So Much for Lily Tomlin’s Road to Dallas

Lily Tomlin won’t appear on HBO as Dallas real estate giant Amelia Shakespeare after all

So, turns out we might never see the HBO series 12 Miles of Bad Road after all — a shame, I guess. The show, which is set in Dallas but shot mostly in Los Angeles, has been canned by HBO despite there being a half dozen episodes ready to go. (One of the episodes, allegedly, is titled “Texas Stadium.”) Says here that the “one-hour comedy about the Shakespeare family, a millionaire Texas clan whose real estate fortune is mixed up with their eccentric antics” will be tossed, most likely because of the departure of Carolyn Strauss, the 22-year HBO vet who left over the weekend. Also, says here, “the series’ creative vision was not a suitable match for the network.”

But as we mentioned last month, the Writers Guild strike didn’t do the show many favors — indeed, it looked bad for the series long before Strauss’ adios. Adds Hollywood Reporter this morning: “For the past few weeks, the series’ executive producers [Linda] Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason have been quietly shopping the six-produced episodes to other networks, including Lifetime.” So perhaps it’ll resurface yet. On Lifetime, though. –Robert Wilonsky