DRW50

I guess what I meant was I think soap towns have strong identities and I'm not sure Somerset did. It was a place various AW characters went to, then with a series of shifting rich families (the Delaneys, then the Moores), along with a few other characters like Ellen Grant. I can see where he would want to go back to basics but I was trying to figure out if Somerset ever had a basics, or if they needed to build that from the ground up.

Thanks for the extra information. I wonder with these shows why they just didn't make more effort to revamp the shows in a way which would get them more money, as ABC's heavy renovation efforts with GH ended up doing. I guess you can't say CBS suffered from the decision, given that Capitol was a decent performer and B&B has been too, but if P&G had shown more guidance, the show could have continued to be a relevant part of their lineup instead of being the start of their apathy towards their soaps. When you read the soap magazines from back then they make it seem like the show was in the doldrums for ages even before the CBS cancelation. I'm glad to hear otherwise. I can see why the stories you mentioned were failures, but certainly other soaps did worse, for far longer periods of time.

It's kind of ironic that some of the young people on Search went on to a fair amount of success in film and TV, while most of the young people on Capitol are forgotten, and the older people on the show are the ones who ended up working most consistently.

Thanks. I wonder why he felt that way. Somerset was never really just a town, was it? When you're created as a spinoff, with established characters, you are never just a town.

What were Winsor's "about a town" stories? Were they any good? It's too bad he seemed to have no success with daytime after he left his two soaps.

Lack of patience and lack of interest makes sense. There was no real reason for CBS to cancel the show. Were they just looking for an excuse?

The weird thing with Search is that it seems like they had managed to revive themselves several times until the bad times hit again around 1980 or 1981. They've managed to create a series of young, beautiful, popular characters, romances, and integrate a few veterans. I just don't get where it fell apart.

What did you think of Susan Scannell?

Did you enjoy Daniel Pilon? I thought he was kind of bland on GL. Regarding Pat, sometimes I wonder if they should have always had him as a supporting character - I guess Malcolm Groome would have left even sooner, but he had a lot more personality when he wasn't in the spotlight.

I know from what's been said that ABC felt the ratings weren't going up fast enough with Labine/Mayer, and that the ratings did initially rise with Falken-Smith. What did you enjoy of her time as writer? Sometimes I wonder why ABC didn't just cancel RH outright, since they wanted to make it into a mostly brand new show.

Did your mother get to see Penny back on ATWT in 1985? I always thought the whole Prinz situation with HSTAM was odd, since I could never tell if she planned a longer stay or if she was just a guest star. Her exit seemed very abrupt.

That's too bad. The show could have been a long-running soap if they'd waited. Considering the problems they seemed to have in developing HTSAM they could have waited a little while, maybe replaced Somerset with HTSAM.

It's too bad they weren't more patient; they should have remembered their other soaps were starting to falter at this time. I'd love to hear your comments on How to Survive a Marriage too. I have some stuff on both these shows but it's always tough to find but I will enjoy posting as I know you're reading. I wonder if they should have asked Lee Grant if she could come on for a while. I guess this may have been around the time she was on Fay, or in some movies, but she might have considered a brief run.

Casey went back to his planet. Bradley Lockerman then played another role, as a reporter, until Gloria Monty fired him and a number of others. I have an interview with him somewhere if you want to see it. I think Kim McCullough said this was her favorite story.

Thanks. Do you think the show was getting better as time went on or did you understand why they canceled? Should they have been given more time?

Eastenders has finally cast Derek Branning. This should hopefully produce some big drama and more importantly fascinating family conflict. http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a337182/eastenders-announces-derek-branning-casting.html

Who were your favorites on the show?

BTW, sungrey, if there's ever any Somerset-related material like recaps or interviews or whatever you are interested in and don't have, let me know.

Too bad Slesar didn't have a protege who could have worked at Somerset.

The consensus with Texas was that it was a mess until Pam Long took over as headwriter. I don't know if anyone had an opinion on Somerset, even when it was on...

Have you heard anything about some of those rumors about Jay Mohr replacing Andy Cohen? They have died down and I guess it was just gossip, but, how random.

That's great. I'm glad she is so nice to fans. So she watched RTPP? You probably already saw this, but even Lynn Loring said she thought they had been stupid to fire Julie Parrish, and that they'd only hired Lynn as a stunt.

Thanks. If you can't find it I may have it. It sounds like Rusty's arrival was around the time the ratings started falling. Where do you think Search went wrong in the writing for Travis/Liza? I don't know why it annoys me but I also wonder if Jo and Stu would have run that place we saw in the March 1983 episode. It, and Jenny's outfit, don't really seem like them. Then again I have barely seen them so what do I know.

When was the back from the dead story? Before or after this? I've heard some good things about Lee's era but this was mixed for me.