What Would Passions have been like if Bill Bell or Agnes Nixon was Head Writer?

[EricMontreal22]

I guess for me, having the same scene repeated endlessly is not classic soap... It's lazy writing.

[Chris B]

The slower pace is something soaps are known for, but at least in this first year Passions is not *that* repetitive. They use most of the cast in different stories which prevents some of that and the scenes are very long. The dream sequences are what really take up most of the time. I really don't know how to explain it, but it doesn't feel slow. I can watch a week of Passions and I feel like things happened. It's at more of a real life pace. It takes times for things to happen!

[robbwolff]

From what I recall, Passions was promoted as being a cross between Peyton Place, Dark Shadows, and Twin Peaks. What ended up on screen did have elements from all three of those shows.

My partner and I watched Passions for the first two years. In fact, we named our cat Tabitha in honor of a certain witch. But we tired of the long drawn-out stories and repetitive dialogue. Passions, like other soaps, was pre-empted after 9/11. When episodes resumed, we just didn't tune in anymore.

[Eric83]

Passions was amazing from 2000-2004.

[teplin]

"From what I recall, Passions was promoted as being a cross between Peyton Place, Dark Shadows, and Twin Peaks."

Which would have been wonderful. Unfortunately, what ended up on screen was a cross between Fresno, Saved by the Bell and H.R. Pufnstuf.

The show started off as a hot mess and went downhill from there. Though, to be fair, I'd probably have loved it if I was pre-teenager.

[KMan101]

Passions was great, IMO, from 1999 until about 2004/2005, though honestly I felt 1999 and 2000 were the best years overall. Once 2002 rolled around I severely lost interest. JER threw in the towel for some reason. I also atribute it to Josh Ryan Evans' death in 2002, any semblance of quality is pretty much gone and you can tell overtime how awful it just becomes, which sucks because, aside from the ludicrous Princess Diana thing, the first two years were pretty good. I honestly didn't attempt to take some of it seriously and I was aware of JER's storytelling. However, the show did have some wooden actors. Oy. Better actors initially would have helped, though no one was truly awful (I know back in the day it was fun to hate on Dana Sparks for being particularly awful). Metcalfe's still awful. 14 years later.

Of course, I was also in high school at the time. I believe most of the first few years is on YouTube.

[Chris B]

I think initially the show has a better cast than it's given credit for. Dana Sparks is HILARIOUS, but overall the cast is not bad. I think there are some who did lots of Emmy-worthy work throughout the years. Lindsay Hartley, Brook Kerr and Eva Tomargo could've all been nominated for Emmys. For younger actors, the initial actors playing Kay, Jessica and Simone were fantastic and along with Teresa, Chad and Whitney, that's pretty good casting for a younger set. Yes Jesse Metcalfe and Molly Stanton are bad, but every soap has bad actors. They did pretty good considering.

[KMan101]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I actually really liked the cast (the originals, some of the recasts were very meh) but they left a lot to be desired, lol.

I thought Eva was so underrated the entire time Passions was on the air. She always brought it. I loved Pilar. Brook Kerr was good as well. I swear I spotted her in the promo for Travis Schuldt's recent Hallmark movie. But I don't know. I don't watch any of those Hallmark movies.

Dana Sparks was hilarious. It was fun to make fun of her but I always felt a little ripped off that Faith died so quickly and Grace was shoved off the canvas and then brought back only to suddenly be killed. WTF. What happened there? Does anyone know.

I loved Deanna Wright and Taylor Anne Mountz (the first Kay). Heidi Mueller grew on me but they watered Kay down too much and they had too many awful Miguel's. I also loved Lena Cardwell and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, I'm glad those two still work (though it seems they never get anything 'major').

I also never understood on JER's shows that when an actor leaves who can act they must be replaced by a wooden actor. Seemed to happen on both DAYS and PASSIONS. Ryan McPartlin was such a different Hank. I didn't think he was all that great but funny how I grew to really like him on Chuck. McPartlin and Schuldt do surprisingly well with comedy material.

So glad to see Justin Hartley, Travis Schuldt, Natalie Zea, and a few others doing well.

[soapsnstuds]

I still can't believe that show lasted as long as it did when far worthier soaps had a shorter shelf life.

Entertainment Weekly did a big feature on the show and even slapped Passions on the cover of their June 15, 2001 issue as they heralded it as the soap that everybody should be watching because it set itself apart from the other soaps but I personally never considered that as a plus but moreso as the equivalent to a circus sideshow freak or the inability to not watch a road side calamity.