[SEE UPDATE BELOW ON THURSDAY-SATURDAY TV TRIBUTES]
Here's what made Farrah Fawcett a star. The 1976 pilot of ABC's hit Charlie's Angels -- three babes in bikinis solve mysteries -- can be streamed free on Hulu, along with such other classics as the prison episode "Angels in Chains" [photo above].
But to better honor Fawcett, who died Thursday morning of cancer at age 62, you might watch her more dramatic work as an actress. Her 1984 TV movie breakthrough The Burning Bed (abused wife strikes back) has been released on DVD, and also gets a rare TV airing next Tuesday (June 30) -- at 2:35 p.m. and 9:35 p.m. ET on Encore Drama, and at 3:35 p.m. and 10:35 p.m. ET on Movieplex.
Another DVD possibility is Fawcett's 1987 miniseries
Poor Little Rich Girl, casting her as tragic heiress Barbara Hutton. It's also available to Netflix subscribers as an
instant-view option (online, or over TV with
the right device).
And then there's her other TV series work. Before Charlie's Angels, she was David Janssen's neighbor in the cynical '70s sleuth hour Harry O and a guest on then-husband Lee Majors' action smash The Six Million Dollar Man. In the last decade of her life, she appeared in multi-episode arcs on series including Spin City and The Guardian.
Fawcett was also paired with longtime companion Ryan O'Neal in 1991's short-lived sitcom Good Sports, now perhaps a good bet to get a curiosity-fueled DVD release.
But she'll always be known as an Angel, and that '70s "eye candy" series from producer-mogul Aaron Spelling is widely available on DVD. Fawcett starred only in the first season before leaving for "bigger things" that never really materialized. But she did return for a half-dozen subsequent episodes, in the third season, and in the fourth, which on July 21 completes the series' DVD cycle.
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UPDATED Thursday 7 p.m. --
Farrah Fawcett tributes are being hastily scheduled on various channels. So are reports on Thursday's other big death of a legendary entertainer, Michael Jackson.
Among them:
20/20 (Thursday 10 p.m. ET, ABC) -- "Farrah Fawcett: Her life, Her Loves, Her Legacy" is a Barbara Walters report featuring interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Charlie's Angels costar Jaclyn Smith, friend Alana Stewart, her physician Dr. Lawrence Piro, hairstylist Jose Eber, and Leonard Goldberg, co-creator of Charlie's Angels. (It's preceded by a 9 p.m. ET special edition of 20/20, "The Life and Death of Michael Jackson.")
Dateline NBC (Thursday 9-11 p.m. ET, NBC) -- The special extended broadcast will cover Michael Jackson's life and death, in addition to the previously announced "Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel." The Fawcett report includes recent interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Alana Stewart, Fawcett's father, sister and Charlie's Angels costar Kate Jackson, as well as unaired parts of a 1997 interview.
CBS News: The Life and Death of Michael Jackson (Thursday 10 p.m. ET, CBS) -- Hour report on the day's events.
Farrah's Story (Friday 9 p.m. ET, NBC) -- Repeat of May's two-hour documentary film chronicling Fawcett's battle with cancer, in her own words. (Also airs Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on Oxygen.)
Chasing Farrah (Saturday 9 p.m. ET, TV Land) -- First two episodes of the 2005 docusoap following Fawcett's daily life as one of the country's most famous faces.