Somerset
As stated in my welcome post although I had watched other soaps this was the first soap that I got completely hooked on. Mom says I watched it from the time it came on until it went off. Because I was 6 when it came on I don't remember much about the real early years.
I remember so many wonderful actors from this show and the great storylines. I feel that Somerset like Another World could have been salvaged. The biggest problem was no real core family.
With the demise of the Delaney and Grant families there was no link to the past at all. When Georgann Johson left some months before the show went off the air (as I remember it anyway) that was the last link to the beginning. Before that she had been so underused anyway.
I loved Gene Bua on here as Steve Slade. I had never seen him on Love of Life but quickly knew years later why he was so popular on that show. He and JoBeth Williams as Carrie made a nice couple.
This was also the first show that I fell in love with the acting of Joel Crothers. Years later on SciFi I did get to see him on reruns of Dark Shadows. I think Joel Crothers was a great actor and should have made it to the big time. I liked him with Tina Sloan as Kate. My favorite actress he was paired with was the late Bibi Besch. Julian and Eve made a great couple. Throw into that Kate and then later Veleka Gray as Victoria Paisley you had the nice workings of a great adult love story. I do believe that Victoria Paisley was Ms. Gray's best character and her best acting work.
I also loved James O'Sullivan and Audrey Landers so much as Jerry and Heather Kane. As a young boy let me tell you there were many dreams of Audrey Landers. I esp. loved the storyline with them where Jerry's deranged wife comes back and terrorizes Heather. I do not remember now the actress that played her.
I also loved the mystery elements of Somerset. The blending of mystery, drama, love and family made this a great soap.
One of the biggest disappointments with the show that I had was when Bibi Besch left as Eve and her husband Ned got back together and left town together. I really missed her and kept longing for her to come back.
I will never forget that last month of Somerset when the bad guy turned out to be Julian's boss and best friend. I think this role was played by Bernard Grant. I can't remember his character name now.
And still to this day I can still remember that last scene with them gathered around the bed, all the characters so happy and releived. All the storylines had been tied up. They were celebrating happy news. I can't remember who but someone was pregnant and Julian and Victoria decided to get married.
It was truly a great soap and a happy memory of this man's childhood and early teen years. I still miss it.
Wow! I wish I could have seen it. However, there is one thing that has always puzzled me about the early days (and characters) of Somerset when it was still closely tied to Another World. I'm not sure whether this fits here or in the Another World forum, but since it deals with Somerset characters, I'll pick here. LOL.
If I'm not mistaken, when AW's Rachel found her father Gerald, he was living in Somerset (which gave them the jumping off point for the spin-off, I believe). He'd remarried and had another daughter (Pammy?). Did Rachel ever meet her half-sister? Who was Pammy's mother? What storylines was she involved in? How long was she on the show? What happened to her? Am I completely wrong???? (some Somerset articles and histories I've read make reference to Pammy Davis while others omitt her completely). Did Pammy ever appear on Another World? Did Rachel just completely forget about her? I'm soooooo confused about this one!
Somerset
Gerald had remarried after divorcing Ada. He married a womam name Marsha Davis, who he eventually divorced as well. Marsha was involved in the Harry Wilson plot, I think. The Another World 25th Anniversary book gave some details on her. I would also believe that she was a supporting character involved in the Pammy-Tony-Jill plot. Martha eventually left town but I don't know why.
Onto Pammy. Pammy did appear on Another World for a few episodes in March/April. Pammy and Rachel met, but didn't know they were sisters intially. I believe once Pammy left Somerset, Rachel probably forgot about her.
Edited by: JHathaway77 at: 1/5/02 5:26:43 pm
Mrs. Jerry Kane
Joan/Jennifer Bassey, the actress who later played Abby Wolcott on The Edge of Night and presently plays Marion Colby Chandler on All My Children played Jerry's deranged first wife. I don't know the first name of the character.
And, she also played a role on Love of Life - I think that Somerset was her second soap opera role.
Marsha and Pammy
Marsha Davis was played by Alice Hirson. Ms. Hirson had already played Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night, and she also later played Eileen Riley Siegel #3 on One Life to Live.
Marsha was not really involved in the Harry Wilson story, except that her ex-husband Gerald Davis, was the business partner of Ike Harding - who it turned out was actually Tony's father Harry Wilson.
Rachel (Victoria Wyndham) actully made at least one appearance on Somerset during its early days. Her husband Ted Clark, her mother Ada, and her stepfather Ernie were also on Somerset. Most - or at least a large part - of the Another World cast was used for cameo appearances on Somerset.
I do not remember Pammy (Pamela Toll) ever being on Another World, but I did not watch Another World - just Somerset at the time.
Ms. Toll was a fantastic actress. She had previously been Penny Davis on The Doctors, which I did not watch either. (Somerset was the first NBC show that I ever watched.)
She and Judi Rolin of The Secret Storm were both extremely good actresses who had done some television work prior to being on the soap operas - and who, unfortunately, have done little acting except for some commercials since that time.
I beleive that Ms. Toll did go to Hollywood to star in a Walt Disney movie, but that may have been in between The Doctors and Somerset.
Another World missed out on some great opportunities in its later years by not resurrecting the Pammy character.
And, Walter Davis, who played the father of Rachel and Pammy, did move to Another World for a while. But, I really do not remember anything about Pamela Toll being on Another World as Pammy.
Re: Marsha and Pammy
From everything I've read about the Gerald/Rachel dynamic (so similar to the Eric/Erica relationship on All My Children, which, of course, is natural since Agnes Nixon patterned Rachel on Erica) and considering the Gerald/Pammy relationship, I feel that AW missed out by not utilizing the Pammy character in its series after her departure from Somerset. I think a very interesting rivalry could have been developed between Rachel and Pammy. Rachel, who was always searching for a man to replace the father who abandoned her, and her sister who was raised with the father she was always denied. I think that would have been a very intreguing story to tell!
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