Friday, December 16, 2022

Jackie in 1986 B

a closeup of Shelley
from a promo pic from the 1980s

Shelley starred in her third TV series in 1986 Jack and Mike. The series was initially called Jackie O'Shea as it was going to be a star vehicle for Shelley (producer David Gerber wanted to give her her own TV series.) Shelley was going to play the title role, a woman journalist who had a supportive husband waiting at home - kind of like a reverse gender role thing which was a fresh idea in the 1980s. Tom Mason was brought in to play the husband as he had a good chemistry with Shelley when they played boyfriend/girlfriend in the TV movie Kicks. But Tom wanted the characters to be more equal, so the focus of the series changed from just Jackie to the marriage of Jackie and her husband Mike. It was retitled Our Kind of Town and Jackie's husband was given a bigger role. When it aired, it was again retitled Jack and Mike, with both Shelley and Tom getting equal billing.

a fun newspaper encircle-the-word game/puzzle
(with the answers) about Jack and Mike, 1986

Jack and Mike was about a busy married yuppie couple who lived in Chicago and found it hard to find time to be with each other. Jackie Shea was the star columnist at a fictional newspaper called The Mirror. Jackie's husband, Mike Brennan, was a successful restauranteur who owned and managed three restaurants around Chicago. The series aired right after the hit Moonlighting and debuted to decent ratings. It also received decent reviews, with a few scathing writeups here and there. The series looked like it was in for a long run when it was suddenly canceled to the disappointment of fans.

Shelley in a promo pic from the 1980s