screen captures from the Jack and Mike episode "Ready or Not," 1986
Shelley's third foray into series TV was Jack and Mike. It was about a married yuppie couple living in Chicago, trying to find time for each other in their busy schedules. Shelley played Jackie Shea, a star columnist at The Mirror, a widely-circulated Chicago paper. Her column was awaited by everyone every week. Her husband was Mike Brennan (played by Tom Mason), a successful restaurateur. The other cast members were: Nora Adler (Jacqueline Brookes), Jackie’s editor; Anthony Kubecek (Kevin Dunn), Jackie's assistant; Carol (Holly Fulger), the head waitress at Mike's restaurant, Brennan's Grill; and Rick Scotti (Vincent Baggetta), an attorney who appears occasionally. The series, created by Sara Davidson, was filmed on location in Chicago, Illinois.
more screen captures from the Jack and Mike episode "Ready or Not," 1986
Jackie goes out in the middle of the night to meet fugitive Matthew Pearson. She gets to their previously agreed meeting place and Pearson arrives with a request. He's asking her for an advance on his planned book deal to which Jackie is taken aback. He then explains why he needs it. He leaves and comes back with a little boy, his son Eric. He explains that he got married and the year before his wife had died. He wants Jackie to look for his wife's family, her sister in particular, so he can leave Eric with her along with the money she will need to raise him. He wants the boy to be safe and taken cared of when he eventually comes out of hiding and is in the hands of the authorities. Jackie promises to write a column that can help find the sister; Pearson promises to turn himself in as soon as the boy is in his sister-in-law's care.