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'''Passions''' is an American television soap opera created by veteran writer James E. Reilly. It debuted on NBC on July 5 1999, replacing the long running soap opera ''Another World'', and its final airdate on NBC was September 7 2007. The series will begin airing new episodes on DirecTV-exclusive channel The 101 on September 17 2007.[1]
In the beginning, ''Passions'' centered largely around horror-oriented themes; it now routinely uses drama and comedy instead. ''Passions'' follows the various romantic and supernatural adventures of the residents of Harmony, a New England hamlet.
Though plagued since its inception by low overall Nielsen Ratings, ''Passions'' has historically been top-rated in key demographics.[2] On May 26, 2006, NBC announced it would renew the program for its eighth season, but the renewal also brought along significant budget cuts.
''Passions'' was not renewed by NBC for a ninth season in 2007 as a result of NBC's decision to extend ''Today'' to a fourth hour.[3] Series producer NBC Studios and DirecTV announced on April 25, 2007 that new episodes of ''Passions'' will begin airing on DirecTV original-programming channel The 101 on September 17, 2007.[1] According to the announcement, the show will run Monday to Thursday in its current timeslot of 2 pm ET, with repeats of the show airing on the weekends.
On May 24, 2007, NBC Universal announced that many principal cast members had been signed for the series' upcoming season on DirecTV.[5] On July 3, 2007 is was reported that new Canadian premium television service SuperChannel will air ''Passions'' in Canada when the channel launches in October 2007.[6]
On August 23, 2007, castmember Eric Martsolf said that DirecTV was working on a way to release episodes online once the soap left NBC. DirecTV has not made an official announcement.[7]
Storylines
Major storylines throughout the soap's run have included:
★ Theresa's (Lindsay Hartley) schemes to steal Ethan Crane (Travis Schuldt, Eric Martsolf) away from his wife, Gwen (Liza Huber, Natalie Zea, then Huber again). Ultimately Theresa seduced Ethan away from Gwen, who retaliated by exposing the fact that Ethan was not a biological Crane (his father being his mother's secret lover), a move that resulted in Ethan changing his name from Crane to Winthrop. Since then, Theresa and Ethan have married, though the revelation that Theresa's son from another marriage is Ethan's own biological son hangs over her head.
★ Kay's (Taylor Anne Mountz, Gina Marie May, Deanna Wright, Heidi Mueller) desire to be with her cousin Charity's (Molly Stanton, Kristina Sisco) boyfriend, Miguel (Jesse Metcalfe, Adrian Bellani), and her current inability to choose between Miguel and now-husband Fox Crane (Justin Hartley, Mark Cameron Wystrach). After Fox lied about his fake illness and Miguel trying to run him over with his car, Kay has chosen to be with Miguel.
★ Tabitha's (Juliet Mills) desire to wreak havoc upon the citizens of Harmony, her exploits with her "living doll" Timmy, and the raising of her daughter, Endora (Nicole Cox).
★ Eve's (played by Tracey Ross) affair with former Crane heir Julian (Ben Masters) and the search for their long-lost son, who was revealed to be the hermaphrodite tabloid reporter Vincent Clarkson (Phillip Jeanmarie), who wreaked havoc throughout Harmony as the villainous masked blackmailer.
★ Charity's premonitions and powers of good being a target of Tabitha and other evil forces. Her powers often foreshadowed many secrets and events that would affect the people of Harmony. More specifically, Tabitha trying to prevent Charity from making love to Miguel so she would not come into her full powers, the prom boat disaster, Warlock Island, Hecuba the witch, and much more.
★ The recurring character, Norma, trying to to kill Tabitha (and Timmy during his time on the show)
★ Whitney's (Brook Kerr) romantic relationship with Chad (Donn Swaby, Charles Divins); when Chad was mistakenly assumed to be Whitney's long-lost brother, Chad turned to a homosexual relationship with Vincent Clarkson, who later revealed that he seduced Chad to punish Whitney for growing up with her mother.
★ Ivy's (Kim Johnston Ulrich) schemes to win back her first love Sam (James Hyde), with whom she conceived her son Ethan behind her husband Julian Crane's back.
★ Sheridan (McKenzie Westmore) and Luis's (Galen Gering) relationship, which collapsed when Sheridan chose to marry Luis's brother Antonio (Christopher Douglas) rather than be with Luis.Their relationship was further strained when Sheridan had accused Luis of not doing anything to find their son Marty, who was kidnapped by Luis's psycho ex lover Beth,(Kelli McCarty), and was presumed dead. When Luis attempted to move on with his life by beginning a relationship with Sheridan's niece, Fancy (Emily Harper), Sheridan transformed from heroine to villain and vowed to destroy both Fancy and Luis's lives if she could not have Luis. This has led Sheridan, among other crimes, to allow Luis to be convicted and executed for a murder he did not commit, to attempt to murder Luis's sister Theresa, to make Fancy look like she is crazy and lying about being attacked, and to attempt to slander Fancy's good name; this culminated with the arrival of Fancy's sister Pretty, whom Fancy accidentally disfigured when Pretty provoked a physical altercation with her sister over a boy, and Luis finally realizing what Sheridan had been up to and wanting nothing more to do with her.
★ Alistair's (David Bailey, John Reilly) continuing efforts to meddle in the lives of the citizens of Harmony, and recently his quest for ultimate power, including the impersonation of a monk to lure sixteen people from Harmony to Rome as pawns in his scheme.
History
''Passions'' debuted with major fanfare (Reilly had been credited for a large surge in the ratings for ''Days of our Lives'') but also some controversy (lead heroine Sheridan's best friend was the late Princess Diana, and, in flashbacks, Sheridan spoke to Diana on the phone right before she was killed).
For much of the first three to four years of the series, supernatural elements such as witches, warlocks, and closet doors leading to Hell were major plot points. One central character was Charity (Molly Stanton, Kristina Sisco), a saccharine young woman who would regularly become possessed by the "forces of evil" and turn into "Evil Charity", "Zombie Charity", etc. NBC even made a deal with the owners of ''Bewitched'' to allow "Dr. Bombay" to appear in scenes with witch Tabitha Lenox (not to be confused with ''Bewitched's'' Tabitha Stevens). "Dr. Bombay" appeared on three occasions, but ''Bewitched'' nixed any future visits; however, when Tabitha had a child in 2003, she named the baby Endora. Tabitha also stated on an episode that her mother was named Samantha and that her father was a mortal named Darren. Recently, a new storyline brought back some of these elements with the introduction of the character Siren, a mermaid that Endora brought to life and made human to keep Kay from leaving Fox for Miguel.
Over time, ''Passions'' moved away from supernatural elements and began to concentrate on the usual array of love triangles and returns from the dead. One of their most popular storylines was the interracial romance between filthy rich letch Julian Crane (Ben Masters) and icy doctor Eve Russell (Tracey Ross). Their '70s love affair produced a child, but Julian's father Alistair demanded they break up so Julian could marry a more "suitable" (white) woman. Eve married former tennis star TC (Rodney Van Johnson) and had two daughters, Whitney (Brook Kerr) and Simone (Lena Cardwell, Chrystee Pharris-Larkins, then Cathy Jenéen Doe). Years later, the revelations of Julian and Eve's love as well as the news that Eve had caused the car accident which ended TC's tennis career led TC to dump Eve and take up with her half-sister, Liz. Julian, who had never stopped loving Eve, reunited with her after giving up his boozing and adulterous ways. During the summer of 2005, TC and Eve's youngest daughter Simone came out as a lesbian. Passions made daytime history by being the only serial to show two women (Simone and Rae) in bed making love. Most recently, Chad was revealed to be the child of Alistair and Liz, allowing him and Whitney to get married and raise their son Miles. Then a major storyline started on October 10, 2006 entitled "Passions: Tabloid Truth" This was another interactive storyline not unlike "Passions: Red" and "Passions: Vendetta" During the 12-week umbrella story we will see the some of the shows biggest secrets revealed via tabloid reporter JT Cornell. In the last months of Passions on NBC a mysterious half man and half woman blackmailer was practically blackmailing the entire hamlet of Harmony and that lead to many secrets being revealed. The blackmailer turned out to be Vincent the long lost son/daughter of Eve and Julian, who happens to be intersexed which leads many fans to think Vincent and Valerie are the same person since they are never shown together. Valerie knew who their child was months before it was revealed to be Vincent. Vincent blames his intersexed state on Julian and Eve's drug use during their early relationship. The final months on NBC have shown many secrets revealed and Kay using her magic. But still two big secrets that haven't been revealed will remain to be seen. One being that Gwen and Rebecca are the ones that sent the email to the tabloids about Ethan's true paternity way back from 2001, and the other is Theresa's secret that Little Ethan is actually the biological child of Ethan.
Controversy
When it premiered in 1999, ''Passions'' featured a controversial storyline in which Sheridan Crane was identified as a close friend of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. In the storyline, Sheridan recalled speaking to Diana on the phone immediately prior to the 1997 car accident which took the Princess' life. Sheridan also had a similar accident in the same Paris tunnel, and spoke to a "guardian Angel Diana" who urged her to fight to survive.[8] Sheridan later adopted the name Diana after a boating accident that resulted in amnesia.
In 2003, ''Passions'' submitted a trained orangutan named BamBam, who had been portraying the recurring role of Precious, for a Daytime Emmy Award. Precious was the non-speaking live-in nurse and caregiver for elderly Edna Wallace (Kathleen Noone), and held an unrequited love for Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald (depicted in elaborate fantasy sequences). In early 2004, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which administers the awards, disallowed the entry, with the following statement:
Our ruling is based on the belief that the Academy must draw a line of distinction between animal characters that aren't capable of speaking parts and human actors whose personal interpretation in character portrayal creates nuance and audience engagement that uniquely qualifies those performers for consideration of television's highest honor.
In 2007, ''Passions'' began the storyline of Chad, Charles Divins, cheating on his wife Whitney, Brook Kerr, with a man. ''Passions'' was also the first soap opera to have a storyline with a major underlying gay theme with the union of Simone Cathy Jeneen Doe and her partner Rae. Another recurring lesbian couple are Norma and Edna who met in a mental instution and became allies against Tabitha. In August 2007 they were seen dancing romantically and talking about their love life.
Move to DirecTV
Shortly after NBC announced that ''Passions'' would be ending its run on the network on September 7, DirecTV announced that it would be picking up the soap on September 17 airing the program on The 101 Monday through Thursday of every week.
The move to DirecTV comes at a slight cost, as the show's already low budget will be slightly trimmed.
As of September 6 2007, the following current actors have signed a contract to appear on the series when it moves to DirecTV: Erin Cardillo, Dylan Fergus, Galen Gering, Emily Harper, Lindsay Hartley, Liza Huber, James Hyde, Eric Martsolf, Ben Masters, Juliet Mills, Heidi Mueller, Tracey Ross, Melinda Sward, Eva Tamargo, Kim Johnston Ulrich, and McKenzie Westmore; in addition, newcomer Amy Castle has signed a contract to play Esme Vanderheusen's teenage niece, Viki. Meanwhile, Nicole Cox, Andrea Evans, Phillip Jeanmarie, Christopher Maleki, John Reilly, Daphnee Duplaix Samuel, Colton Shires, Danica Stewart, Rodney Van Johnson, and Adrian Wilson have all agreed to appear on DirecTV on a recurring basis. So far, only Silvana Arias, Adrian Bellani, Charles Divins, Cathy Jeneen Doe, Brook Kerr, James Stevenson, and Mark Cameron Wystrach have announced that they will not appear on ''Passions'' following the transition. Arias's character has been recast with Hannia Guillen.
''Passions' impending move to DirecTV was met with heavily mixed reactions from fans. While some viewers, especially those who are already DirecTV customers, are pleased that the show will continue on, others, mainly fans who are not subscribers of DirecTV, are upset that ''Passions'' will no longer be available to them through their current television services. As a result, numerous campaigns and petitions directed towards both NBC and DirecTV have surfaced across the Internet in recent months in an attempt to allow episodes of ''Passions'' to remain available for viewing online. Though NBC's ''Passions'' webpage originally stated that ''Passions'' would no longer be available for streaming on their website once the series leaves their network, DirecTV has indicated that episodes of ''Passions'' will be available on NBC.com for a small fee starting in mid- or late-October.
NBC finale
The final airdate on NBC for ''Passions'' was September 7 2007. The episode, while answering a few questions, was largely made up of cliffhangers designed to entice viewers to DirecTV. Cliffhangers included the following[9]:
★ Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald finally found out that Tabitha Lenox is a witch, and that his girlfriend, Kay Bennett Crane, possesses magical powers. When demons from Tabitha's basement tried to kidnap Tabitha's daughter, Endora, Miguel rushed after the little girl to save her and became trapped in Tabitha's basement. When Tabitha and Kay were finally able to get into the basement, it was empty; the Boys in the Basement had left, and they had apparently taken Miguel and Endora with them.
★ Fox Crane and Esme Vanderheusen had sex for the first time; each admitted to feeling as if they'd "always been together". When Fox got up to get some wine, a loud sound was heard. Esme hid under the covers and asked Fox what had happened, and he replied, "A gunshot." When she re-emerged from beneath the covers, she found Fox lying on the floor, a gunshot wound in his chest and blood trickling from his mouth; she began to scream for help, and he appeared to die.
★ Eve Russell went to visit Valerie Davis and inform her that her ex-boyfriend, Vincent Clarkson, had fallen from a cliff and died. After Eve left, Valerie began to converse with Vincent, who answered with Valerie's mouth. Looking in the mirror, Valerie ripped off her mask and revealed Vincent beneath.
★ Spike Lester showed Sheridan Crane Boothe a video of her son, Marty Lopez-Fitzgerald, in an unknown playroom. When he zoomed in on a calendar, which showed September 2007, Sheridan received proof that her son did not die in a train accident a year earlier.
★ Alistair Crane attempted to use his mind-control device to force his granddaughter, Fancy, to slap and verbally abuse her boyfriend, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. The device malfunctioned, though, and gave Fancy a near-fatal headache. The headache stopped, but Fancy soon received a heavy nosebleed, and fainted.
★ After learning that their son, Ethan, had awoken from his coma, Sam Bennett and Ivy Winthrop kissed, apparently reuniting. In earlier scenes, Sam also seemed to have forgiven Ivy for her schemes to break him apart from his late wife, Grace.
★ Ethan Winthrop finally awoke from his coma and remembered his wife, Theresa, telling him that he had a son. While Theresa waited for Pilar to bring in her son with Ethan, Little Ethan, Ethan's ex-wife, Gwen, arrived with an infant baby boy and announced that he was her son with Ethan. (Theresa only ever told Ethan that he had a son, never clarifying that said son was Little Ethan, or that she was the mother of his son.)
Trademarks
Pop culture spoofs
Over its run, ''Passions'' has become widely known for its numerous parodies of pop culture. One fan favorite was the 2003 spoof of the 2002 film ''Chicago'', in which character Edna Wallace fantasized that she, her demented daughter, Beth, Charlie, and her orangutan caretaker, Precious, had been incarcerated for the kidnapping of Sheridan Lopez-Fitzgerald and her unborn son, Marty. In this fantasy, the three women sang "I Ain't Sorry", a parody of "Cell Block Tango". The song was performed in the style of musical theatre, and was simultaneously mocked and adored by fans. Another spoof popular with the fans was the 2006 Bollywood spoof, in which Gwen dreamt of a life in India with her husband, Ethan, far away from his ex-fiancée, Theresa. The original song accompanying this spoof, "Love is Ecstasy", was a hit with fans, and NBC even put both a video clip and a downloadable mp3 version of the song on their website. The show has also featured storylines and sequences paying homage to or parodying films and books like ''Titanic'', ''Brokeback Mountain'', '', ''The Wizard of Oz'', ''The Da Vinci Code'' and ''Wicked''.
Dream sequences
One of ''Passions' most notorious trademarks is the false "dream sequence". Oftentimes, the show will play out an outlandish event, or explode a huge secret viewers have longtime been waiting to see, only to immediately after go back and reveal it all to be a day dream. This dream sequence can last anywhere from a few scenes to a few episodes, typically beginning without warning. On ''Passions'', often a dream sequence will begin with no visual cues of any sort what so ever. Oftentimes going as far to include contradictory elements to give the dream sequence credence. (For instance, another character may show up within the dream wearing an outfit, or revealing information that the daydreamer had no possible way of knowing about beforehand.) While a veteran viewer can usually spot a fake dream sequence once it's neared its climax, the fake dream sequence tend to cause confusion amongst the more casual viewer who may not get to catch the revelation that it was all dream.
Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholicism and its principles figure greatly into the show's themes. Several characters, including Grace Bennett and Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald, are portrayed as being particularly devout Catholics, often praying with a rosary. Father Lonigan, the blind priest, has the ability to sense evil, causing lots of trouble for Tabitha over the years. Many theological debates on the importance of Catholic marriage vows have arisen over the years as well, as various characters attempt to divorce or remarry.
Fate and "destined" couples
Another trademark of the serial is its preoccupation with the concepts of fate and soulmates. Since the show's first episode in 1999, the writers have pushed several couples onto the fans, claiming that they are "fated", and, with few short-lived exceptions, have failed to mix up any of the relationships. Some of the early "fated" couples were considered to be those of Luis and Sheridan, Ethan and Theresa, Miguel and Charity, and Chad and Whitney. Common indications of a couple's status as "fated" include (but are not necessarily limited to) Tabitha's desire to split said couple up, an unshakeable love that survives numerous break-ups and relationships with third parties, and/or an ability of one character, or perhaps both characters, to "sense" when his/her "soulmate" is in danger. However, despite the fact that each of these couples has existed as a storyline since the first episodes, the show seems to have given up on the "fated" angle as it approaches its end. Ethan and Theresa are still in love and fighting to be together, but Miguel is now in love with Kay (not Charity), Luis loves Fancy (not Sheridan, though Sheridan schemes to get him back), and Whitney recently left Chad after finding out about his affair with Vincent.
Summertime extravaganzas
Likely due to ''Passions' school-aged target audience, the show often cooks up large, wild storylines for the summer, which often, but not always, take place in a city outside of Harmony. In 1999, a carnival came to town as characters were introduced; 2000 saw Luis and Sheridan traveling to New Mexico in search of his then-missing father, Martin Fitzgerald, and 2001 witnessed the failed double-wedding of popular couples Luis and Sheridan and Ethan and Theresa, and their subsequent journey to Bermuda, where Sheridan apparently perished in a boat explosion and Theresa wound up married to Ethan's ex-stepfather, Julian Crane. In 2002, Julian and Timmy set out on a journey in the magical land of Oz as Theresa was "executed" for Julian's "murder"; 2003 saw six characters (Chad, Whitney, Fox, Theresa, Ethan, and Gwen, collectively known as the "LA Six") travel to Los Angeles for the summer (and into October), while, in 2004, Luis and Sheridan traveled to Puerto Arena, Mexico, to retrieve his younger sister, Paloma (and ended up finding his missing father, Martin, and her "dead" mother, Katherine). The plot of the summer in 2005 was a deadly earthquake and tsumani, which destroyed much of Harmony and resulted in the death of James's mother, Maureen, while 2006 saw the extravagant ''Passions Vendetta'' plot,[10] in which Alistair lured seventeen people (Whitney, Simone, Paloma, Chad, Ethan, Theresa, Gwen, Lena, Spike, Jessica, Maya, Noah, Esme, Fancy, Luis, Beth, and Marty) to Rome (all shots of Rome were provided by Vita digital productions), where he planned to take over the world with a chalice stolen from the Pope's private chambers; the plot saw the death of Lena, Maya, Alistair, Beth, and Marty. In the summer of 2007 they introduced us to the blackmailer plot where the blackmailer tried to destroy the lives of everyone in Harmony.
Sexual violence
Another recurring theme on ''Passions'' is sexual violence. Many storylines, especially through the last half of ''Passions' run, have included rape as a plot point. The use of rape is so prevalent, in fact, that nearly every major character on the show has either committed or been victim to a rape, including a handful of characters who have both been raped and have sexually assaulted someone else. In 2006 for instance, a storyline was featured where Crane patriarch Alistair Crane made deals involving sex as payment with his wife Theresa, but then would subsequently rape her if she tried to renege. And in the summer of that year, ''Passions'' introduced the mermaid, Siren, who had the ability to force men to sleep with her simply by singing her "Siren song." Passions has even begun storylines involving double rapes, where couples are forced to sleep together by outside forces; in the fall of 2006, when police officers Fancy Crane and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald were busted on an undercover assignment, the couple was forced to shoot a porn video for a mob boss or else be killed. Oddly enough, men on the show are equally as likely to be violated as women. In 2006 alone the following characters were all victims of a sexual assault: Julian Crane, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane, Jessica Bennett, Fancy Crane, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald, Fox Crane, Ethan Winthrop, and Katherine Barrett Crane.
Eerie deaths
One unfortunate trademark for ''Passions'' has been eerie deaths. In 2002, Josh Ryan Evans, who played Tabitha's extremely popular doll sidekick Timmy, died while on medical leave, just as scenes were airing where Timmy died in the hospital and went to Heaven. ''Passions'' had planned to revive the character in a few months once Evans returned from his own surgery, but instead had to write Timmy out. After five years of evil Crane patriarch Alistair being heard but never having his face seen (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), ''Passions'' finally cast the role with longtime daytime vet David Bailey. Bailey was a hit with the cast as well as the fans, but on Thanksgiving Day 2004, he drowned in his pool, just as scenes were airing where various characters tried to kill Alistair, who actually suffered clinical death before being magically revived by Tabitha. Again, the viewers and the producers were stunned, but the show had no choice but to recast the pivotal role (with John Reilly).
Breaking the fourth wall
With its humor and occasional tongue-in-cheek tone, ''Passions'' has been known to "break the fourth wall," or somehow call attention to the fact that the show is fictional. In an early episode, Kay, Simone and Zombie Charity were seen actually watching ''Passions''. In a 2002 episode Theresa was giving birth while stuck in a cabin with Ethan and Gwen; she had a hallucination in which the three of them did a dance together and sang the show's theme. In 2004, TC made a reference to "that crazy soap after ''Days of our Lives''", which in most areas airs before ''Passions''. In one episode Fancy Crane used a magazine to hide her face from Noah; the magazine had an image of the then-unseen Rachel Barrett with the sentence "Who is she?" under the ''Passions'' logo. Fancy later commented that serials "are just like life; you never know what's going to happen!" In an early 2006 episode, Ivy and assistant Valerie were searching on the internet for Miguel to bring him back to Harmony and interfere with Fox and Kay's relationship. They couldn't find him, but Valerie tracked down his last place of employment: he was last seen working as a gardener in some suburban town on a street called Wisteria Lane. At that time, Jesse Metcalfe (ex-Miguel) was playing a gardener on the prime-time serial ''Desperate Housewives'', which takes place on a street called Wisteria Lane. In the March 30, 2006 episode, while ''Passions'' reruns were airing on the Sci-Fi Channel, Simone compared life in Harmony to living in a show on the Sci-Fi Channel.[11] Similarly, in the August 10, 2006 episode, Theresa commented that her office wasn't like a NBC daytime serial, and that she wouldn't hire somebody just because he looked like Jesse Metcalfe (who had portrayed her brother Miguel from 1999-2004). A similar inside joke occurred when the character Fancy had a dream that she was a cheerleader; in real life, Fancy's portrayer Emily Harper was a "Laker Girl" (cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers) from 2000-2003.
In the April 6, 2007 episode, Kay was watching the sixth [''sic''] hour of ''The Today Show'' (an apparent jab at NBC's decision to extend it at the expense of the ''Passions'' timeslot) when it was interrupted with a news report that Luis had been arrested. In one August 2007 episode, Tabitha said that a certain soap opera was starting on DirecTV and she would have to tell her friends not to call her between the hours of two and three PM, blatantly referring to ''Passions'' itself.
Promotion and product placement
During its NBC run, ''Passions'' was known to "promote" other NBC programming within its storylines, and to incorporate commercial products into the plot in a promotional tactic known as product placement.
Shortly after ''Passions'' debuted, Campbell tomato soup was featured as an ingredient in Grace Bennett's tomato soup cake. Also, Nestlé Purina Dog Chow was used to feed Tabitha Lenox's pet cat Fluffy.
In a 2004 episode, TC watched an NBC ad for ''Days of our Lives'' on his TV, and went on to praise the writers of ''Days of our Lives'' for coming up with such good storylines; ''Days'', at that time, was under the helm of James E. Reilly, head writer of ''Passions''. In the September 4 2006, episode, Fox was sucked into a black hole; he then told Tabitha that it was the kind of black hole that one gets sucked into on the Sci Fi Channel, which was the channel on which ''Passions'' repeats aired in 2006. Tabitha then told him stick with NBC (''Passions' network). In an episode later in September 2006, Siren tried to get Miguel into bed by singing her Siren's song. Miguel told her that she should not audition for ''America's Got Talent''. In another episode, Tabitha talked about ''The Biggest Loser'' season finale, which was also aired on NBC. A more recent episode featured characters watching a trailer for the 2007 Diane Keaton film ''Because I Said So'' (produced by Universal Studios, which, like NBC, is owned by General Electric).
The real-life 2001 release of the novel ''Hidden Passions'' was incorporated into the storyline as a book written by character Tabitha Lenox. For a time, Jessica Bennett was an Avon mark saleswoman, and more recently the show featured Johnson & Johnson's K-Y Jelly personal lubricant.
In July 2007, ''Passions'' began to promote its own move to DirecTV the following September. Tabitha's home, as well as the Bennett home and the Crane mansion, were seen sporting DirecTV dishes on their roofs, and several characters, including Tabitha, Norma, Edna, Endora, Rebecca, Gwen, Julian, and Whitney began to make references to switching to DirecTV; by early September, one of these references usually appeared in every episode.
Theme song and opening sequence
The theme song for ''Passions'' is titled "Breathe," performed by Jane French and written by French and John Henry Kreitler. A long version of this theme was also released but was never used on the show.
The opening title sequence used since the show's premiere in 1999, features shots of the city of Harmony and its landmarks. The sequence opens and closes with the show's logo in an italic typeface and in an Arial Black typeface in generic caps posted in front of the cursive form of the title. From time to time, the opening theme is shortened to the last two verses to fit in extra scene time.
''Passions'' is one of the few American serials that, with the exception of occasional abbreviated versions of the intro, has not changed its opening theme since the series debut.
''Hidden Passions''
1st edition cover of ''Hidden Passions''
In January 2001, HarperEntertainment released ''Hidden Passions: Secrets from the Diaries of Tabitha Lenox'', an inside look into the history of ''Passions'' involving all the major characters, written from the viewpoint of Tabitha Lenox. A storyline involving the character of Tabitha and Timmy and the promotion of this book was aired on the show. During this time when the show enjoyed its peak popularity, the book even reached #4 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. The novel was billed as being canonical, but the televised canon has diverged significantly from the novel since that time. For example, Rachel Barrett presumably did die in a boating accident decades earlier, and the death scene of her sister, Katherine, who was recently revealed to be alive, is included in the novel. In addition, the book portrayed Eve Johnson Russell as the daughter of a wealthy society couple in Boston, but the show has more recently revealed an upbringing in the rural South.
Reruns and other media
The Sci Fi Channel (which is owned by NBC) began airing ''Passions'' from its first episode starting February 13 2006.[12] The reruns had originally been announced to begin February 6, 2006.[13] These repeat presentations on SciFi were slightly edited, with the background music and popular songs substituted in many cases. Due to low ratings, as of May 25, 2006 the reruns were taken off the air.
On August 15, 2006, ''Passions'' became the first daytime drama to make full episodes available for download and purchase from the popular online music store iTunes. On November 6 2006, the show also became the first daytime drama to make full episodes available for free viewing via streaming on NBC.com.[14]
According to NBC.com, ''Passions'' episodes will no longer be available on their website or on iTunes once the series moves to DirecTV. This may change, however, as on August 23, 2007, castmember Eric Martsolf said that DirecTV was working on a way to release episodes online once the soap left NBC. DirecTV has not yet made an official announcement.[7]
International broadcasts
''Passions'' was broadcast nationally in Australia on the Seven Network each weekday at 3 pm, beginning in 2001. In 2005, the series was moved to an earlier 9.30am timeslot, before the show's international licensing was cancelled due to the music copyright fees. [16] Repeats are currently being aired at 2 am Tuesday through Thursday.
Cast
Current cast members
Recurring cast members
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Daniel Chalfa | Marty Lopez-Fitzgerald |
| Nicole Cox | Endora Lenox |
| Andrea Evans | Rebecca Hotchkiss Crane |
| Bruce French (actor) | Father Lonigan |
| Phillip Jeanmarie | Vincent Clarkson |
| Tonia Kalouria | Dr. Tonia Wilson |
| Christopher Maleki | Spike Lester |
| Abby and Emma McCoy | Maria Lopez-Fitzgerald |
| John Reilly | Alistair Crane |
| Daphnee Duplaix Samuel | Valerie Davis |
| Camille and Kate Schwary | Jane Winthrop |
| Colton Shires | Ethan Crane |
| Danica Stewart | Jessica Bennett |
| Rodney Van Johnson | T.C. Russell |
| Adrian Wilson | Christopher Boothe |
Comings and goings
| Actor | Character | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Hannia Guillen | Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald | Debuts October 16 2007 |
Deceased cast members
| Actor | Character | Year of Death |
|---|---|---|
| David Bailey | Alistair Crane | 2004 |
| Owen Bush | Orville Perkins | 2001 |
| Josh Ryan Evans | Timmy Lenox | 2002 |
Historical cast information
:''For a full listing of performers by role, see List of Passions characters''
:List of US daytime soap opera ratings''
Awards
:''For a full listing of award wins and nominations, see List of Passions awards''
''Passions'' has been honored with numerous awards and nominations during its run, including Daytime Emmy Awards, Imagen Foundation Awards, and a GLAAD Media Award.
See also
★ List of ''Passions'' awards
★ List of ''Passions'' characters
References
1. NBC.com ~ "NBC’S ''Passions'' to work its magic on DIRECTV viewers with all new episodes beginning September 17"
2. NBC Universal Media Village ~ "''Passions'' matches its highest ranking ever"
3. MercuryNews.com ~ "''The Today Show'' expands on NBC"
4. NBC.com ~ "NBC’S ''Passions'' to work its magic on DIRECTV viewers with all new episodes beginning September 17"
5. Passions: Who Won't Survive the Move to DirecTV?, TV SeriesFinale.com, May 24, 2007
6. " ''Passions'' to Continue in Canada" - Soaps.com 3 July 2007
7. Passions: DirecTV Soap to Be Available Online?, TVSeriesFinale.com, August 24, 2007
8. BBC News ~ "Protecting icons from exploitation "
9. September 7 2007 episode - transcript
10. Passions Vendetta Passions, NBC
11. SoapOperaFan.com Episode Summary
12. Passions goes Sci Fi!
13. Sci Fi Channel revives NBC U's used 'Passions'
Variety.com
14. Passions video, NBC.com
15. Passions: DirecTV Soap to Be Available Online?, TVSeriesFinale.com, August 24, 2007
16. TheAge.com.au - "''Passions'' run amok" 4 August 2005
External links
★ ''Passions'' at NBC.com
★ Rotten.com essay on ''Passions''
★ Daytime Soap Operas Passions -news, rumors, cast updates, polls
★ TV Series Finale/''Passions'' - cancellation details, possibilities of continuation and petition
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psst.. try this: add to faves
