Storylines
The show took place in the fictional Virginia town of Wingfield. The community was the home of Wingfield Mills and Chapin Industries, the town's leading employers. Also located in Wingfield was a boarding school for girls called Haddon Hall. The story focused on the Chapin, Gallagher and Robertson families and the people who were connected with them either socially or professionally.
The story began with the death of Chapin family matriarch Katherine, and while everyone mourned her, her long-absent daughter, Taylor (Jo Ann Pflug; Tina Louise), stepped off a helicopter holding a racehorse's victory wreath. Katherine's will was read, setting off a round of battles and squabbles over the will.
Much of the focus of the show was set at Haddon Hall, which was run by president Carter Robertson, who didn't much like the Chapin family. Even when he was discovered to be Patrick Chapin's illegitimate son, he didn't change his views on the family. He was married to Christina Robertson, whose sister, Sara, was married to sleazy Eddie Gallagher, a working-class man, who was shot and killed in self-defense by his daughter, Haddon Hall student Noel, for years of physical and sexual abuse. (This was the result of an on-air contest to discover the victim, the killer, and the motive.)
The series ended its syndicated run in 1985.
Read more about this topic: Rituals (TV series)