Jan Spears

Two important events took place on Texas in September 1981. In episode 286 (9/16), David Forsyth joined the case as T.J. Canfield; a role he would play for the remainder of the series. Forsyth, of course, went on to a long career in soaps after Texas folded - first on Search for Tomorrow and then on Another World. The second - and even more important event - was the debut on 9/28 of the second - and better - opening theme. I loved the second theme immediately. It had that epic feel to it which really suited the show and the characters.

August 1981 was an eventful month on Texas as the show's writers killed off the character of Max Dekker (played by Jay Hammer) and then wrote off the character of Jeb Hampton (played by Kin Shriner). (Max had been on the canvas since the series launched and Jeb had arrived in October of 1980.) Killing off Max and sending Jeb to Dallas in pursuit of Courtney Marshall left the show with a pronounced imbalance - there were too many female leads and not enough male leads. This problem would continue throughout 1981 as the show's producers and writers continued to retool the show in anticipation of launching Texas: The New Generation once Beverlee McKinsey (Iris) and Jim Poyner (Dennis) were gone in November 1981. As for Iris and Dennis, the writing for both was seriously off-kilter in August 1981. Dennis is clearly mentally ill given his obsession with his soon-to-be ex-wife Paige. (He wants to show her porn film in public.) But Iris comes across even worse given her irrational belief that Alex's nephew, Ryan, killed him. Her attempts to destroy Ryan make her seem like a total flake. In writing the character of Iris, there was always a fine line between loving to hate her and just hating her. The writers got on the wrong side of that fine line because Iris at this point is completely unbearable. (One wonders what Beverlee McKinsey had to say about this behind-the-scenes.)

I was rewatching the July 13th, 1981 episode (death of O'Reilly) today and who should be in the episode but Richard Simmons! He added a lot to the pop culture phenomenon that was GH in the late-70s/early-80s.

I read the news and came right here. Doug Sheehan was such a big part of GH during the late-70s/early-80s. Even though it was the Luke-and-Laura 'Love on the Run' era, Joe Kelly was a central player in the Diana Taylor/Heather Webber murder mystery storyline, which went on for a long time and had a great twist resolution.

In episode 235 (original are date: July 7th, 1981), the audience was given some updates about Terry Dekker and Dawn Marshall: Iris mentions that Terry wanted to return to Houston from Paris in order to attend Alex's funeral. But Iris decided not to postpone the funeral so that Terry could attend. Kate receives a letter from Dawn saying she is moving to Paris and that she has sold her share of the Marshall ranch to Justin. (This is all part of Justin's plan to get controlling interest of the Marshall ranch so that he can start drilling for oil.)

I'm up to mid-July 1981 in the series, which is just shy of what was then one full year on the air (even longer if you consider that some stories appeared on Another World before Texas went live under its own name.) At this juncture, Texas was existing somewhat uneasily between what it had been at its launch in August 1980 and what it would evolve into - Texas: The New Generation. There were a lot of cast additions in June/July 1981, including such future stalwarts of the show's New Generation phase as Grant Wheeler (Alex Wheeler's brother), Lacey Wheeler (Grant's daughter), Lurlene Harper (the Marshall family's neighbor) and Ruby Wright (Billy Joe Wright's sister). On the debit side of the ledger, the show wrote off two characters who had been stalwarts during the first year - Alex Wheeler and Courtney Marshall. Killing off Alex was not surprising because the character as written and played just wasn't working. But his departure from the series had a significant downstream impact on the series. The central event at the start of Texas was Iris rediscovering her long-lost love Alex. With Alex dead, there was really no compelling reason left for Iris to remain in Houston especially since her son Dennis Carrington had zero interest in being a part of World Oil. Eliminating Courtney was perhaps more of a surprise given how the character had been front-and-center for the better part of a year. But the character was also disconnected from the core family she was supposed to be a part of - the Marshalls. Courtney rarely interacted with her siblings Barrett, Justin and Paige and only did so when someone needed her medical help. Since pairing Catherine Hickland's Courtney with Kin Shriner's Jeb Hampton didn't result in a supercouple, the show probably decided it was time to get rid of the least necessary Marshall. Finally, the storyline revolving around Alex being Dennis's biological father ended up being a complete bust. Dennis only found out the truth several episodes before Alex died. So, all the endless back-and-forth about Dennis's parentage resulted in nothing from a storyline standpoint when it could have played out for years. It also left the character of Dennis in the same position as Iris: Without Alex, Dennis had no more reason to stay in Houston than Iris did.

I've reached episode 200 (May 18th, 1981). Between episodes 150 and 200, the production made several cast changes. The character of Terry Dekker (Alex Wheeler's secretary) was written out, Clifton James replaced Robert Gerringer as Striker Bellman and the character of Steve Marshall was SORASed. The most important change was losing Robert Gerringer. I thought he was more believable as Reena's father and Vicky Bellman's husband. (I also have a soft spot for the actor because he played Dr. Woodard on Dark Shadows in 1967.) Losing Terry was no great loss because she had no story and seemed disconnected from her three siblings (Max, Rikki and Elena) and her Aunt Maggie. The SORASing of Steve was actually an improvement because now the show had a younger actor who could be an active participant in the Ryan/Ginny/Barrett drama. The Endless Passion saga is now is full swing with the Houston police arresting Paige for the murder of Chris Shaw and then Dennis confessing that he did the deed. Meanwhile, the drug dealing at the Chicken Coop and the drug smuggling/embezzlement related to World Oil are happening in parallel and, eventually, all of the different threads will coalesce into one mega-storyline and engulf many of the characters. (That being said, there are times when the Endless Passion storyline feels like it would have been better on The Edge of Night rather than on Texas.) The Ryan/Ginny/Barret triangle is absorbing but there is an endless feel to it. The biggest highlight is Barrett (who is slowly becoming mentally unstable) trapping Ginny in the storm cellar on the Marshall Ranch. Creepy! Iris's story is great in relation to Endless Passion. But her storyline with Alex is practically non-existent by this point, and episode 200 starts the chain of events that will lead to Alex's death and Bert Kramer's exit from the series. (More departures and arrivals [including such future core characters as Grant Wheeler, TJ Canfield, Lurlene Harper and Ruby Wright] happened in summer 1981.) As for the secret of Dennis Carrington's parentage (Alex Wheeler is his biological father), Dennis still doesn't know the truth after 10 months of the show being on the air and one month away from Alex being written off!

So, I've passed the episode 150 point (March 4, 1981). It was in February 1981, after six official months on the air, that Proctor & Gamble and NBC began making changes to Texas. The biggest changes were the dismissals of head writers (and series co-creators) John William and Joyce Corrington, and the demotion of Paul Rauch as executive producer of Texas and Another World. (He would carry on as executive producer on Another World.) While I doubt even the most stellar writing would have made a dent against the pop culture phenomenon General Hospital and a resurgent Guiding Light in that time slot, the Corringtons didn't help their cause any with the storylines they did produce in the first six months. Other than the attempted assassination of Alex Wheeler and its aftermath, there were just too many dead stretches with the stories. The other changes occurring in February-early March 1981 involved the cast. Chandler Hill Harben was out and Jay Hammer was in as Max Dekker. I'm not sure the change made things better. Hammer was the better actor but Harben was more convincing as someone who was supposed to be working as the foreman of the Marshall ranch. Also out around this time were Lee Patterson as Dr. Kevin Cook and Ann McCarthy as Samantha Walker. Neither character was working so their departures were not a surprise. Lee Patterson did get a nice farewell scene with Carla Borelli in which their characters set aside their old animosities. On a more positive note, February 1981 saw the introduction of Benjamin Hendrickson (who would go on to play Hal Munson on As the World Turns for 20 years) as Paige Marshall's sleazy former director/producer of her porn epic, Endless Passion. (The Endless Passion storyline would consume the show in 1981 and would involve practically the entire cast in porn, drug dealing, embezzlement and murder.) As for the show's leading lady, Beverlee McKenzie, her storylines were a mixed bag. Anything with McKenzie as Iris and Lisby Larson as her daughter-in-law, Paige, was pure gold as were the Iris/Vivien comedic scenes. But the would-be grand romance with Bert Kramer as Alex Wheeler was a dud. McKenzie and Wheeler had no chemistry and the tale of long lost love regained was not believable. In essence, Iris and Alex were both Jay Gatsby - endlessly trying to repeat the past. A more credible story for Iris and Alex would have been for them to realize that too much had happened in the 25 years since last they had seen each other for their marriage to ever be a success. Finally, the "secret" of Dennis Carrington's parentage was still a plot point in February 1981 and a ridiculous one at that given how many people knew the truth: Iris, Alex, Eliot, Paige, Reena, Ryan, Dawn, Terry (and probably some others I can't remember.)

If the subject is dead, you can depict the subject any way you like. Mommie Dearest (the movie) is the ultimate example of that. No less than Christina Crawford has criticized the movie for deviating from her book in sensationalistic ways. But in the case of a living subject (and particularly a subject who may not want anything to do with a production), the creative team behind the production has to be very, very careful not to defame the living subject. I have no idea what Amanda Burden's relationship (or lack of such) is to this production. But I can envision a whole team of lawyers saying behind the scenes not to include her except in the most legally defensible of ways (i.e. Mentioning that Babe Paley had a daughter named Amanda from her first marriage).

I've never read anything about Slim Keith and Bill Paley being anything more than close friends. She's still living and I can't imagine she would give her consent to be depicted in any intensive way in this. FYI - Slim's memoir (Slim: Memories of a Rich and Imperfect Life) was published around the time of her death in 1990. I read it 30 years ago. The impression it left with me was that Slim herself was not especially interesting but she knew some very remarkable people. Interestingly, the chapter that has stuck with me is the one where she writes compellingly about her stepdaughter, Bridget Hayward.

Episode 134 (February 10, 1981) - At long last, Vivien arrives from Bay City to resume her function as Iris's maid/confidante! Also, the Wheeler mansion set debuts for the first time. (It was formerly the Marshall family home in Houston.) Finally, Dennis and Paige announce their marriage to Iris and Alex, which kicks off the 'Endless Passion' storyline. This is about the point where a lot of changes start occurring in terms of the cast and production staff. Throughout 1981, many more changes would occur; culminating with Beverlee McKinsey's departure at the end of November.

The reveal in Season 5 that Amanda was Alexis' daughter was great and I liked how she was a constant irritant to Alexis throughout the season. But Amanda's whole story in Season 5 seemed to have no special purpose other than for her to wear the wedding dress at the 'Moldavian Massacre'. (And she did make for a stunning bride in the season finale.) Ultimately, though, the only place for the character to go from there was down, especially given the character's somewhat awkward origins and motivations.

Dynasty was never the same without Pamela Sue Martin and the edgy restlessness she brought to the character of Fallon and to the show itself. The introductions of Diahann Carroll as Dominque and Catherine Oxenberg as Amanda compensated - in part - for the loss of Martin. But too often in Season 5, the show resorted to importing guest stars (Rock Hudson, Ali MacGraw, Billy Dee Williams) to lull viewers into thinking the storylines were more compelling than they actually were (and had been during Martin's tenure).

Episode 109 (January 5, 1981) - The Chicken Coop makes its first appearance. 'The Coop' was such an important part of events on Texas in 1981 - it deserved to be in the closing cast credits!

I agree - too many characters and not enough interaction between characters who should have had some. (Courtney barely interacted with her three siblings and Terry only ever really interacted with Rikki.) I watched episode 91 (December 9, 1980) this afternoon and it's the last episode for the character of Dawn Marshall (and her portrayer, Dana Kimmell). You can see how disconnected Dawn had become from the rest of the show by the end of 1980 because she only had farewells with her brother, Justin, and her grandmother, Kate. She didn't say goodbyes to Courtney, Paige (understandably), Ginny, Max or Elena in her final episode. And she left Houston knowing the big secret about Dennis Carrington - that he was Alex Wheeler's biological son. But there wasn't even a farewell scene between Dawn and Dennis where she might have made veiled comments about how so many people (Iris, Alex, Paige) were deceiving him.