Texas! Discussion Thread

[Efulton]

I just finished the Locher Room Texas reunion.  I really enjoyed it.  I love that the actors have such fond memories of the time they spent working on Texas and with each other.  It is really special and unique.  Kin was being Kin.  He was moving the camera around or he was constantly moving, at one point he is completely in the dark, then you can't hear him.  lol.  He is like a hyper child.  

And as I suspected Alan admitted he has not read Tom Lisanti's book.  It is lazy and unprofessional for him to not have done so before speaking with this group.

Edited May 16 by Efulton

[Soaplovers]

Alan not reading the book was probably wise because he didn't interrupt as much and the five guests (Caryn and Tom especially) were all talking to one another with little to no input from Alan. 

I think Caryn was pretty honest about the common bond of being young, new to soaps, and venting about the confusing structure of their stories that bonded them together.  And she was right that the stories changed left and right... her character alone had several stories/love interests during that two year period.

Kin was also a bit bitter and I can't blame him considering he was forced on the soap.. and the show really didn't know what to do with him  and Rauch made him feel unwelcome to boot.  I'm sure he enjoyed hanging with everyone when not at the studio.. but I think he doesn't view his time there fondly.. and I can't blame him.

 

[Efulton]

Kin was definitely unhappy that he was not used effectively on Texas. I actually liked Jeb’s introduction and was looking forward to a Jeb / Courtney romance. Unfortunately he never got a well written front burner story and was gone in a year.

 

[j swift]

Yeah, but...

It always seems hypocritical when actors complain after the fact about a role that they clearly took for the fame and the paycheck. Kin Shriner, left General Hospital at its peak for NBC’s Texas, chasing bigger money and visibility. The writing was not comparable between the two shows, but let’s not pretend that was the draw. Off-screen, he was young, rich, and living it up in disco-era Manhattan. If the craft really mattered, he wouldn’t have bolted the moment the money got better.

 

Edited May 16 by j swift

[Efulton]

He spoke highly of the cast but was disappointed in his lack of story.  He was not disrespectful and he has the right to express his feelings.

[Paul Raven]

I think Kin was dissatisfied at GH in as much as Scotty had been pushed aside for Luke/Laura and the writing was doing him no favors as Scotty was now seen as an obstacle to their romance.

So with his contract up he was offered big $$$ to move to Texas, which you can't blame him for. In addition to the money, I recall he was promised that Jeb would be a more dynamic character than Scotty. The money came through but not the story, so  don't blame him for being  slightly bitter.

[Efulton]

Agree.  But I would describe him as being disappointed not bitter. 

[Efulton]

 

i am now watching December 1980 episodes and I am enjoying what is happening. Most people in this thread have said they think Texas did not have a chance in Hell of succeeding but I don’t agree.  While I agree that it got off to a rocky start and the competition was fierce by the end of 1980 it was hitting its stride.  I believe that if Paul Rauch and the Corringtons had been left alone they could have brought Texas to the middle of the ratings pack of the other soaps. There was years of story to be told for

 

- Iris / Dennis / Paige / Elliot

- Samantha / Justin / Reena / Max

- Courtney / Jeb / Elena

- Billy Joe / Nita / Ricky.

 

I would have kept Terry and moved her into the Ryan / Ginny / Barret story. 

 

Writing out Dawn, Clipper, Kevin and Bart was smart as those characters were boring. 

 

I would have eventually brought back a recast Dawn who was stronger to cause problems for Iris and Paige. 

 

Replacing Robert Gerringer as Striker was a head scratcher.  I’ve liked Gerringer since Dark Shadows and don’t understand what the point of that move was. Recasting Max because an executive’s wife could not tell Max and Justin apart was also a stupid move. Chandler Hill Harben may not have been the greatest actor of all time but he had fire and sex appeal. 

 

I also would have killed off Alex but would have had Iris wreak havoc in Houston with her new money and power. 

 

I would have kept Maggie. She was a great talk to for many of the younger characters.   

 

I’m looking forward to the introduction of Grant, Judith, Mark & Brette Wheeler, Ruby and Lurlene and especially Hitopah. 

 

I’m curious to see if I enjoy the Pamela Long / Gail Kobe era. It is what I remember most.  I suspect that I will enjoy the writing but not the new characters they introduce who are not connected to the core families.

Edited Friday at 06:02 PM by Efulton

[VelekaCarruthers]

Pam Long wrote the show for a very short period at the end although it's been reported that she was submitting story ideas for a while, I believe she's only credited as head writer for the last 8 weeks or so. After the Corringtons (Aug 80- to Feb 81) Paul hired Dorthea Ann Purser and Sam Ratcliffe (March 2 81 to Nov 6 81). There was a writers' strike from May to July 81 during which time it's been speculated that Rauch hired Gerald Flesher and Paul Rader to write. They later replaced Purser/Ratcliffe as of Nov 9 1981 when Kobe took over as EP. Paul is credited as head writer at least through October 4, 1982. On YouTube I found an episode from Oct 22, 1982 and Pam is credited.  Flesher was fired and out after June 11 1982 episode. I believe Gary Tomlin and Linda Hamner were co heads with Paul through Sept or so then Linda was moved back to scripts/breakdowns (or was fired) and Carolyn Culliton got the third co head writer slot all until Pam was named sole head.

Edited Saturday at 01:50 PM by VelekaCarruthers

[Paul Raven]

San Bernardino Sun, 21 July 1981 Soap gets a new lease on life

By TOM JORY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP)

NBC's Texas premiered Aug. 4, 1980, in the toughest time slot in daytime TV opposite top rated General Hospital on ABC and CBS' enduring -Guiding Light As recently as the first of this year, " Texas appeared doomed, a victim of barely measurable ratings.

All that has changed, and the show approaches its first anniversary with a new executive producer, a new team of writers, a new look and a new slant on life. Even the ratings have improved a bit, from 14 percent to l5 percent of the audience in the time period in November and December to 15 percent to 16 percent today.

"We have Houston like Ryan's Hope has New York City," says Gail Kobe who took over Texas as executive supervising producer in March,"and we feel a real tie with that city. We've got to reflect in the show what's happening in that real town, and I think we're doing that." It was a significant step, taking Texas- its roots in the fictional Bay City of NBC's Another World -to a real-life setting.

"I don't think it's got to be  the kind of place that people can't can't find on the map," says Ms. Kobe "I think the audience in daytime is more prepared for reality today." It meant giving the show a recognizable Houston backdrop, a more contemporary sound -country and western performers like Ray Price will appear periodically and a lighting system that would clearly represent the hot, bright Texas sunlight. .

Texas faced difficult odds from the start, the competition and the inevitable comparison with CBS' prime-time superhit, Dallas, notwithstanding.

There was the problem of introducing a multiplicity of characters, many of them imports from Another World, as well as a story line, in an hour-long format. "It was the first show to start at an hour," says Kobe, a former actress who had been supervising producer for Procter & Gamble Productions, which owns Texas and five other daytime shows. "It's very difficult to fill that much time with a large cast, and not leave the viewer confused. "With a daily show, you have to let the audience know who to root for," she says. ''And if you're trying to begin a story, too, no one's going to keep track."

The changes began even before Kobe took the show from Paul Rauch, who had faced the seemingly impossible task of producing both Texas and Another World simultaneously. Beverlee McKinsey, whose generally unpleasant character, Iris, had come to Texas from Another World as a young ingenue, was given back her mean streak.  "She had become a sweet woman,"Kobe says, "and the audience was used to seeing her do terrible things. It just didn't work." In addition, she says, time was spent establishing the identities of the characters. Joyce and Bill Corrington, who had created the show with Rauch, were replaced as head writers in February by Dorothy Purser and Samuel Ratcliffe.

 

[Xanthe]

I know we have discussed the location of Bay City in the Another World thread and the fact that originally Irna conceived of it as being the real Bay City MI, and it was later writers that treated it as a fictional Bay City [probably IL]. This article seems to suggest that that idea was well-established by 1981. I wonder when it started.