page_title: Charlie's Angels
section_title: Cast changes
hierarchical_section_title: Charlie's Angels / Cast changes
caption_attribution_description: Publicity photo of the cast of the television program Charlie's Angels. From left: Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Kate Jackson.
context_page_description: Charlie's Angels is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976 to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aaron Spelling. It follows the crime-fighting adventures of three women working in a private detective agency in Los Angeles, California, and originally starred Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Jaclyn Smith in the leading roles and John Forsythe providing the voice of their boss, the unseen Charlie Townsend, who directed the crime-fighting operations of the "Angels" over a speakerphone. There were a few casting changes: after the departures of Fawcett and Jackson came the additions of Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, and Tanya Roberts.
  Despite mixed reviews from critics and a reputation for merely being "Jiggle TV", Charlie's Angels enjoyed huge popularity with audiences and was a top ten hit in the Nielsen ratings for its first two seasons. By the third season, however, the show had fallen from the top 10.
context_section_description: Over the course of its five-year run, Charlie's Angels had a series of highly publicized cast changes. The first of these took place in the spring of 1977, just after the conclusion of the first season. Fawcett turned in her resignation just before the season one finale aired on May 4, 1977. Fawcett's decision not to return for a second season triggered a lawsuit against the actress by ABC and Spelling.
  During the 1977 summer hiatus of the series, ABC and Fawcett entered a legal battle over her contract. At the beginning of the series, all three female leads signed five-year contracts, and the network was insistent that they live up to their commitments. Business partners Leonard Goldberg and Aaron Spelling tried to work out a deal with Fawcett and her agents. Goldberg and Spelling had arranged for her to make one film during her summer hiatuses, and her choice over subsequent television shows and miniseries. ABC even agreed to raise her salary from $5,000 to $8,000 a week, but she declined those offers. ABC reluctantly released her from her series contract in the summer of 1977. However, she was assigned to another contract with ABC, stating that since she left her contract four years early that she would return to the series later on in its run for six guest appearances. Fawcett would return as Jill Munroe on Charlie's Angels for three guest appearances in season three, and again returned for three more in season four.
  As Fawcett departed the series, ABC began searching for her replacement. Executives eventually noticed singer-turned-actress Cheryl Ladd and offered her a screen test. Initially, Ladd refused the opportunity for a screen test, but after lobbying from studio executives, she relented. Although executives noticed Ladd was inexperienced, they saw promise in her performance and signed her to a four-year contract. In an effort to keep the hype the series had with Fawcett, Ladd was written in the series as her sister, San Francisco police academy graduate Kris Munroe.
  Despite a mixed reception from critics at the beginning of season two in September 1977, Charlie's Angels lost just a small percentage of its season one audience with the introduction of Ladd, but Kate Jackson believed the inclusion of Ladd damaged the series considerably. Jackson and Ladd reportedly never got along with one another.
  Ratings dropped during the third season. Jackson began to complain about the show's diminishing script quality (she once complained, "The scripts are so light it would take a week to get to the floor if you dropped it from the ceiling.") and further stated that initially the series focused on "classic detective work", but had become more of a "cop story of the week". During the third season, Jackson was offered the part of Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) with Dustin Hoffman but the Charlie's Angels producers refused to reorganize the shooting schedule to allow Jackson time off to shoot the film (the part of Joanna ultimately went to Meryl Streep, who won an Academy Award for her performance). Upset by this situation and her negative opinion of the scripts, Jackson became problematic (she admitted, "I guess I did cause a few problems.") and she was let go. In a statement, Spelling said, "Due to problems on the set, Kate is being dropped for the good of the show."
  Casting calls for Jackson's replacement began during the summer of 1979. Several up-and-coming actresses were considered for the role, including Barbara Bach, Connie Sellecca, Shari Belafonte, The Price is Right model Dian Parkinson, and newcomer Michelle Pfeiffer. ABC producers auditioned Revlon Charlie perfume model Shelley Hack and cast her as Jackson's replacement. Producers at Spelling-Goldberg were quoted as saying, "We feel that Shelley Hack has exactly the talent, style, and intelligence we were looking for." Producer Spelling loved the idea of the headline "The Charlie Girl Becomes A Charlie's Angel". Hack debuted in the fourth-season premiere as Tiffany Welles, an elegant police graduate from Boston. In hiring Hack, Spelling's priority for 
caption: Season one cast (1976–1977): Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett, and Kate Jackson
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