Somerset Discussion Thread

[Mona Kane Croft]

On Somerset, she played Gerald Davis's second wife, Marcia.  Another World fans will remember Gerald Davis as the father of Rachel. So Marcia was Rachel's step-mother.  Gerald Davis's first wife was Ada, played by Constance Ford on Another World.  

[Paul Raven]

@DRW50 The final year of Somerset Pt 1

Russel Kubeck was headwriter. He is somewhat of a mystery, with nothing known about him. Mayne it was another writer using a pseudonym?

ulian Cannell, the editor of the Somerset Register, finds his marriage to interim Register publisher Kate is floundering. Vickie Paisley, local heiress and co-owner of Paisley’s Department Store,makes no secret of her attraction to him. 

The marriage of Dr. Jerry Kane and his wife, Heather, seems to be faring no better, as Heather chafes under Jerry’s constant instructions and orders, feeling that he refuses to acknowledge her ability to function as a responsible adult. Finding that housework doesn’t fulfill her personal need for accomplishment, the newly married Heather |
Kane gets a job singing with Bobby Hanson at the local coffee shop. When her husband, Dr. Jerry Kane, curtly informs her ‘that it’s out of the question, her
job is demeaning to his career, Heather angrily moves out

Ellen Grant and her daughter Jill Farmer were both widowed last year, when their husbands died in a car crash in Italy. Jill inadvertently sidetracked the attentions
of the one man her mother has been interested in |since the tragedy, and Ellen herself suffered terribly when her new love, Jon Wheeler (reporter Carrie Wheeler’s —
father), was senselessly killed by a burglar.

Carrie is now falling in love with Greg Mercer, Heather’s half brother, also a reporter on the Register staff. 

In the past few months Somerset has undergone a  series of robberies, muggings and murders which has raised panic among the residents, and business is suffering, as the ere now fear to leave their homes.
 

Ginger Cooper is pleased when her husband, Tony, is promoted to manager of Paisley’s Department Store,but quickly finds that his longer hours are upsetting to
their little son, Joey. Finding that Tony is working closely with beautiful Victoria Paisley further complicates Ginger’s thinking, but Tony hastens to assure her Vickie’s harmless.

Ellen Grant, widowed last year,  befriended Dale Robinson, a graduate student at the university, and he’s renting a room in her home. Dale takes a parttime job as a toy-collection Santa Claus.

Greg Mercer is continuing his investigation into the murder of Carrie Wheeler’s father, despite police warnings that he not interfere.

Having deliberately aborted their expected child because she felt she’d lose Julian while unattractively pregnant, Kate Cannell sees that her actions have also killed any love he had for her. Determined to take revenge on him, she informs him she’s returning to the newspaper as publisher, which means he’ll be demoted back to editor. When Julian refuses to work under her, she coldly tells him she was going to dismiss him no matter what he said.

Now desperate for an editor, Kate forces the job on Greg Mercer. And, as she’s having trouble handling her job, Kate leans heavily on the young reporter,to Carrie’s annoyance and dismay. But finally Kate’s emotional guilts and pain become too much,
and Dr. Terri Kurtz gently suggests that she look for |psychiatric care. Fearing commitment, Kate attempts suicide and is hospitalized. As, her condition worsens,
her commitment is processed.

Tony, under increasing personal as well as business pressure, is having chest pains. Dr. Stan Kurtz, examining him, warns he must take it easy or he could have a full-scale heart attack. When Vickie gives Tony a cashmere coat for Christmas, he finds ‘himself involved in an affair. When Tony expresses regret at betraying Ginger, Vickie, who hasn’t gotten over her feelings for Julian, who rejected her, tells him that all wives know,-they just don’t say anything. Vickie assures Tony their relationship has no strings and warns him off when he suggests he’s falling in love with her.

Heather decides to try to work things out with Jerry and goes to their cabin to talk. Horrified to see another woman in her bedroom, she runs out and turns to Bobby for consolation. They spend the night in separate rooms, but in the morning Jerry walks in and chooses to make his own assessment, calling her a tramp. She slaps him and throws him out.

Vic Kirby tries to help Jerry and Heather to a reconciliation,but Jerry’s insistence on Heather’s giving in to all his demands infuriates her, and, unwilling to give up her independence, she walks out.

Dale and Ellen become lovers. Ellen tells him she’s happy to help him financially with his career—he’s planning to be a doctor—but she won’t consider his marriage proposal. Dale presses her to overlook the age difference between them, and finally coaxes her into agreeing they’re engaged. When he offers her an engagement present, half of an antique coin, Ellen is horrified, as she recognizes it as half of the coin Carrie’s father gave Ellen’s daughter, Jill, just before his death. Dale insists he bought it from a guy on campus but can’t go to the police, as he has a record
because of a teenage robbery.

Vic Kirby is overjoyed when his son, Chris, shows |up at his cabin. Chris took off years ago. Vic's happiness soon becomes despair, however, as Chris reveals that he is the murderer who’s been terrorizing Somerset. Vic realizes from his son’s ramblings that—
their misunderstandings during the boy’s youth warped him, and tells his son he accepts the blame and they'll go away together.

But Dale has been arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder.. One of the victims was attacked by a Santa in the area he’d been working. At the moment that the latest victim, Sarah Brisken, is clearing Dale,Vic persuades his son to let him call the authorities|promising to stand by him.

Ellen and Dale announce their engagement, to mixed reactions throughout Somerset. Jill rushes home from Hong Kong, where she’s been visiting her brother  David, convinced that Dale only wants Ellen’s money. Seeing her mother’s happiness makes Jill waver, but seeing how cavalier Dale is about letting Ellen pay for everything reconvinces her he’s out for what he can get. Ellen’s friends try to gently show her there will be problems—for example, can she give him a child?

Tony is angry to realize that Ginger and Joey have seen a great deal of Julian lately, and he’s jealous of his son’s growing attachment for their friend. Tony rushes to Vickie’s for consolation after an argument with Ginger and has a heart attack there. Vickie rushes him to the hospital, but Ginger arrives before she can leave. Ginger doesn’t believe Vickie’s account of ho the attack actually happened, but can’t confront Tony now.

Tony survives, but his recovery will take time. He confesses his affair to Ginger, insisting he still loves her and his son. Ginger is shattered, but decides to take him back for Joey’s sake. But Tony, who expected her to say that their marriage is over, now tells her he’s going to get an apartment when he leaves the hospital; he needs to be alone. Ginger is badly hurt by this.
 

When Jill continues to castigate Dale to Carrie, insisting he’s only out for a meal ticket, Carrie asks if Jill’s vehemence is perhaps due to her own attraction to Dale. Jill, taken aback, finally admits it’s true. Jill then gives Dale and her mother her blessing, telling Ellen she tried to attract Dale to make Ellen see how foolish she was. But now Ellen is having second thoughts. When she confides this to Jill, Jill suggests she look at it from
Dale’s side: Is he making a mistake by marrying Ellen?

Julian is stunned to learn that Kate’s condition has |deteriorated. She’s now catatonic, and her chances of recovery aren’t good.

Ellen goes away to think things out. Returning, she tells Dale he needs to live “wildly and spontaneously”now, that she’s already done that. Their needs are’ different. As he leaves, she tells him she loves him and they must not see each other again.

Dan Brisken, a retired millionaire publisher, has bought the Somerset Register.

Heather learns she’s pregnant but insists that Jerry not be told, as she’s filing for divorce. But, through a mix up in medical files, Jerry does find out. Stan makes him see that Heather’s fight is for her independence, her right to grow on her own. Understanding this, Jerry offers Heather a partnership in their marriage, promising not to take back responsibilities from her if she makes mistakes. On this basis they
reconcile. |
Somerset has been besieged by a series of fires that may be arson. Greg uncovers information which indicates two men, Gammidge and Bailey, were hired in Chicago to set the most recent fire and Bailey left Gammidge in the building so he wouldn’t have to share the money. Carrie is assigned to the human interest side of the story. Greg follows his leads to Chicago, and on the way back is threatened by a man on the plane. Policeman Lieutenant Price realizes that Greg has opened a major can of worms and places him under protective surveillance. Carrie, realizing how much she cares for him, confesses this to him,and they plan to marry. Julian feels he’s responsible for Greg’s situation—if he hadn’t printed the story,Greg would be in no danger. But the arson ring stations a man with a gun in the building across from Greg’s, and when he answers the phone, he is shot and killed.

Carrie, refusing to cry, because Greg wouldn’t have wanted that, returns to work right after the funeral. When Gammidge, under. police guard, regains consciousness before dying, she tapes his story, in the presence of his wife and the nurse on duty. When the
nurse disappears soon after, foul play is suspected. Carrie then volunteers to go through Greg’s things for papers needed to settle his affairs. Only now age
she break down. She is given sedation.

Tony, out of the hospital continues to badger Vickie into resuming their affair. Vickie, continuing to make a play for Julian, pointedly evades Tony, until he finally realizes she means it. He leaves Paisley’s and returns to his family’s company, Delaney Brands.
Tony’s father, Rex Cooper, returns from California |and tells his son he has no intention of losing his only grandchild: Tony is to reconcile with his wife or be disinherited.
Tony soon learns that without his trust-fund income he’ll be in bad financial shape, but he refuses to kowtow to his father. Ginger fears that Rex will somehow try to take Joey from her.

But Rex engineers a meeting between Ginger and Tony, which clears the air’ somewhat, leading to further conversations. When Tony suffers another bad
heart attack and surgery is necessary, both Ginger and Tony admit their part in the breakup of their marriage and pledge to not make the same mistakes again. Since
the recommended surgeon is in California, they decide to move there with Rex.

Vickie confounds Julian by suddenly putting their relationship on a strictly business level. She admits to Dan that this is a new tack to win Julian, but refuses to return to the old relationship, saying she’s no longer going to play those games.

Ellen, trying to forget Dale, has befriended little Brian Gammidge, son of the dead arsonist. They meet sculptor Lucius (Luke) McKenzie, who helps Ellen in her efforts with the disturbed child. They are gratified when the child begins to respond. Ellen is shocked when Luke is injured in a fall. Surgery is performed, but damage to his spinal cord cannot be assessed yet. He’s optimistic, however, and implies to Carrie that he’d like to start a family with Ellen and Brian.

Julian has hired reporter Steven Slade to replace Greg. Carrie resents Steve’s being there in place of the dead man. 
 

Tom Conway, who has been running the Grant law firm for Ellen since her husband’s death, is upset to learn that Ellen’s son David is coming home and may want to join the firm. Tom, who has been collecting powers of attorney from the firm’s clients and making highly speculative investments (including Heather’s stock), gives David his own version of the firm’s assets and situation and makes him an attractive offer.
Tom explains that David’s interest is litigation and his own is investment counseling, so they can work well together. Tom also introduces David to a local contractor, Mr. Harrington, who promises to speak to a friend in the district attorney’s office on David’s behalf.

Vickie’s business-only stance has piqued Julian’s interest, and finally, after a late supper at her home, they become lovers. But when, in the morning, Vickie begins to make decisions for them which would interfere with Julian’s work as well as his free time, he makes it clear to her that he won’t let her run his life.Vickie, seeing her mistake, quickly promises to change. Julian warns her they then might not find each other so attractive. 

The arson-ring trial begins. Steve is assigned to the defense, Carrie to the prosecution. She promises Julian she'll be objective even though she holds an almost murderous hatred for the men who killed Greg. Carrie and Jill find their apartment has been rifled and are unaware that it also has been bugged.

When Carrie finds a dead bird in her desk drawer, it gives credence to Steve’s contention that Carrie, a prosecution witness to Gammidge’s deathbed confession, may be in danger. He feels Carrie may have evidence pointing to the syndicate’s “Mr. Big,” even if she doesn’t realize she has it. She assures him that Greg’s papers offer no clue. When Carrie is subpenaed to testify, she’s warned that she’s the only
prosecution witness left and must keep quiet about this. Soon after, Carrie receives a threatening phone call, and when Jill mentions clicking sounds on the phone, David finds the bugs. When Steve goes to collect Greg’s papers for safekeeping, he is attacked, and they are stolen. The tape and Carrie are now the whole case for the prosecution.

The DA forms a Committee for Public Safety,composed of prominent citizens and police, to try to determine  the extent of infiltration  by the criminal element. This committee learns that Carrie is to be a witness. When Carrie is almost run down in a hit and run,Steve and Julian ask for police protection for her. An explosion in the D.A.’s office destroys the tape, and now Carrie is the whole case. And the harassment is increasing. Then, when Steve is shot at, and a lead he’s following is killed, and he finds a hit man in Carrie’s hallway despite surveillance outside, he persuades her to “disappear” with him. He later calls Julian to say they’ re all right, but refuses to tell him where they are. 
 

Television coverage of the trial has brought beautiful Avis Ryan to Somerset, and she’s intrigued with Julian. Vickie knows competition when she sees it and prepares for the challenge. Avis glowingly informs Julian that the network execs liked her tape with Julian and are considering offering him a job as her teammate. 
 

Heather, visiting Carrie, is found unconscious at the foot of the stairs. Despite an emergency Caesarean, the baby dies. Heather, who has a subdural hematoma, is in a coma.

Tom Conway, horrified, calls “him” and protests he was assured there would be no foul play. He’s told Heather was an accident—the wrong girl. Tom want  out but is threatened with disbarment (they have incriminating papers) if he doesn’t locate Carrie for them.
Heather remains comatose until Jerry, desolate,calls to her, telling her of his love. She finally opens her eyes. Later, learning of the loss of her baby, Heather comes to terms with it, and she and Jerry plan to have another child soon.

In their hideout apartment, Steve questions Carrie, trying to determine what she might subconsciously know about “Mr. Big.” A noise at the door precipitates their quick exit. Later, Lieutenant Price and Julian follow up a shooting report—the lock has been
shot off the door of the secret apartment. Steve then |shows up alone, claiming that someone shouting at them caused. Carrie to run away from him. Price implies that Steve turned her over to the syndicate, Julian fires him.
 

Nurse Fellowes is. found murdered, and Carrie’s shoe is found in the lake. Price has Steve arrested as an accessory in Carrie’s disappearance. Steve, ironically, hires Tom, who arranges bail.

When Vickie presses Julian on his seeing Avis, he tells her-he’s tired of her jealousy and tantrums. Vickie decides to get away from Somerset. Julian asks her to reconsider; she refuses. Dan learns that Avis lied about the -job offer to Julian. She admits it, but assures Dan that she wants Julian, and with her contract renewal pending, the other networks would like to have her and she can arrange it for Julian. She pledges Dan to secrecy.
 

But suddenly Vickie has a very important reason to stay in Somerset after all. Since he’s now cut off from contact with Julian or Carrie’s friends, Steve visits her secretly, explaining that Julian’s firing him was part of his own plan to allow him fo infiltrate —
the Organization and flush them out from the inside. Vickie senses that Steve is telling her the truth and agrees to be his intermediary with Julian. Vickie also realizes that if Julian is a partner in this scheme with Steve, he too is in danger.

After a‘ painful scene with Carrie’s grandmother Lena at the Hayloft’ Restaurant, Steve realizes he has to put Lena’s mind to rest. He visits her after dark, promising her that everything will be all right and Carrie will come through this safely. Lena, reassured
by him, informs him that she has Greg’s notebooks, which now everybody is looking for. Steve convinces her to let him have them on Julian’s say-so. To ease Lena’s heart, Steven has Julian drive her to a convent out in the country, and there they find Steve with Lieutenant Price. They take Lena inside, where she finds her granddaughter, safe and sound. Julian and, Lena are quickly filled in on what happened at the apartment. Realizing that they were only moments ahead of the hit men hired to eliminate Carrie, they created evidence that she had been either captured or drowned, and Steve hustled her into a taxi with orders that she go to Lieutenant Price’s home. She was then taken secretly to the convent, where she will stay until the trial.

Meanwhile, Tom is becoming badly frightened of his own deepening involvement with the Organization, and finally decides to go to Lieutenant Price and confess now, before he’s in even further. But Price is unavailable, and Tom is beaten up on his way home from police headquarters. Getting the message, Tom, when asked the next day by Price what he’d wanted, makes an excuse and passes off his bruises and
swellings as a traffic accident. Price finds Tom’s story unconvincing somehow.
 

When Julian instructs Steve to hand Greg’ s notebooks over to the police, Steve refuses; he’s sure of Price’s loyalty, but explains that they don’t know if the Organization has already infiltrated the department or not. When Julian finds that his car has been bugged,Lieutenant Price assumes the bug was installed after
their visit to the convent.

Despite warnings from Dan, his publisher, and Fred Harrington that he’s putting his life on the line, Julian has been making repeated statements about his determination to put the big man in the Organization away, once and for all. Tom is frightened when his
contact man from the organization hints that unles Julian shuts up, he will be shut up for good.

Steve now embarks on his plan to be recruited by the Organization. Picking a truck stop as a likely starting point, he returns regularly to advertise his need for. a job and his desire to get back at his former friends, making it clear that he doesn’t care what kind of work he gets. Finally, on the night before the trial,Joe Castor approaches him, saying that he has to be tested—you don’t just walk into the Organization.When Steve finds that he’s going along to pick up Carrie, and that the bug in Julian’s car was there before they visited the convent, he leaves all the lights in his place on when he leaves. Seeing this prearranged signal that something is wrong, Lieutenant Price has Carrie warned immediately. When Steve arrives with Castor they're informed that Carrie went with the police. Only after a complete search does Castor believe this: As Steve leaves with Castor, he winks at one of the assembled nuns: Carrie in disguise.

More to come....

 

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[DRW50]

Thanks @Paul Raven really appreciate this. 

Did Parker Stevenson leave Somerset for OLTL, or was he written out by the show? The Ellen and Dale story seemed to get a positive response, at least in some quarters. Maybe that was too much for P&G. I didn't know about any stories Ellen had after the relationship ended so I'm glad to know a little more now.

Seems like almost every woman on the show had to have some tie or desire for Julian.

I assume this is not written in chronological order, but I notice we got from many typical melodramatic soap stories to all crime stories. 

All this focus on Carrie, Vicky, Heather, etc. reminds me of how much the show seemed to cycle through heroines compared to how they settled on Julian. Who was the long running woman who got focus? Ginger?  

I didn't realize this final headwriter was an unknown. I wonder if Henry Slesar may have recommended him? Or knew of the real him?

Somerset had already had a long run for a soap spinoff, but I wonder if the show would have been renewed if Lemay and Rauch hadn't agreed to try their own soap...or if NBC/P&G were just done.

Edited 23 hours ago by DRW50

[Paul Raven]

I think judging from synoses of other shows, that the summaries are roughly in the order they played throughout the year.

So Kubeck returned to a more crime theme. Maybe now that EON was competition they wanted that audience?

Re Jameson Parker, the story goes that he was not pleased that TPTB wanted to tread lightly with the Dale/Ellen romance and he was taken to task over some improvs he added re touching Ellen in ways considered too 'racey'.So when his contract was up he quickly moved to OLTL as Brad.

[Soaplovers]

If NBC could have for seen the ratings of Lovers & Friends (the replacement for Somerset).. they would have for sure kept Somerset on the air longer.

https://jason47.com/days/ratings1976.html  (ratings for Somerset in the final year)

https://jason47.com/days/ratings1977.html (ratings for Lovers & Friends short run...getting as low as a 2 rating).

 

[DRW50]

Thanks. Some of that sounds even heavier into crime than EON was at that point, although I guess you still had the Vickie/Julian romance and Heather losing her baby. The biggest difference is probably the comfort characters at EON, like Nancy and Mike.

Oh, now I think I remember a little about the raciness. Was there something about toes?

Considering the short time he was at OLTL, I'm not sure if moving made a big difference for Jameson, but I guess it still helped moving to a show that was seen as being revived around that point.

Thanks. I'm sure there are other options listed in Paul's proposed soaps thread, but Lovers & Friends was so hurriedly thrown together it gives the impression NBC was just desperate, flying blind. They took for granted the audience Somerset had in that timeslot. I wonder if one more year might have mattered...probably not, but you always wonder, as that whole thing ended up leading to even more headaches and bad decisions for NBC Daytime. 

What I might have done is consider moving some AW characters over to Somerset. 

Trying to figure out who I'd choose...definitely not Iris. 

[Paul Raven]

1976 Pt 2

The Organization has retained Michael Selby to represent their hit men. The district attorney recognizes his opponent as a noted courtroom specialist and knows he has his work cut out for him. Raising technicality after technicality, Selby quickly eliminates Lieutenant Price’s testimony implicating Bailey and Jerry’s testimony about Heather’s being assaulted. ‘Then, after cutting Julian’s testimony out as common knowledge, Selby goes straight to the heart of the  prosecution’s case. He demands that Carrie be produced now, sure that she’s been taken by the Organization.

To Selby’s horror and shock, the doors open and Carrie walks in, and the courtroom explodes into pandemonium. As soon as the judge can restore order, Carrie is sworn in and begins her testimony. When court recesses for the day, Steve is confronted by another Organization man, Franklin, who questions him about why he took Carrie away. Steve tells him that Carrie was so frightened by the hit man lurking around that he saw his opportunity to be alone with her and “score.” Steve then adds that she wasn’t at all cooperative or friendly—she just cried all the  time—so he dumped her. He insists he has no idea how the police got her after that. Franklin accepts his story, and Steve learns that his next test is to testify to just what he’s told Franklin, omitting, of course, the reference to the hit man.

Carrie insists upon a meeting with Steve and begs him not to go underground. He tells her he can’t back out now; you can’t go through life letting somebody  else do it all the time. Steve takes this opportunity to inform Lieutenant Price that he has to dump on Carrie on the witness stand for the Organization, but he can’t stop now. Julian, irate that Selby has blocked any reference to Nurse Fellowes’s disappearance and murder, as she was the only witness who could corroborate Carrie’s testimony, confronts Selby on this evasion. Selby | coldly tells Julian that there is no concrete connection between the nurses’ death and anything else that’s happened in this case and that to bring it into this trial would be a miscarriage of law.

Julian, realizing  that it all falls on Carrie’s shoulders now, warns her that Selby will be out for blood; he has to make the court believe she’s lying.  The next day the district attorney introduces Carrie’s tape recorder. The tape, burned, as is the recorder, is barely audible. Selby calls for a mistrial, claiming that his clients’ reputations have been damaged enough. As the judge calls a recess: to consider the motion before the bench, the district attorney admits that he predicted everything Selby would do to this point, but had not guessed about this motion. If it works and there’s a new trial, Carrie is in far greater danger. 

Steve now tells Castor that either he’s working for  the Organization as of now or he’s going to look elsewhere for a job. Castor offers the rainy weather as an excuse to wait before contacting “him,” because “the iron in him’Il be driving him crazy.” Realizing that this is a lead, Steve starts to write it down. When he is nearly caught, he warns himself that from now on  everything he learns will have to be kept in his head.  As soon as possible, he passes the “iron” clue along to Julian. The district attorney gains a respite when the judge  turns down the mistrial motion, but the tape has been disallowed also, ruled inadmissible. So it’s Selby’s turn to cross-examine Carrie. When he forces her to admit that she never actually saw the hit man, Selby turns to the jury and informs them that this proves she’s been lying. He then suggests this has all been a plot to boost the circulation of the newspaper she works for.

Selby then goes to work on Carrie’s personal morals. Since she’s admitted that she and Steve spent three days in the apartment, alone together, he asks questions and makes insinuations designed to make the jury believe this was actually a sleazy affair. To Carrie’s horror, he then calls the landlady, Mrs. Wilson who testifies that that Steve and Carrie,registered as Mr. and Mrs. Clark, spent the three days in question drinking and partying with loud music and assorted other sounds coming from their rooms until late each night. Carrie rises to her feet and screams at Mrs. Wilson, ““You’re lying!” Steve is served with a subpena. 

Joe Castor visits “the man”: Fred Harrington! Castor gives Harrington his report on Steve. He thinks Steve, with his computerlike mind, could be invaluable in helping the Organization work out money-exchange problems. Harrington tells Castor he wants the trial over as soon as possible, no matter how it goes. Those men are expendable; he has a bigger problem: Julian.

[dc11786]

The show loses me once the crime stories are in overload. 

Heather and Jerry's marriage doesn't excite me. It would have been tawdry, but I think there should have been more lingering in Heather and/or Greg's feelings for the other. Or at least having someone suspect that their newfound sibling relationship was more complicated. But none of their parents were around. It just feels like they burned through too much story there too quickly. 

Ellen and Dale's romance definitely seems intriguing. I don't think I knew they toyed with Jill having feelings for Dale, which would have meant that Jill was once again considering going after her mother's man. That's a very interesting dynamic. With David coming home from Hong Kong, and Tom afraid of David's involvement, I think they should have given Tom and Jill a try. Tom trying to use Jill to buy respectability and maintain power at the law firm. 

Vicki and Tony's affair seems like fun with Vicki just seeming to see Tony as more of a sexual object and it leading to a health crisis. There was probably some space to explore that both Tony and Ginger's fathers were criminals (Tony's bio dad). I can't remember if Harry Wilson/Ike Harding died, fled town, or went to prison. If he was alive, I think he would have been worth revisiting. 

What fascinated me about "Somerset" in early 1976 is its a show of remnants, pieces of the show's different eras, and they seem to sorta work, not as well as more well defined canvas would. I do think a streamlining was needed, but I am not sure if the criminal angle was the best route to choose. 

[DRW50]

Thanks @Paul Raven 

I concur that this isn't the most interesting material, but I do wish I could see how JoBeth Williams played those trial moments.