Sunday, December 3, 2023

Personal Foul 9

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, Mike is having a hot water problem at Brennan's Grill; they have no hot water for that evening, as the problem could only be completely fixed by the next morning. Mike has Carol call the a neighboring restaurant for help with their predicament. In the middle of the crisis, Jackie comes into the restaurant to inform Mike about her meeting with Prof. Powell earlier and what she found out about Lincoln U's star basketball player Andrew Taylor. She wanted to inform him that she was going to write about it and the article will be out that evening. But Mike is so distracted with the goings-on in the restaurant that he isn't able to pay attention to what Jackie is trying to tell him. He leaves her for a moment to see into what his staff are all doing in the kitchen. He catches his new waitress, Belinda, doing an impromptu comedy routine in front of the restaurant staff. Mike breaks it up and rushes back to Jackie. But Carol tells him that Jackie had to rush back to The Mirror in order to make her deadline.

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