Texas!

[Contessa Donatella]

https://chng.it/9s22wzb7rF

This is Beverlee McKinsey in Mar. 1985 outside the studio. If you have not yet signed my petition for her please do so because this week I am sending it to NATAS.

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[j swift]

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Image courtesy of Texas Facebook group

I'm a terrible spelling, so I am the last one who should criticize, but it never ceases to amaze when newspaper editors can't get an actor's name correct (Zaslow not Vaslow) .

Edited March 18, 2024 by j swift

[Franko]

Shot in the dark ... were they considering Michael to play Eliot?

[j swift]

It's a good guess. I just checked AWHP.  Jeb first appears in October 20th, and on October 17th Eliot calls Dennis to tell him that he's alive, then he premieres on screen a few weeks later.

MZ would have been a good Eliot, because he would have been a formidable player in Iris's triangle.  Daniel Davis was not a large enough presence, even as opposed to Bert Kramer.  Iris may have had a “type” after Brian Bancroft and Eliot (brainy, not brawny), but I picture her as more suited for an even more charismatic guy. 

I always think back to that scene of Eliot slapping Iris when he found out that Alex was Denis's father.  Davis played that with such a manic energy that it seemed cruel and humiliating.  Whereas, I think MZ could play intense anger from a more internalized and darker place without needing the physicality. 

Edited March 18, 2024 by j swift

[Mona Kane Croft]

Daniel Davis is a good actor, but was horribly miscast as Eliot. His interpretation of Eliot was completely different from that of the former actor, James Douglas.  Zaslow, although not a great choice for Eliot, would certainly have been better than Davis and could have played the role more similarly to Douglas.   

[j swift]

I think Zaslow would have also been more believable in the triangle with Denis and Paige, because I never understood what Paige saw in Davis's Eliot.  I mean, the character was a mess overall because his backstory with Barrett got rewritten as often as John Black in DAYS, (okay that's a bit hyperbolic, but you get my point).

[SoapDope]

Caryn Richman reunites with her Texas co-star Dana Kimmell on the 80's series The New Gidget. 

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[Jdee43]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/08/04/soap-dud/d452abcd-9001-41ad-b76a-1fef74514172/

Soap Dud

NBC's Latest Soap Dud The Unsexy Serial: 'Texas' Is a 'Dallas' Daytime Clone

By Tom Shales

August 3, 1980

It could take years for Iris Carrington to get what's coming to her. NBC certainly hopes it will, since Iris and her tangled web form the nexus of "Texas," the network's mucho publicized but recklessly uninteresting new soap opera. It premieres today at 3 on Channel 4 and the only afternoonish experience it is the next-best thing to is a nap.

Perhaps most surprisingly, "Texas" is sexless. Those who've been hearing about how the soaps have turned steamy and how their casts of characters have become virtual rabbits in the hutch will be disappointed. "Texas, spun off from "Another World," which precedes it, is P&G, for squeaky-clean Procter & Gamble, the sponsor and producer.

"The first part of "Texas" is brought to you by Oxydol" says the announcer, and oh boy, is it ever. You'd think there would be at least a hint of wiggly-wag in Chapter One, in order to get people hooked, but "Texas" turns out to sleepy time Down South.

The program does represent a step or two in the evolution of soaps. It's an hour long, some of it was shot in locations other than a TV studio, and the locale of the story is not a mythical Pleasant Valley or Somersault but the specifically identified city of Houston, Tex. However, this daring breakthrough is mitigated by the fact that no one in the case of the first show has a Texas accent and the whole mess might as well be taking place in Lompoc, Hohokus or Biarritz.

Beverlee McKinsey, who gets star billing, plays the central role of Iris Carrington, a character transplanted, like many in "Texas," from Another World." Iris is in seat B-o on an airplane taking her back to Bay City when the pilot announces the plane is being turned around for "personal" reasons. That powerful millionaire Alex Wheeler wants Iris back in Houston so he can romance her aboard the very yacht where first they met 25 years ago.

And yacht's yacht? Not by a long shacht. It takes Iris the whole hour to get from the airport to the yacht in Wheeler's limo. Would she care for some champagne? No she would not. Meanwhile, back at World Oil, Wheeler's company, there's still some doubt about the mysterious suicide of Mike Marshall, which followed the mysterious death of Sheik Zaydi. That rotten Ryan Connor telephones Princess Yasmine back in Tankier in Act Three, but she doesn't come to the phone until Act Five.

The princess, she does not want to speak of murder. She says, from what looks like a room in a Ramada Inn, "Let's talk about something else, okay? How's everyone in Texas?"

Texas? Texas? Oh yes, this is supposed to be taking place in Texas. Of course if the CBS hit "Dallas" were called "Portland," then this show would be "Oregon." And if "Dallas" were "Butte," then this would be "Montana." And if "Dallas" were "Flushing," then this would be er, "Long Island"? Obviously it isn't worth thinking about, which is why TV executives are giving it so much thought. It's an omelet designed only for very small brain pans.

Meanwhile, Clipper Curtis and Terry Dekker are in the executive suite sipping, what else, champagne. And that simpering pair of googly-eyed sprites, Dawn Marshall and Dennis Carrington, are in the meadow literally picking daisies. "This is the summer of our lives, Dawn," says Dennis. There doesn't seem to be any champagne around.

"Texas" is filled with flashbacks to earlier days -- most of them having occurred in "Another World" -- and with such sparkling dialogue as Wheeler's pep talk to himself: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained; full speed ahead!" Full speed is never attained by the deathly "Texas" collection of nebbishy nabobs and half-baked potato heads. Really, people who try to intellectualize their own interest in soaps are like people who try to intellectualize sex, gambling or sleep, three activities that are far more functional than watching nothing happen on shows like this.

"Texas" isn't even as big as all indoors.

Edited May 20, 2024 by Jdee43

[Melroser]

Harsh, but I have to say that Texas was very boring at times. I was only 7 when the show started. I remember being devastated when it was taken off the air though. I grew to love it. Brette, Rikki, Ruby, Mark were a great quad. The show definitely had some talent, just not the writing. 

[Chris 2]

There were some characters and stories that worked: Reena, Brett, Rikki, Ashley, etc.  But it was hard to take it seriously given that they were shamelessly trying to ride the coattails of “Dallas,” and given how they defanged Iris so she could become the show’s protagonist.

[AbcNbc247]

I think I need to re-watch Texas lol

The article criticized the pacing but I don’t remember having a problem with it. I think the big mistake was setting up so much of it on Another World.

[j swift]

They definitely pick up the pace, but that first week was a drag.

Obviously, one of the limits of an article like this is that they can only respond to the initial week.  However, one tends to think no amount of praise could've lured viewers over to NBC during that time slot, at that time in the history of soaps.

[Contessa Donatella]

You know it was the network who wanted it to be a Dallas wannbe. The original idea was totally different. 

[AbcNbc247]

Agreed.

Poor Texas never stood a chance. 

[teplin]

Yes, I loved Beverlee McKinsey's Iris and really wanted the show to succeed for her sake, but I couldn't make it past the first month. Dull, dull, dull. (Though I liked some of the actors.) I dipped back in occasionally until McKinsey left but it really never got any better for me ... until I happened to catch a few episodes in its waning days, and it suddenly seemed to have heart and purpose. Thanks to Pam Long, I suppose.

If only Texas had never been and AW convinced McKinsey to stay. Of course, that show was plagued by poor writing at the time, as well.