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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daniel Avery" data-source="post: 394003" data-attributes="member: 27">Beverlee McKinsey (headlining Texas in her AW role of Iris Carrington) was immensely popular, and it was believed that spinning her off allowed AW's marquee couple Mac and Rachel to finally be rid of her constant interference and scheming.  It would also allow the parent show to shrink back to hour-long episodes but "soften the blow" by having some linkages to AW in the new, separate show.  They even introduced many of the Texas characters on AW to help fans transfer to the new show.  Beverlee McKinsey was certainly up to the challenge of headlining a show, but the mistake they made was turning mean-spirited, snooty, spoiled Iris into a heroine-type character in the new series.  Even if they had done everything right (not that they did...) the show would likely have never succeeded due to its stiff competition in most markets---ratings juggernaut General Hospital and critical darling Guiding Light, which was having a creative renaissance in the early 1980s.  And though we have gotten used to the idea of "other forms of programming" encroaching on the daytime TV arena, it was pretty much understood in 1980 that you replaced a cancelled soap with....another soap.</blockquote>

Poison your name this Hallowe'en