Texas! Discussion Thread

[Paul Raven]

When the show moved to the morning timeslot,they tried to attract gameshow fans,as that was the usual programming at that time.The result was Tall Texas Tales.

[BFORE02]

I have episodes of Tex.netas in my collection including the first 5 shows from 1980 and the last show from 1982, for my complete list of Vintage Soap Opera Episodes email me at bfore02@comcast

[DRW50]

December 7 1982 Digest

[DRW50]

December 1981 Digest

[DRW50]

[DRW50]

Promo that starts around 4:35

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_PB5lwD5Vk

[Melroser]

I've begun watching "The shooting of Alex Wheeler" clips on Youtube and am admittedly getting sucked in.

Was this, along with the reveal that Dennis was Alex's son not Elliot's, Beverlee McKinsey main story for the first year. Did she leave once this wrapped up. The scene where she admits to Elliot that Dennis is not his and Elliot slaps her was crazy!

I am also loving Lisby Larson's Paige as she worms her way to Dennis and is an adversary of Iris'.

Were there a lot of casting changes on Texas in the short time the show was on? I know they "revamped" it with a younger group when they brought in Alexandra (Diane) Neil and Harley Kozak. Two of my faves. But did the show have ongoing problems with a steady cast as it was trying to find its place?

[robbwolff]

As I recall, Alex's shooting was in November 1980. Beverlee didn't leave Texas until about a year later...around November 1981.

There were a number of cast changes throughout Texas' run. Terry Dekker and Maggie Dekker were phased out, Max Dekker was recast and then killed off. Vicky's niece and nephew Bart and Samantha were gone quickly, along with Clipper Curtis. Reena's husband Kevin was dropped along with Dawn and Courtney Marshall. Even with some of the "new generation" characters, there were recasts. Elizabeth Berridge joined as Allison Linden and then was dropped in favor of Terri Garber. Ernie Garrett joined as Mark Wheeler and was replaced by Michael Woods. I think, by 1982, Texas had an excellent and strong cast. I know I was addicted!

[saynotoursoap]

There were cast changes as robbwolff pointed out; however, the major characters, ones who would have been considered legacy characters later -they remained fairly constant, Texas had somewhat of a large initial cast, so paring it down over time as it became apparent what worked and what did not, was not distracting or harmful. Texas certainly did not suffer the types of casting problems of say, Ryan's Hope or One Life to Live in their formative years. At the time, I found the first few months of Texas excruciating, and I thought early on that it was a mistake. But, in 1981 when cancellation rumours began to swirl, TPTB did take the steps necessary to improve it. By the time Paul Rader, and later Pam Long, took over, Texas had really found its footing and started to gel. The last few months in particular were wonderful. Pam Long had such a feel for the show, and her ability to create warm friendships and strong familial relationships truly began to give Texas its own identity rather than just a spinoff of Another World.

[robbwolff]

For some reason, I've been thinking about Barbara Rucker, who portrayed Ginny on "Texas." She was one of my favorite actresses on the show. I figured I'd Google her and found that she's now a Mary Kay Cosmetics representative and still acts down in the Nashville area. Here's a link to a recent pic of her. Seeing her again brought a smile to my face.

http://www.marykay.com/barbararucker/en-US/_layouts/MaryKayCoreLocator/ContactMe.aspx

[DRW50]

She looks great. You should put this in the WATN section too.

[DRW50]

nm

Edited September 19, 2013 by DRW50

[DRW50]

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[amybrickwallace]

Besides Beverlee McKinsey, who are the other actors in this Texas promo?

[robbwolff]

Beverlee is not in that promo. The actors are Barbara Rucker (Ginny), Philip Clark (Ryan), and Stephen Newman (Barrett).