Somerset Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I will have to look at this! I'm terrible at reading these, I don't know why.

I wonder why AW never incorporated Rachel's sisters into the story.

[sungrey]

I actually have revived a lot of the old AW family ties and crossovers. In a recent episode, when Susannah needed to have legal counsel (even though she grew up to be a lawyer just like her dad in the story), Cass Winthrop came over from Bay City. I also had Rachel come over and see Susannah and they brought up Ada.

[DRW50]

Who's Who in Daytime TV circa early to mid-1975.

Edited August 24, 2011 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

[Max]

Regarding the AW spin-offs, am I correct in stating that the general consensus is that Texas was considered far superior to Somerset?

[DRW50]

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...

[sungrey]

It depended on when you watched Somerset. From what I gather, the best period for the show was 1972-74, when Henry Slesar was doing double duty with this show and Edge.

I want to say there were some Nielsen charts that actually showed Somerset's ratings rising to the point where it was at the middle of the daytime pack and showing signs of becoming a hit. Then Slesar was reassigned solely to Edge (in defense of P&G, Edge's ratings were really dropping around this time) and the parade of writers began. From 1974-76, Somerset lurched back and forth between domestic drama and crime drama and really lost a lot of momentum with the stories.

It was around the end where the show got some momentum back, but by that time the damage had been done.

[DRW50]

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

[DRW50]

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.

[sungrey]

Thanks, Carl! I may take you up on that. I'm trying to write this version of Somerset as independently as possible, but there is a chance I may call upon recaps from time to time. About the only thing I've referenced with Susannah in Somerset is her remembering that she and Lahoma left town when Susie was very young.

FYI, when Stanley and Teri moved to Arizona (as I recall, Teri's dad was ill) I wrote that they had a "later in life" baby and that doctor is now working at the hospital (and will be Susie's future love interest). So I'm kind of tying in the old with the new.

[Khan]

But in Slesar's defense, I don't think it was a reflection of any dip in EDGE's quality. As with SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, EDGE's big problem was CBS' monumental(ly unsound) decision to move its time-slot, not taking it into account that especially where EDGE was concerned, time-slots made all the difference.

[sungrey]

That's the exact point I wanted to make, too. Edge's quality was still very good (this was around the time the spectacular Taffy Sims/Morlock story was going on over on Edge), but P&G's screw-balled decision to move the second-highest rated show from 3:30 to 2:30 really killed Edge's momentum on CBS.

If Slesar had stayed with Somerset, maybe that show would have broken into the top half of the soaps going into 1974 and 1975. Instead, Slesar was reassigned to Edge, Roy Winsor took over and the show immediately became a story "about a town" instead of about crime and melodrama. Winsor later used some crime in his plots, but you could tell the difference.

[DRW50]

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.

[sungrey]

When he took over Somerset, I remember an interview he did (I saw it in an old book) where he said "I'm writing Somerset as simply a story about a town." Ya, that could have meant anything... lol

I think the stories he was most known for were the Mark/Edith Mercer business at Delaney Brands, the Greg/Heather brother and sister story, and the beginning of the Martin Nell/Stephanie Dillard plot. I'm not sure if Somerset changed writers before the Martin Nell plot concluded.

[DRW50]

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.