his review for The New York Times, John J. O'Connor wrote, "For the 1930s, Dashiell Hammett created Sam Spade, the private eye. With Jack. the Philadelphia lawyer, Mr. Sayles, the film maker and writer (Matewan, Eight Men Out), gets a crystal-clear bead on the 1990s". In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Don Shirley wrote, "Sayles scores points for making Shannon less than a shining white knight and for creating a gallery of interesting and sometimes amusing subsidiary characters," but felt that "Some of those characters, however, are developed more predictably than we might expect from Sayles". Awards and nominations References "How John Sayles Shuffled Shannon's Deal" External links 1990 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings 1990s American drama television series 1990s American legal television series Edgar Award-winning works English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Philadelphia