screen captures from the Cutter to Houston pilot episode, 1983
Shelley's second foray into series TV was Cutter to Houston. It was about three young doctors from the world-famous Texas Medical Center in Houston who were recruited to run a small hospital in the fictional rural town of Cutter, Texas. Jim Metzler and Alec Baldwin played the other two doctors. Jim played idealistic GP Dr. Andy Fenton, who grew up in Cutter and is glad to be home. Alec played internist/ladies man Dr. Hal Wexler, who is getting through his probation, having been relegated to Cutter for being a little too fast and free with his prescriptions. And Shelley played Dr. Beth Gilbert, an ambitious surgeon on temporary assignment in Cutter and aspires to be a heart surgeon in Houston.
more screen captures from the Cutter to Houston pilot episode, 1983
To continue, Beth and Andy prepares Ginny Bickum for a much needed emergency operation. She is unconscious and they're afraid her state might put both her and her baby in danger. They decide to perform an emergency C-section. As they get Ginny ready, her husband Frank arrives at the hospital in a very violent mood. He doesn't trust Beth and is worried she might do something similar to what she did to him while Ginny is on the operation table. Hal arrives at the hospital and before he could calm Frank down is surprised by what happens next. Frank pulls a gun at him.