Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd reunited Monday night to mark the 50th anniversary of Charlie's Angels at PaleyFest LA in Hollywood, drawing a standing ovation, whoops and cheers from the Dolby Theatre audience. The three women, whose show helped define an era of network TV, returned together to honor the crime adventure series that debuted Sept. 22, 1976.
The hour-long series became a top-10 hit for ABC in its first two of five seasons and ended in 1981, but the crowd response made clear the show never really went away. Jaclyn Smith said she knew from the start that it was “different, special and unique,” and she described its central hook simply: “Three women chasing danger instead of getting rescued.”
That idea was part of what made Charlie's Angels a pop culture phenomenon, even as critics dismissed it as “jiggle television” because the women often dressed scantily while going undercover. Jackson said that label never bothered her. “I knew what we were doing and Gloria Steinem knew what we were doing, and some other very impressive people knew what we were doing,” she said. “We were helping to punch a hole in that glass ceiling and that makes a big difference.”
Read Also: Pat Mcafee return in WWE title angle sparks backstage frustration
Jackson, who quit after three seasons, later starred in the CBS hit Scarecrow and Mrs. King before leaving the business nearly 20 years ago to raise her son. Now 77, she told the audience, “I’m ready to go back.” Smith, 80, stayed with the show for its entire run, alongside the late David Doyle, while Ladd, 74, replaced Farrah Fawcett-Majors after the first season when Fawcett-Majors left to pursue a film career. Jackson said of Ladd, “Cheryl stepped in and we didn’t miss a beat.”
Ladd said on the red carpet that she knew no one could replace Fawcett-Majors and decided to turn that into a joke. “I knew that there was nobody that was going to replace Farrah, so I made a joke of myself,” she said. “Everybody laughed.” She added, “Farrah would have done something like that.”
Read Also: Tmz Nancy Guthrie Receives Half-Bitcoin Ransom Note Monday
The reunion also underscored the group’s sisterhood off screen. All three women have overcome breast cancer, and Ladd revealed publicly Monday that she had an aggressive form of the disease, without saying when it occurred. Smith said the bond among them remains as close as ever: “When Cheryl called me, the first thing I did was send her my wigs.” The event included scenes from various episodes, with Shelley Hack, who lasted one season after replacing Jackson, and the late Tanya Roberts appearing in the highlights.
For Charlie's Angels, the night was less a nostalgia exercise than a reminder of why the show still matters. It gave viewers an hour to “sit back, put their feet up, forget everything and watch television,” Jackson said, while still slipping in a message that women are “just as capable, intelligent, can do anything that a man can do.”
