Texas (1980-1982)

[Jan Spears]

I thought I would start a distinct thread for the small but intense group of soap fans who loved the NBC soap Texas during its 2 1/2 year run and still remember it.

Texas started life in August 1980 as spinoff of Another World and was conceived as a starring vehicle for Beverlee McKinsey, who was then at the peak of her popularity on the parent show as the malevolent Iris. At the show's start, Iris moves permanently from Bay City to Houston to be closer to her son Dennis (played by Jim Poyner). There, she meets various Houston denizens, including her long-lost love Alex Wheeler (played by Bert Kramer).

For several years in the 00s, complete episodes from the show's first year were available for download on AOL. Consequently, fans have posted episodes online so that the show's fans can watch uncut episodes in sequence.

I've started rewatching the show from episode 1 (August 4, 1980) and have finished the first five weeks. Like all new soaps, Texas had a lot of growing pains in its first months. Watching the episodes again, I would say that the early days were better in some respects than I remember them as being and worse in other respects. On the plus side, two casts members who would dominate the series until the very last episode - Carla Borelli as Reena and Jerry Lanning as Justin - came roaring out of the gates from moment one. Borelli, in particular, was endlessly entertaining - she was married to her staid husband, Dr. Kevin Cook, but attracted to Justin and ranch hand Max Dekker (and probably half in love with her own father, Striker Bellman.)

On the negative side of the ledger, I had forgotten how boring Iris was during the first few months of Texas. The hellion from Another World suddenly (and somewhat implausibly) morphed into a conventional soap heroine fretting about her son and her rediscovered love (Alex) from a quarter century prior. The lack of chemistry between McKinsey and Kramer didn't help matters. The powers behind Texas must have hoped that McKinsey and Kramer would have Victoria Wyndham/Douglass Watson-level chemistry but it wasn't to be. (If you know what direction the show took by the end of 1980, you know that the casting/character mistakes were rectified soon enough and Iris [as a character] reverted to her original personality.)

In any event, I hope there are Texas fans here at Primetimer Forums!

 

[Laura Holt]

I watched this with my Mother and just reading your post here has brought back lovely memories of afternoons with my Mom ironing as she watched her "soaps".  Another World and then Texas were her favourites.  Am I remembering right when I say they knew the show was being cancelled and actually had a true finale?  With most soaps, as we all know, there is no beginning and no end, you are always in the middle somewhere!

[Jan Spears]

23 hours ago, Laura Holt said:

Am I remembering right when I say they knew the show was being cancelled and actually had a true finale?  With most soaps, as we all know, there is no beginning and no end, you are always in the middle somewhere!

Yes. NBC cancelled Texas (and The Doctors) with enough advance notice that the show could resolve its standing plotlines by the very last episode.

The final episodes were very satisfying because most everything got resolved. Also, for fans who had stuck with the show from episode 1 in August 1980, there was the satisfaction of knowing that the principal characters who had been present from the start - Reena, Justin, Paige, Billy Joe - had become better versions of themselves by the last episode in December 1982. (Reena, especially, had come a long way from her beginnings. By the end of the series, she had found true love with Grant Wheeler and made peace with her mother, Vicky Bellman.)

Edited September 10 by Jan Spears

[SomeTameGazelle]

I remember Texas although I don't recall much other than Beverlee McKinsey's starring credit. I did not realise until a couple of years ago after seeing/reading an interview with McKinsey where she praised Daniel Davis that Niles from The Nanny had played Eliot Carrington (Iris' first husband) on Texas (not on Another World where the character was originally introduced as Dennis' father).

[JAYJAY1979]

I think Iris became not quite like her AW personality because she wasn't around Mac/Rachel.. so she seemed more like an adult instead of always trying to get her daddy's attention.

I had heard that the last few months of show was quite good and it's ironic that the show gets canceled just as it found it's footing.

[Jan Spears]

On 9/17/2023 at 9:01 PM, JAYJAY1979 said:

I think Iris became not quite like her AW personality because she wasn't around Mac/Rachel.. so she seemed more like an adult instead of always trying to get her daddy's attention.

In the show's early weeks, Texas did introduce some retroactive continuity regarding Iris and her motivations on Another World.

In the retroactive continuity, Iris - as a young woman - had met and fallen in love with the penniless Alex Wheeler. He abandoned her because he didn't think he was worthy of her. Alone (and pregnant with Dennis), Iris's energies turned negative.

I don't know if this was an improvement on what had come before. I think Iris was more interesting for not having a motivation on Another World beyond being naturally spiteful. Certainly, Iris in the early weeks of Texas didn't make for compelling viewing. She spent most of her time sitting on Reena's couch sighing about the possibility of being reunited with the now fabulously wealthy Alex.

The show made a course correction in 1981 by bringing back some of Iris's old personality. But instead of the Iris-Mac-Rachel triangle, we got the Iris-Dennis-Paige triangle. Iris transferred her incestuous love for her father to her own son!

On 9/17/2023 at 9:01 PM, JAYJAY1979 said:

I had heard that the last few months of show was quite good and it's ironic that the show gets canceled just as it found it's footing.

The post-Iris year (December 1981-December 1982) was great, and the show did indeed find its footing independent of Beverlee McKinsey. It was too late, though. While the storylines were compelling in that final year, viewers had deserted in droves when McKinsey left. Texas went from a survivable 3.6 rating for the 1981-82 season (September-April) to a 2.7 in the 82-83 season (September-December).

Edited September 21 by Jan Spears