| Texas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Soap opera Drama |
| Created by | John William Corrington Joyce Hooper Corrington Paul Rauch |
| Written by | Pamela K. Long (head writer, 1981-1982) |
| Starring | Beverlee McKinsey Bert Kramer Daniel Davis Carla Borelli |
| Composers | Score Productions (1980-1981) Elliot Lawrence Productions (1981-1982) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 617 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Paul Rauch (1980-1981) Gail Kobe (1981-1982) |
| Producer | Judy Lewis |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 48 minutes |
| Production company | Procter & Gamble Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | August 4, 1980 (1980-08-04) – December 31, 1982 (1982-12-31) |
| Related | |
| Another World | |
Texas is an American daytimesoap opera that aired onNBC from August 4, 1980, until December 31, 1982, sponsored and produced by Procter and Gamble Productions at NBC Studios inBrooklyn, New York City.[1] It is aspin-off ofAnother World, co-created by head writersJohn William Corrington andJoyce Hooper Corrington, and executive producer ofAnother World at the time,Paul Rauch. Rauch held the title of executive producer for the parent series and its spin-off until 1981.[2]
The Corringtons' initial concept was for a show set in theantebellum South entitledReunion, but NBC wanted something more in line with the hugely successful CBS primetime soapDallas,[3] which was dominating the ratings. Rauch then chose to have the show revolve around the popularAnother World character Iris Cory Carrington, played byBeverlee McKinsey. Iris initially set out to visit her grown son Dennis (Jim Poyner), who had relocated from Bay City to Houston. Within a matter of weeks, Iris reconnected and became romantically involved with her first love, Alex Wheeler (Bert Kramer).
Aslew of characters debuted onAnother World in the months prior to August 1980, in the hope that when they eventually moved over toTexas, they would have made enough impact with viewers so they would watchTexas, too.
The debut episode featured Iris on a plane, leavingHouston after visiting her son Dennis, who had relocated toTexas with his new love to open an art gallery. During her visit, she reconnected with her first love, self-made millionaire Alex Wheeler. Alex is determined not to let the past repeat itself and lose her again. He arranges for the Bay City-bound jet airliner, which Iris is on, to return to Houston.
During the first season of the series, the stories centered around the daily lives of the wealthy Wheelers and Bellmans and the middle-class Marshalls, and their ranching and oil interests.[4]
In November 1981, McKinsey left the show, and the secondary characters seen in the first year were given more story.Texas lost one million viewers upon McKinsey's departure. WhileAnother World, which also lost a million viewers upon her 1980 departure, could afford the drop in ratings,Texas could not, and its days were numbered. To try to appeal to the younger audience, the show rechristened itselfTexas: The New Generation.
In the daytime ratings for 1980-1981 season,Texas achieved a 3.8, tied withThe Doctors at the 12th position. Its time slot contendersGuiding Light had an 8.2 rating, fourth position in the ratings, as opposed to an 11.4 rating forGeneral Hospital, which was the top-rated serial for the 1980-1981 season. In its second season, the series fell to a 3.6 rating. At the end of its broadcast season, it ended with a 2.7 rating, in the 12th position out of 14 daytime serials. According to A.C. Neilsen, the total viewers for the first two seasons was at 2.8 million, followed by a drop to 2.2 million in the final season.
Simultaneously,Texas aired onCTV inCanada at the 3:00 pm ET slot followingAnother World, which had also aired on CTV since the early 1970s. The series was immensely popular in Canada, topping the BBM daytime ratings charts for many weeks.[3] Beverlee McKinsey vacationed often inNova Scotia during her tenure on both shows, according to numerous soap-opera sources. After NBC movedTexas to 11:00 am in April 1982, CTV opted not to follow suit, and continued airingTexas at its original timeslot of 3:00 pm (ET). In addition, Canadian viewers who either lived near the border and had access to NBC terrestrial affiliates or a cable TV subscription had the option of viewing the series mornings or afternoons, respectively.
A popular storyline at the end of 1981 called Hitopah[5] involved numerous characters in adventurous settings and intriguing circumstances to locate Sutars Rock, which nonetheless offered comic relief provided by good friends Ruby and Lurleen. Hitopah was about an ancient Indian artifact called the Fire Compass that was covered with runes and which Ruby's boyfriend Beau Baker opened. The opening of the Fire Compass released a toxic gas that turned Beau instantly into a mummy. Then, following some comedic hijinks with Lurleen and Ruby attempting to get rid of the body and make sense of the situation, Gretchen tried to get part of the Fire Compass back from them, leading to a chase to find the secret underground chambers in Hitopah (which contain a huge quantity of petroleum), towards which the Fire Compass is supposed to guide the owner.[6]
Musical artists were featured onTexas to focus and contribute to some of the characters' storyline, such as siblings Elena and Rikki Dekker both venturing into the musical careers, although short-lived. Almost all serials in the 1980s had notable musical artists appearing on their respective shows, with some of the characters playing rising musical artists, andTexas was no exception, The character of Rikki Dekker (played by Randy Hamilton) gave his rendition ofLuther Ingram's R&B hit, "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right", and notable country music singers of the 1970s and 1980s such asJohnny Paycheck,Tom T. Hall, andRay Stevens all made appearances as themselves at venues, mostly at the Coop, on the series.
In addition, politicians also made appearances, such as Oklahoma GovernorGeorge Nigh and his wifeDonna. They appeared in walk-on roles (playing themselves as governor and first lady of Oklahoma) during the show's first month on the air; cast memberLisby Larson (Paige Marshall) serenaded the couple with a rendition of "Oklahoma!". Also, while he never appeared on the actual series, TexasLieutenant GovernorWilliam P. Hobby, Jr., took a tour of the program's Brooklyn studio, and praised the show's realistic visual feel.
The last episodes featured a Christmas miracle (snow fell in Houston as Long's character Ashley and her unborn baby, who had been presumed dead after a flash flood, returned home to loving husband Justin) and a New Year's series finale where the local TV station was bought out and all the major characters were fired. The final scene was a bittersweet, final toast, "To Texas!". (They weren't the only ones out of work:The Doctors also aired its last episode on this day, ending a nearly-twenty year run.)
NBC replacedTexas with the game showsWheel of Fortune andHit Man (the latter of which was cancelled after 13 weeks despite an increase in the network's ratings in the 11:30 am timeslot), as well as reruns of 1970s primetime shows.
| Actor/Actress | Character |
|---|---|
| Carla Borelli | Reena Bellman Cook Dekker |
| Elizabeth Allen | Victoria Bellman |
| Josephine Nichols | Kate Marshall |
| Jerry Lanning | Justin Marshall |
| Lisby Larson | Paige Marshall Carrington |
| John McCafferty | Billy Joe Wright |
| Barbara Rucker | Ginny Hampton Marshall Connor |
| Caryn Richman | Elena Dekker |
| Randy Hamilton | Rikki Dekker |
| Actor/Actress | Duration | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Beverlee McKinsey | 1980–1981 | Iris Wheeler (née Cory) |
| Jim Poyner | 1980–1981 | Dennis Carrington |
| Bert Kramer | 1980–1981 | Alex Wheeler |
| Gretchen Oehler | 1981–1982 | Vivien Gorrow |
| Lee Patterson | 1980–1981 | Dr. Kevin Cook |
| Robert Gerringer,Clifton James | 1980–1982 | Striker Bellman |
| Stephen D. Newman | 1980–1981 | Barrett Marshall |
| Donald May | 1981–1982 | Grant Wheeler |
| Pam Long | 1981–1982 | Ashley Linden Marshall |
| David Forsyth | 1981–1982 | T.J Canfield |
| Harley Jane Kozak | 1981–1982 | Brette Wheeler |
| Shanna Reed | 1980–1981 | Terri Dekker |
| Kin Shriner | 1980–1981 | Jeb Hampton |
| Benjamin Hendrickson | 1981 | Chris Shaw |
| Christopher Goutman | 1982 | George St. John |
| Stephen Joyce | 1981–1982 | Bubba Wadsworth |
| Tina Johnson | 1981–1982 | Lurleen Harper |
| Alexandra Neil | 1981–1982 | Ruby Wright |
| Virginia Graham | 1982 | Stella Stanton |
| Elizabeth Berridge,Terri Garber | 1981–1982 | Allison Linden |
| Daniel Davis | 1980–1982 | Eliot Carrington |
| Dody Goodman | 1982 | Mavis Cobb |
| Catherine Hickland | 1980–1981 | Dr. Courtney Marshall |
| Chandler Hill Harben,Jay Hammer | 1980–1981 | Max Dekker |
| James Rebhorn | 1981–1982 | John Brady |
| Dana Kimmell | 1980 | Dawn Marshall |
| Sharon Acker | 1982 | Judith Wheeler |
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In the run-up to the premiere ofTexas in the summer of 1980, a handful of characters was introduced onAnother World, in the hope that onceTexas began airing on August 4, 1980, the viewers who had become invested would continue watching as Iris Bancroft and these newer characters moved toTexas. The premiere ofTexas came at a time when NBC's daytime lineup (consisting ofAnother World,Days of Our Lives, andThe Doctors) had fallen into ratings trouble, after a highly successful period in the early and mid-1970s. Its parent series had even tried expanding to ninety minutes daily in 1979, but the move resulted in a downturn in ratings.
In order to create the sixty minutes on the schedule needed forTexas,Another World andThe David Letterman Show, which aired in the morning, each were cut thirty minutes.Texas was then slotted at 3:00 PM Eastern, withAnother World preceding it at 2:00; this move resulted in the long running soapThe Doctors, which had been previously airing at 2:00 PM, being relocated to 12:30 PM.
Due in no small part to the then-peak success of ABC'sGeneral Hospital,Texas remained in the bottom echelon of the daytime serial chart with a 3.8 rating, tying withThe Doctors for last place, 12th, in 1980. However, the show's numbers fell gradually after its first year. The struggles ofTexas also affected the ratings of its mother show,Another World, in such a way that the latter show was no longer NBC's highest-rated soap. The 1980-1981 season hadAnother World finish with a 5.1 ratings by comparison to a 7.1 during the previous season (1979-1980). In that same season,Days of our Lives became the highest-rated serial on NBC.[7]
The show had a very difficult task from the beginning in the ratings for NBC; its 3:00 pm timeslot competitors were ABC'sGeneral Hospital, then the highest-rated daytime soap opera due in large part to the popularity of theLuke and Laura storyline, and CBS'Guiding Light, which had undergone a ratings resurgence due to popular, more youth-oriented stories and characters created by headwriterDouglas Marland. At that time, NBC was third in the ratings. The serial finished with a 3.8 in the ratings for its first year.
Critics complained that Iris Bancroft (who was known onAnother World as being a villainess) had become too tame in her new environment in Houston, and that other roles were poorly cast or suffered from paper-thin writing. In early 1981, the Corringtons were replaced as head writers.[3] Other casting moves were made with little gain, such as hiring away well established and popularGeneral Hospital starKin Shriner (Scotty Baldwin) in October 1980, at great expense, to be cast as Jeb Hampton, only to give him almost nothing to do except as a supporting role until he finally departed the series in August 1981.
In addition to popular Shriner, veteran actor Jay Hammer, who had a notable credit role as Allan Willis during the 1978–1979 season on the primetime CBS sitcomThe Jeffersons, replaced Chandler Hill Harben in February 1981 as Max Dekker. The character was paired off with Carla Borelli's character, Reena Bellman Cook. They both brought charisma to the roles, but their storyline was short-lived, as Hammer's contract ended, and Max was killed off in a fatal explosion.
In late 1981,Gail Kobe becameexecutive producer andPam Long (who appeared on the show as Ashley Linden Marshall) became head writer. The show began to improve in quality, but the ratings remained in the basement due to numerous factors such as losing affiliates due to timeslot rescheduling, contributing to the show's cancellation.[3]
After the show ended, Kobe and Long were hired atGuiding Light in the same roles. Several Texas actors appeared shortly after Long began writing the show; Jay Hammer, James Rebhorn, Harley Jane Kozak, and Michael Woods were all cast in new roles onGuiding Light. Long and Kobe also wooed Beverlee McKinsey back to daytime to portray Baroness Alexandra Spaulding Von Halkein, a role she played until 1992.
OtherTexas actors who appeared onGuiding Light afterTexas ended included Alexandra Neil, Lisby Larson, and Jerry Lanning. Long had originally wanted Lanning for the role of Billy Lewis; Lanning eventually took on the role of Cain Harris, who befriended and then stalked the character of Reva Shayne.
On April 26, 1982,Texas moved to the 11:00 am timeslot. The serial had been at a critical low point in the ratings, and NBC, as part of a reshuffling of its morning lineup and a last-ditch effort to save the show, opted for this late-morning move, which also resulted in a change of timeslot for the hit game showWheel of Fortune. As part of this shuffle, NBC movedWheel of Fortune from 11:00 to 10:30, which subsequently resulted in the termination ofBlockbusters andBattlestars.
This move, though, may have exacerbated the ratings problems forTexas; although it no longer had to faceGeneral Hospital, it was now directly against CBS' hit game showThe Price Is Right. WhileWheel of Fortune had givenThe Price Is Right some competition in the slot,Texas was unable to make even the slightest dent against the long-running CBS game. Therefore, NBC cancelledTexas and the still-strugglingThe Doctors (which had been bumped up to noon to make room for NBC acquiring CBS'Search for Tomorrow at 12:30) on December 31, 1982. (Many cancelled serials broadcast their final episode on the last day of the year)
After initially filling the slot with reruns ofCHiPs for a few months, NBC experimented with other programming in the 3:00 timeslot; two 60-minute game shows occupied the slot over a period of nearly two years. The first of these,Fantasy, ran for thirteen months and was replaced byThe Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. When the latter ended its run in July 1984,Santa Barbara premiered in the 3:00 timeslot, now airing after Another World giving NBC a soap airing at 3pm again. Santa Barbara aired for nine years; archiving better ratings and critical acclaim thanTexas ever did only airing for a little over two years on NBC.Santa Barbara was also the last soap NBC would air in the 3:00pm timeslot. NBC returned the hour to its affiliates after the show ended in 1993.
Shortly after the cancellation ofTexas andThe Doctors, NBC turned its focus back to game shows and improving the struggling but still higher-rated soapsDays of Our Lives andAnother World in early 1983. The daytime block led off with theJim Perry-helmed revival ofSale of the Century at 10:30 am in January 1983. The 11:00 slot went back toWheel of Fortune, whichTexas had displaced with its move to the mornings, and the 11:30 slot was filled byHit Man, which introduced audiences toPeter Tomarken. The noon slot, whichThe Doctors previously occupied, was taken byJust Men!, hosted byBetty White. Of the shows that premiered that day,Sale of the Century lasted until March 1989, butHit Man andJust Men! each lasted only 13 weeks.
Texas was used as a starring vehicle for Daytime Emmy-nominated Beverlee McKinsey, whoseAnother World character of Iris Carrington, penned in 1972 by Harding Lemay on the mother show as the rich, spoiled daughter of publishing magnateMackenzie Cory, was made the focal point of the series. The series was retooled from its initial conception to focus on McKinsey's character as its leading lady.
McKinsey was given the distinction of having a starring credit on the opening of the show. Narrator Ken Roberts announced at the end of the theme song, "Texas, starring Beverlee McKinsey," and a still image of McKinsey was shown. However, she leftTexas 16 months after its debut.
Texas was also the first daytime soap opera to air hour-long episodes from its inception, as all the other hour-long soaps airing at the time had expanded from 30 minutes. Noteworthy, the multipleEmmy Award-winningSanta Barbara, which took over the formerTexas time slot in 1984, also premiered with hour-long episodes.Santa Barbara managed to achieve more critical acclaim and slightly higher ratings during its8+1⁄2-year run.
Soon afterTexas was cancelled,TBS began airing the show in a weekday morning timeslot in a 30-minute format.[8] These airings were paired with a new half-hour soap,The Catlins, which was one of the few made-for-cable soaps.
In 2006, Procter and Gamble began making several of its soaps available, a few episodes at a time, throughAmerica Online's AOL Video service, downloadable free of charge.[9] Reruns ofTexas episodes began with the show's first episode from August 4, 1980.
As of January 1, 2009, Procter and Gamble announced thatTexas and three other of its cancelled soap operas would no longer be streamed on AOL Video.[10] The notice referred to exploring other options to make the shows available for viewing. The lastTexas episode made available through AOL Video was #339, which originally aired on December 4, 1981. Additionally, numerous clips of the show are available on the video-sharing siteYouTube.
Five episodes are known to be missing so far:
Episodes 78–163 were once available at AOL, but removed sometime in spring 2008. Although episodes 1–77 are still available through the WMV stream URLs, AOL has completely removed the embedded player pages at the website.