''The Hamptons'' is a prime-time

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

which ran for five episodes on ABC during the summer of 1983. The show centered on the wealthy Chadway and Duncan-Mortimer families, who commuted between the affluent

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

community, and their jointly owned department store chain in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Series overview

''The Hamptons'' was produced by Gloria Monty, best known for turning the initially low-rated daytime serial ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

'' into a soap phenomenon. The series was shot on videotape rather than film, which gave it a look consistent with most daytime soap operas, and featured many cast members from daytime shows, such as

Leigh Taylor-Young Leigh Taylor-Young (born January 25, 1945) is an American former actress who has appeared on stage, screen, podcast, radio, and television. Her best-known films include '' I Love You, Alice B. Toklas'' (1968), '' The Horsemen'' (1971), '' The Gan ...

('' Peyton Place''), Michael Goodwin ('' Another World''), John Reilly (''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...

'' and ''

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

'') and Bibi Besch ('' Secrets of Midland Heights'', ''

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

'' and '' Love Is a Many Splendored Thing''). The show aired Wednesday nights ahead of reruns of ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

''. Its storylines were driven by the rivalry between the Chadway and Duncan-Mortimer families, as each family aimed to gain control of the Duncan-Chadway department chain. The Chadways included Peter Chadway, managing director of Duncan-Chadway, his wife Lee, son Brian and daughter Miranda. The Duncan-Mortimers were headed by Adrienne, an alcoholic heiress, her husband Jay, president of Duncan-Chadway, and Tracy, her daughter from a previous marriage who is engaged to Brian. Also featured were Dr. David Landau, his lawyer girlfriend Cheryl Ashcroft, and rival businessman Nick Atwater of the Syndrex conglomerate. Fran Carlon appeared in a recurring role as Ada, the family housekeeper. By the fifth and final episode, Peter Chadway was accused of murdering Penny Drake (

Jada Rowland Jada Rowland (born February 23, 1943) is an American actress. Early life A native of Staten Island, Rowland was born into a family of actors and artists. Rowland is the sister of actor Jeffrey Rowland and actress Gigi Anderson. Her brother pla ...

), the store's personnel director, and Jay Mortimer was exposed as having forced his stepdaughter Tracy into an incestuous relationship. It was hoped if that if ratings were strong, the series would return to the ABC schedule at some point. However, no further episodes were produced and the cliffhangers were left unresolved.Tim Brooks & Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present'', Ballantine Books, 2007.

Cast and characters

* Bibi Besch as Adrienne Duncan-Mortimer *

Martha Byrne Mary Martha Byrne (born December 23, 1969) is an American actress. She played the role of Lily Walsh Snyder on the soap opera ''As the World Turns'' from 1985 to 1989, then again from 1993 to 2008; as well as, from 2000 to 2003, Lily's twin sis ...

as Miranda Chadway * Philip Casnoff as David Landau *Kate Dezina as Cheryl Ashcroft * Michael Goodwin as Peter Chadway * Daniel Pilon as Nick Atwater * John Reilly as Jay Mortimer *Holly Roberts as Tracy Mortimer * Craig Sheffer as Brian Chadway *

as Lee Chadway

Episodes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamptons (TV series), The 1983 American television series debuts 1983 American television series endings American primetime television soap operas American Broadcasting Company soap operas American English-language television shows