[4] Flannigan made her television debut in a guest starring role in an episode of Highway to Heaven.

Two years later, in 1987, Flannigan landed the role of Evie Garland in the first-run syndication children's comedy series Out of This World, starring with Donna Pescow and Joe Alaskey.

Flannigan had a recurring role on The WB's 7th Heaven as Shana Sullivan, the girlfriend of Matt Camden.

She has also appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, ER, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Starved, Close to Home, Kindred: The Embraced and 90210.

She starred in Teenage Bonnie and Klepto Clyde (1993), National Lampoon's Last Resort (1994), Written in Blood (2003), A Day Without a Mexican (2004), and Homecoming (2005).