The repeated Buffy references seemed to be Passions' cultural peak. 

Watching the Mark Graison years of Dallas reminds me that John Beck was on Passions. I remember he was a friend of Julian's, but I don't 100% remember the context. IMDB says Beck played "Bruce," who I initially thought/misremembered was Gwen's father.

Hidden Passions had at least five members of Julian and Ivy's young adult social circle that I was certain were going to pop up circa 2001: Clarissa Morton (brassy new money who had her man stolen by Rebecca), Jonathan Hotchkiss (Gwen's father), Mimi (Higoboom?) (a sorority sister that Pilar thought laughed like Woody Woodpecker), and the Biddles twins, Tommy and Tiffany.

51 minutes ago, Franko said:

Watching the Mark Graison years of Dallas reminds me that John Beck was on Passions. I remember he was a friend of Julian's, but I don't 100% remember the context. IMDB says Beck played "Bruce," who I initially thought/misremembered was Gwen's father.

Hidden Passions had at least five members of Julian and Ivy's young adult social circle that I was certain were going to pop up circa 2001: Clarissa Morton (brassy new money who had her man stolen by Rebecca), Jonathan Hotchkiss (Gwen's father), Mimi (Higoboom?) (a sorority sister that Pilar thought laughed like Woody Woodpecker), and the Biddles twins, Tommy and Tiffany.

In theory, a Hidden Passions mini-series would be fantastic, wouldn't it? 

6 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

In theory, a Hidden Passions mini-series would be fantastic, wouldn't it? 

In theory, yes. I thought for sure that was also coming in the early '00s.

4 hours ago, Franko said:

Watching the Mark Graison years of Dallas reminds me that John Beck was on Passions. I remember he was a friend of Julian's, but I don't 100% remember the context. IMDB says Beck played "Bruce," who I initially thought/misremembered was Gwen's father.

He joined Julian in Bermuda when he getting a divorce from Ivy. And, was the one who tricked Theresa and Julian in to believing that they had gotten married there.

3 hours ago, Bright Eyes said:

In theory, a Hidden Passions mini-series would be fantastic, wouldn't it? 

That would be nice. 

That was such a good book, and it was too bad that the show retconned it so much. I still have my copy somewhere.

8 hours ago, Franko said:

Hidden Passions had at least five members of Julian and Ivy's young adult social circle that I was certain were going to pop up circa 2001: Clarissa Morton (brassy new money who had her man stolen by Rebecca), Jonathan Hotchkiss (Gwen's father), Mimi (Higoboom?) (a sorority sister that Pilar thought laughed like Woody Woodpecker), and the Biddles twins, Tommy and Tiffany.

I had thought that there was a Tommy Biddles on there, but then I realized I was thinking of Dr. Biddles on Santa Barbara. Never mind! 😃

6 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

He joined Julian in Bermuda when he getting a divorce from Ivy. And, was the one who tricked Theresa and Julian in to believing that they had gotten married there.

Thank you. That does ring a bell. I remember Theresa and Julian's drunk, giggly fake wedding (with Julian asking "Whassup?" to the minister). Was Bruce tricking the pair as a prank, or did somebody put him up to it?

6 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

That was such a good book, and it was too bad that the show retconned it so much. I still have my copy somewhere.

I especially liked Katherine recalling how dashing young Alistair was when he'd pick up Rachel for dates, and how she wished she could be her sister, then feeling guilty once Rachel had her boating accident ...

4 hours ago, Franko said:

 Was Bruce tricking the pair as a prank, or did somebody put him up to it?

I think it was just him 

4 hours ago, Franko said:

I especially liked Katherine recalling how dashing young Alistair was when he'd pick up Rachel for dates, and how she wished she could be her sister, then feeling guilty once Rachel had her boating accident ...

And it gave good explanations as to why Alistair was the way that he was.

By the time the series ended, he was just evil for evil’s sake 

Hidden Passions would've definitely made a great mini series, and if I recall correctly, wasn't Reilly actually paid to develop that and the Saturday morning spin off Harmony High. Both that never materialized. Salem High (DAYS) was also a thing at the time.

Happy Anniversary PASSIONS! It wasn't everyone's cup of tea but being #1 among teens 12-17 for its entire run, I felt like me and my friends must've been the perfect target audience because we were hooked and loyal even as it transitioned to Directv. It was like a "gateway soap" that led us to eventually fall for other soaps later on. Had it not been for Passions I wouldn't have later gotten into DAYS during the Last Blast storyline, and later OLTL under Ron (the Ford brothers helped with that initially haha.)

I guess my point is even with its flaws, Passions still holds a place in my soap heart and I'm always happy to celebrate it and chat about it with other fans, even as I've matured into a BTG type of soap fan, which is the only current soap that holds my attention. 

I didn't initially start Passions from the beginning in 1999, it was actually during my summer break in 2000 that I stumbled across it. I actually went online and found the exact episode. Watching the episode it made me smile that Galen Gering and Brook Kerr are still killing it in daytime to my knowledge. Travis' version of Ethan was perfect for this "prince charming" type Theresa was so in love with. Passions really struck gold with Lindsay Hartley, it blows my mind she isn't nabbed by a soap, although I was happy to see her in a Lifetime movie recently. I would later catch up on the earlier episodes when they reran on Sci-Fi cannel, but starting where I did up until shortly after Josh Ryan Evans death to me was Passions at its greatest, I was hooked.

 

I still hope for a Passions reboot one day, or even turn the book Castleton into a TV show, if you all havent read it by Tray Burch, the novel plays on Theresa and Ethan's children Little Ethan (EJ) and Jane as teenagers now living in Castleton where Charity and Faith lived. It's a great read for Passions fans with clever easter eggs scattered through out.

Cheers to another year of memories.

@LostinHarmony Enjoyed reading your memories of the show. I have been watching some lately on Youtube, albeit in clip form. 

I think what I find most interesting with the different clips is going back and forth with some of the recasts. Some really drain the life out of the characters. 

I also enjoyed the bits I saw of the Noah/Theresa friendship, which I had never heard anyone talk about. I don't know if it lasted to the end of the show. 

On 7/5/2025 at 2:50 AM, DRW50 said:

@LostinHarmony Enjoyed reading your memories of the show. I have been watching some lately on Youtube, albeit in clip form. 

I think what I find most interesting with the different clips is going back and forth with some of the recasts. Some really drain the life out of the characters. 

I also enjoyed the bits I saw of the Noah/Theresa friendship, which I had never heard anyone talk about. I don't know if it lasted to the end of the show. 

The Noah and Theresa friendship mostly developed during what I call the show’s “missing years,” that chunk of episodes from the last few NBC seasons that were nearly impossible to find on YouTube for the longest time. Thankfully, as of about two years ago, most of those episodes have finally been uploaded by YouTuber Melissa Mosley, and as a bonus, many are the original NBC airings. Hearing the original "one-time licensed" popular songs, hits different. Some of the replacement tracks (like in the Canadian reruns or Sci-Fi airings) just don’t land the same, even if those versions are usually better quality than old VHS recordings.

Now in terms of recasts, I agree, most of them got progressively worse. The only exceptions for me were Rebecca and Ethan. Even though Maureen McCormick (yes, Marcia Marcia Marcia) initially played Rebecca, Andrea Evans brought her own flair to the character and completely owned it. As for Ethan, losing Travis Schuldt was rough. He was Prince Charming. As a kid, I was genuinely disappointed when he left, especially during such a major storyline. That said, Eric Martsolf eventually won me over. He brought a more mature energy to Ethan, and in time, made the role his own as well.

Funny enough, I actually thought the Bennett girls recasts started off strong. Deanna Wright was a fantastic Kay recast, she nailed it. And Jade Harlow was a solid replacement for Jessica. But then… it’s like they just stopped caring. Danica Stewart? I still don’t understand how she got cast. Her acting was painful to watch, and they had the audacity to give that version of Jessica the most intense storyline with Spike, prostitution, and a pregnancy arc. 

I also preferred Lena Cardwell’s version of Simone. When Chrystee Pharris took over, Simone became way more aggressive and mean. I’ve since seem the actress say she tried to channel TC’s anger since Simone was a daddy’s girl, but I’m not sure that direction worked. And by the time the final Simone was cast, the writing did her dirty. Making her suddenly come out as a lesbian after years of pining for Chad felt like a total slap in the face to longtime viewers. If they had made her bi-curious or questioning, that would’ve made more sense — but a full 180 like that, with no setup, just didn’t sit right with me.

Don’t even get me started on the recasts for Paloma, Miguel, and Fox — those just kept getting worse as the show went on.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Passions, it was wild, bold, and completely one of a kind, but if there was one consistent weak spot, it was definitely the recasts.

7 minutes ago, LostinHarmony said:

The Noah and Theresa friendship mostly developed during what I call the show’s “missing years,” that chunk of episodes from the last few NBC seasons that were nearly impossible to find on YouTube for the longest time. Thankfully, as of about two years ago, most of those episodes have finally been uploaded by YouTuber Melissa Mosley, and as a bonus, many are the original NBC airings. Hearing the original "one-time licensed" popular songs, hits different. Some of the replacement tracks (like in the Canadian reruns or Sci-Fi airings) just don’t land the same, even if those versions are usually better quality than old VHS recordings.

Now in terms of recasts, I agree, most of them got progressively worse. The only exceptions for me were Rebecca and Ethan. Even though Maureen McCormick (yes, Marcia Marcia Marcia) initially played Rebecca, Andrea Evans brought her own flair to the character and completely owned it. As for Ethan, losing Travis Schuldt was rough. He was Prince Charming. As a kid, I was genuinely disappointed when he left, especially during such a major storyline. That said, Eric Martsolf eventually won me over. He brought a more mature energy to Ethan, and in time, made the role his own as well.

Funny enough, I actually thought the Bennett girls recasts started off strong. Deanna Wright was a fantastic Kay recast, she nailed it. And Jade Harlow was a solid replacement for Jessica. But then… it’s like they just stopped caring. Danica Stewart? I still don’t understand how she got cast. Her acting was painful to watch, and they had the audacity to give that version of Jessica the most intense storyline with Spike, prostitution, and a pregnancy arc. 

I also preferred Lena Cardwell’s version of Simone. When Chrystee Pharris took over, Simone became way more aggressive and mean. I’ve since seem the actress say she tried to channel TC’s anger since Simone was a daddy’s girl, but I’m not sure that direction worked. And by the time the final Simone was cast, the writing did her dirty. Making her suddenly come out as a lesbian after years of pining for Chad felt like a total slap in the face to longtime viewers. If they had made her bi-curious or questioning, that would’ve made more sense — but a full 180 like that, with no setup, just didn’t sit right with me.

Don’t even get me started on the recasts for Paloma, Miguel, and Fox — those just kept getting worse as the show went on.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Passions, it was wild, bold, and completely one of a kind, but if there was one consistent weak spot, it was definitely the recasts.

Sometimes I wonder if they just had her come out as a lesbian as some kind of parallel to the Vincent and Chad storyline. Chad seemed to be another case of an iffy recast. Not really sure what to say about any of that story. It seemed like a lot of the stories for Simone or Jessica became much darker when they got older. I don't know if that was just the show getting darker or if JER ran out of ideas for them.

I haven't watched tons and tons but I was more impressed by Travis Schuldt's Ethan than I was in past glimpses - he really fits the mold of rich, snobbish Crane and good-hearted Sam son. Eric is decent, he's always had a lot of presence, but it's tough to buy him as a Crane. 

I didn't even know they'd recast Paloma. I mostly saw her in some of the later material, where some kind of little person is trying to ruin her relationship with Noah for some reason.

Any thoughts on the Gwen and Hank recasts, @LostinHarmony?

I'm torn between whether Liza Huber or Natalie Zea was the better Gwen. And I really wish the show had pulled the trigger on Gwen & Hank. I want to say that there was some chem testing between Zea and Ryan McPartlin. It would have been nice to have a rich-middle class couple that didn't have tons of drama. I can't remember, is that what Sam & Ivy were on their way to becoming, a tentpole couple?

Slightly veering from recasts, I think that the show's attempts to replicate the Tabitha & Timmy dynamic after Josh Ryan Evans' untimely passing just didn't work. We really didn't need little Endora.

We must be roughly the same age, LIH. I turned 11 shortly after the show premiered. And at some point in middle school, I screamed at the TV the day that Hecuba used her magic to split Luis & Sheridan's "love noodle" (not a euphemism).