A DOUBLE SHOT OF SHERRY

When 'Murphy Brown' premiered in 1988, I was excited to see my friend Mary Cadorette on the debut episode of 'Murphy Brown' appearing as Sherry French, Murphy's secretary. I figured that by being the secretary, Mary would prove to be integral to much of the action in the sitcom.

Well, that didn't last long.

Less than five minutes later, Mary's character was gone for good, establishing the show's long-running gag about Murphy's endless line of secretaries. But at least she has the distinction in the TV history books as being the first.

But what happened to Sherry French after she got fired from 'F.Y.I.'? Based on her next TV role, we can make a supposition.....

As her nuptials were fast approaching, Sherry needed another job quickly to uphold her share in the finances of the coming marriage. So she became a secretary for a Washington D.C.-based construction company. There she must have found her niche because she quickly rose through the ranks to become a supervisor overseeing the cost outlast on various projects conducted by the firm. (Mostly it entailed a ton of paperwork, with little need for her to go on site at those jobs.)

One of those jobs was down in the basement of an old brownstone, where the crew discovered a hole in the wall that led to an underground cavern containing a troll and its treasure. Two of the crew were killed by the troll and a third was grievously wounded. Sherry, however (now known by her married name as Ms. Atkinson), not only escaped harm, but caused the death of the troll.

With her newfound half of the treasure (shared with the last surviving member of the crew), Sherry and her husband disappeared - changing their names to avoid being questioned about the strange deaths of her co-workers. (Just the body of the troll would have brought her to the attention of the FBI's X-Files team.)

So any role, preferably a one-shot, played by Mary Cadorette after that episode of 'Monsters!' could be Sherry French Atkinson, but under an alias. And any background info on that character supplied by her would just be a cover story/lie.

BCnU!