Shannon's Deal (1990–1991)

Jamey Sheridan: Jack Shannon

Quotes 

• [Jack Shannon tries to talk Wilmer Slade out of taking his entire payment] 

  Jack Shannon : Then you should understand that a payment of this size is going to make Mr. Testa very upset.

  Wilmer Slade : Why do I sense an oncoming assault on logic?

• Jack Shannon : [Opening credits narration]  I thought I was a big shot. Big money, big house, big car...I thought I held all the cards. I thought I could pick the winner every time, I thought I could smell it...but the whole thing was built on garbage. I treated my wife badly and I knew it and I didn't stop and one day she walked. She took my daughter with her. I started gambling big time, crazy stuff, long shot stuff. I turned into the kind of man that I'd grown up hating. Making the big bucks and being made a partner wasn't enough to buy that off. I'm just kinda starting from scratch, trying to keep things low pressure.

• Jack Shannon : Paulie, I'm beginning to think you wanted to get arrested. Why?

  Paulie : Why? To publicize my plight!

  Harry Shannon : Ah, Paulie, don't try saying them words unless your teeth are in good!

• Jack Shannon : You don't have to heap more guilt on me. I'm doing just fine on my own.

• Lucy Acosta : What do you think of terrarium blue?

  Jack Shannon : Good beat, easy to dance to, could herald the return of disco. What are you talking about?

• Wilmer Slade : Yo, Shannon! I've been freezing my posterior regions waiting for you. That your daughter?

  Jack Shannon : You been tailing me, Wilmer?

  Wilmer Slade : I didn't want to interrupt a family situation.

  Jack Shannon : Very tactful of you.

• Jack Shannon : You want something out of me.

  Sidney Fine : I thought you'd never ask. Leo! Uh, have you ever done any child custody work?

  Jack Shannon : I get the feeling I'm about to.

• Lucy Acosta : Let me put it to you this way: You're a good father, you're a good lawyer, and if you paid me on a regular basis, you'd be a good boss.

  Jack Shannon : Wouldn't want to be perfect.

• Jack Shannon : If I had paper from your office, it would carry some weight--

  Todd Spurrier : Shannon, forget it, no. The boat has sailed. Now, if you bleed these people, I'll have you up on ethics.

  Jack Shannon : Well, there goes another night's sleep.

• Jack Shannon : I was willing to let my marriage fall apart, and my job slide...all sorts of awful stuff. But I could never bring myself to cheat at cards, even when it would have saved my tail.

  Audrey Watts : I used to dance topless for guys, but wouldn't let 'em buy me a drink.

  Jack Shannon : Some joke, huh?

• Kingston Rhodes : Listen, I'm sorry about that check, man.

  Jack Shannon : Well, you conned me about your record. Why not the check?

  Kingston Rhodes : Look, I'm not like that. No, I mean it. You ever gamble?

  Jack Shannon : Now and then.

  Kingston Rhodes : All right. Well, you ever find yourself in a spot where the stakes are ten times higher than what you got in your pocket? You just gotta play out the hand, and hope you win. That's what my life is like now, man.

• Lucy Acosta : You did the right thing, boss.

  Jack Shannon : Maybe. Did something I thought I'd never stoop to.

  Lucy Acosta : Going around the law?

  Jack Shannon : Cheated at cards.

• [Wilmer informs Jack that a convict with a grudge has put a price on Jack's head.] 

  Jack Shannon : Where would he get that kind of money?

  Wilmer Slade : Shannon, all due respect, uh, what makes you think you're worth all "that kind of money?"

  Jack Shannon : Oh. Glad you're here to protect me from overweening pride.

  Wilmer Slade : "Overweening?"

  Jack Shannon : Thought you'd like that.

• Harry Shannon : You think I'm proud of you? Well, I ain't! Not anymore.

  Jack Shannon : You were proud of me for all the wrong reasons. For being the kind of big shot you brought me up to hate. Well, you fell into a bottle, Dad, and I crawled up to a card game! I guess neither of us got much to be proud of, huh?!

• Wilmer Slade : I'm gonna make like a leper and intercept any cash that may flow your way until I have the renumeration in hand.

  Jack Shannon : What's that mean in English?

  Wilmer Slade : Whither thou goest, I shall go. Until I get at least a thousand in my pocket.

• Jack Shannon : All right, let's get going.

  Wilmer Slade : Lay on, MacDuff.

  [Shannon stares at him.] 

  Wilmer Slade : Shakespeare. I find vocabulary studies so limiting.

• Raymond : You Mr. Shannon?

  Jack Shannon : Yeah.

  Raymond : [hands Shannon a large envelope]  This from Kingston. He told me to say it's even now, and that he ain't playin' no more poker with you.

• Jack Shannon : Not exactly playing with a strong hand.

  Harry Shannon : It ain't the hand, Jackie-boy. It's the player.

• Lucy Acosta : So what'd you get?

  Jack Shannon : You'd be proud of me. I milked him for two hundred dollars.

  Lucy Acosta : Hey! Everybody's entitled to get paid. Now don't seem too personal. I mean, any other lawyer would milk harder and care less.

  Wilmer Slade : [holds out his hand]  Your good luck is mine.

  Jack Shannon : Awwww...