Saturday, December 16, 2023

Personal Foul 11

screen captures from the Jack and Mike
episode "Personal Foul," 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. 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. In the episode "Personal Foul," a college professor is suspended for trying to flunk the school's star basketball player, and Mike is upset that Jackie's covering the story, since it's his alma mater and he's the team's No. 1 supporter. The episode was originally aired in September 30, 1986.

screen captures from the Jack and Mike
episode "Personal Foul," 1986

To continue, amidst the problems Mike has been facing (and trying to solve) due to the hot water problem at Brennan's Grill, he receives a phone call from Coach Cyril Brock. Cy is upset that the article Jackie wrote about the college sports scene at Lincoln University may ruin his chances at securing the job offered to him by a university in California. Mike tells Cy that Jackie was writing about lingerie not the college sports scene. But Cy tells him that the article just came out in the evening edition and is going to be a series. Cy tells Mike to tell Jackie to stop and hangs up. Back at home, Jackie arrives excited as she spots Mike reading the paper at the dinner table. She approaches him and announces that she has a surprise for him... under her coat. She opens it and underneath is the lingerie picked out for her by her editor Nora at the lingerie party earlier that evening. Mike is not impressed. He's upset about the article Jackie had written about the college sports scene at Lincoln U. Jackie tries to explain to him that she went to see him at the restaurant earlier to warn him about exactly that; but she had to rush back to The Mirror before she was able to. Mike is too upset to discuss it with her and goes to bed.

screen captures from the Jack and Mike
episode "Personal Foul," 1986