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Passions

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Passions
File:Passionslogo.jpg
Created byJames E. Reilly
Production
Executive producerLisa de Cazotte
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseJuly 5, 1999

Passions is an American television soap opera created by veteran soap opera writer James E. Reilly. It debuted on NBC on July 5, 1999, replacing the long running Another World.

In the beginning, it centered largely around horror-oriented themes; it now uses drama and comedy instead. Passions follows the various romantic and supernatural adventures of the residents of Harmony, a fictional New England hamlet.

Ratings and Renewal

Although Passions has been a weak performer in household ratings since its premiere, the show did manage to gain ground in the early years. After its first few months on the air, Passions surpassed fellow NBC soap Sunset Beach to take over the #10 spot and stayed there until SuBe's cancellation. In the winter of 2001, Passions once again was on an upswing and surpassed ABC's gothic soap opera Port Charles until ABC cancelled it in late 2003. Passions currently sits in last place among all soaps. Although is has, on occasion beat Guiding Light in total viewers, it hasn't been able to completely topple it. Although Passions has low household ratings, the show does a great job at attracting younger viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic, something Another World, the soap it replaced, was never able to accomplish.

Passions stands at a 1.4 for the 2005-2006 season (ahead of CBS's As The World Turns and Guiding Light) The latest Nielsen ratings for the week of July 24, 2006 put the program at a 1.6/6, meaning around 2.3 million households in the United States tune in each day. For the 2005-2006 season, Passions is the #1 rated soap among female teens age 12-17; as well as the #1 rated soap in women age 18-24 (tied with Days of our Lives) and it's the #2 soap in women age 18-34 beating every other soap in daytime except its lead-in Days of our Lives. Passions is also number #1 in Boys ages 12-17 and Men ages 18-34.

In early 2006 rumors surfaced that Passions was on its way to cancellation. On May 29, 2006, NBC announced it would renew the program for an additional season, now slated to air through July 2007. However, the renewal also brought along significant budget cuts; the soap faces a dramatic $4-5 million slashing of its annual budget. Most of the budget cuts affected crew members and those not on the air, but John Reilly, Sharon Wyatt, and Amelia Marshall have all been released from their contracts, sparking fears that more cast cuts may be on the way. Kelli McCarty was back just for Passions Vendetta, so her appearance was unaffected by the cut.

Storylines

Template:Spoiler-about Major storylines throughout the soap's run have included Eve's (played by Tracey Ross) affair with former Crane heir Julian (Ben Masters); Whitney's (Brook Kerr) romantic relationship with Chad (Charles Divins); Theresa's (Lindsay Hartley) schemes to win Ethan (Travis Schuldt, Eric Martsolf) back from his wife, Gwen (Liza Huber, Natalie Zea, then Huber again); Kay's (Taylor Anne Mountz, Deanna Wright, Heidi Mueller) desire to be with her cousin's (Molly Stanton) boyfriend Miguel (Jesse Metcalfe, Adrian Bellani) and her current inability to choose between Miguel and now-fiancé Fox Crane, (Justin Hartley, Mark Cameron Wystrach); Ivy's (Kim Johnston Ulrich) plots to win back first love Sam (James Hyde) from his wife, Grace (Dana Sparks); Noah (Dylan Fergus) and Fancy's (Emily Harper) tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship; Sheridan (McKenzie Westmore) and Luis's (Galen Gering) continued separation from each other; Alistair's (David Bailey, John Reilly) never-ending quest to destroy the lives of the citizens of Harmony, and recently for the ultimate power, including dressing as a monk and luring sixteen people to Rome; and Tabitha's (Juliet Mills) destruction of the citizens of Harmony.

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). Originally, the viewers of Another World (which Passions replaced) largely held a vendetta against the new show as the stories told were markedly different from the ones they were used to. Many viewers did decide to stay with the new soap, however.

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), 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 soap opera 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. Another anticipated longest running love triangle storyline was the hellacious romance between Ethan Winthrop (Eric Martsolf) and Irish-Mexican fatal attractor Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald (Lindsay Hartley). Theresa has been chasing Ethan for years trying to force him to to dump Gwen and marry her. Theresa was going to blackmail Gwen (Liza Huber) and Rebecca (Gwen's mother) (Andrea Evans)over and over to Ethan that Gwen and Rebecca both sent all the information to the Tabloids. On December 2004, Gwen and Theresa are very anxious to hear the DNA paternity test results of who's the real biological mother of Jane. The results determined that Theresa was the mother of Jane, and that Gwen was not the mother of the child. After the results were given, Gwen said she was going to get some fresh air and calm down, but Gwen lied to Ethan, Ivy, and Theresa. Gwen walked around the halls of Harmony Hospital near the nurses' supplies and stole a scalpel that she was going to use to kill and get rid of Theresa once and for all. Gwen walked back to the main lobby and saw Ethan and Theresa kissing and then stabbed Theresa very deep in the back, paralyzing her. Theresa was groaning and screaming in pain and taken to the nearby ER. Gwen was arrested in the hospital for attempted murder. In late January 2005, the psychotic Gwen broke out of jail by cutting her wrists with the sharp broken make-up mirror that belonged to Rebecca and pretending that she was badly bleeding and hurt and wanted to go to the hospital (only to, once again, attempt to kill Theresa for stealing her husband, her children, and putting her in jail). When Gwen arrived at the hospital after they taped up her wrists, she went to the nurses' desk and stole a pair of scissors and hid them behind her back. When the paralyzed Theresa (in a wheelchair) went looking for a nurse at the nurses' station, she saw Gwen's bandaged-up wrists. Theresa asked Gwen what she was doing out of jail and in the hospital. Gwen said that she was not going to hurt Theresa, she was going to kill her again by holding up a pair of scissors ready to strike Theresa. Theresa wheeled herself out of harms way and screamed for help while looking for a place to hide in the hospital. Gwen kept going after and psychotically stalking Theresa with the scissors all over the hosptial. Theresa kept looking for the ER and the nurses' station for help, although she went the wrong way and wound up in a construction area of the hallway and hid in the janitor's storage closet. Gwen found and cornered Theresa in the janitor's closet. Theresa continued to scream for help, but Gwen told Theresa that no one could hear her. Minutes later, Ethan heard screams and found Theresa on the floor being stalked by Gwen with the scissors. Ethan calmed Gwen down.

Trademarks

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.

Another trademark of the soap 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. In recent years, couples such as Noah and Fancy, Julian and Eve, Martin and Katherine, and Fox and Kay have also been introduced as being "fated". 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.

Likely due to Passions's 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 tsumani, which destroyed much of Harmony and resulted in the death of James's mother, Maureen, while 2006 saw the extravagant Passions Vendetta plot, 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, 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.

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 soap 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).

Theme song and opening sequence

The theme song for Passions is titled "Breathe," performed by Jane French and written by French and John Henry. 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 a cursive typeface and in a 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.

The sequence is similar to One Life to Live's 1995-2004 "Tour of Llanview" opening, in that the sequence features shots of landmarks and city scenes. However, the main difference is that there are no headshots of the show's cast.

Passions's is one of the few American soap operas that, with the exception of occasional abbreviated versions of the intro, has not changed its opening theme since the series debut.

Hidden Passions: Secrets from the Diaries of Tabitha Lenox

Template:Spoiler

In January 2001, HarperEntertainment released Hidden Passions, 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 soap. During this time when the show enjoyed its peak popularity, the book even reached #4 on the New York Times Bestseller 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 on Sci Fi

According to variety.com, cable channel Sci Fi (which is owned by NBC) has begun airing Passions from the beginning since February 13. This was changed from an originally stated start date of February 6.[1]

The reruns on SciFi have been slightly edited, with the background music and popular songs substituted in many cases.

Classic episodes of the program were being aired on Sci-Fi, however as of May 25, 2006, the reruns have been placed on hiatus, due to low ratings.

According to Scifi.com Passions is still not on their schedule for August or September 2006.

Cast

Current cast members

Recurring cast members

News

  • Michael Sabatino will return on October 5th to reprise the role of sleazy tabloid editor J.T. Cornell. It is unknown how long he will be around for.
  • McKenzie Westmore (Sheridan Crane Boothe) returns to the studio from her maternity leave the week of September 11th, and is expected to back on screen in early October. Kam Heskin (ex-Caitlin, Sunset Beach) has been filling for Westmore since early July.

Deceased cast members

Trivia

See also

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