, and DD - work for a secret government investigative unit. They're all criminals who've received reduced sentences in exchange for their services, and they're sometimes jokingly reminded that the program could be terminated, returning the three women to prison. Cassie was the tall one, a former con artist who was good at impersonations. Dee-Dee was short and sweet, a computer hacker who encouraged the trio to do the right thing. Shane was black and tough, and she'd signal she was ready for a vicious karate attack by making a knuckle-cracking sound with her neck.

A young agent named Jack watches over the trio, though his unworldly professionalism makes him their comic foil. As he'd try to explain their cases, the three spies would interrupt with questions about his personal life or even complaints about the show's ridiculous formula. Jack would supply new information for his three investigators, usually transmitting it remotely while monitoring their progress.

But mostly the show was just fun. The script included banter between the characters, sometimes joking about the show itself. (After necessary lines recapping the action so far, one of the spies would stop to ask curiously why they always felt the need to review.) Their cases led them to glamorous locations - a Hollywood soundstage a fashion show, a standup comedy club - and the inevitable fight scenes included electric guitars in the background, slick lighting, and fast camera effects. No plot was too strange, including a convention for people with a fetish for fuzzy bunny costumes. In one episode, when the suspicious evil doctor was introduced, the camera paused on the doctor's face while the words "Evil doctor!" were displayed on the screen. Later, when the suspect turned up dead, the camera froze again on his body, and the words on the screen now were... "Dead doctor."

Several times throughout the series, the characters would pause again to repeat the show's unlikely premise verbatim - that they all worked for "a clandestine government organization, trying to rid the world of wrong-doing." It was intentionally unbelievable. But it was also a lot of fun.

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
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