Natalie Zea on her time at Passions as Gwen #2

From http://tvline.com/gallery/memories-from-the-set-natalie-zea/#!1/zea-passions/

PASSIONS

Getting her start at the "boot camp" that is daytime-TV, Zea played Gwen Hotchkiss Winthrop on the NBC soap, a "difficult" role in that "she was this kind of inbetweener — she wasn't a villain, but she wasn't a good guy either," the actress recalls. "She was just this sort of spineless amoeba. I could never quite figure out her point of view." That was in part because "the writing was so terrible," Zea opines. "And that's not telling tales out of school!" The one bright side? The fictional burg of Harmony was where she met future husband Travis Schuldt!

She is one lucky dog to have landed Travis Schuldt. He was the only reason I watched Passions back in the day when it first premiered. I thought he was so cute and adorable and now he has gotten hunkier. I actually like Zea in the role better than La Lucci daughter….Its nice to see actors call the writing crappy for Passions…cause it was…LOL

I've read that piece as well.

 

Of course, I think she's right; the writing on PASSIONS, IMO, was godawful.  (No offense, PASSIONS fans.)  But...I don't know...I'm not sure whether she should have said as much to tvline.com.  Perhaps she could have been more diplomatic (for lack of a better word)?

Not that she isn't being truthful, but Jeez that was cold......I know her time on soaps is done, but her bluntness is what's needed on most soaps now TBH.....

Natalie Zea on her time at Passions as Gwen #2

From http://tvline.com/gallery/memories-from-the-set-natalie-zea/#!1/zea-passions/

PASSIONS

Getting her start at the "boot camp" that is daytime-TV, Zea played Gwen Hotchkiss Winthrop on the NBC soap, a "difficult" role in that "she was this kind of inbetweener — she wasn't a villain, but she wasn't a good guy either," the actress recalls. "She was just this sort of spineless amoeba. I could never quite figure out her point of view." That was in part because "the writing was so terrible," Zea opines. "And that's not telling tales out of school!" The one bright side? The fictional burg of Harmony was where she met future husband Travis Schuldt!

She is one lucky dog to have landed Travis Schuldt. He was the only reason I watched Passions back in the day when it first premiered. I thought he was so cute and adorable and now he has gotten hunkier. I actually like Zea in the role better than La Lucci daughter….Its nice to see actors call the writing crappy for Passions…cause it was…LOL

I preferred her to Lucci's daughter too. But she's right the writing for Gwen was terrible! 

I've been watching January 2003 episodes online and I'm loving it. Sure, every storyline is a variation of each other, everybody's sister or brother wants the same person, but this show could be so good at being what it was set to be. It was picked up in my country to replace Sunset Beach in 2001, but it got axed after a month and a half. I always begrudged that as I always thought having this show around in my pre-teen/teenage years would really have been something. Well at least when soaps started being ripped in 2005 I got it back but I didn't stick with it, because it got repetitive ("Gwen and Rebecca are the ones who sent that e-mail to the tabloids revealing Ethan was Sam Bennett's son" or whatever the line was Theresa repeated 10 times an episode) and that awful Noah/Fancy introduction story in Las Vegas wasn't interesting to me. Those 2003 episodes are perfect soap for me. Beth is still one of the last iconic characters US soaps created, I was fascinated by her reading synopses and watching 2005 episodes and she still stands as my fave. I always wished to see more of Liz, and I got my wish, why did GL never bring back Amelia Marshall?

 

I forgot how those nights were endless. Three weeks in and it's still the same damn night! At least four episodes Liz pretends to be sleepwalking and basically molests dumb TC forcing her kisses on him. At least five eppys with Theresa evicting Ivy. Come on. But that's still so much fun! My first time seeing Deanna Wright as Kay and I really enjoy her. Heidi Mueller brought a more human and mature side. Jessica #2 is one of the weakest actresses right now, she has nothing to do but when she goes all dramatic on Kay it doesn't work. Simone #2 is okay although I liked Cathy Doe more. I find it nice JER held onto those characters in spite of the actresses always leaving.

 

What I loved the most about Passions was that JER wasn't afraid to have Sheridan, the show's heroine, always suffering and being tortured. She always comes off as so dumb it's such a joy to see her miserable. I can't wait to see her committed! That story where Alistair has "doctors" performing electroshock therapy on her made me thirsty when I was reading recaps. But I think it's in 2004 or much later in the year.

 

Wow, those promos bring back so many memories.

4 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Wow, those promos bring back so many memories.

 

There are a lot of them on Youtube if you want to enjoy them. It's funny how NBC hid all the supernatural elements in the promos. They are beautifully filmed though.

I had just finished my first year of college when the show debuted. Hard to believe that it's almost 18 years now (and since AW went off the air).

Wow, that promo really was excellent, and the use of Life in Mono fit perfectly. So late 90s. It made the show seem like the best soap opera in existence. If only they'd gone for a little less campy trash and more serious drama. 

6 minutes ago, YRBB said:

Wow, that promo really was excellent, and the use of Life in Mono fit perfectly. So late 90s. It made the show seem like the best soap opera in existence. If only they'd gone for a little less campy trash and more serious drama. 

 

Thanks. I wondered what that song was. 

 

I haven't ever looked at all the promos - I put that on YT as I couldn't find it on its own (it was in a commercial break someone else put up). I should try to find some of the individual promos - the Julian bits in that looked gorgeous. It also seems a world away from the Julian we actually got.

I've never seen that one before! it's crazy it's been almost 20 years,(and next year 10 since it was cancelled)  because Passions was the first soap I ever really got into, and I basically stuck with it till the end.......It makes me miss my elementary/middle school days when my dad would tape it for me to watch after school, till I learned myself, LOL.

I know lots of the episodes are online, but I still kind of wish for some reason we had all the original NBC broadcast episodes (or the ones from 1999-2001)......something seemed more artificial about the Super Channel repeats if that makes sense?

 

On 9/25/2016 at 4:42 PM, InLoveWithSoaps said:

I've been watching January 2003 episodes online and I'm loving it. Sure, every storyline is a variation of each other, everybody's sister or brother wants the same person, but this show could be so good at being what it was set to be. It was picked up in my country to replace Sunset Beach in 2001, but it got axed after a month and a half. I always begrudged that as I always thought having this show around in my pre-teen/teenage years would really have been something. Well at least when soaps started being ripped in 2005 I got it back but I didn't stick with it, because it got repetitive ("Gwen and Rebecca are the ones who sent that e-mail to the tabloids revealing Ethan was Sam Bennett's son" or whatever the line was Theresa repeated 10 times an episode) and that awful Noah/Fancy introduction story in Las Vegas wasn't interesting to me. Those 2003 episodes are perfect soap for me. Beth is still one of the last iconic characters US soaps created, I was fascinated by her reading synopses and watching 2005 episodes and she still stands as my fave. I always wished to see more of Liz, and I got my wish, why did GL never bring back Amelia Marshall?

 

I forgot how those nights were endless. Three weeks in and it's still the same damn night! At least four episodes Liz pretends to be sleepwalking and basically molests dumb TC forcing her kisses on him. At least five eppys with Theresa evicting Ivy. Come on. But that's still so much fun! My first time seeing Deanna Wright as Kay and I really enjoy her. Heidi Mueller brought a more human and mature side. Jessica #2 is one of the weakest actresses right now, she has nothing to do but when she goes all dramatic on Kay it doesn't work. Simone #2 is okay although I liked Cathy Doe more. I find it nice JER held onto those characters in spite of the actresses always leaving.

 

What I loved the most about Passions was that JER wasn't afraid to have Sheridan, the show's heroine, always suffering and being tortured. She always comes off as so dumb it's such a joy to see her miserable. I can't wait to see her committed! That story where Alistair has "doctors" performing electroshock therapy on her made me thirsty when I was reading recaps. But I think it's in 2004 or much later in the year.

2003 was probably one of my favorite years and the LAST year that Passions was decent.....It got wayyy off track the years to follow.

Edited April 9, 20178 yr by YRfan23

The show seemed to lose its way for good in 2002 with the unexpected death of Josh Ryan Evans (Timmy). Not only did the company lose a beloved colleague, but Tabitha lost her main sidekick. Hence "Cracked Connie", Baby Endora and more. The show tried, and Juliet Mills was certainly up for the challenge, but that was a void that could never be filled.