Why is it everyone thinks they can write about Texas? And why do filmmakers think they can add a few Texas flags and homely colloquialisms and make a film that is supposed to be set in Texas?

In the past, too often characters from Texas have been represented as rural hicks in cowboy boots and Stetsons, or sweet little shirtwaist dresses and bouffant hair. They either have a distinct twang or a Southern accent that makes them seem either pushy or stupid.

Last night I was tired after a fun but long day driving and shopping with my sister. When I got home I wanted to watch something light. So I streamed a Hallmark-like movie. But it just made me more and more angry.

The film was Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Case for the Winemaker. It starred Candace Cameron Bure, who I usually love. And she was actually quite good in this movie, as was most of the cast. The thing that made me angry was the location shooting, costuming, sets, and overall tone of the film.

The story is about Ainslee McGregor who “has just opened her business in the quaint Texas town of Sweet River. When she finds a dead body, Ainslee teams up with her local sheriff brother…” At different times it talks about the town being in the Central Texas Hill Country; but it is NOT in the Austin Chalk Basin where oil is usually found? There are wineries—okay that may be true of central Texas. But all the architecture is mid-century modern to French Provincial.

These people all speak with perfect General American Broadcast English, but their dialogue is peppered with quaint colloquialisms. There are no known Texas actors in any of the roles. In fact the casting was done out of Vancouver according to IMdb.

As anyone in central Texas will attest, our climate hovers between 80 and 100 degrees at least eight months of the year. But there is snow on the ground in several scenes (even though the vineyard has just had a harvest) and everyone is costumed in heavy coats, flannel, and sweater dresses. I don’t think I saw an actual pair of cowboy boots in the entire movie, even though that is the usual way to denote someone from Texas.

Among the Widow’s Club that forms Ainslee’s book club and sleuth helpers, one of the women is a jewelry maker who seems to make only turquoise jewelry. (Is there a single turquoise mine in Texas?) Another is a know-it-all older black woman who seems to only dress in pistachio green, and there is a male member who wears a series of almost identical flannel shirts.

With the recent strides made by TXMPA in getting film incentives from the Texas legislature, and the current growth in filming and studio facilities, wouldn’t it be nice if they actually filmed the Ainslee McGregor series in Texas with Texas actors?