Somerset Discussion Thread

[Broderick]

Y'all could be right that it wasn't Henry Slesar.  But I think it's mighty strange that Russell Kubeck popped in as head writer with seemingly no previous writing credits or experience, then vanished into thin air once Somerset bit the dust.  And when you look at the subject matter of those last 6 months of Somerset combined with Slesar's previous tenure there under his own name --- I dunno.  

[Paul Raven]

Well it was just a crazy theory that may never be solved. But it got us thinking.

There have been a couple of other mystery headwriters over the years. I remember when KC Collier tyrned up as ATWT headwriter. I think that was subsequently proved to be Millee Taggart.

So if Kubeck wasn;t Slesar, it might have been another known writer who used a pseudontm for some reason.

Moving on Somerset Pt. 4

Vickie is increasingly upset when both Dan and Fred Harrington warn her to stop Julian on his crusade because of the great danger he is in. But Julian is not to be deterred. Steve is told that Julian is using Greg’s investigation notes for his vendetta against crime and he is to stop Carrie. Steve again refuses, insisting that his job for the Organization is cleaning up their money, nothing more.

Needing a closer eye on Steve, Fred Harrington has a most loyal and efficient  Organization employee brought in to work with him. Denny Saunders is an attractive young woman who sees the Organization as her mother and father—it has provided her with the only nice things she’s ever had—and she is predisposed against Steve from the start because of his “double cross” on the witness stand. Despite this new and difficult. complication in his plans, Steve refuses Lieutenant Price’s plan for his escape. Price has arranged for a whole new identity for Steve, right down to plastic surgery to alter his appearance. But again, in spite of Carrie’s protests and the increased difficulty of making his contacts with the new watchdog on his back, Steve insists he can’t stop now. 

Harrington has a physical checkup with Jerry Kane and reveals, in the presence of Heather and Vickie that he has an iron plate in his arm, the aftermath of a skiing accident. Harrington takes this chance meeting with Vickie as his opportunity to ask her, if she can’t stop Julian, to at least convince him to share his information and plans with the Citizen’s Committee. 

Before leaving on a business trip, Harrington tells Castor he wants Julian taken care of before he gets back.  Sergeant Williams confronts Julian with the inside information he’s been using in his editor’s introductions to Carrie’s articles. Julian refuses to explain where or how he got the material. (It’s from Steve.) Tom has learned from Lena that she had Greg’s papers and let Steve have those he was interested in. Tom assures Lena that his knowing about this will harm no one, and he convinces her to let him help. Carrie is frightened when Julian suddenly disappears, and she discusses her fears with Lieutenant  Price, adding that she’s seen Joe Castor talking to Chip Williams.

Ironically, at that moment Chip walks in with Steve, whom he has arrested on suspicion of auto theft for driving Denny’s car. Denny has to come to the station and vouch for Steve, an experience she finds distasteful. Steve asks her to omit his arrest from her report to Castor, as he’s afraid of being fired. Denny, whose only loyalty is to the Organization, feels she can’t do that, even though Steve reminds her that  there is only one way the Organization “fires” people. Denny does report the arrest to Castor, saying she feels Chip is out to get Steve and she doesn’t want to be involved. Denny is upset, however, when Castor informs her that Steve “is a dead man”; she was never so close to this side of the Organization’s work before.

Castor informs them that they don’t have to worry  about Chip; the Organization can take care of that. He doesn’t mention, of course, that Chip has agreed to supply the Register’s source of information in exchange for Organization help in becoming Chief of Detectives. Steve senses that Denny has become withdrawn since her talk with Castor. He fills Lieutenent Price in about Castor’s assurances that Chip’s no longer a problem, but Price can’t pull Williams off without raising suspicions about Steve. Carrie and Steve meet secretly, and she tearfully expresses her fear that he won’t live long enough for them to have a future.

[DRW50]

Thanks again @Paul Raven . 

With Denny we now get the arrival of Toni Bua. If the show had been renewed, I wonder if she would have stayed on. Given the influx of new female characters in her age range, I don't know.

[Paul Raven]

Wouldn't the plan have been to pair Denny and Steve for a Steve/Denny/Carrie triangle and try to recreate the Tess/Bill dynamic from their time at Love of Life?

Or was it just a short term thing like her role on ATWT?

Maybe Toni wasn't interested in contract gigs?

[DRW50]

That would make sense. I should try to look for one of the interviews Toni had around then (I think there was one somewhere).