Can Linda Bloodworth Embarrass HBO Into Airing 12 Miles of Bad Road?

  It's got to be one of the oddest packages I've ever received as a TV critic.

Non-descript and sent overnight, the envelope contained seven DVDs and a plea from producers Linda Bloodworth (left) and Harry Thomason, creators of the classic sitcoms Designing Women and Evening Shade.

Seems HBO had spent more than $20-million creating 12 Miles of Bad Road, a sprawling comedy poking fun at the Bush-era, Enron-style Republicans, and now the premium cable channel had decided not to air it -- basically, spending the most money it ever has to NOT air a TV series.

I have a story in today's Floridian detailing the showbiz Hara-Kiri Bloodworth and Thomason seem to be committing, embarrassing one of Hollywood's major players by sending critics copies of six completed episodes in hopes our stories can accomplish what their negotiations did not.

Charging forward like a character from one of her Southern-baked sitcoms, Bloodworth assured me that she'd go on the Home Shopping Network to sell this show, which offers inspired performances from Lily Tomlin, Mary Kay Place, Gary Cole and blue collar comic Ron White. See more about the show here.

Obviously, HBO believed in the show at one time, because it's listed here at the back of an old promo reel from 2007. Check it out -- this brief glimpse may be all you'll see of the best (or, at least, the most expensive) show HBO never aired.

Comments

[Eric Deggans]

I've seen both john From cincinnati and 12 Miles and I will tell you there is no comparison. 12 Miles was much more interesting and funny...

[The Carl]

Maybe it's because HBO recognizes up front that "12 Miles" will be a suckfest appealing to only a small segment of its vast audience. It's been burned before. Know anybody beyond the Pacific Coast who liked "John from Cincinnati"?

[Mark Jeffries]

And HBO can't even keep its promo music--Sundance Channel is currently that exact same Graham Carlton "Best of Your Life" song to promote *their* original programming.