Texas!

[Mona Kane Croft]

I agree.  On Another World, it seemed that Reena would become the female JR Ewing of Texas, and I have always believed that was the original plan.  But so many things changed from the original incarnation of the Bellman family.   

[Contessa Donatella]

You know, don't you, that Long wanted her for GL Reva. And, she declined, saying she'd like her next part to be someone very different. Apparently to her the two parts were too similar. I was astounded to learn that Zimmer was NOT her choice, at all, to play Reva. They had to talk her into it.

[Paul Raven]

That NBC movie was most likely 'Charleston' starring Delta Burke which aired Jan 79 and ran 3rd in its Monday timeslot. It gained some attention from being trashed by the Today show critic who recommended watching WKRP on CBS instead of his own network.

Had it succeeded (it was a pilot) would NBC have wanted a primetime and daytime series on the air with the same theme? Probably not.

Just speculation but the Corringtons may have adapted parts of Reunion stories/characters when developing Texas.

 

 

 

 

[Soaplovers]

Here's a blog about that show https://zebradelic.blogspot.com/2013/02/lynne-moody-in-charleston-1979.html

It starred not only Delta Burke.. but it also starred Lynne Moody and Jordan Clarke (of Guiding Light fame).. with Clarke/Burke playing a Rhett Butler/Scarlett O'hara enemy to lovers story while Moody is in love with Burke's brother.

I wish I could see it because it sounds like awfully soapy.

[robbwolff]

No. It was not Charleston. Joyce Corrington was very specific with the details. She said the movie was The Flame is Love, which was based on a Barbara Cartland novel. A Google search shows The Flame is Love starred Linda Purl and Timothy Dalton. It aired on October 15, 1979. The movie was a failure against Monday Night Football and led to Fred Silverman scrapping Reunion. 

Another tidbit that was shared was that NBC approached the Corringtons about writing one of its existing soaps. They countered with Reunion.

Edited March 15 by robbwolff

[Paul Raven]

OK The Flame is Love was the movie in question. Love how because a period TV movie bombs they decide nobody wants to see the genre. Typical network thinking.

I really don't think Reunion ever had a chance of making it to air. NBC daytime had so many issues that taking a risk like that wouldn't be on their radar.

[te.]

Add that period pieces tend to be a lot more expensive just because of the wardrobe alone since you not only have to dress the cast, but all the extras and there's no such thing as "off the rack". Then all the sets you'd have to construct... there's a distinct reason period pieces almost always end up in the bin. For daytime it would've been incredibly expensive.  

 

They likely only used the tv movie bombing as an excuse to let them down gently. 

Edited March 15 by te.

[Contessa Donatella]

I'm sorry but that doesn't sound at all like Fred Silverman. If he just hadn't wanted to do the show, he would've said.

[dc11786]

Before writing for "Search for Tomorrow," the Corringtons were trained by Paul Raunch doing spec story projections/scripts for "Another World." This was probably early to mid 1978 because the Corringtons ended up at SFT in August, 1978. 

This discussion all remains very interesting to me, but does lead me to wonder again if the Bellmans were simply a creation of Tom King for "Another World" or if Paul Raunch was already laying the groundwork himself on the mothership. 

[Contessa Donatella]

It is interesting to me that the Corringtons & Lemay have AW & Search in common. Do you think that means anything? I doubt it. 

When you call Paul Rauch Raunch  is that you intentionally showing disrespect?

Never mind. Wrong thread.

Edited March 15 by Contessa Donatella

[robbwolff]

I was hoping that the Lisanti book would get into this, but it hasn't in what I've read thus far. I recall someone on here insisting that the Corringtons were the ones who created Kevin, Reena, Striker, and Victoria but that doesn't seem to be the case. According to the Another World Homepage, Kevin began appearing on October 23. So the character of Kevin had been created, cast, and started taping before Flame is the Love aired on NBC.

What I've found interesting is that Joyce Corrington clearly was not a fan of Jim Poyner. She described him (and the other young actors) as not being "especially skilled." I have yet to see anything critical about Dana Kimmell, who was truly in over her head as Dawn. The Corringtons seemingly added Dawn after Silverman dictated that there be more younger characters. He also insisted that there be no Mexicans on the show (the Dekkers were supposed to be a Mexican family).

[Mona Kane Croft]

If the Corringtons did not create the Bellmans on AW, then that might explain why they altered the Bellman family so much on Texas.  On AW, Striker was introduced as an oil man who also owned (and lived on a ranch).  He and Vicki were said to have four children, Reena, Samantha, and twin boys (one who was in the oil business with Striker and the other who preferred ranch work).  Only Reena appeared on AW, but Samantha was mentioned at least once by Reena, and the twins were mentioned at least once by Striker.  By the time Texas premiered, Samantha was no longer Reena's sister, but her cousin.  And the twin brothers were never mentioned at all on Texas.  Also on Texas, Striker was not an oil man, but an attorney. Striker and Vicki did not live on a ranch, but in a large house in the city.  The changes really harmed the family and minimized their importance to Texas, in my opinion.  

This might also explain why Kevin Cooke didn't last long on Texas.  On AW, Reena was obsessed with getting Kevin to stay married to her.  But on Texas, Reena quickly lost interest in Kevin and started getting serious with other men, particularly Max Dekker and Justin Marshall.  Kevin was written off rather quickly.  Had the Corringtons created Kevin, they likely would not have lost interest in him so quickly.

Edited March 15 by Mona Kane Croft

[dc11786]

In thinking about the Corringtons and Tom King, I also looked back to the AWHP to see more details about Eliot Carrington's death, which occured in June, 1979. News of Eliot death was relayed by Frank Lansing, a reporter for the Associated Press who ends up working for Mac. Lansing informs Iris that Eliot was shot in the head in his hotel room while investigating the conflict in Cambodia. I get the value of wanting to play the conflict of Dennis' two fathers as well as the potential of building a Eliot / Iris / Alex / Victoria quad with Victoria luring Eliot into staying in "Texas" by offering Eliot the position. I have to wonder though if they could have gone another anglee and still maximized the story. I also don't think the show even really takes advantage of the possibility of Victoria / Eliot because they start to declaw Victoria shortly after Eliot's arrival, which, to me, was a mistake. I wonder if they could have had recast Frank Lansing instead and had him around for some of the Tanquir storyline. While Frank wasn't a father figure to Dennis, he had significant ties to Eliot and could have possibly played a diferent angle rather than having both Eliot and Barrett both suffering from internment in a prison camp. 

Even if it wasn't Frank, I think a foreign correspondent with ties to Eliot and Iris could have effectively made some of the story work and integrated into other aspects of the canvas. If positioned as a possible romantic rival for Iris' affection the individual could have also caused Ryan grief by helping Ginny pursue a line of inquiry about the missing Barrett. Also, this person endearing themselves to the Marshalls would have created some conflict if Justin did go through with his initial revenge plot which included seducing Iris away from Alex. 

 

[Soaplovers]

They kind of defanged Carla in the final year of the show by making her the heroine opposite the 'antagonist' Judith Wheeler... except that when I was watching those final months on YT, I found myself rooting for Judith over Reena.

I remember that in the early months of Texas, Vicky was carrying a torch for Alex Marshall and seemed like she and booze were long term friends.. .while Reena was a daddy's girl and very distant with Vicky.  And that Vicky was closer to Samantha, which only fueled Reena's jealousy. 

Also, I preferred the Taming of the Shrew story between Max and Reena over the Justin/Judith/Reena triangle that dominated the final months of the show (though I did like that Judith was written with layers).

[j swift]

Devoured the first half of the Texas book as soon as it arrived in the mail today.

Just paused to order Sunday supper.

First impressions—on the plus side, I appreciate how the author delves deeper into his role as an editor, especially in comparison to the Ryan's Hope book. He adds context and builds a cohesive narrative around the history of the production.  My criticism of the RH book was the repetitive nature of having five different people give the same answer to the same question.  With this book, he feels in control of the narrative, and he uses the interview to fill in the details.  Once again, he highlights those quirky moments where interviewees contradict each other, which I find really engaging.

As for the downsides, it makes me wonder how much of the soap’s actual canon is truly necessary. I assume it's tricky to balance addressing the publisher’s notes about the intended audience. It feels like he's trying to cater to both novice soap viewers and hardcore Texas aficionados. He even mentions in the introduction that character and story summaries are available on AWHP, yet a significant portion of the text still covers the soap’s storyline rather than focusing on the production's history.

And no matter which NBC oral history you read—whether it’s this one or the SNL book—Brandon Tartikoff doesn’t come across as a great manager or a particularly creative force.  In this case, he doomed them in the press by calling it daytime's answer to 'Dallas”.  By acknowledging the motive, there was no way every writer was not going to use that quote to mock them.  He dug them in deep, even before that shot the first scene.  For example, OLTL press tried hard not to mention the Ewings, even though the Buchanan inspiration was easy to see.

Lastly, I was amused by the impression of east coast actors as being more prepared for auditions than west coast actors.  And money spent on unusual things like a press luncheon were fun details. So, I guess I wanted more about the context of the culture of the early eighties, and how that impacted production, as opposed to the character history of Reena's first husband Kevin. So far, I'm getting too much stuff about the characters, and not enough background on what influenced the writing choices.  But on to the next half...

 

Edited March 17 by j swift