filomango69

i only have a vague recollection of this movie. i remember the action being slow (it was a pilot, after all, so the production team still were likely to be feeling their way around). but the girls were indeed beautiful! yes, there were a lot of posing and primping for the camera and those scenes were actually informative and instructive back then. yes, it was entertaining in that next-top-model type of thing. it may not be fair to compare it to charlie's angels (altho the bandwagon mentality certainly was in effect) because the girls as portrayed were models 1st and agents 2nd. it looked promising enough, and the action and the story lines could have picked up if it had gone on to series. remember the series "cover up" many years after?

"They talk like David and Maddie, they argue like David and Maddie, but they're not quite David and Maddie" so starts one TV critic's review of the show. Jack and Mike, which followed the show Moonlighting on the ABC sked, set out to give viewers more of the romantic tension associated with the David and Maddie characters. Rather than becoming a pale copy of the more popular Moonlighting, however, Jack and Mike developed its own character and style and became an endearing companion piece to Moonlighting. Even their detractors grudgingly admit that Shelley Hack and Tom Mason were very good in the show, with one writer saying that with good TV vehicles, even lesser known actors like Shelley and Tom could shine. The show looked like it was headed for a long run (at least longer than its one season run) but Moonlighting went thru many production problems and delays--and ABC surprisingly axed Jack and Mike?!?

Shelley Hack bounces back from her abbreviated Charlie's Angels stint and proves that with the right material, she is not without acting talents and charms. I've always liked Shelley and in this show, she made the transition from Charlie's Angel to angel of mercy rather easily. She is joined by a talented newcomer Alec Baldwin. This was just before Alec made a career-making turn on Knots Landing. This was an interesting, critically well-received show that should have grown and progressed, if the network had only supported it. What a waste. From Cutter to Houston (originally dubbed "Scrubs") could have taken the credits for discovering Alec Baldwin and unveiling the star that Charlie's Angels failed to bring out in Shelley Hack.