Shelley on the cover of the Greek mag Manina, 1980
Shelley joined the cast of Charlie's Angels in 1979; but by 1980, she was leaving the show. It seems the show was down in the ratings and the blame was being put on Shelley's shoulders. It's quite astonishing since she wasn't given much to say or do during the start of the season (which was when the ratings began to drop); so she was supposed to save the show by her "mere presence alone"? There was so much fanfare and interest in her when she joined the cast; and then when the season started, after the second episode, you hardly heard from her. They said she couldn't act, but how come she gave good performances in Death Car on the Freeway and the Love Boat episode she was in? Both aired during her Angels season. Could she have been a mere scapegoat? They "can say I didn't work out, but it isn't true. What happened was a network war. A business decision was made. Change the time slot or bring in some publicity. How to get publicity? A new Angel hunt. Who is the obvious person to replace? I am — the new kid on the block," Shelley told People magazine in 1980.
a writeup about Shelley from April of 1980
