Between mid-1953, when the audition was held, and early-1954, when Anita became unavailable for the role, the Nassours had moved away from the idea of making a feature film and had decided to make a syndicated television series instead.  As mentioned on the previous page (link above), they were just about to start filming the pilot episode when they called Irish to offer her the role. The pilot and the first two episodes were filmed in California in mid-1954 (Scarlet Street) (see Page 3: The Pilot Episodes in the Filming in Mexico section and individual entries for the episodes, The Renegades, Forbidden Cargo and Touch of Death).  Irish has also said that it took almost a year to sell the program and that she appeared in several glamour magazines wearing the Sheena costume for promotional purposes during that period (Glamour Girls).  Finally in early-1955 the Nassours took Irish to a TV sales convention held in New York and Washington DC.  Irish has said that this event "turned everything around."  Originally the series was to be financed by Four Star Productions, a TV production company cofounded by Dick Powell, Charles Boyer and David Niven.  However, after the program purchasing executives had an opportunity to ogle the tall, leggy, buxom, and stunningly beautiful star wearing her abbreviated jungle costume, other parties soon became interested.  The TV executives were also given plenty of opportunities to be photographed with the tall blonde starlet (see photo right).  ABC Film Syndication (American Broadcasting Corporation) could see the potential and picked up the series for 26 episodes.

Within a couple of months Irish was in the tropical jungles of Mexico for what she has described as "the worst seven-and-a-half months of my life" (Preview).  The shoestring budget the series was filmed on meant that the filming conditions were quite primitive and bugs, intense heat, bad food, and the general disorganisation of third world conditions contributed to the difficulties.  Irish said that when she later bumped into Anita Ekberg she told her, "You'da hated it!" (Scarlet Street)