Lonestar (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Lone Star is an American one-hour drama television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 which originally ran on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 from September 20, 2010 to September 27, 2010, airing Monday nights at 9 pm ET/PT. Fox announced Lone Stars cancellation on September 28, 2010 after two low-rated episodes.

Premise

Robert Allen (James Wolk), a Texan con-man, leads a secret double life. As "Bob," he is married to Cat and living in Houston while working for his oil-tycoon father-in-law. Four hundred miles away in Midland
Midland, Texas
Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States, on the Southern Plains of the state's western area. A small portion of the city extends into Martin County. As of 2010, the population of Midland was 111,147. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas...

, he is "Robert" in a second life with girlfriend Lindsey. As he schemes to take control of the oil business and finds himself torn between the love of two women, he must fight to keep his web of lies from falling apart.

Development and production

In October 2009, Fox made a script-plus-penalty commitment with writer Kyle Killen. In mid-January 2010, Fox placed a cast-contingent pilot order under the working title Midland. Marc Webb
Marc Webb
Marc Preston Webb is an American music video, short film and major motion picture director. He directed the 2009 romantic comedy-drama Days of Summer and is currently directing the 2012 Spider-Man reboot The Amazing Spider-Man.-Life and career:Webb was born in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of...

 was signed to direct the pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

. In early February, Amy Lippman, Chris Keyser, Kerry Kohansky Roberts, and Paul Weitz were all named as executive producers.

Casting announcements began in mid-February 2010. James Wolk
James Wolk
James Joseph Wolk , also credited as Jimmy Wolk, is an American actor, known for his roles in the 2010 series Lone Star and the film You Again.-Career:...

 was the first actor cast, in the lead role of Robert Allen. Next to sign on was Eloise Mumford, as Allen's girlfriend, Lindsay. In March, Adrianne Palicki and Bryce Johnson were cast as siblings Cat and Drew Thatcher. Cat is married to Robert. Jon Voight was cast as Clint Thatcher, and David Keith cast as John Allen, to portray the patriarchs of their respective families. Mark Deklin and Hannah Leigh rounded out the main cast at the end of March. Deklin filled the role of Trammell, an elder brother to Cat and Drew, while Leigh played Cat's daughter, Grace.

The pilot was filmed in Dallas, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, during the second half of March 2010. Fox green-lit the project to series in mid-May under the new name Lone Star. At the network's upfront
Upfront
In the North American television industry, an upfront is a meeting hosted at the start of important advertising sales periods by television network executives, attended by the press and major advertisers...

 presentation, Fox announced that the series would be part of the Fall 2010 television schedule
2010–2011 United States network television schedule
The following is the 2010–2011 network television schedule for the five major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 2010 through May 2011. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new...

, airing on Mondays at 9 pm. The series was filmed in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

. Lippman and Keyser served as showrunners for the series, which began filming additional episodes in late July 2010.

In August 2010, it was reported that Andie MacDowell
Andie MacDowell
Rosalie Anderson "Andie" MacDowell is an American model and actress. She has received the Golden Camera and an Honorary César.-Early life:...

 and Rosa Blasi
Rosa Blasi
Rosa Blasi is an American actress.-Early life:Blasi was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rocco and Joyce Blasi. Blasi is classically trained as a mezzo soprano. She also comes from a strong theatre background; ranging from the esteemed Piven Performance Company, as well as The Second City, to...

 would join the cast. Neither appeared in the two episodes broadcast on Fox.

Main

  • James Wolk
    James Wolk
    James Joseph Wolk , also credited as Jimmy Wolk, is an American actor, known for his roles in the 2010 series Lone Star and the film You Again.-Career:...

     as Robert/Bob Allen, a Texas con man married to Cat, the daughter of one of his marks in Houston, while simultaneously maintaining a relationship with Lindsay in Midland, Texas
    Midland, Texas
    Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States, on the Southern Plains of the state's western area. A small portion of the city extends into Martin County. As of 2010, the population of Midland was 111,147. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas...

    . He is in love with both women and begins to wish for a normal life.
  • Adrianne Palicki
    Adrianne Palicki
    Adrianne Palicki is an American actress best known for her role as Tyra Collette on the NBC television series Friday Night Lights.-Early life:...

     as Cat Thatcher, Clint's daughter. At a young age, she married her boyfriend from high school and had a daughter with him. Their marriage ended in divorce. She later married Bob Allen, seeing in him the qualities that were lacking in her ex.
  • Eloise Mumford
    Eloise Mumford
    Eloise Mumford is an American actress. She currently stars as Lena Landry on the ABC paranormal series The River.- Filmography :-External links:...

     as Lindsay, Robert Allen's unsuspecting girlfriend in Midland.
  • David Keith
    David Keith
    David Lemuel Keith is an American actor and director. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year – Actor for his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman.-Career:...

     as John Allen, Robert Allen's father. He raised his son to be a con man.
  • Bryce Johnson
    Bryce Johnson
    -Early life:Johnson was raised in Reno, Nevada before moving to Denver, Colorado at 5 with his newly divorced mother along with his two brothers where he graduated from high school in 1995...

     as Drew Thatcher, the youngest of Clint's three children. He admires his brother-in-law.
  • Mark Deklin
    Mark Deklin
    Mark Deklin is an American stage, television, and film actor and fight director.-Films:*A Little Cloud*Riverworld*Herbie: Fully Loaded*Phantom Below*Blackpool...

     as Trammell Thatcher, Clint's elder son and Blake's husband. Unlike his brother, he is suspicious of Bob's motives.
  • Alexandra Doke as Grace Thatcher, Cat's daughter from her first marriage to Harrison.
  • Jon Voight
    Jon Voight
    Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....

     as Clint Thatcher, a Texas oil tycoon and father of Cat, Drew, and Trammell.

Recurring

  • Andie MacDowell
    Andie MacDowell
    Rosalie Anderson "Andie" MacDowell is an American model and actress. She has received the Golden Camera and an Honorary César.-Early life:...

     as Alex, an art appraiser. Clint becomes romantically interested in her; however, she proves more dangerous than anyone realizes.
  • Rosa Blasi
    Rosa Blasi
    Rosa Blasi is an American actress.-Early life:Blasi was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rocco and Joyce Blasi. Blasi is classically trained as a mezzo soprano. She also comes from a strong theatre background; ranging from the esteemed Piven Performance Company, as well as The Second City, to...

     as Blake, the Lady Macbeth
    Lady Macbeth
    Lady Macbeth may refer to:*Lady Macbeth, from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth**Queen Gruoch of Scotland, the real-life Queen on whom Shakespeare based the character...

    -esque trophy wife of Trammell.
  • Chad Faust
    Chad Faust
    Chad Faust is a Canadian actor, singer, film producer, film director and screenwriter, best known for his role as Kyle Baldwin in The 4400. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.-Biography:...

     as Harrison, Cat's ex-husband and her high-school mistake. Roguish and unfaithful, he returns to Houston claiming he has changed.

Reception

As of July 9, 2010, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 reports that "if this isn't the best-received pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 of the season, it's close", with many early reviews suggesting that the show is "unlike anything else currently on TV." The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

 graded its pilot an "A", calling it "the best network pilot of the year", and possibly the best since Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights (TV series)
Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team...

.

In spite of its widespread critical praise, the series premiere only drew 4.1 million viewers, and the future of the show seemed to hang in the balance. Series creator Kyle Killen had stated that:
"For us to survive we're going to have to pull off a minor miracle. Statistically, new shows tend to lose viewers in their second week. We're aiming to gain them. In fact, screw it, let's just double our audience. The good news is, our audience was so small that if my Mom AND my Dad watch it we'll pretty much be there."
The show was canceled after its second episode, becoming the first official cancellation of the 2010 television season.

Episodes


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# Title Directed by Written by U.S. viewers
(in millions)
Original air date
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