TVSquad

HBO has decided not to air a new Lily Tomlin comedy series, even though six episodes are in the can. 12 Miles of Bad Road, created by Designing Women writer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, is a one-hour comedy about the Shakespeare family, a millionaire Texas clan whose real estate fortune is mixed up with their eccentric antics. Sounds vaguely like Dallas meets Arrested Development, but whatever the recipe, HBO has given it the thumbs down.

HBO continues to prepare for a post Sopranos world. There has been a lot of talk about their upcoming shows lately, including adapting George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, David Milch's John From Cincinnati, and the untitled Kanye West project. We can now add two more to that list.

The network has picked up a one-hour comedy from producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (Designing Women) called 12 Miles Of Bad Road. The show will star Lily Tomlin as the matriarch of a rich Texas family. Add in the family real estate business and a collection of relatives and hilarity will ensue, hopefully. The idea almost sounds like a Dallas spoof. With Tomlin on board, it will certainly be worth a look. Look for Gary Cole, Mary Kay Place, and Leslie Jordan to also appear.

I remember when this show premiered like it was yesterday. My mom was really interested in watching it, but I thought it looked just looked like a dumb soap opera (this was before I began my two decade long obsession with Guiding Light). I watched a handful of the episodes, and I didn't like it at all. It was too weird for me. But I'm curious to watch it again, as I'll probably have a different take on it since I'm no longer, you know, 10 years old.

Vol. 1 of the series - a 3 disc set - will be released by Sony on March 27. This set will be 25 episodes, which sounds like a lot until you realize that over its two seasons, the show had 325 episodes. Yikes, I had no idea it had that many shows.

The show starred Louise Lasser as Mary, along with Greg Mullavey, Mary Kay Place, Dody Goodman, Debralee Scott, Philip Bruns, Claudia Lamb, and Dabney Coleman.