Passions Discussion Thread

[Bright Eyes]

It was watchable for a time when I was pre-teen ... because I was a pre-teen. Still, it introduced me to great actors of the genre like Andrea Evans, Kim Johnston-Ulrich, Juliet Mills, Robin Strasser, and many soap hunks my young gay self was happy to watch half naked almost everyday. 

[YRBB]

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

I'm not exactly defending Passions, mind, but 2-3 months in, it started to gel and became addictive. Of course, I can't account for what happens after Season 1....

[Vee]

I never liked or "got" Theresa. There's a difference between a teenage vixen we root for and a psycho. Theresa was psycho from the jump. Reilly never understood that, which is why he often took Sami Brady too far as well in later years. I didn't know Lindsay could act until AMC.

 

I always liked Liza Huber. I wish she'd do more acting. Travis Schuldt was absolutely horrendous. So was most of the cast, really - Metcalfe, Dana Sparks, James Hyde, Rodney Van Johnson, you name it.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Vee

[Antoyne]

Passions was my first soap and is what opened me up to the genre. I never liked Liza Huber as Gwen, I thought Natalie Zea was much better. I also preferred the first Rebecca to Andrea Evans who was too campy for me which is saying something given the show we're talking about. I also liked the brief Theresa recast when Lindsay was out for some reason, because she didn't try to play Theresa as sympathetic, she just embraced the bitch.

 

Beth was my all time favorite Passions character.

[John]

Passions should have got Maureen McCormick to stay at Passions. I like AE but she was too OTT. Travis was bad but so was Eric/ I didnt like any of the miguels and Blair Redford had what the last 6 months.

The original kay and Deanna Wright were best in the role and Jade Harlow was the best Jessica

[pdm1974]

Travis was really bad as Ethan, but the writing hardly helped. I did think Eric's performance was an improvement though because I think he really "got" the campiness of the show. As an actor on such an over-the-top crazy ass show, you just really needed to embrace the kookiness to shine.

[Vee]

Travis Schuldt made Eric Martsolf look like Laurence Olivier. Martsolf has always been a way better actor.

[LostinHarmony]

The PSNS nerd in me had to let you guys know surprisingly the second day came fast in episode 5 (that Friday during premiere week) half way through the episode. It's sad how many times I've rewatched this show to know that lol, but it stands out to me because it was the first time I had seen the day change midway through an episode on a soap and the words "the next morning in Harmony" appear. Granted we all know how slow the days will go in the future lol

Edited January 11, 2019 by Riverdalefan1

[LostinHarmony]

Those first 4 weeks were slow and still establishing stories and characters. I had never seen the beginning until the reruns on Sci-Fi channel. To me, Passions was at its best between 2000-2003 hands down.

[Vee]

The pace never improved, lol

[Franko]

Popping in to share a few observations, so please forgive the multiple quotes.

 

Ships in the night. I started watching on the third week, which stands out because I remember thinking it would be fun to follow a soap right from the beginning.

 

You and I might be roughly the same age (I was 10 going on 11 that summer). A lot of the leading ladies were stellar -- I'd also include Kathleen Noone in that list -- but in retrospect, it's a case of "for this?"

 

As for the second point -- indeed! Between Days and Passions, 1999-2005 had quite the bumper crop of guys who helped me realize it wasn't a phase.

 

Tabitha's constant quest to kill Charity was a pretty good hook, I must say. On the other hand, I'm not surprised the show eventually switched gears with Tabitha, since Juliet (and Josh Ryan Evans prior to his death) was sort of the show's mascot.

 

"It's fate, Whitney! It really is!" Uh, no, bitch. I always thought Hartley was beautiful and charismatic, but she got stuck with such an off-putting character.

 

Don't forget Galen. Luis' rage-boners about the Cranes were always good for an unintentional laugh.

 

 

I'm just speculating here, but I suspect Maureen was replaced because Andrea Evans would be more distinct opposite Kim Johnston Ulrich. Why have two blondes when you can have a blonde and a reddish blonde? Still, it is fun to imagine how Maureen would have handled Rebecca and Julian's wackier moments. Then again, maybe the show would have gone a different direction with those two.

 

It really didn't. Off the top of my head, it took a year for Theresa to break up Ethan and Gwen the first time and two years for Ethan's paternity to be revealed.

[j swift]

I've always felt that the pace of Passions was part of Reilly's meta-commentary on soaps.  Passions was an intentional parody of the genre and the whole idea of days lasting for weeks seemed like it part of the scheme.  However, I can see why it would make it impossible to binge watch.  I remember a winter night in Tabatha's house that lasted so long it was spring when they woke up the next day.

 

I am a bit older, but I remember thinking the same thing when "Texas" premiered. 

[Franko]

I'm glad you touched upon the parody aspect, because I want to throw it out to the other readers. Did Passions work as a parody? I say yes in the sense that it frequently had humor, but no in the sense that it didn't have something to balance it against. There's gotta be something, like a distinct sense of style (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), excellent acting and genuine emotion (Soap at its best) or an apparent affection for the material (Carol Burnett's As the Stomach Turns sketches, Acorn Antiques).

[pdm1974]

I feel like the show didn't start of as a parody of soaps but as a supernatural soap that JER loved to write. But as the years went on, especially at the end, I feel he went all out parody. Remember Juanita who blamed Pilar for her whole family getting mowed down the cops? She was totally off the charts camp/telenovela. It was fun to watch but no way could you take it serious.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zQMfUf7dE8

[Khan]

 

Agree.  When it became clear no one was taking the show seriously, that's when everyone started touting PASSIONS as a parody of soaps rather than as a soap itself.  Unfortunately...

 

 

No.  It didn't work as a parody, or as anything else.  The writing wasn't good enough, and the acting wasn't good enough either.  PASSIONS was just a bad, bad show.

Edited January 12, 2019 by Khan