09/22/2026
50 Years Ago Today... 📺 “Charlie’s Angels” premiered on ABC!
On September 22, 1976, television audiences were introduced to Sabrina Duncan, Jill Munroe and Kelly Garrett — played by Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith — and a television phenomenon was born.
The premise was pretty simple: three women who had attended the police academy weren't satisfied with the routine assignments they were given. Then came the mysterious Charlie Townsend, who hired them as private investigators for his Los Angeles detective agency. Charlie was never seen, but his voice — provided by John Forsythe — became one of the show's most recognizable features. David Doyle played Charlie's representative, John Bosley.
And then there were those three Angels.
Kate Jackson's Sabrina was the brains, Jaclyn Smith's Kelly brought her own cool confidence, and Farrah Fawcett's Jill quickly became one of the biggest television stars of the 1970s. Farrah's feathered hairstyle and famous poster became cultural sensations, while all three women became household names.
The show had everything television audiences loved at the time — undercover assignments, car chases, disguises, action, glamorous clothes and plenty of mystery. One week they could be working undercover at a resort; the next, they might be infiltrating some completely different world.
And who could forget that opening?
“Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy…”
That voiceover immediately takes a lot of us right back to the 1970s. ❤️
Charlie’s Angels became an immediate ratings sensation and eventually ran for five seasons and 115 episodes, with Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts later joining the lineup as the Angels changed over the years.
📺 50 years ago today, the Angels first answered Charlie's call. If you watched it back then, which original Angel was your favorite — Sabrina, Jill or Kelly? 👼