Shelley in a promo pic from the late '70s
Shelley was set to play public defender Kristine/Christine Sullivan in the second season of Night Court in 1984. But even before completing work for a single episode of the series, she was out. Tongues began wagging about her being "dropped" from the comedy series like she was "dropped" from Charlie's Angels four years prior. But it was a mutual decision, decided upon at the 11th hour by both Shelley and the producers. "There's no mystery about it," Shelley explained in a telephone interview, "I liked the show. They offered me the role. I went and met them and liked them." She further explained, "But what happened was the role was changed somewhere between that meeting and my first day on the set." She wanted to do comedy but felt that the change wasn't going to work; so she opted to leave the series instead.
a writeup about Shelley from 1984
