A trio of crime fighting females was a strange and different concept for a TV show back in 1976, and TV executives didn't think it would fly. But the audience took to Charlie’s Angels quickly, and the original cast, Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith, became stars. I bet you didn’t know what the original title of the show was.
2. THE ORIGINAL TITLE WAS THE ALLEY CATS.
The 1970s were a crucial decade for feminism, with women successfully putting forward the idea of gender equality. Which made it a bad time for a network to consider calling a female-led series The Alley Cats, which is what Spelling and Goldberg had originally proposed. Kate Jackson, who had more acting experience than any of the other leads and was initially designated the “star,” preferred it be called Harry’s Angels, after the original name of their unseen benefactor. When his name was changed to avoid confusion over the detective show Harry-O, the series settled on Charlie’s Angels.
3. THE ORIGINAL CHARLIE GOT FIRED FOR BEING DRUNK.
Producers decided on the novel concept of Charlie Townsend giving the Angels their case information via a Western Electric Speakerphone and never showing up in person. Spelling hired veteran actor Gig Young for what amounted to a voiceover role, but when Young showed up to record his lines, he was drunk. A frantic Spelling called John Forsythe (Dynasty) at 12:30 a.m. and begged him to perform the part before he had to turn in the pilot to ABC executives. Forsythe drove to the 20th Century Fox lot in his bedroom slippers to do Spelling the favor; he wound up on the show for its entire five-year run.
There are quite a few other secrets behind Charlie’s Angels that you can read at mental_floss.