19 minutes ago, Melroser said:

I, too, wish there had been more focus on backstage drama going on. There definitely seemed to be enough of it. As someone else said, Texas seems to be a blueprint for how not to launch a soap. Starting a new show already in progress (with its stories starting on AW) had to have been a turnoff for non-AW fans tuning for a chance to watch a new show at the beginning. (Think BTG recently.) It seems the show was doomed from the start. 

This is the development story that I wanted.

AW had been through three failed expansions/spin-offs: Somerset, For Richer, for Poorer, and the 90-minute expansion.  So, why was it chosen, once again, as the source material? 

I wanted to know more context about the culture of daytime TV.  There's a fun detail that the opening party was unusually sumptuous.  So, it might have been fun to hear about the PR roll out.  Why did NBC decide to use another soap rather than a talk show or a game show?  There's no reason given why Texas was put into development.

I wonder if we are capricious? Did too many people complain that the Ryan's Hope book didn't contain enough story synopsis?  And now we are saying there was too much in this book?

Are the people that would have known the backstage and network stuff still alive and willing to talk?  Who would be able to discuss these things?

Excellent point @chrisml, well stated

1 hour ago, chrisml said:

Are the people that would have known the backstage and network stuff still alive and willing to talk?  Who would be able to discuss these things?

Great question. 

 A quick look: Gail Kobe, Paul Rauch, Harding Lemay, John Corrington, Judy Lewis, Robert Calhoun, and Beverlee McKinsey have died. From the Texas standpoint, Joyce Corrington is alive, but is she willing/able to talk and does she have memory of all of this considering she's 88? Pamela Long is the only one alive at this point and she has spoken about her time on the show. She also wouldn't know about the creation aspect stuff so we may never know about how the show came to be unless there are people on the AW side who are still alive. And who would they be?

1 hour ago, chrisml said:

 A quick look: Gail Kobe, Paul Rauch, Harding Lemay, John Corrington, Judy Lewis, Robert Calhoun, and Beverlee McKinsey have died. From the Texas standpoint, Joyce Corrington is alive, but is she willing/able to talk and does she have memory of all of this considering she's 88? Pamela Long is the only one alive at this point and she has spoken about her time on the show. She also wouldn't know about the creation aspect stuff so we may never know about how the show came to be unless there are people on the AW side who are still alive. And who would they be?

I think Carolyn Culliton was around in those days, wasn't she?

5 hours ago, Melroser said:

I found this part to be hilarious. On the surface it sounds mean, but those that have worked with Beverlee have said she had a wicked sense of humor. I'm sure this was done tongue-in-cheek while still getting a point across. 

If you haven't caught her Canadian CITY LIGHTS interview, you need to! So candid & her sense of humor on view.

5 hours ago, Melroser said:

My biggest memory of Texas was the Hitopah storyline and Brette being in the cave to get the Fire Compass only to have legions of snakes fall on her while retrieving it.  ... 

Until last year I'd never seen even one episode of it but my mother was a huge fan & she could not stop laughing at that storyline. She laughed until she cried. And, this was a veteran of NBC soaps & not at all her usual reaction.

I've just barely made a dent in the book but I'm still excited. I waited for the kindle & I think I might have bought the first one.

 

Patrick Mulcahey wrote for "Texas" in the beginning and had also worked for the Corringtons at "Search for Tomorrow." He might have a bit of insight. 

NBC daytime was in freefall following Lin Bolen's departure in Feb 76l

Madeleine David lasted a year as VP before Michael Brockman took over in 77.

Lovers and Friends seemed like a sure thing but was a disaster. The decision to take it off the air after 13 weeks  and retool branded For Richer For Poorer as a dud from the get go.

Days and The Doctors were struggling. The Pollocks departing TD and Bill Bell no longer involved at Days seemed to have an affect.

America Alive was a disaster.

There was a series of flop gameshows.

Whatever they had in development(if anything) was probably  dropped when Brockman arrived.

AW was their only top rating soap at that time but expanding and trying a spin off only damaged it.

Had AW stayed at 3pm that timeslot would have been safe and they could have tried a 30 min show at 2pm or 2.30 adjunct to TD with the option of expanding it if it worked or if TD seemed terminal.

Or Days could have moved to 1pm when L&F came along and L&F placed at 2 or 2.30.

I’m done reading the Texas book and ready to pass it on for free, if anyone wants it. It was good. I enjoyed reading it because I watched the show. Like others have said, I wish it had gotten more in depth of the problems that made the show fail. 

Would the fate of Texas have been different, had Donald May been cast as Alex Wheeler from day-one (rather than as Alex's brother later in the series)?   

2 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Would the fate of Texas have been different, had Donald May been cast as Alex Wheeler from day-one (rather than as Alex's brother later in the series)?   

I think it would have. 

4 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Would the fate of Texas have been different, had Donald May been cast as Alex Wheeler from day-one (rather than as Alex's brother later in the series)?   

Couldn't have hurt.

Alex and Iris was supposed to be a sweeping love story but Bert Kramer didn't gel with BM.

Of course the decision to try and turn Iris into a heroine was also a fail.

Donald May was a popular soap star and maybe as Alex the chemistry with Beverlee would have been better,

But Texas had so many issues...

9 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Of course the decision to try and turn Iris into a heroine was also a fail.

I'd agree that that was TEXAS' number-one issue, along with premiering at sixty minutes (too much padding!) and trying too hard to be daytime's answer to DALLAS.

On 4/6/2025 at 12:24 AM, dc11786 said:

Patrick Mulcahey wrote for "Texas" in the beginning and had also worked for the Corringtons at "Search for Tomorrow." He might have a bit of insight. 

If anyone (who isn't named Megan McTavish) ever needed to write a memoir about their career writing for daytime dramas, it's Patrick Mulcahey.

Edited April 7Apr 7 by Khan