Chris B

I think Malone would've taken any story given to her. Even something as simple as the love triangle with Michael/Connie/Elliot was nixed since Elliot was Allison's father and Allison couldn't be a "bastard." When it comes to story for Connie, she actually became a lead character again when Allison was written off. They gave her lots of great stuff until her unfortunate exit.

Now that I've watched more of season 7, I understand what everyone meant. It's not that the male characters were weak before, but now they're really driving story. With the exception of Richard, I don't recall that happening much before. Now you have Gary, Joshua and Mack all in lead stories with Abby, Cathy, Karen and Laura supporting them instead of the other way around. It's a nice change, but I do wish Joshua's story lasted longer. Not to say the writing isn't good for the women, but now the show seems more even. I LOVE LOVE LOVE what he has done with Lilimae. She's a total irrational bitch and reminds me more of the Lilimae we first met. Once she quickly reconciled with Val she was viewed as a sweet old lady, but they did have a dark past. I think Paulsen is doing a good job of revisiting that. Val is amazing to watch as well. Such a quiet strength, but she can't quite hold it all together. I love his writing for the Dallas characters. The introduction of Jill Bennett and Peter Hollister continues to impress me. Jill's story is so intriguing and you have no idea where it's going. I love her scenes with Karen. Latest episode I watched she met Gary and you see that twinkle in her eye. You also have Gary cheating on Abby in the same episode. It's just building and building and building. I feel this is my favorite season after season 4. My current rankings: 1. Season 4 2. Season 7 3. Season 3 4. Season 5 5. Season 6 6. Season 1 7. Season 2 Can't wait to see where I place the final 7 seasons. Originally those were my favorites.

That's a shame. I remember really hating the second Simone. She always seemed to have a bad attitude and she couldn't act. That was my first Simone.

I'm currently in August 1999 and still loving it. Theresa just put on her ridiculous disguise to become Ivy's assistant. Sheridan is in Harmony making sparks with Luis and Kay is a delightful witch. I'm loving how soapy everything is and I don't mind the pace at all. I didn't mind it originally and I don't think I will since I already know how slow it's going to move. I just watch and enjoy everything. There isn't one story that stands out to me as bad. My only complaint is the lack of story for the Russell's. They primarily work as talk to's and the actors in that family are so interested. ESPECIALLY Lena Cardwell as Simone. I can't believe she didn't become the star of that family. Did Simone ever get a story with her in the role? I'm also ready for Whitney, Eve or TC to do something.

They fired Ada? That's sick. She was one of my favorites in the original. Seeing all these pictures is great, but it's so depressing reading about this show. I want to see it so bad and in glorious color (since I know it's sitting in a vault somewhere). I know it must've been good if it ruffled so many feathers.

I'm not sure if this is the Jean Hackney season, it may be, but she hasn't arrived yet. Val and Ben haven't married yet, Laura and Greg are still separated and Joshua has just started beating Cathy. His exit is coming up soon.

Wow! I've reached season 7, which was my first full KL season when I discovered the show 12 years ago. I see why I was hooked! Peter Dunne I now find a bit overrated and I *love* what David Paulsen has done with the show. He's made the male characters stronger and more interesting. The show is sexier and he's toned down the ridiculously over the top glamour that Peter Dunne brought on. It's nice seeing how sexy Mack and Karen are, knowing they become so sexless later on. The new characters Peter Hollister and Jill Bennett are brilliant additions and the writing for Joshua and Cathy is flawless. I also feel he has a good handle on Valene and I like that she's a stronger woman now. Laura hasn't gotten much to do, but I mostly blame her relationship with Greg for that. Even now that she's back in the cul-de-sac, she is so removed from Val and Karen. That's such a shame. I'm kinda sad to know Paulsen goes back to Dallas when this season is over. I'm curious how he would've handled the show instead of Latham and her hubby Bernie Lechowick.

Oh this is exciting! I'm definitely going to check this out. I still hold out hope one day you'll post more of Return To Peyton Place.

I hope the rumors of them retooling Miami and having one of Bravo's companies produce it is true. That way they can have BH/ATL, OC/MIA, NJ/NYC and you will always have two shows running, until they attempt a new series. We know based on Andy's tweets that he *did* at least reinterview the Miami cast, so we know its a consideration. Hopefully the scouting for NEW housewives goes well, because that will be the deciding factor there. He also admitted they tried to get a Texas franchise going, but couldn't get the cast right. I know they tried Chicago as well and couldn't get that off the ground.

It's true. She has absolutely no spark and you can't tell the two characters apart. I wish they had at least done a wig or something because they were exactly the same.

One of my earliest Passions memories is Ivy in a wheelchair being a bitch on wheels. A girl in middle school told me I needed to watch and that was the first character that drew me in. You know, it's a wonder Dana Sparks has worked as much as she has. She's a TERRIBLE actress. I hated her on Falcon Crest and on Passions she only works because I find the character interesting and they aren't asking too much of her. I do wish they'd gotten a more interesting actress though.

I of course know of him and I remember when he died, but I don't think I was watching when he was still on the show. I was strictly ABC/B&B at that point. I've never been a fan of NBC soaps, but I LOVE Passions. I don't know why exactly lol. I can't stand DAYS and I've tried various periods of Another World and it doesn't work for me either. But Passions is just fabulous. I'm two weeks in now and it's much different from the later episodes. I definitely see the shift you mention. It feels more traditional and you can tell everything is well plotted and is building somewhere. Later on it felt more slapstick. Knowing her only as Claudia from Knots Landing, it was shocking seeing her on Passions. With that said, I thought Precious was a great character and Bam Bam was a great actor. I also enjoyed his stint on B&B, also playing a female. Oh I loved that! Sheridan was always a bizarre character to me. I didn't understand her or Mackenzie Westmore and I certainly didn't like her with Luis. She was too bad an actress to be a heroine IMO. She did better as a villainess from an acting stand point (or maybe she just improved). This is so weird because she's so different from the first Charity and her as a blonde was hard to look at. I do wish they'd done more with Grace and Charity when they returned. Especially Grace. Watching these early episodes I see just how important she is and I know when she came back it was such a pointless return.

Tami appeared on The Real Househusbands of Hollywood, a Bravo Housewives spoof. She was the funniest part imo. http://straightfromthea.com/2011/06/27/the-real-househusbands-of-hollywood-video/

Oh okay! I remember Eve mostly after her secret was revealed. I remember Liz threatening her with it for about 12 years, then Aunt Irma arrived saying what a whore she was and then I know she was with Julian for a while. I can't wait to relive all of that. I *loved* the Russell's. I just hate that second Simone so I don't look forward to her time on the show.

Okay I received my DVDs for 1999 and I've watched only the first episode so far. I still remember it from Sci Fi, but I don't know how far I got in my Sci Fi viewings. I wanna say one or two months. I know they pulled the show pretty fast. Overall I remembered everything and I enjoyed what I saw. Even the Princess Diana storyline doesn't offend me since it's tame compared to the later plots. The acting overall was pretty good for a new soap. No heavy hitters, but most actors are servicable. I was especially impressed with the younger actors. I really don't think Passions is as bad as every made it out to be. Looks liek I made the right choice with purchasing this show and I look forward to seeing more! Can somebody give me some highlights of stories that aired in 1999?

I believe I started watching after 2002 and I enjoyed the show so it's good to hear it's even better the first couple years! I did watch the first month or two on Sci Fi. I was disappointed when that didn't last. I LOVED the original Simone, I hated the second one even before I knew she was a recast. The original Kay was great as well.

That cast looks so unattractive and underwhelming. It's a shame they rushed Football Wives. That probably would've worked better as the first spin-off had it been launched now. Then try to do a Basketball Wives in another city.

I just completed the 6th season and it's so strange how my opinion of my favorite show keeps changing! The first episode I ever saw was the season six finale, so I've always been more familiar with the later years since I've seen them more. Re-watching I just fell in love with season four, which I've always enjoyed, but never knew to be as brilliant as it actually is. It's also the first season with Peter Dunne at the helm and I think he did a brilliant job of weaving all the different soap opera elements. Most importantly, it still felt like the same show. As the Dynasty/Reagan era kicked in, Knots became more and more glamourous, but I still feel he had a good balance with the 5th season. The cul-de-sac was important, new characters (like the brilliant Greg Sumner) were grounded and well weaved into the canvas. And that Wolfbridge umbrella story was perfectly executed. Now with the 6th season I saw lots of filler and the new characters like Paul Galvestan and even Ruth Sumner bored me for the most part. I felt the Empire Valley stuff was very plot driven and seemed to drag on forever. As a result this wasn't a strong season for Abby, Gary, Greg and especially Laura. It seems like Ms. Avery spents most of her time as Greg's sidekick and as strong as their chemistry is, he's ultimately the reason she was written off IMO. Her relationship with Valene is completely eliminated and she's mostly an afterthought to Karen since she's never in the cul-de-sac. Even the nice layers she was given when she became an ally of Abby seems lost this season. To make matter worse, her hair was so bad that I couldn't even look at her. What a waste! With Joshua, there's no denying Alec Baldwin's star power. He's a brilliant cast addition, but putting him with Cathy was a mistake. Lisa Hartman was more interesting as Ciji and Cathy only worked her first season. It's almost like they swapped Diana for Cathy and that was a huge mistake. Diana was played by a better actress and would've been more interesting with Joshua. She also could've prolonged his time on Knots Landing. Diana was at such a nice turning point when she left. I wish we could've seen her as an adult on the canvas for an extended period of time. Michael and Eric could never touch her. I'm now looking forward to the season 7 experiment when Dallas and Knots switched HWs. David Paulsen always said his goal was to beef up the males storylines and overall I recall enjoying that season.

I've found somebody who has pretty much the entire series and after months of debate, I decided to give this show a chance. With the soaps getting cancelled left and right, I wanted to watch one from the beginning if possible. I tried Port Charles, which was decent, but very dull during it's first year. I plan to continue that later, but knowing I enjoyed Passions, I thought i may as well give it a whirl. I watched the show on and off throughout the years. I think I started when Aunt Irma was on the show and Liz was a character that reeled me in. I watched for several months at a time, even during the DirecTV run. I look forward to seeing how it all starts (well I did catch the Sci Fi reruns) and how the show plays with the knowledge of how long days run along with the other shortcomings. I think I'm going to enjoy it. I've watched a few episodes on YouTube to catch up and the show seems to hold up well. Once I recieve my DVDs next week I'll try and update this thread with commentary.

New York is in fire this season! So different from what I expected.LuAnn has been showing her ass for a while, but that was extreme. Cat got a lot of flack for her comments to LuAnn on WWHL, but she was right. Even that night LuAnn was saying rude things like how Alex is a lower class and shouldn't be associating with them. That along gives Cat enough reason to give her attitude. I hope Alex and Andy eviscerate her during the reunion. I LOVED the scenes with Sonya and Ramona. They were so cute and felt like real friends finding joy amongst all this craziness. Jill also came off very well in this episode for me. Cindy has calmed down as well. Kelly proved she's just as crazy as she always was. I knew that newly sane ACT wouldn't last. Even crazier is that she didn't realize how crazy and stupid she looked.

There is a trading website with a seller who has pretty much the entire series for this, Sunset Beach and DAYS from 1984 and I've been debating whether or not to start buying Passions from the beginning. I watched the show on and off for years, starting mainly in 2003 or 2004. I also watched the show on DirecTV and also the early episodes on Sci Fi. It's been a few years, but I think it'll be work a visit. I tried watching some DAYS episodes and that show doesn't engage me and I'm afraid to start ordering Sunset Beach because it doesn't look too good either. I'm going to try watching some Passions episodes on that YouTube channel and see how it goes.

That episode isn't a good representation of what Tina was about,but I think Kelli Maroney probably was a good Tina. I base that on the type of character she played on Ryan's Hope and her acting continued to improve, as that episode shows. I'd certainly be curious to see more of her. And I also found her more in line with Tina compared to Karen Witter or the last recast.

I looked on YouTube, but all I could find was this clip when Chris Brown appeared on Generations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWBLN_NO-P0

Carl! You're lucky enough to have The Africa Channel? That seems almost impossible to find! You must at least check out the two soaps and let us know how they are! I've been dying to see an episode of either one.

Oh wow. That is truly brilliant Carl! She was flawless and the range. I just wish we could have a scene liek that today. I wonder if she'd be possible of giving that type of performance or would she ham it up.