12 Miles of Bad Road is a television show originally created for HBO[1] centered on a Texas matriarch who must reconcile her booming real estate business and immense wealth with the day-to-day struggles of her dysfunctional family life.[citation needed]
Cast
The cast includes:[2][3]
Production
12 Miles of Bad Road was created by writer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, creator of television hits Designing Women, Hearts Afire, and Evening Shade. The production company is Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason's Mozark Productions, as well as HBO. The pilot was shot in 2007.[3] Set in Dallas, but shot in Los Angeles, the characters live in the wealthy north Dallas neighborhood of Preston Hollow.[citation needed]
Ten episodes of the series were ordered by HBO, but because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, only six episodes were shot.[citation needed]
On 17 March 2008, HBO confirmed that it was not planning to air the show and the creators were shopping the episodes around to other networks.[4]
The title refers to a bad road which is 12 miles (19 km) long.[clarification needed]
As of April 2008, HBO has passed on the show and the producers are looking for distribution.[citation needed]
Critical reception
Newsweek called it "a scabrously funny satire of real-estate magnates in Dubya's Texas".[5]
The Los Angeles Times reported that after HBO passed on the show, "despite its price and pedigree" of prestigious actors and producers, the critics got a look:[6]
Sent out to critics by its creators, who hoped to prove that HBO was making a grave mistake, 12 Miles is a nightmare tug of war between the bold, the brilliant and the really, truly terrible. The tale of a Texas real estate dynasty, it cries out not for a review but a psychiatric diagnosis -- schizophrenia? Bipolar disorder? Never have so many Emmy-deserving performances been trapped in such a muddled mess of a more than occasionally offensive storyline.
From the June 2008 issue of Texas Monthly:[7]
Critics be damned, 12 Miles of Bad Road is a blast, a hair-spray-spritzed, bourbon-soaked mash-up of Dallas, Desperate Housewives, and MTV’s Cribs...12 Miles is post-camp, a knowingly sincere (or sincerely knowing) attempt to resuscitate a genre that was long ago drowned out by our über-ironic culture...it qualifies as the most underrated show of the decade that almost no one has had the chance to see.
On the producers' decision to send the un-aired episodes to critics, the Toronto Star wrote:[8]
A risky proposition, depending on prevailing opinion, with one thin-skinned critic having already weighed in, objecting to the show's somewhat cynical characters and tone. I beg to differ. The show is beyond hilarious, cleverly written and flawlessly cast.
Episodes
- Pilot
- The Dirty White Girl
- Tremors
- Collateral Verbiage
- Texas Stadium
- Moonshadow
References
- ^ Gordon, Devin; Johnnie L. Roberts (2007-05-21). "A Whacking Leaves HBO in Crisis". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/34756. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2007-01-23). "HBO Ready for 'Road' Show, 'Treatment'". BackStage. http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/multimedia/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003536414. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
- ^ a b 12 Miles of Bad Road at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2008-03-18). "HBO won't run '12 Miles'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3icdc37db19c2bf2ef4b46813026b824e7. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
- ^ Gordon, Devin (2007-05-21). "A Whacking Leaves HBO in Crisis". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/34756. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^ McNamara, Mary (2008-04-19). "HBO, after the revolution". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-hbo19apr19,0,3333375.story. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
- ^ Kelly, Christopher (2008-06-01). "Frozen Asset". Texas Monthly. http://www.texasmonthly.com/2008-06-01/hollywoodtx.php. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
- ^ Salem, Rob (2008-03-31). "The Road Not Taken". Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/407428. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
