Airing in a time slot prone to affiliate pre-exemption (4:00/3:00 Central) caused "Somerset" to struggle throughout the whole of its 6¾-year history to gain a foothold in the daytime pantheon. ABC's "Dark Shadows" held the ratings and clearances lead at the time "Somerset" went on the air, but the unpopular "Leviathan" and "Parallel Time" storylines coincided with the premiere of "Somerset". This enabled NBC's new show to push the ratings of "Dark Shadows" down considerably, and "Somerset" achieved promising ratings during its first year. "Dark Shadows" had achieved a rating of 7.3 during the 1969-1970 season, but by the end of the 1970-1971 season, "Somerset" had a rating of 7.0 and "Dark Shadows" a rating of 5.3. A successful revival of the game show "Password" entered ABC's schedule at that slot during the 1970-71 season, and its ratings success cut into the "Somerset" audience. Ratings did improve somewhat during the Slesar period (CBS' "The Secret Storm" ended a long run against "Somerset"), but after the end of a successful murder storyline in late 1971, the show's ratings began to stagnate or decline.