Shelley in a promo pic
for Charlie's Angels, 1979
Shelley told TV Tales: Charlie's Angels in 2002, "I never expected to be there more than a year and I wasn't." She added, "I did my year and I moved on. That was just fine. That was plenty for me." In 1979, for its 4th season, Shelley joined the cast of Charlie’s Angels alongside Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd - as Kate Jackson's fill-in. Shelley signed a one-year contract with the show which had a three-year option; and she opted to leave Charlie's Angels and move on to other things after a year. It seems Shelley felt so much pressure when she became the new Angel; it seemed everything was riding on her shoulders. In the Nielsen ratings, Charlie's Angels had fallen from #4 over-all in season 2 to #12 over-all in season 3. In season 4, Shelley was brought in with the hopes of bringing the series back into TV's top 10 shows.
a short writeup about Shelley
from 1980
But Shelley was given little to do or say early in the 4th season, a critical point because her character was being introduced. "It was an awkward introduction. I was hardly in the first couple of shows. I don't know why that is," Shelley told
TV Tales: Charlie's Angels. In 2021, Cheryl Ladd told
Charlie’s Angels historian and author Mike Pingel, "I just felt like they didn't help her (Shelley), kind of, really create something more solid for her character. It wasn't her fault. She just, kind of, got words." Was Shelley expected to boost the show's ratings by her "mere presence alone"? Additionally, it seems she got the short end of the stick. In 2026, Kate Jackson told
The Hollywood Reporter, "I met her and we talked about it. She said it felt personal. There'd be some event and the three of them were invited, but they sat her behind a big concrete post or something. She's really smart and funny. There was no reason to treat her that badly." Shelley told
People magazine after she left the series in 1980, "I feel like I've been sunbathing on Three Mile Island." Nevertheless,
Charlie's Angels finished at #18 (tied with CHiPs) over-all in the Nielsen ratings that year - it was a hit TV series and it stayed a hit.
Charlie's Angels was one of the TV's top 20 shows for four seasons, from 1976 to 1980. (For more, check out:
She Did Her Best)
