ABC Execs Thought Farrah Fawcett's 'Charlie's Angels' Was the 'Worst Idea' They'd Ever Heard — Before Hit Show Sparked Iconic Franchise

Farrah Fawcett skyrocketed to international fame in the 1970s as both a model and an actress when she hit the small screen as Jill Munroe on Charlie's Angels – but network execs weren't immediately sold on the project in the early days, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

The cult classic television series followed a mysterious man named Charlie who ran a detective agency that employed gorgeous women, known as his "Angels," who would go undercover to tackle wild crimes around the world.

When the show was first pitched to ABC, network executives Barry Diller and Michael Eisner called it "the word idea we have ever heard."

Undeterred, late film and TV producer Aaron Spelling convinced them to give Charlie's Angels a chance.

The show debuted in 1976 and starred Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson as Charlie's bombshell private detectives. However, Fawcett ended up leaving the show after only one season, following creative and financial differences.

She was swiftly replaced by Cheryl Ladd, who played the role of Jill's sister, Kris Munroe. Despite quitting the show, Fawcett went on to make several guest appearances in later seasons.

Fawcett, who passed away following a battle with cancer in 2009, once told The Dallas Times Herald that she ultimately chose to leave Charlie's Angels because she felt "creatively stifled."

“I think what has bothered me the most was all of the merchandising,” she added at the time. “Things over which I had no control: the bedsheets and things like that. I didn’t like any of that, but there wasn’t much that could be done about it.”

She also told told the Washington Post. that she had different ideas for directions for her character to go.

"I want them to start showing she's had some hard knocks, too, and cries, and is sad," she explained. "Who's gonna care about her if all she does is say, 'Ooo! This week I get to play the hooker?'"

Fawcett also pointed out that much of the draw to the show was the actresses' bodies, per the New York Times.

"When the show got to be No. 3, I figured it was our acting," she once said. "When it got to be No. 1, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra."

The show went on to spark a lasting franchise that spanned decades. While not every iteration was considered successful, the concept was still revisited repeatedly in the 2000s.

Nearly 20 years after the original series ended in 1981, a film starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu came out in 2000, followed by its sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle in 2003.

Around that time, a web series titled Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures was also released.

The Charlie's Angels universe cooled off for several years after that, but in 2011, ABC gave it another go with a television reboot featuring Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh.

It was cancelled after only one season due to rapidly shrinking viewership and poor reviews.

In 2019, Elizabeth Banks continued the franchise with a movie of her own, starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska. Banks, 52, not only wrote and directed the film, she also played the role of Bosley.

But it's still not over for Charlie's Angels. In February, it was announced that Peter Chiarelli – known for penning the scripts for Crazy Rich Asians, The Proposal and Now You See Me 2 – is set to write a brand new installment for the franchise, according to Deadline.

There are no further details on the project at this time.