Michelle Meyers (Dimension AAA)

Michelle "Shelley" Meyers is a lead character in *Morning Show*, a segment of *It's All Been Done Radio Hour*. She is the producer of the titular program. Ambitious and wanting to be taken seriously, she forces a change in format without getting approval from anyone else. She's cunning, but can also be reckless when she's convinced she's right. She is a cynic.

Shelly does NOT drink decaf coffee. She likes being called ma'am ("First Show") until it starts to sound sarcastic ("We the People"). She loves working long hours, her work being her passion, and doesn't have other hobbies ("Tear Down").

**First appearance:** *Morning Show* #1.01 "First Show"

**Number of appearances in *Morning Show*:** 14 (as of #2.04)

**Number of appearances in *Packer & Ratcliff*:**1

**Actor:** Kristin Green

### **Episodes Not In**

Shelly has been a main character from the beginning. She did not appear in the following episodes:

* "Bro Code" (non-canon special)

## **Personality**

Shelly is driven and intelligent, though flips back and forth between confident and doubting of her own abilities. She can be high strung and exacting, demanding the best of those who work under her. She claims to be able to sniff out stories first and follow leads doggedly. She does see herself as fair. ("The Aide," "Owning Up"). She is also righteous, and firmly believes the public deserves to know the truth, even when government would rather they not be told ("Halloween"). But she thinks most people aren't worth listening to, preferring to get her information from experts and those of note ("We the People").

Shelly never respected Mayor Regina Hayes, considering her a slimy politician, and assuming any good she did was just to make herself more popular ("Emergency Powers").

Shelly is quick to judge others that don't agree with her, and has little patience or respect for those that allow emotion to cloud logical judgment.

Shelly considered Patricia Anderson a great, tough leader who did the right thing before and after the zombie outbreak. She hated Trump ("Fallout"). Though even she admits that, by the end of 2019, it's starting to feel less like a democracy in the U.S. ("We the People").

Shelly does not consider herself in the public service, though she does try to provide facts and hopes the public will inform themselves. She is thoroughly versed in city code ("Options").

In 2017, Shelly was at the Women's March in D.C. She used washable paint to deface federal property, and was known to be at the scene of a much more destructive incident, although she did not take part herself. She later admitted she might be inclined to participate in a non-peaceful protest, but had not yet done so as of late 2019 ("Evaluation").

At some point, Shelly drank enough at Kevin Blair's bar to need to use a ride app to get home. Yet, she deleted it for some unknown reason, though she had re-downloaded it by Christmas 2019 ("Merry F\*\*\*ing Christmas").

## **Producing *Morning Show***

When Shelly took the reigns of WUBD's *Morning Show*, she envisioned more than dumb comedy, especially with the right host, which she had. She firmly believed they could be a real news program, doing important work, and secretly enlisted the help of host Pat Shock, behind co-host Gus Goodall's back, to make the change ("First Show"). She did not tell her boss, Brooks Dylan, either.

To start with a splash, Shelly uncovered a big scandal involving Mayor Regina Hayes, and then sat on it for two weeks, telling no one, not even Pat, so it wouldn't get out ahead of time, and so that Pat wouldn't refuse to run a story that wasn't fully vetted. This unorthodox manner, in which she had a single source who was playing her, Aidan Pearson, almost blew up in her face. But Shelly managed to think on her feet and make it work ("The Aide").

When called before her boss, who didn't even know the whole story, to account for her actions, Shelly essentially blackmailed him, and got research assistants for her trouble. However, she also agreed to some unfavorable terms that benefitted him, willing to risk alienating him and killing her career for the chance to do what she was passionate about, including an NDA and non-compete clause. She agrees to meet with him weekly to go over her work ("Owning Up").

Shelly was convinced to come on air during Pat's zombie outbreak coverage. She objected to using the term zombie, thinking it trivialized a real crisis, and that zombies, as most people think of them, don't exist. The infected were sick, not undead, or so she assumed at the time, saying science could explain what was happening if given the chance. She argued that the president was providing no leadership and exacerbating the problem, and they needed medical professionals to go in and take charge. She theorized that they may even need to use nuclear weapons to wipe out half of California if it spread to Los Angeles. Once she paused a moment and realized what she had said, she regretted going on air and retreated to the control booth (*Packer & Ratcliff* "The Pursuit of Packer"). Shelly later apologized for the *way* in which she said it, but not the content of the words ("Fallout").

Shelly makes use of an informant named Kelly. It is unknown when she met Kelly, but he has expressed willingness to do whatever she needs, indicating a more-than-professional relationship. It is also unknown who Kelly is or what his connections are, but Shelly is confident that he is connected and can obtain information no other media outlet has. As of October 2019, they were meeting weekly ("Halloween").

When Pat wanted to add a segment where he spoke to normal citizens, Shelly was against it. But after seeing the idea in action, she began to think of ways to use it ("We the People").

Shelly evaluates Pat and Gus, but Brooks does not come down to the studio to evaluate her, nor send anyone to do so ("Evaluation").

## **New Opportunities**

Brooks eventually warmed up to Shelly, impressed with her drive, intelligence, determination, and journalistic skills. He asked if she'd considered her next move, but Shelly only wanted to grow the reach of the *Morning Show*. Not really believing she'd stay satisfied, Brooks encouraged Shelly to attend a networking event, which she reluctantly agreed to. While there, she impressed Councilman Roger Lark, even though she admitted in front of him that she thought the general public were sheep who needed to take personal responsibility to better educate themselves ("Options").

Shelly was evaluated by Allie Friedan for a secret job offer that she had to sign an NDA for and didn't know the details of ahead of time, including the position. Shelly didn't come up with a cover story, leading to problems when Allie came into the office. Pat later says Shelly will definitely take the new job, and when Shelly says she is still undecided, accuses Shelly of not being honest with herself.

The evaluation makes Shelly nervous, not having expected it, but she continues it, asking about next steps and trying to make herself as accessible as possible. She seems to get along well with Allie, and doesn't question Allie's methods. Allie does say there are a few concerning things in Shelly's background, but nothing disqualifying. Allie also asserts 'they' know Shelly isn't against President Anderson or the country. Shelly insists she hasn't made up her mind and likes her current job ("Evaluation").

Shelly gets a job offer from the federal government. Unfortunately, it comes to her email in a To-Do folder which the new intern, Lea Zichi, passes to Pat on-air. Pat announces the job offer as news, embarrassing Shelly and the show, and hurting her. Shelly is clearly conflicted about leaving the show, and to cope she pretends it's not personal and tells herself *Morning Show* is just a little local program. It ends up being Shelly's last broadcast and causes a schism between her and her hosts, as well as between Shelly and Brooks. Pat leaves mad and possibly jealous, but Shelly later, drunk, lonely, and vulnerable, ends up sleeping with Gus ("Merry F\*\*\*ing Christmas").

Shelly and Brooks soon make up, pragmatism overriding hurt feelings, and they have reestablished a working relationship by the end of February 2020.

## **In Public Service**

Shelly accepted the role of liaison to the media of Columbus, Ohio on behalf of President Patricia Anderson's administration. She worked in the former headquarters of Coast-to-Coast Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, and her office was downstairs from her boss, Janice Thompson, and had drapes on the windows. A co-worker of hers, Ron Truman, wanted the position, and was not happy about Shelly getting it, trying to sabotage her work. She didn't like him and saw through his tricks, willing to confront Janice is she wanted to micromanage Shelly, as Ron falsely claimed. Shelly feels well prepped and good at her job.

As part of her job, Shelly met with Pat and Gus to ask them to be more fair to the administration. Pat was happy to see her, having not spoken to her in two months, but Gus was weird and a bit hostile. Shelly was able to win Pat over by promising to try to get him one-on-one interviews with senior officials, though she had not met President Anderson personally, nor did she have a lot of power herself. After the meeting, she was able to get Pat an interview with the press secretary ("Conflict of Interest Part 1").

By the time Shelly arranged Pat an interview with the chief of staff, she seemed much more comfortable in her job. She was The Executive Building often enough to be friendly with Steve, the security guard. She gave Pat tips and instructions before the interview, and she was happy with Pat's performance, not soft-balling, but letting the administration get out their talking points. Pat is grateful to her, but she says she's just doing her job - literally. She and Pat claimed no hard feelings towards one another, and she didn't think there was. Pat tried to be more chummy, but Shelly said she was very busy and left quickly after walking Pat out ("Conflict of Interest Part 2").

Gus and Shelly continue sleeping together for months. She had a rule that he couldn't sleep over, and this was supposed to just be stress relief fun, as she was not looking for a relationship. He texted for a booty call as often as she did. This lasted until Gus starts to develop feelings for her and breaks it off. Shelly tells Gus she never even thought about him as a romantic partner, so doesn't know if she likes him or not. She is disappointed to end their arrangement, which was mutually instigated, because she liked it. Gus tells her that Pat is going to ask her out, and she's a bit annoyed that Gus didn't tell her sooner Pat was interested. She is also offended that they might think she's an object to be fought over. She denies having been into Pat, when Gus asks if she wants to date him, she says it's none of Gus' business.

Pat does finally ask Shelly out and she turns him down because she's too busy ("Conflict of Interest Part 3"). She does work long hours and does not get Saturdays off. She was forced to spend part of Sunday afternoons playing in her boss, Janice Thompson's, volleyball tournament. Janice was pleased with Shelly's work, though they disagreed as to whether Gus was a villain when criticizing the president, with Shelly saying a person shouldn't be demonized for their convictions. Shelly also got up early to watch Gus on TV, indicating she may have had feelings for him, though she was sleeping with co-worker Guy Norris at the time ("Tear Down").

## **Alternate Version**

An alternate version of Shelly Meyers appears in *Daniel Kravitz, Chosen One*. She is not the same character, existing in another dimension, although she is played by the same actress and shares key backstory and personality traits.