12 Miles of Bad Road

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.

12 Miles of Bad Road
GenreComedy
Created byLinda Bloodworth-Thomason
StarringLily Tomlin
Mary Kay Place
Leslie Jordan
Gary Cole
Katherine LaNasa
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
Release
Original networkHBO

Cast

The cast includes:[2][3]

ActorRole
Lily TomlinAmelia Shakespeare
Mary Kay PlaceC.Z. Shakespeare
Leslie JordanKenny Kingman
Gary ColeJerry Shakespeare
Katherine LaNasaJuliet Shakespeare
Eliza CoupeGaylor Shakespeare
David AndrewsSaxby Hall
Kim DickensJonelle Shakespeare
Cameron RichardsonMcKenna Hall
Ivana MiličevićMontserrat
Sean BridgersLyle Hartsong
Leigh Allyn BakerMarilyn Hartsong
Tara KarsianDeputy Deborah Falcon
Ron WhiteSpain Dollarhyde

Production

12 Miles of Bad Road was created by writer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, creator of the television hits Designing Women, Hearts Afire, and Evening Shade. It was produced by 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.

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. On March 17, 2008, HBO announced that it was not planning to air the show and the creators were shopping the episodes around to other networks.[4]

The title is a lyric from the song "Crush with Eyeliner" from the 1995 R.E.M. album Monster, which was itself a reference to the hit song "Forty Miles of Bad Road" by Duane Eddy.

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
  1. - "Pilot"
  2. - "The Dirty White Girl"
  3. - "Tremors"
  4. - "Collateral Verbiage"
  5. - "Texas Stadium"
  6. - "Moon-shadow"
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References
  1. Gordon, Devin; Johnnie L. Roberts (2007-05-21). "A Whacking Leaves HBO in Crisis". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  2. Andreeva, Nellie (2007-01-22). "HBO Ready for 'Road' Show, 'Treatment'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  3. 12 Miles of Bad Road on IMDb
  4. Andreeva, Nellie (2008-03-18). "HBO won't run '12 Miles'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  5. Gordon, Devin (2007-05-21). "A Whacking Leaves HBO in Crisis". Newsweek. Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  6. McNamara, Mary (2008-04-19). "HBO, after the revolution". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  7. Kelly, Christopher (2008-06-01). "Frozen Asset". Texas Monthly. Archived from the original on August 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  8. Salem, Rob (2008-03-31). "The Road Not Taken". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
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