In 1985, a Goodbye Charlie television series was proposed based on the 1964 movie Goodbye Charlie. Only the pilot aired, and the series was not picked up. In this series, Charlie was a womanizing advertising executive, but instead of being shot, he died in a hang gliding accident. The death happened prior to the events of the pilot and we never see the original male version of Charlie. The series was to star Suzanne Somers as the reincarnated Charles Sorel and John Davidson as George Erskine, Charlie's friend and coworker. The series regulars also include Ray Buktenica as Ray Lemmon, who took over Charlie's job managing an advertising agency and Kathleen Wilhoite as Victoria Burns, George's secretary. The pilot cast also included Brant von Hoffman as Troy Benjamin, George's upstairs neighbor, who might have been a recurring character. The pilot has Troy delivering the dazed naked female Charlie to George, the revelation of her true identity to George, and has Charlie getting a job as Ray's secretary. The primary sets seem to be George's apartment and the advertising agency.
Goodbye Charlie provides examples of:
- Best Friend: George is Charlie's best friend. George wants to help Charlie, but has different moral guidelines from Charlie that make it hard for him to do so.
- Gender Bender: Charlie Sorel dies in a hang glider accident and reincarnates as Suzanne Somers.
- Karmic Transformation: Charlie had a low opinion of women, seeing them as objects, yet is transformed into a woman himself.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Charlie was a known womanizer. Now, he's a woman himself.
- Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: Charlie Sorel dies and comes back as a woman.
