Passions Discussion Thread

[AMCOLTLLover]

U know I hated Gwen when she became a bit „evil“.. But now where I’m older I am definitely on Gwen‘s side.. Theresa forced herself into their relationship and it doesn’t matter if Ethan wanted to marry her or not. He was with her end of story but that they all made it look like Gwen was the bad guy in all of Ethan-Theresa‘s fairytale doesn’t sit right with me. But I don’t completely blame Theresa.. I think Ethan is at fault too. Is he even worth all the fuss? Heck no! Lol

That’s s why I also hated Kay getting rewarded in the end. That chick wanted her Cousine dead for a stupid boy that just saw her as one of the „Bros“.. yet in the end she is the love of his life and Charity is all forgotten? Hell no.. doesn’t sit right with me either 

Edited November 23, 2023 by AMCOLTLLover

[Lye-C]

Huge Therethan fan here! Gwench was always the evil one and Theresa and Ethan were always portrayed as the true love couple.

If Passions aired today, Zoomers would have a total conniption over things like Julian and Valerie having sex and Vincent giving birth to his own father’s baby. They’re so reactionary and angry. As a Millennial I loved everything about Passions and embraced the absurdity and the satire. The more transgressive it got, the more I liked it.

[Contessa Donatella]

@EdibleFlowers   In case you are interested, there is now a complete series on YouTube. It's own channel. Very organized. 

[Khan]

Was it all really absurdity and satire, though, or was it just bad writing?

[Lye-C]

It was absolutely satire and absurdity. James E. Reilly was an excellent writer. He knew how to entertain the target demo: teens like me. Passions was never meant for the kind of folks who like that old-school Bell/Nixon/Marland style of writing. That’s for Boomers and whatever generation that came before them. 

[Khan]

I like that old-school Bell/Nixon/Marland style of writing, and I'm a Gen-X'er.

[Lye-C]

Fair enough. I’d still argue Gen X was not the target audience for Passions although Xennials seemed to enjoy it too. 
 

Passions was the only soap opera I would hear other kids (who I didn’t know) talking about at school. 

[Soaplovers]

I remember trying to get my mom to sample the soap.  It was a recap episode featuring Tabitha and Timmy...and my mom sat there for the entire episode baffled.

She finally said 'I don't think Im who the show is aimed at.  Have fun watching it.'

I liked the first few years better than the later years because there was a soap structure Reilly was following. 

[j swift]

I'm listening to a weekly Passions recap podcast (actually called Passions Podcast). It struck me that despite the idea that Passions is remembered for having painfully repetitive dialogue, they actually told a lot of stories in a short amount of time. 

Of course, there are tons of loose ends.  And an incredible amount of misogyny.  But, it is entertaining to consume in podcast form.  Travis Schuldt and Natalie Zee also had a podcast for a while called Passions for Life, but they last released an episode in June 2021.

[Lye-C]

I particularly liked the DirecTV year because JER was free from broadcast censors and could do whatever he wanted. 

1999-2002 was definitely the best followed by 2004 and 2006-08 in my humble opinion. 
 

Gosh I loved Endora and how she naturally evolved to fill the void left by Timmy. 

[Khan]

JER was still at the point where he wanted people to take his show (and himself) seriously.  The writing, however, was awful.  Viewers, I imagine, started regarding it as parody or satire, because either they couldn't see how terrible it really was, or they didn't want to.  Between that growing perception and the constantly low HH ratings, I think JER just gave up and started writing whatever, regardless of logic or taste, because he knew the show was going nowhere.

I never saw the DirecTV-produced episodes, but if they were anything like what was broadcast on NBC....

Edited December 11, 2023 by Khan

[Lye-C]

You didn’t hear about Vincent giving birth to his father’s baby? Or Vicki chopping off Julian’s penis and a drunk, high Eve reattaching it backwards and upside down?

[Khan]

Sure, I've heard about those events.  The person who could convince me that that was the apex of good comedy or good satire, let alone good soap opera, has yet to be born.

There are soaps that I love to this day, and there are soaps that I am lukewarm about.  But PASSIONS is but one of two soaps that I have a seething hatred for.  Not only because the writing (or what I saw of it) was so awful, but also because it was racist, ageist and misogynistic trash that never should have seen the light of day.  JER was a hack who conned NBC into giving him too much creative autonomy, simply because he managed to "save" DAYS (in the ratings, if not creatively) with the few, the VERY few tricks he held up his sleeve.

[Paul Raven]

The fact that it supposedly aimed for and appealed to a teen demographic speaks volumes.

There was no way NBC wanted its 3pm serial to be a teen soap. That only came about because of the juvenile writing.

With nothing else to boast about NBC trumpeted its success in the 11-17 demo. But I would wager, with many products, teens change their habits and later on don't want to be associated with anything to do with their younger selves.

[Lye-C]

Passions is my fave soap opera of all time and JER is my favorite writer of all time. I’m blessed to have been alive to watch every episode from start to finish. What an experience.