 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2009) |
| 12 Miles of Bad Road | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Linda Bloodworth-Thomason |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Original release | |
| Network | HBO |
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.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Lily Tomlin | Amelia Shakespeare |
| Mary Kay Place | C.Z. Shakespeare |
| Leslie Jordan | Kenny Kingman |
| Gary Cole | Jerry Shakespeare |
| Katherine LaNasa | Juliet Shakespeare |
| Eliza Coupe | Gaylor Shakespeare |
| David Andrews | Saxby Hall |
| Kim Dickens | Jonelle Shakespeare |
| Cameron Richardson | McKenna Hall |
| Ivana Miličević | Montserrat |
| Sean Bridgers | Lyle Hartsong |
| Leigh Allyn Baker | Marilyn Hartsong |
| Tara Karsian | Deputy Deborah Falcon |
| Ron White | Spain Dollarhyde |
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.[ 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 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.
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.
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