Passions: CANCELLED by DirecTV

[AddictedToSoaps]

^ Ah I see.

[bellcurve]

After March 2009? Oy vey! They plan on letting the show live for that long even without affiliate support?

Do they have a CLUE how many affiliates are gonna drop DAYS like a bad habit following the Olympics if it is indeed announced NBC plans on cancelling the show?!

I bet NBC will encourage its affiliates to grab one of its syndicated programs post-Olympics.

I'm willing to admit that I am wrong if NBC's affiliates plan on sticking with the show to the end of its contract cycle. I just don't think it is likely.

[Vee]

I think it's safe to say that Passions and Jim Reilly had their shot at being "the (bad) future of soaps" - and failed. Reilly is now obsolete, so is his show, and he can't stand it. Other shows may be [!@#$%^&*] too, but they're not PSSNS' type of [!@#$%^&*]. In that respect it is unique. I understand why it has its fans. But it failed to be what JER clearly wanted and needed it to be: His gleaming vision of the future of daytime which everyone would emulate.

[quartermainefan]

People have such a narrow definition of what a soap is or should be. Dark Shadows is probably the most enduring and famous soap of them all, spawning 2 movies, a rumored third one with Johnny Depp, a TV remake, and the only soap on DVD, and if there was an internet then people would have said it wasn't a real soap.

Passions isn't literature, but it can be a lot of fun.

[Vee]

I loved Dark Shadows, and know every inch of it by heart. I obsessed over it as a teenager. It wasn't a soap. If it had gone halfway traditional, it might have saved itself instead of Sam Hall and Gordon Russell burning out and going on to greatness at OLTL. Instead, Edge Of Night took its abandoned audience by understanding the balance. After 1967 or so, romance and family storytelling was not a major factor for DS - it was an incidental plot mechanism.

[stenbeck212]

Well, that show had a built in gimmick of subject matter that most industry execs would find ultimately profitable. I'm sure none of them think reality based dramas about several families can be squeezed into 2 hours, but if they watched a Robert Altman movie, they'd know better. There's no reason to save the haven for glorified catalog models that is Passions, though. I'll bet Another World fans will dance a jig over this news, if its true.

[Im-n-a-whirl]

More confirmation, this time from Liza Huber, from her official board:

Liza Huber's board

[Toups]

Still praying that NBC will release a statement saying they'll try to find Passions another home. Come on NBC, do it again. Keep the faith, Passions fans. It worked once, it could work again. Keep the faith!

[Im-n-a-whirl]

How far in advance do they tape? If taping is ceasing in March, are they going to have time to wrap things up?

That is, in the event that a new home is not found for it.

[PhoenixRising05]

I have been following this thread and this is going to be long so hold on...

First off, Passions couldn't have started off any better (except for the Princess Diana debacle which was done for publicity but still was in poor taste). It was a mix of camp, supernatural, romance, and traditional/family stories. It was a more over the top takeoff on Days of the 90's. The pace would be breakneck to start and then it slowed down, which was fine for awhile because, like JER's 90's Days, it provided you with enough twists and turns to get by (except a few absurd cases like Ethan's 202 attempts to tell Theresa he loves her and his equal amount of attempts to tell Gwen he wanted to end their engagement).

The show stayed true to what it was in most regards but something happened to this show around 2002. It seemed to lose something. The wacky and zany was still there but it lost something. I think what it lost was it's ability to ground the stories. Even with the supernatural and over the top stories, Passions always balanced it out with some stuff that made sense. It made an attempt at being serious while not wanting people to take it necessarily serious as a soap. It wasn't all about shock and awe. Every action had a purpose in the story and you had the sense things were planned out. That feeling was soon lost.

I know JER said he had a 5 year bible but the show seemed to spiral before that. It seemed to focus more on the wacky and zany too much after mid-2002. 2003 was even worse and then in 2005 and half of 2005...the show underwent a dramatic shift towards all traditional. There was still some wacky left over (Edna and Precious) but Tabitha was backburnered and we saw serious stories like Gwen's breakdown and we had alot of payoffs. The pace picked up and the show actually worked for a long time this way. It even saw ratings gains. Ironically, Days suffered under JER during this period but that's another story.

July 2005 then came and I still don't know what happened. Galen Ghering had been practically out the door and then he opted to stay, which I think messed alot up. I don't think that was the big thing though. The show seemed to change with the earthquake-tidal wave and they weren't kidding when they said the show would be different. It NEVER recovered. It came out of that story a different show. One that took nothing seriously, made a mockery of rape and decided to have rape attempts and actual rapes become almost a monthly occurrence along with other misogyny. The pace slowed again and character destruction was all over the place. The show may as well have adopted a new slogan..."How can we shock you today?" Gone was what little substance the show had to make stories work. Things didn't feel planned anymore. Things felt like they were being tossed out there to see what stuck. JER seemed to be out for shock and awe and didn't seem to care about the story anymore. He didn't even seem to care about the fans.

One instance is the Gwen/Ethan/Theresa story. The tabloid secret was due to come out in September 2005 but news leaked out and JER got pissed so he re-wrote it to drag the story out to this very day. Vendetta and it's aftermath but a brief renaissance but the show soon fell back on hard times. The show had become nothing but shock and awe driven with no sense of giving a damn about fans or the characters, who were destroyed routinely. The show improved immensely in it's final 6 months on NBC but that was proven to be a result of the show getting ready for the move and trying to attract fans to go with it since as soon as it moved to DIRECTV it went back to a pace that a snail could rival and stories that destroy characters and follow the "how can we shock you" trend.

Passions and JER had plenty of time to fix things. They have had more chances then AW and SB combined and that, to me, is a slap in the face when JER shows no sense of giving a damn about the fans or what they want and that is why the show is in the dumps in the first place. I have been hard on Passions in the last year but that is because I feel the fans deserve better and that the show had potential. I wanted it to succeed but JER never stopped being a stubborn and the show suffered. It was broken for a long time off and on and he never fixed it enough to be consistent. He never listened to the fans and here we are.

I think this has no effect on other soaps finding new homes as this did seem to be working. We don't know why this happened. I will admit that part of me wondered if many cast members were leaving (I thought many signed for only a year) and that is why this was happening. It just seems awful to think DIRECTV would do this just to get subscribers and cancel something that they claim was successful. It makes no sense.

Passions always seems to get alot of time to wrap things up to, which they should be appreciate of since no other soap has ever been given that courtesy. Part of me wants it to find another home but part of me doesn't (CW, Sci-Fi, Oxygen, etc). It's a mess now and I feel the actors and actresses deserve better. Andrea Evans was already thinking about bolting soon. Lindsey Hartley. Liza Huber, Emily Harper, Mackenzie Westmore, Ben Masters, Juliet Mills, Kim Ulrich, Tracey Ross, John Reilly, and Eva Tamargo (I'm sure I am forgetting someone LOL) all deserve better and can find better. I think it may be time to just pack it up before the show becomes even worse. Maybe NBC can even have the finale on NBC for the fans. I know it's doubtful but still.

I enjoyed the show for what it was. The last few years have been trying but I still found entertainment and enjoyment in it and so did many. I just think those that didn't like the show or what it was need to be respectful of those who did like it or find some enjoyment in it because there are many other soaps out there that have done things just as bad as Passions, if not worse in their case since it's not as expected of them. Passions was, in a way, doing something that could help the genre. When it started, it was an experiment in itself with it's style. Hell, the show was always doing things never done before that opened new doors and moving to DIRECTV was one of them. It may have opened doors or it may have shut them but it was actually doing something that may end up helping daytime. My hope is that it's finding a new home can still help daytime in some way and that it's apparent cancellation doesn't close any doors.

[Toups]

They had the chance to leave when the NBC contract was up but they didn't. No one put a gun to their heads and forced them to sign a new contract.

[PhoenixRising05]

I know that. However, they were all excited because they were promised a better story pace and things happening alot faster but that did not happen. I am also sure they can't be happy about the stories, especially Liza, Eric and Lindsey whose story is going around in circles.

I am sure alot of them felt loyal to the show too and knew it wouldn't last more then a year or two so figured they would stay on and help. Andrea Evans did that and said she only stayed on to help with the transition.

Those that stayed on were so excited and it would've been nice for JER to break with his stubborn ways and listen to the fans and so something to give his actors and actresses better material to work with. Alas, as usual, that did not happen.

Part of me wonders if the cast factors into this. Didn't most of them sign one year deals? Maybe alot of them are unhappy and want to bolt or are just ready to leave and the show and DIRECTV know that so they are closing up shop rather then having to write out or recast alot of characters. I know if I was Lindsey, Liza, Galen, etc I wouldn't be happy with the way the stories are going.

[Im-n-a-whirl]

Eric Martsolf confirmed it as well:

Eric Martsolf's Official Board

[JackPeyton]

Okay, let me try to explain myself without getting myself in trouble... lol.

Yes i have seen SB. It is a good soap opera with great acting and it looks great. However for years and years beore i got SB tapes i had heard all about it. How amazing it was. How it never shoulda got the ax. How it was pretty much one of the best operas ever. How it won and deserved all those emmys. Then i was excited and got it on tape and... it was good. and thats it.

Now let me also point some things out about my personal soap opera watching. I have noticed i prefer things from the 90's. The only 80's soaps i ever liked to watch were Another World, Y&R, & GH. Also a thing working against SB for me was some of the actors - i do not like some of them.. AT ALL. like MW. But then again it also has the amazing NLG. Also one other thing working against SB for me personally is... most of what i have is when KZ was on the show. Now i have noticed this is when fans didnt really like the show. So maybe im watching the wrong SB stuff. I can only judge off what i have seen (and if ur wondring, its about 60 random episodes). Also, it came of a cheap version of a 80's primetime soap to me.

[nassaunew]

According to superboy, who was an intern at Passions this fall

Passions has been taping 7 episodes a week since the move to DirecTV.