The series had two alternate titles: "The Alley Cats" and "Harry's Angels".
Though many believe the detective series Vega$ is a spin-off of "Charlie's Angels", Dan Tanna (played by Robert Urich) was not introduced here, but rather in a Pilot that was aired as an ABC TV Movie of the Week on April 25th 1978. The crossover ( "Charlie's Angels" (1976) {Angels in Vegas (#3.1)}) was simply used to reintroduce the Dan Tanna character and to remind and promote the debut of "Vega$" as an ongoing series, debuting one week later on September 20th, 1978.
The Angels' office phone number was 555-0267.
Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) was the only Angel to last the entire series.
Kelly was an orphan.
John Forsythe was never on the set - his voice was recorded, and dubbed in later. He told Aaron Spelling that for him to make an on-screen appearance he would have to be paid a lot of money. Forsythe also never visited the set during the entire run of the show.
When Farrah Fawcett left the series, her absence was explained by having her character Jill become a professional racing driver on the Grand Prix circuit in Europe. Kate Jackson's absence was explained by having Sabrina getting married and starting a family.
The Angels all drove Ford automobiles. Jill, and later Kris, drove a Cobra, Kelly drove a Mustang and Sabrina drove a Pinto. For the record, Bosley drove a Ford Thunderbird.
Although in most episodes Charlie was heard but never seen, he did actually appear in a couple of episodes, but his face was never shown.
Jill, Kelly and Sabrina were all former members of the Los Angeles Police Department. Kris worked for the San Francisco police and Tiffany was with the Boston police. The only Angel who was never a cop was Julie, who originally was a model.
Kelly is the only Angel to have been shot throughout the run of the show.
Sabrina was the only Angel that was previously married. She was married to a fellow officer when she was still a cop but the marriage ended in divorce.
In the opening sequence of the first season, the city where the Angels attended the police academy was never mentioned. It wasn't until the next season that we found out where the various Angels got their police training.
Among the actresses who auditioned over the years for the various roles as Angels were Kathie Lee Gifford and Kim Basinger. Basinger appears in the episode "Charlie's Angels" (1976) {Angels in Chains (#1.4)} as an inmate.
The original concept of the Angels was to have one brunette, one red-head and one blonde. Kate Jackson was aboard from the beginning of the project and was set to play the lead angel. Farrah Fawcett was the next to join, filling the blonde role, but then the producers dropped the hair color concept and brought in Jaclyn Smith to complete the trio. Ironically, this hair color concept actually came into being when Tanya Roberts (a red-head) joined the show in the fifth season.
The surname of David Doyle's character, John Bosley, was an in-joke reference to the fact that Doyle was often misidentified as TV actor Tom Bosley.
Kris was studying to become a teacher before she decided on a career in law enforcement.
The third season of the show was the only season to not feature a major cast change.
A lot of writers were fired from the show because the stars were always demanding better scripts.
Shelley Hack's absence was explained as a result of her character Tiffany Welles's decision to move to the East Coast.
Kate Jackson was the only Angel to receive an Emmy nomination. In fact, she was nominated two consecutive years but never won.
On her first day on the set, Cheryl Ladd wore a t-shirt that said "Farrah Fawcett Minor" as a way of breaking the ice after replacing Farrah Fawcett.
When Farrah Fawcett left the series, this began a series of lawsuits in which the producers sued her over breach of contract. However, the suits ended when Fawcett agreed to make a limited number of guest appearances.
Producer Aaron Spelling had also been the producer of the first prime-time TV series with a female private eye in the title role, Honey West starring Anne Francis. That show may have been ahead of its time, as it only lasted one season. Then in 1976, the public was ready to accept the concept and this series was a runaway hit.
The house used as filming location for Charlie Townsend Private Investigations office facade address is: 189 N Robertson Blvd, in Beverly Hills, CA 90211.
Kate Jackson was originally cast as Kelly, but preferred the role of Sabrina.
Charlie's Angels was in the top ten for its first two seasons: 1976 - 1977 #5, 1977 - 1978 #4 competing in a three way tie with 60 Minutes and "All in the Family" (1971). Midway through Season 3, when Kate Jackson announced her impending departure, the show slipped out of the top ten to #12. When Shelley Hack became Jackson's replacement, the ratings dropped even further to #20. The ratings slide continued and Hack was let go. Tanya Roberts was hired to replace Hack, but the ratings didn't improve; plummeting to an abysmal #59. The show never recovered and was canceled at the end of its fifth season.
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