Somerset Discussion Thread

[te.]

It wasn't doing well - it wasn't in the top 30 to start with. It's lead-in Ironside was at #4 with a 25.7 rating and the lead out, Dean Martin Show, had a 20.0 rating and ranked #24th. The number 30 show had a 19.3 rating that season. Meanwhile, the midseason replacement for Nancy, Adam-12, ranked 12th and averaged with a 22.6 rating. It was a no-brainer it was cancelled.

The story about Nixon getting them to can it sounds like typical rubbish.

[SoapDope]

Thanks for the info. I would love to see some episodes of it. It was a Screen Gems production who at that time in 1970 was doing Bewitched, The Partridge Family etc...

[chrisml]

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

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[DRW50]

Thanks for sharing. Really appreciate it.

I couldn't remember how long Marie worked under Slesar's writing. Wasn't Robert Cenedella the HW for most of her time on the show?

[chrisml]

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. .

[DRW50]

I'd think it must have.

I wonder what discussions were about no longer doing crossovers. Lemay/Rauch likely had no interest, but still, imagine India popping up as a frenemy of Iris'. And there were characters who never got a lot to do in Bay City who could have moved to Somerset - that Dave Gilchrist character who mostly seemed to hop between Bay City ladies who didn't want him. Or Michael Randolph could have been one of Ellen Grant's toyboys. 

[chrisml]

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."

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[DRW50]

Thanks @chrisml always interesting to hear a bit of the bts details.

Other than the Slesar period Somerset does seem generic, the Loving of its time, but I wish I could see anything of it beyond the scraps we have. 

[Franko]

If Richard's talking about Douglas Chapin, I can't say I blame him for ogling.

 

Edited January 30 by Franko

[chrisml]

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." 

[DRW50]

When I try to look sometimes I do often get real estate listings. 

I see the second actor in that part went on to win an Oscar for co-writing On Golden Pond and has a website. I wish he'd do an interview about the show, if he is still in the industry or willing to talk.

https://ernestthompson.us/ 

Edited January 30 by DRW50

[Mona Kane Croft]

Originally, I believe both shows shared the same head-writer and executive producer (if I am wrong, please correct me), and that is the period in which there were the most cross-overs.  Harding Lemay and Paul Rauch took over Another World around 1971, meaning the two shows now had different writers and executive producers, and that is when the cross-overs really slowed down and eventually stopped.  I do remember three major cross-overs during the Rauch/Lemay era -- 1. When Sam Lucas moved back to Another World after being a regular on Somerset. 2. When Robert Delaney moved from Somerset to become a regular on Another World. And 3. When a major character (I don't recall the name) on Somerset died, Sam Lucas and Ada McGowan appeared at the character's funeral on Somerset.  There may have been more cross-overs during the Rauch/Lemay years, but I remember only those three.

Sam Lucas stayed at AW for about a year, and was then written off. During early appearances of Robert Delany on AW, Robert would occasionally mention his life in Somerset and the wife and child he had lost in an auto accident (I believe this accident took place off-camera, not actually in a Somerset script). But eventually he stopped mentioning it, as he settled into life in Bay City.  So Robert Delany is likely the last character to mention Somerset in an AW script. Harding Lemay did not seem eager to continue AW's connection with Somerset -- perhaps because Somerset had become mostly a murder-mystery show (similar to Edge of Night), which was very different in style to Lemay's AW.  Who knows his real reasoning??  But the town of Ogden became the "near-by city" that characters often mentioned, and I feel confident Somerset was not mentioned on AW again after 1973-74.   

[Contessa Donatella]

Ada & Sam were siblings, right? Why is there no mention of Lahoma?

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

Doug Chapin became a producer and then was Matthew Perry's long-time manager for over 30 years. He was so devestated by Perry's death that he and his husband left Hollywood, and Chapin retired from working in show-biz. Chapin is still very handsome. 

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Edited January 30 by TheyStartedOnSoaps

[Mona Kane Croft]

Yes, Ada and Sam were siblings.

Sam and Lahoma had separated or divorced before Sam returned to Bay City.  So Lahoma did not appear on AW during Sam's return.  Interestingly, when Lemay wrote Sam off the show around 1973-74, Sam indicated in the script that he was planning to reunite with Lahoma and their daughter. I forget where he said Lahoma and Suzanne were living at that point, but it was not Somerset.