Texas!

[VelekaCarruthers]

The Corringtons were never successful head writers beyond SFT with Mary Bunim as producer. They should have left all three at SFT for more years.  

The Corringtons were hired to replace Hall/Slesar in 1984 and lasted a few months; they were hired on Capitol and lasted less than a year and GH in 1982 (by Monty no less) and lasted a few months.  Joyce was brought into GL by Phelps several months after Curlee quit but she didn't last (I think she consulted/wrote breakdowns/edited scripts). Joyce also spent time on Santa Barbara but that also lasted six months or less.

 

[GymnastGuy]

Yea.  I have that LIAMST with Beverlee on DVD.  I remember her vacuuming.

[Contessa Donatella]

Tom Lisanti's next book is going to be "An Oral History of Texas Starring Beverlee McKinsey." He says that there are many Another World stories and a few Ryan's Hope, Guiding Light, and For Richer, For Poorer stories included.

[Contessa Donatella]

#NATAS #theemmysorg #DaytimeEmmys #BeverleeMcKinsey

Today I have received an email reply from the President & CEO of NATAS. That is the Daytime Emmys organization. Adam Sharp apologized for not replying sooner & cited their busy season. As we know the Daytime Emmy presentation was just the other day. He acknowledged that Beverlee McKinsey's contributions to our industry were indeed vast.

As it turns out NATAS has a policy against awarding Posthumous Emmys.

He ended by saying

Thank you nonetheless for your efforts to shine a light on Beverlee's career & for your celebration of the soap community more broadly.

[dc11786]

The Corringtons also worked on "Rituals" briefly during the pre-production period in 1984. I think they wrote a bible for the show that I have some pages of and discussed briefly in the thread for that show.

In looking at the 1980 summaries of "Search for Tomorrow," I found the period where it becomes clear they are leaving (February-early May), a bit of a drag because the stories are clearly stalling other than the drug plotline involving the Boilmaker and Beau Mitchell. They even seem to scrap the setup for a Liza / Travis / Allison Snowden triangle. 

I enjoy early "Texas" from what I've seen (August-November, 1980). I think there was a lot of potential in that foundation and I am sorry they didn't get to see it through a bit longer. If they could have survived long enough to make it through the strike, I am curious where things would have gone.  

[Paul Raven]

Courier Express, 3 August 1980 Eplsodic TV Bores Star of "Texas"

BEVERLEE MC KINSEY, looking lean but hardly mean as afternoon soap fans know her, sat down in a room filled with television columnists who usually pass on watching the afternoon serials. Miss McKinsey, who this week shifts her act from "Another World" to NBC's new hour soap, 'Texas," sized up her situation immediately and smiled. "What's that?" she asked. "You don't know Iris? Why, that's like not knowing J. R. Ewing!" The veteran of afternoon drama, viewed loyally by far more than housewives in this modern era, took a deep breath and intoned: "'I've been on that show 7and a half years. Let's see now, how do I describe that woman?"

I'LL SPARE YOU the trials and tribulations Beverlee spun before us. If you've followed a soap for a time, or even if you know of someone who has, you can imagine what Iris Bancroft has been through. Call it the wringer of life. Only Iris isn't one of those characters to whom things happen. No, she makes them happen to others. She's a villainess. But now here's the deep shocker for all faithful followers of ""Another World": Iris will be a villainess no more. And Beverlee McKinsey isn't sure that turn of events augers well for "Texas." "I don't know if audiences will like that,"" she admitted to the assembled scribes "I've found they like Iris because she's bad. But now she's going to be a romantic heroine and my challenge will be to keep enough of the old character in there "

BEVERLEE LEFT no doubt she's genuinely worried about the serial even before the suds appear. 'You must have a villain for it to work,." she stressed "And I don't know who it's going to be on 'Texas .'" Now if you're getting the idea that Beverlee McKinsey is one who speaks her mind, you're getting the right idea. Another example came when someone asked her about the deep moral messages many feel can be found throughout soap operas. "Soaps are moral?" she asked with a grin. "If they are, they only do it to keep you interested - and not for any real moral reason." What does she think about soap operas - 'Another World" for instance?

"I DON'T READ the scripts." she replied to incredulous looks. "And I don't watch the show I can't tell you what's happening on 'Another World" right now. I don't watch it and I never did." So there. How's that for honestly? But wait - there's more ''Episodic TV bores me," Miss McKinsey maintains ''So I don't watch it " And so in a few sentences, she has lambasted afternoon soaps and much of prime. time programming as well What's next? Well. there are certain things she won't do on TV. For example, she won't go for '"'stripping'' scenes, which, in case you think evening TV is suggestive; no longer raise eyebrows in the afternoon. So when her producers asked, Beverlee said no-no. "I read this script and said, what is this? Not only do we have to be 18 but naked too? I called up and told them, 'I don't take my clothes off. As Jim Garner said, I don't do horror films. I will appear to be naked - but sitting in bed taking each other's clothes off? That's out."

Now stand by for more honesty from Beverlee. "I was going to leave 'Another World' and daytime TV when 'Texas' came along," she revealed. "At the end of November, (producer) Paul Rauch called me into his office and said, 'You're going to be the star.' I replied, 'What am I here?' And he said, 'No, I mean this new story will feature you.'

"I HAD PLANNED to tell him in a month that I would retire. But I accepted for a limited time. And I will do this for only 18 months." Beverlee sounds as if she doesn't enjoy acting in soaps, doesn't she? It's true she does dwell on the negative aspects, but beyond all those complaints exists appreciation for her good fortune "I heard the girl who plays Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) on 'Dallas' say to (Johnny) Carson one night that hers is the most exciting role in soaps," Miss McKinsey said. "I thought, honey, you haven't tapped It. Daytime TV offers roles you cannot find else. where Look at me. I'm going from 90 to 60 minutes (dally) and my salary is going upward.

"IF THERE IS anything really bad about it," she continued, 'it's the work routine. I don't take my work home with me and why should I? I leave my house at 5 a.m. and finish shooting at 8:30 p.m. It gets very tiring." It also gets painful when an actress going through such a grind falls off a ladder at home and injures her arm. "I was taking a curtain rod down in my bedroom," she relates. "I flew and the wall gave way. I landed about five feet away and lay there for 3% hours until my husband found me. "At first, they said I had a broken collarbone. I don't throw anasthesia off quickly, so I didn't have surgery. I was advised not to unless it's life or death and this wasn't. And without surgery I'll never have full use of my left arm. They should have pinned it. It's still extremely painful."

So that unfortunate accident idled Beverlee for a time, but now she's ready for "Texas" starting Monday (Ch. 2, 3 p.m.) following "Another World," which is being trimmed to an hour to make room for the spinoff. How will the transition come?

"IRIS MOVES," Miss McKinsey explains. "Her marriage is falling apart, her son is going to Houston and there's nothing to keep her in Bay City. What she encounters when she arrives in Houston is key. I should say who she encounters - someone she knew a long time ago. She actually just goes there for a holiday. But she stays because of this man Soon, we'll have fashbacks to flesh scenes of 25 years ago. "I have to look 18 and I ask them, 'What are you going to shoot it through a blanket?" But they were romantic scenes,so they'll put gauze on the lens and you could play the role and no one would know the difference." So get out the fresh suds,if this daytime answer to Dallas makes it to the 21st century, some actress will say what Beverlee McKinsey says of so many soap plots: "Honestly, you could get into incest on that show without even realizing it'"

[Khan]

If there's one thing Okies don't do, it's beat around the bush.  If we're not sure about something, we'll let you know.  Beverlee McKinsey was getting a rare opportunity (not to mention, a lot more money) to spin her popular character off to her own show, but she made it clear: she didn't think it was gonna work.  And she was right.

[j swift]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Texasthesoapopera/permalink/3988112251514823/

 

 

Tom Lisanti  · 3 hours ago  ·

It is now official! My book Texas: An Oral History of Daytime's Answer to Dallas will be published by BearManor Media in 2025. I hope it is out by August in honor of the show's 45th anniversary. Due to page limitations, I had to cut over 10,000 words and lose some interviews in the process. Caryn Richman has graciously offered to write the foreword. Will include publicity photos, several behind-the-scenes pictures, and a few original set design images. Here is the final lineup of interviewees:

Texas co-creator/co-head writer Joyce Corrington; head writer and actress Pam Long (Ashley); directors John Pasquin and Andrew Weyman; assistant to the producer/breakdown writer Carolyn Culliton; breakdown writer Gary Tomlin; staff writers Richard Culliton, Patrick Mulcahey, and Michelle Poteet Lisanti; actors Lily Barnstone (Lacey), Phillip Clark (Ryan), Terri Garber (Allison #2); Ernie Garrett (Mark #1), Chandler Hill Harben (Max #1), Catherine Hickland (Courtney); Tina Johnson (Lurleen), Harley Kozak (Brette), John McCafferty (Billy Joe), Michael Medeiros (Bernie); Caryn Richman (Elena), Kin Shriner (Jeb), Tom Wiggin (Joe), and Michael Woods (Mark #2); art director Richard Hankins; set designer Thomas Taylor; the late Beverlee McKinsey's son, Scott McKinsey; the late Barbara Rucker's former husband, Steve Herlihy; Lee Fryd, the NBC publicist for Texas; former NBC daytime executives Lucy Johnson and Jeff Ryder; and soap opera journalist John Read Genovese.

[Khan]

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the interviews with Joyce Corrington, Pamela K. Long, John Pasquin, Andrew D. Weyman, the Cullitons, Gary Tomlin, Patrick Mulcahey, Michelle Poteet Lisanti and Jeff Ryder.

[gimmetoo]

Excited !   But no Carla Borelli ?!?

[te.]

Just saw this curiosity: 

 

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[Chris B]

On the subject of early Texas, the only Texas I got to watch, I actually don't think the show was inherently bad at the start. I thought they had a strong cast and strong initial storylines. The biggest error was probably making Iris a heroine, but I still enjoyed Beverlee on the show. 

The problem for me is what came before it. I remember being so excited to finally see a soap from the beginning but in reality these stories had all started on AW months before so when you look at the first week of episodes, it's just as difficult to understand as any other soap already in progress. I could understand having maybe one character cross over to set up the show, but they had several cast members and storylines going and I'm sure that confused new viewers as much as it did me.

If you were a loyal AW fan I'm sure it was an easy transition but I didn't have access to those AW episodes and I'm sure everybody tuning in wasn't an AW fan. 

[chrisml]

I came across several sources that said Texas was repeated (after its cancellation) on other networks and it was successful during these repeat showings. Is this true? I try to verify information because I've come across a lot of false information in "soap history" books that keeps getting repeated.

[Contessa Donatella]

Of course this happened on USA network late at night for awhile they ran some years of SFT & EON. Also BET ran Generations over again several times. Never heard it about Texas. Hope someone comes along who knows for sure. If it does turn out to be one of these many errors, then will you please repost it in the ERRORS topic?

[Mona Kane Croft]

Yes, Texas was syndicated and aired late-night around the same time Edge of Night was running late-night. Each hour-long episode of Texas was split into two 30-minute episodes. So the re-airings were all 30-minute episodes.  As I recall, it ran on USA Network, but not for very long. So I'm not sure why anyone would describe it as successful.  But I really never read anything about the ratings for either Texas or Edge of Night in syndication.