Dallas envy?
Fox turns to Texas oil for big drama: Lonestar brings double lives to Houston
No offense to the good folks of Midland, but it looks like the decision-makers at Fox didn’t think your fair city had sufficient cachet to serve as the title of a primetime soap opera. Even though the one-hour pilot — directed by no less a luminary than Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) — was indeed known as Midland during production earlier this year, the actual series announced Monday during a Fox press presentation will premiere this fall as … Lonestar.
Described by one obviously optimistic Fox executive as “a modern-day Dallas,” Lonestar — set to air on Monday evenings, right after House — is being hyped as "a sophisticated and provocative drama set against the sprawling backdrop of big Texas oil."
The lead character, played by up-and-comer James Wolk (heretofore billed as “Jimmy” Wolk), is a charismatic con artist who’s living two different lives with two very different women. As "Bob," he resides in Houston as husband of the beautiful Cat (Adrianne Palicki, late of Friday Night Lights) and, perhaps more important, son-in-law of the powerful Clint (Oscar-winner Jon Voight), the patriarch of an ultra-rich Texas oil family.
But our “hero” is known as “Robert” down the road in Midland, where he’s extremely close to the sweetly innocent Lindsay (Eloise Mumford). David Keith of An Officer and a Gentleman fame figures into the mix as Bob/Robert’s understandably worried father.
Although the pilot was produced on the West Coast, Rick Ferguson of the Houston Film Commission reports that producers are “discussing” the possibility of some location shooting for Lonestar in and around H-Town. Some episodes have already been shot in ... Dallas.
And as for the folks in Midland: Well, don’t take it too badly.
Really, having your city figure into the title of a weekly TV series isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Remember Houston Knights?
