Texas!

[AbcNbc247]

I hate that AOL stopped uploading episodes right at the beginning of the Hitopah storyline. I would have loved to have seen it.

[Melroser]

I remember as a kid watching that storyline and loving it. Okay, except for the part where Brette was inside the cave somewhere, wading through a pond to retrieve a "treasure" from a podium in the middle of it, and when she grabbed the treasure it released snakes from above covering her and the pond.

 

Scared me sh*tless...haha. 

[soapfan770]

Lol really? I just can’t figure out why they keep replying to messages I posted 10+ years ago. 

[chrisml]

I'm so confused by recent activity in this thread (a bit like Glenn Close rising from the bathtub), but I was prompted to look up the Hitopah storyline so I guess I should be grateful.

[AbcNbc247]

Just out of curiosity, do you think introducing all of the Texas characters and storylines on Another World helped or hurt Texas in the long run?

 

Were there any fans who saw those episodes of AW and were like, "Wow, I'm definitely gonna start watching Texas"?

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by AbcNbc247

[Paul Raven]

Who knows?

 

Texas ran as part of AW beginning in June so viewers must have been wondering why AW, which had  constantly been dropping and adding characters suddenly had a whole new bunch to deal with. Ratings were already low and once Texas was being promoted they had an idea already of what to expect.  That may have hurt Texas' chances if AW weren't impressed with the Texas characters.

 

Maybe it would have been better to have Dennis move to Houston and Iris decide to join him and on the Monday Texas began Iris makes her last appearance on AW at 2pm as she moves to Texas in its first episode at 3pm. That might have created more interest and anticipation.

[Mona Kane Croft]

 

I saw all those episodes, but I had already planned to watch Texas.  So having all those characters on AW for weeks didn't influence me one way or the other.  Looking back, I don't think it was wise to include all those scenes in Houston on AW.  I did enjoy the Bellman family (Reena, Stryker, Victoria, and Kevin Cook) while they were on AW and living in Bay City, and they are the reason I had already decided to watch Texas.  So those four characters, plus Iris and Dennis would have been enough cross-over to introduce the new show.  But TPTB tried to introduce nearly every Texas character on AW, which was over-kill, and frankly, a little boring.  Plus, some very important Texas stuff happened on AW (Alex Wheeler finding Iris, Mike Marshall's suicide, etc.), and that action probably should have occurred during the first episode (or week) or Texas, rather than on AW.  The premiere of Texas was underwhelming, and that may have been caused by so much Texas action having already occurred on AW.  

Edited February 10, 2020 by Neil Johnson

[AbcNbc247]

Maybe NBC and P&G thought it looked good on paper because there did seem to be a lot of good ideas for the show, and it could have worked a lot better if AW had not taken that steep drop in the ratings around that time. It's hard to launch a brand new soap even under normal circumstances, and with GH doing so well, the deck was pretty much stacked against Texas. I'm guessing it was probably just another bone-headed decision by the execs., who were panicking over NBC's drop and ABC's rise and just went ahead with the first idea that came to mind, without spending enough time on it to think it through. I can only imagine what meetings and conferences must have been like at NBC at this time.

That might've worked. The appeal of Beverlee McKinsey was definitely strong enough to get people to follow her to the next hour. 

 

Agreed. 

 

I liked the Bellmans too, and I'm glad they were included. But a lot of Texas characters, particularly Billy Joe and Nita and the Dekker siblings (except for Terry) did not need to be introduced on AW.

Edited February 11, 2020 by AbcNbc247

[Paul Raven]

Of the flipside, launching all the Texas characters in the AW leadup would have made it harder for a new viewer who was not watching AW to jump into Texas on Day 1.

 

The problem launching a 60 min show is that there are 20 plus characters and several stories being introduced.

 

It would be better to focus on a smaller number of characters and stories for the first few weeks and then branch out. I realize that logistics wise that would be hard to do but would be beneficial to the overall launch.

[Chris B]

This is the show I was most excited for when AOL and PGP did their collaboration, because I figured Texas would be the easiest to get into since it was starting with episode one. Boy was I wrong! I only started watching Another World last year so I knew nothing about that show and when I started Texas I remember being completely confused. It felt like they were starting in the middle of action and just like any soap, I had to keep watching to understand what was going on and to figure out who everybody was. Those early weeks were SLOW which now makes sense because so much had been set up on AW. I think some form of a crossover would've been a good idea, but they should've limited it to 2-3 Texas characters MAX so they don't overtake AW and also so you still leave the juicy bits for Texas. As the show went on I did enjoy it and I'd love to see the show in full, but they definitely messed up by starting the show that way. I can only imagine how confused non-AW NBC soap viewers were and since there wasn't much action those early weeks, they had no reason to keep tuning in.

[Mona Kane Croft]

Texas probably should have begun as a 30-minute show.  P&G and Paul Rauch clearly did not know how to launch a new 60-minute soap in a compelling way.  It seemed their first priority was introducing all the characters, and NOT providing compelling storylines.  It should have been the other way around -- use the characters needed to start the show with interesting attention-grabbing plots, and then introduce peripheral characters later.   

 

Texas seemed like it was being run by a committee. And we all know that NEVER works on a soap opera.  The writers, Paul Rauch, NBC, P&G and God knows who else, were all trying to influence the action.  They should have left the creators/head-writers (the Corringtons) alone, and let them use their vision.  The Corringtons were very good at utilizing regional details in storylines and characterizations (as they had done so successfully on Search for Tomorrow), and that would have been perfect for Texas.  I'm sure their version of the show would have been compelling.  But we will never really know what their version was.  Paul Rauch pushed Beverly McKenzie on them at the very last minute, and they had to retool the entire show.  What was publicized as a daytime version of DALLAS, was nothing like DALLAS.  It was really just a normal soap opera set in Houston.  

Edited February 11, 2020 by Neil Johnson

[teplin]

I understood the logic of introducing Texas characters on AW, but it was mostly annoying to me -- the exception was Kevin Cook's flirtation with Pat Randolph, since it gave Beverly Penberthy something to do. I watched Texas for one reason: Beverlee McKinsey. Unfortunately, the show was not worthy of her talents, and the fact that her character was shoehorned in was all too evident. 

[rlj]

I started watching a year before it got canceled and found it quite good. Loved Justin, Reena, Judith, Ruby, Joel and Lurlene; even Goutmans crazy George St. Clair  Later, seeing some of its 1st year on YT, it looked completely different from what I was used to, way too many characters, and real boring IMHO!

[teplin]

I picked it back up again during its last six months and I agree with you, rlj -- headwriter Pam Long had transformed it into a completely different show and I found it quite enjoyable. 

Edited February 11, 2020 by teplin
Quotation error

[Mona Kane Croft]

 

The show may have been more entertaining under Pam Long, but it was still just a normal soap opera set in Houston.  Even Pam Long couldn't give the audience what it was promised -- a daytime version of DALLAS.  So I was always disappointed in Texas, from beginning to end.