Once upon a time, there were three little girls....

Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith in a naughty publicity shot of the first season of Charlie's Angels

To say Aaron Spelling's masterpiece, Charlie's Angels was a TV milestone would be an understatement. The show premiered during a time when feminists were on the war path and men dominated the work place. A time when women would actually spit at men who opened the door for them. The show was far ahead of it's time, placing women in a job that was dominated by men. Charlie's Angels, in many ways, had a great impact on television. With Farrah Fawcett's death, I thought I'd blog about one of my favorite TV shows, Charlie's Angels.

Smith, Fawcett and Jackson remained close friends even after the show ended.

Aaron Spelling had two hit detective TV shows, The Mod Squad and The Rookie. Spelling had an idea that would appeal to younger demographics. It began with him imagining beautiful women kicking ass. Spelling essentially wanted to build the series around Kate Jackson who had starred his TV show The Rookie, a show that focused on male police officers. Spelling fans will note the opening of Charlie's Angels is very similar to The Rookies, this was an inside joke between him and Kate Jackson. In Rookies Kate was a minor character, but in this she was at top billing.

Kate Jackson hated wearing gowns and fancy clothes. In the second and third seasons she mainly wore jeans or pants.

Jackson was the first to be cast in the show, it was actually Jackson who helped come up with the name. Spelling wanted to call it The Ally Cats, but Jackson saw a painting hanging on the wall of the room they were sitting in and suggested calling it 'The Angels." Spelling loved it, after much debate, they came up with the name 'Hugo's Angels.' Spelling called Jackson later that night, he just realized there was already a show on air with the name Hugo in it. "Think of a name of the top of your head!" he told her, Kate's reply was Charlie. Thus "Charlie's Angels" became the title. Farrah Fawcett-Majors was casts next, but for the third they wanted a red head. Spelling fell in love with Jaclyn Smith, though not a red head, she was perfect and was cast as the last angel. They made up the original Charlie's Angels.

Although Angels became a hit, Farrah became a phenomena.

Farrah became a HUGE hit. Her hairstyle was mimiced and her poster sold out at shops everywhere. She was the perfect combination of the girl next door and the glamorous blonde sex symbol. Farrah's husband Lee Majors didn't like Farrah's new found fame, pressure from him and the need to branch out made Farrah quit the show after only one season. The show was thought to be dead, that is until Cheryl Ladd stepped in.

What many fans consider as the best cast of Charlie's Angels: Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd and Jaclyn Smith. To break the ice on her first day of work, Cheryl Ladd wore a Farrah Fawcett T-shirt.

These were my favorite episodes! Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd. Kate Jackson left after two more seasons, and after that the show spiraled down. It lasted two more seasons until the network pulled the plug. Jaclyn Smith was the only Angel to stay all the way through. Farrah went on to have a successful career in movies, as did Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson. Cheryl Ladd also had a lucritive career of her own.

Kate Jackson grew weary of the show after three seasons. Spelling also refused to let Jackson out of her contract to play the lead role in Kramer Vs. Kramer, a role which Meryl Streep won an Academy Award for. Jackson admited to being difficult during her last days as an Angel.



The 4th season brought model Shelly Hack to replace Kate Jackson. She was poorly recieved by viewers and her acting left something to be desired. She later admitted that she hated her time on the show.


The 5th and final season brought the first non-police academy graduate character to the mix, but Tanya Roberts role as an Angel ended when the show was cancelled in 1980.

I love the show for so many reasons. I loved that these beautiful women totally kicked bad guy ass! I also love it because to me, Charlie's Angels was the ending of the Leave It to Beaver era of TV where women were potrayed as eager, pearl wearing, toilet scrubbing, dinner cooking, smiley housewife drones and instead shown as glamorous beauties who worked in a job that had been dominated by men. I think Charlie's Angels showed little girls across the world that they could grow up to be more that just a housewife or a mother, but anything they wanted. For that, the show will go down in TV history as one of the greats.