chrisml

I would say Jeremy had the cruelest death, but it was quick and it was not something that was the focus of an entire episode. It was not directed to focus on the relentless pain and brutality of the death like Frankie's death on AW.

In "Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and U.S. Television History," the author (Elana Levine) talks briefly about the way "How to Survive a Marriage" approached the lead character's sexual desires differently. It's nothing earth shattering, but I thought those interested in the show might be want to read the snippet.

Interesting that Harding Lemay really does not talk about Somerset much in his book. He does mention that Rauch wanted Jordan Charney to return to Another World and it did not work out. That's his version.

It's so hard to sift through misinformation in soap history especially for someone like me who doesn't have the background knowledge on soap history to always know when something is inaccurate. A lot of this misinformation is repeated in multiple sources, so I always try to come to this board for verification/clarification because there are people here so much more knowledgeable than I am.

Morgan Fairchild's character should have had a purpose from the beginning. They relied on her name alone, and as much as I do like her, I doubt many soap fans were tuning in just for her. They should have integrated her into the last months of Loving to get potential viewers to care. There should have been a mystery that started on Loving that went over to The City. Instead, they went the misogynistic let's rape her route which was so unnecessary.

I came across several sources that said Texas was repeated (after its cancellation) on other networks and it was successful during these repeat showings. Is this true? I try to verify information because I've come across a lot of false information in "soap history" books that keeps getting repeated.

Thank you. I thought I was misunderstanding the author and perhaps he had left EON at some point and worked on Somerset and had come back to EON. I was hoping the USA thing was correct because I hold out hope that those episode will show up at some point.

Another tidbit from Tina Sloan about backstage drama with a costar on the set of Somerset. (She also connects it to her time on Guiding Light)

Tina Sloan gives some backstage gossip about her time on Another World.

Some info (perhaps most of you already know about it) about the ending of the show. I did not know about the USA network.

Tina Sloan talks about her time on Somerset:

You're welcome. I wish there was more to find. It's hard to find specific information also because there are so many vacation spots with the name "Somerset."

Richard Greyson worked as an intern at NBC and he worked at worked for Somerset. He includes a couple tidbits about this in his memoir, "Victory Boulevard."

Youtube keeps recommending me clips of GL during the 1988 period. I will never understand how Carl Tye Evans was not bigger in the business. He was so charismatic and talented. I know Rick Hearst had the better material, but Evans was my fave.

Vee, thank you for sharing the info re: Deas. I wish him all the best. I hope the craziness in this country does not keep him from getting treatment as I know it has delayed a lot of cancer treatment in certain areas.

I believe so, but Somserset is not my area of expertise. I didn't know until today that Somerset was originally called Another World: Somerset. I wonder if that would have helped it in the ratings. .

In her memoir, Marie Wallace talks about getting casts as India and how they worked some of the Somerset actors into Another World.

I posted this in the OLTL discussion, but I thought it fit here as well. It's from an 1982 ebony article, "Blacks on Soaps." I had to take screenshots of the article and then convert them to jpeg files so hope they come out correctly.

This is from an 1982 Ebony Article titled, "Blacks on Soaps."

Interestingly enough, Zimmer lists Rauch as one of her favorite producers in her book despite his role in what happened to Zaslow. To be fair to Zimmer, she was very supportive of Zaslow. Zaslow specifically mentions the support he got from Jerry ver Dorn, Maureen Garrett, Tina Sloan and Zimmer. Although, it's clear he felt supported by the cast just not the producers or the execs. Zaslow never mentions Rauch by name in the book. I only found the reference to Rauch because I was looking for information on JFP.

In looking for other things, I came across Michael Zaslow writing about getting sick and having to talk to Paul Rauch about it. I had forgotten that Zaslow and Rauch had worked together on OLTL as well. Zaslow's comments are interesting about Rauch and in relation to what later happened re: Zaslow's departure.

I thought it was interesting that Grant Aleksander (in an interview with Alan Locher) called Kim Zimmer the "star" of the show but Jerry Ver Down the "heart." I thought that was telling.

I think the Maureen's death episodes of The Locher Room illustrate Locher's strengths and weaknesses. The Parker/Sloan/Kinkead/Brown interview was real and it provided some insight and information. Sloan and Parker did not need or want protected. Curlee and Demorest were also honest. The JFP interview was fine for what is, but it was PR spin because he was constantly trying to soften whatever decision she had made or change the subject because she did want to be protected or forgiven.