Shelley's second TV series was Cutter to Houston back in 1983. To promote the show, she made rounds and did interviews where she talked about her latest endeavor. One of the interviews she did was with Leta Powell Drake, a television journalist who interviewed entertainment and sports stars for the television station KOLN/KGIN in Nebraska (she interviewed many stars in the 1980s). Shelley discussed her role in the TV series and how much research she did to prepare for it. She also talked a little about her modeling career and her mother.
What one can notice immediately during the interview is how bright, smart, and articulate Shelley was. She was soft-spoken, personable, and she sure made a lot of sense... and, of course, she was stunning. She was absolutely gorgeous. Watching it, it is no surprise that she was chosen to replace Kate Jackson on Charlie's Angels five years prior. In the interview, she was a stunner and definitely came across as brainy, the perfect fill-in for Kate. Aside from that, one can notice how quickly and how confidently she spoke. She was a smart, fast-talking blonde and was very impressive. It's quite unfortunate that this trait of hers wasn't capitalized on throughout her entire Angels stint. In fact, it seems she was asked to slow down the delivery of her lines during the earlier episodes of her Angels season (just an observation); and it played against her and her character. Add to that, the diminishment of her dialogue/lines (screenwriter/producer Ed Lakso kept changing the script around so much so that Shelley was left with minimal dialogue) and the series ended up with a very underdeveloped character during the earlier episodes of the season... a crucial period because she was being introduced to the fans of the show. But when they finally played up her smart, fast-talking blonde characteristic (by around the 10th episode of the season), it was very effective. Unfortunately though, it was also too late. The initial spike in the ratings of her debut episode ("Love Boat Angels" finished at the no. 1 spot in the Nielsen ratings) didn't continue as the season progressed. Had they introduced her as the smart, fast-talking blonde from the get-go and followed it up with her very own solo episode (due to the request of the cast for more time off, solo episodes, episodes focusing on one Angel, were produced), things would turned out differently. Ahhh, what could have been...
