Somerset

1 9 7 0 – 1 9 7 6 (USA)
1,710 x 30 minute episodes

This NBC daytime soap was a spinoff from Another World – in fact, it was originally called Another World: Somerset and even shared the theme music with that show.

The early shows initially concerned the lives of four characters from Another World – Missy Matthews, Lahoma Vane Lucas, Ricky Matthews and Sam Lucas, all living in the town of Somerset (said to be about an hour’s drive from Another World‘s Bay City), where Sam Lucas was a lawyer working in partnership with Ben Grant.

Pretty quickly, though, the show’s format changed to a mystery/crime theme with regular murders and criminal activity (even though Somerset had only 25,000 people living in it – it seems they were all crooked!).

The star family in the early years were the Delaneys. Jasper (Ralph Clanton) owned the family business, and Peter (Len Gochman), Robert (Nicolas Coster), and Laura (Dorothy Stinnette) were his kids.

Robert followed in his dad’s footsteps (unwillingly) while unhappily wed to India (Ann Wedgeworth). He fell in love with Jessica Buchanan (Wynne Miller, niece of the late bandleader Glenn Miller), a nightclub singer at the Riverboat, but his dad forbade him to divorce India.

Jessica’s brother Randy (Gary Sandy) was a gambling casino operator at the Riverboat who played rough. So did its owner, Ike Harding, who was actually Harry Wilson (Fred J Scollay), the man who fathered Laura Cooper’s son Tony (Doug Chapin).

An inquisitive Jasper found out and threatened to expose Wilson, but the latter retaliated by killing him. Harry’s villainy was later revealed, and he died in a gunfight at his club. A distraught Laura went into a sanitarium.

Following Jasper’s death, his sons proved unwilling to assume control of Delaney Brands, so crime boss Leo Kurtz George Coe initially and Gene Fanning from 1972) bought the company. His brother Dr Stanley Kurtz (Michael Lipton), was more noble, treating socialite Andrea Moore (Harriet Hall) when she was poisoned by Zoe (Lois Smith) and marrying Dr Teri Martin (Gloria Hoye).

Zoe eventually killed both Chrystal Ames (Diahn Williams), a secretary at Delaney, and her own brother Carter Matson (Jay Gregory), the latter accidentally in a last-ditch effort to get Andrea. Zoe went to an insane asylum, and Andrea’s mom Emily (Lois Kibbee), dad Philip Matson (Frank Schofield), and brother Dana Moore (Christopher Pennock), left town.

A slightly more stable family (for a time) were the Grants – Ben (Ed Kemmer), who had a law practice with Sam Lucas, his wife Ellen (Georgann Johnson), and their children David (Ron Martin) and Jill (Susan MacDonald). Ellen offered comfort to the children when Jill’s husband Mitch Farmer (Richard Shoberg) and Ben both died in a plane crash in 1974.

Ellen later drew their ire for dating a younger man named Dale Robinson (Jameson Parker), while Jill dated Greg Mercer (Gary Swanson).

Sam Lucas (Jordan Chaney) left his law practice to become president of Delaney Brands, then Rex Cooper (Paul Sparer) became paralysed from the waist down following an “accident,” and Chrystal (before her death) insinuated that she had a relationship with Sam.

This caused Lahoma (Ann Wedgeworth) to leave Sam and later prompted him to return to Bay City briefly. But Kurtz eventually got caught when he had associates kill plant manager Virgil Paris (Marc Alaimo) for raping Leo’s daughter Ginger.

Mark Mercer (Stanley Grover) became the new plant manager, and Rex Cooper followed Sam Lucas as its president.

Meanwhile, Ellen Grant had to deal with the shock that her father, Judge Brad Bishop (Allan Gifford), was retiring and marrying Eve Lawrence (Bibi Besch), a woman half his age. Eve’s daughter Heather (Audrey Landers) was none too thrilled with the prospect of marriage between the two either, nor was Edith Mercer (Judith Searle), whose husband Mark had been involved with Eve years earlier.

That involvement had tragic consequences when Heather, falling in love with Mark and Edith’s son Greg, learned that he was actually her half-brother due to a previous affair between Eve and Mark.

Judge Bishop decided not to wed Eve but went on an extended vacation with grandson David Grant (Ron Martin) for a time (David later returned). Heather went on to have a troubled marriage with the older Dr Jerry Kane (James O’Sullivan).

In the show’s last two years, Julian Cannell (Joel Crothers), Zoe’s ex-husband, took centre stage as its romantic lead and editor of the Somerset Register newspaper.

After the murder of his second wife, Chrystal, and then a failed relationship with Eve Lawrence, Julian took another shot at marriage, this time with Kate Thornton (Tina Sloan). But Kate was impressionable, and insinuations from sleazy lawyer Tom Conway (Ted Danson) about the stability of her marriage led her to have an abortion.

When bitchy Victoria Paisley (Veleka Gray) told luckless Julian that Kate had aborted their child, he divorced Kate and went back to Eve. Unfortunately for him, Eve decided to wed Ned Paisley (James Congdon), Victoria’s brother. He then tried Victoria, and that relationship actually turned out to be his best, since she mellowed considerably.

One of his reporters, Carrie Wheeler (JoBeth Williams), also found true love with fellow newshound Steve Slade (Gene Bua) after pursuing Greg Mercer, who was killed by a hitman.

Though it occupied the same time slot for over six years, Somerset was never a ratings winner.

Few of its characters and stories really caught on with viewers. Even when its successful parent Another World preceded it (from 1975-76), Somerset failed to hold on to the Another World audience.

Its replacement was, of all things, The Gong Show.

Virgil Paris 
Marc Alaimo
Eve Lawrence 
Bibi Besch
Tony Cooper 
Doug Chapin
Sam Lucas 
Jordan Chaney
Lahoma Lucas
Ann Wedgeworth
Jasper Delaney 
Ralph Clanton
Robert Delaney 
Nicolas Coster
Julian Cannell 
Joel Crothers
Rowena Standish 
Dortha Duckworth
Tom Conway 
Ted Danson
Lai Ling 
Helen Funai
Peter Delaney 
Len Gochman
Andrea Moore 
Harriet Hall
Ellen Grant 
Georgann Johnson
Ben Grant 
Ed Kemmer
David Grant 
Ron Martin
Jill Grant Farmer
Susan MacDonald
Gerald Davis 
Walter Matthews
Dale Robinson 
Jameson Parker
Dr Karen MacMillan 
Nancy Pinkerton
Danny Catsworth 
Melinda Plank
Missy Palmer Matthews 
Carol Roux
Harry Wilson (Ike Harding)
Fred J Scollay
Mitch Farmer 
Richard Shoberg
Rex Cooper 
Paul Sparer
Laura Delaney Cooper 
Dorothy Stinnette
Pammy Davis 
Pamela Toll
India Bishop Delaney Hillman 
Ann Wedgeworth
Avis Ryan 
Sigourney Weaver
Carrie Wheeler 
JoBeth Williams
Jessica Buchanan
Wynne Miller
Randy Buchanan
Gary Sandy
Leo Kurtz
George Coe (1)
Gene Fanning (2)
Dr Stanley Kurtz
Michael Lipton
Dr Teri Martin Kurtz
Gloria Hoye
Chrystal Ames
Diahn Williams
Greg Mercer
Gary Swanson
Zoe Cannell
Lois Smith
Carter Matson
Jay Gregory
Philip Matson
Frank Schofield
Emily Moore Matson
Lois Kibbee
Dana Moore
Christopher Pennock
Virgil Paris
Marc Alaimo
Mark Mercer
Stanley Grover
Judge Brad Bishop
Allan Gifford
Heather Lawrence Kane
Audrey Landers
Edith Mercer
Judith Searle
Dr Jerry Kane
James O’Sullivan
Kate Thornton Cannell
Tina Sloan
Victoria Paisley
Veleka Gray
Ned Paisley
James Congdon
Steve Slade
Gene Bua
Mr Whittington 
Edward Winter

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