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Remembering Farrah Fawcett, Charlie's Angels Marathon on WGN America Among the Tributes; CBS and NBC Fall 2009 Premiere Dates

As everyone already knows, Farrah Fawcett passed away yesterday. We mentioned it on our blog yesterday that we would do a tribute for her today and we will keep our promise!
Farrah Fawcett, who soared to fame as a national sex symbol in the late 1970s on television's Charlie's Angels and in a swimsuit poster that showcased her feathery mane and made her a generation's favorite pinup, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) Fawcett, whose celebrity overshadowed her ability as a serious actress, was diagnosed with a rare anal cancer in 2006, died about 9:30 a.m. PT at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica.
Three months after she was declared cancer-free in 2007, doctors at UCLA Medical Center told her the cancer had returned, spreading to her liver, and she repeatedly sought experimental treatment in Germany.
As an actress, Fawcett was initially dismissed for her role as Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels, one of the "jiggle" series on ABC in the late 1970s. Fawcett quit the series that brought her initial fame in 1977 after a single season, saying producers were preventing her from growing as an actress. With Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, Fawcett played a private investigator. She returned for 6 episodes as a special guest star.
She transformed her career and some popular perceptions in 1984 with The Burning Bed, a NBC television movie about a battered wife that brought her the first of three Emmy nominations. She further established herself as an actress in the play and later feature film Extremities in 1986, about a rape victim who takes revenge on her attacker. In 1989 she starred in the ABC TV mini-series Small Sacrifices opposite Ryan O'Neal, giving her an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination. Her other Golden Globe nominated roles on TV-movies include ABC's Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and NBC's Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story.
Among Farrah's other cedits includes the short lived CBS sitcom in 1991 called Good Sports starring her and boyfriend Ryan O'Neal, and guest appearances on many other TV series over the years such as Mayberry RFD, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, The Partridge Family, Owen Marshall, The Girl with Something Extra, McCloud, Apple's Way, Marcus Welby, S.W.A.T., The Brady Bunch Hour, The Battle of the Network Stars, Larry Sanders Show, Ally McBeal, and So noTORIous. And recurring appearances on Harry-O, The Six Million Dollar Man, Spin City, and The Guardian. She had her own reality series in 2005 on TV Land called Chasing Farrah, where she made her last rounds on talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Show with David Letterman, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Regis & Kelly. During the 2006 Emmy Awards, the same year she was diagnosed with cancer, she and her fellow Charlie's Angels paid tribute to the late Aaron Spelling on stage. Recently she documented Farrah's Story for NBC about her daily life with anal cancer.
Farrah will certainly be missed as there were two primetime specials on her last night on ABC and NBC at 10pm. Take some time this weekend to watch tributes and marathons dedicated to Farrah. Her death was overshadowed by the untimely death of Michael Jackson, but she is certainly not forgotten. She was 62.

As we mentioned yesterday, there will be a lot of tributes and marathons to Farrah this weekend, so let's go over them here. The biggest one is on WGN America where they will air Charlie's Angels on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we get the two most famous episodes she did probably, the first episode and "Angels in Chains." in primetime from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT). Then on Sunday, WGN America will air a Charlie's Angels marathon from 5-10pm ET and 11pm-2am ET during their Outta Sight Retro Night. Eight episodes will air on this day including "Lady Killer" and "Blue Angels." And if you're in Chicago, Me-TV will air Charlie's Angels all next week, Mon-Fri at 11am and 12pm CT featuring some of her best Charlie's Angels performances as Jill Munroe. All week long, Chicago viewers will see back-to-back episodes of Charlie's Angels, highlighting Fawcett's first and only full season - along with her guest appearances from the third and fourth seasons.
TV Land will also air Charlie's Angels on Saturday but from 7-9pm (first episode and "Angels in Chains") and also air the first two episodes of its 2005 original series Chasing Farrah in primetime on Saturday from 9-10pm ET/PT. The series chronicled her daily life as one of the most recognized stars in the history of celebrity. TVLand.com will feature a Memorial Spot, which will also run on-air, and an Obituary section.
Bio TV will salute Farrah by reairing her Biography episode this Monday at 10pm, retitled Biography Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. Before that, Bio TV will air Biography episodes of Aaron Spelling and Charlie's Angels at 8 and 9pm, as a lead-in. And Michael Jackson fans, Biography Remembers: Michael Jackson will follow at 11pm on Monday (in addition to its already scheduled airings on Saturday at 10 and 11pm).
Movie wise, BET will air her last movie The Cookout from 2004 on Saturday at 8:30pm and again on Sunday at 1:30pm. BET is currently airing Michael Jackson programming all-day today, as are most other music channels like VH-1 Classic. Other movies airing for Farrah are The Burning Bed on Tuesday, June 30 on ENCORE Drama and Dr. T and the Women on TMC later in the week. This TV will air two classic TV movies of her. Beginning this Saturday, THIS tv Network remembers the television and film career of Farrah Fawcett. She was a critically acclaimed movie actor. This week, THIStv Network pays tribute to her life and career with two of her finest ABC TV-movie performances in The Nazi Hunter: Beate Klarsfeld Story at 2pm on Saturday and Small Sacrifices at 4pm on Saturday, with encores during next week for both.
And if you missed the documentary Farrah's Story, NBC and Oxygen will re-air it. NBC will air it tonight from 8-10pm ET/PT and Oxygen on Saturday starting at 3:30pm.
We will keep you up to date if we hear anything else. View the full list.

We mentioned some Michael Jackson tributes above, and we would also like to pay tribute to Michael a bit. There were lots of tributes yesterday for him with ABC and NBC airing specials at 9pm and CBS at 10pm. ABC also devoted Nightline to Michael last night. ABC will have another special 20/20 on Jackson tonight at 9pm, while NBC will air yet another Dateline special tonight at 10. TV Land will reair the 1992 five-hour miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream on Sunday, June 28, 2009 from 2pm–7pm ET/PT with an immediate encore presentation from 7pm–12am ET/PT, breaking into its regularly scheduled Married...with Children marathon. Fox will reair a Michael Jackson themed episode of American Idol from this past season on Monday from 8-10pm ET/PT. We mentioned Bio TV will reair his Biography multiple times and nearly all the music channels are playing his videos or is doing special programming on him. Michael was only 50.

Back to some news--we have the CBS and NBC Fall premiere dates now, joining ABC, Fox, and The CW.
CBS's new season roll-out officially begins on Monday, Sept. 21 with How I Met Your Mother moving to 8:00 PM, ET/PT, the premiere of the new comedy Accidentally on Purpose at 8:30 PM, ET/PT, the seventh season premiere of television's number one comedy Two and a Half Men at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, the third season premiere of The Big Bang Theory in its new time period of 9:30 PM, ET/PT and the eighth season premiere of CSI: Miami at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
NCIS begins its seventh season on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by the new NCIS: LA spin-off at 9:00 PM, ET/PT and the freshman drama The Good Wife at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS returns its Wednesday comedy block on Sept. 23 with the fifth season of The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8:00 PM, ET/PT and sophomore comedy Gary Unmarried at 8:30 PM, ET/PT, followed by the fifth season premiere of Criminal Minds at 9:00 PM, ET/PT and the sixth season premiere of CSI: NY at10:00 PM, ET/PT.
Survivor: Samoa, the 19th installment of the hit reality series, will debut a week prior to the formal start of the season, on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT). CSI returns for its 10th season on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT followed by the new night and time period premiere of last season's No. 1 new hit The Mentalist at 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT.
The Network's top-rated Friday lineup returns on Sept. 25 with the fifth season premiere of Ghost Whisperer at 8:00 PM, ET/PT, the CBS debut of the popular drama Medium at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by the sixth season premiere of NUMB3RS at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS's Saturday schedule premieres Sept. 26 with the return of 48 Hours Mystery at10:00 PM, ET/PT, preceded by two hours of crime repeats from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT.
60 Minutes returns for its 42nd season on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 7:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by a special two-hour debut of the 15th edition The Amazing Race from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT and the seventh season premiere of Cold Case in its new time period of 10:00 PM, ET/PT. Premiering a week later on Sunday, Oct. 4 is the new drama Three Rivers at 9:00 PM, ET/PT.

NBC kicks off the Fall 2009 season with NBC Sunday Night Football, beginning September 13 with a classic match-up: the Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers. Then on Monday, September 14 the primetime debut of The Jay Leno Show from 10-11 p.m. ET/PT kicks off its new weeknight hour. On Tuesday, September 15 from 8-10 p.m., The Biggest Loser returns with all new two-hour episodes, featuring more inspiration and real-life drama as this season's contestants challenge themselves to reach their weight-loss goals. Then the premiere of the network's night of comedy on Thursday, September 17, as Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday (8pm) and new series Community (9:30) join Parks and Recreation (8:30) and Emmy winner The Office (9pm). Emmy winner 30 Rock returns to the Thursday comedy line-up on October 15 at 9:30, as Community moves to 8pm on Oct. 8.
A two-hour Heroes will start the actual premiere week on Monday, September 21 from 8-10 p.m. and the new high-octane Trauma will premiere the following Monday, September 28 from 9-10 p.m. ET, as Heroes moves to 8pm. The compelling family drama Parenthood premieres on Wednesday, September 23 from 8-9 p.m. ET leading into Law & Order: SVU from 9-10 p.m. ET. On Fridays, beginning September 25, the venerable Law & Order returns for a record 20th season at 8 p.m., followed by the acclaimed drama Southland at 9 p.m. ET. Beginning September 26, Saturdays in primetime will be a showcase for Dateline NBC at 8 p.m. ET and encore presentations of Trauma at 9 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at 10 p.m. ET. In addition, Saturday Night Live returns for its 35th season on September 26 from 11:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m. ET/PT.