Passions was a groundbreaking soap opera created by the legendary writer, James E. Reilly. JER was the go-to-guy when soaps needed rating raising story lines; he singlehandedly saved Days of Our Lives from the cancellation block with one of the shows most entertaining story lines involving popular character, Marlena, being possessed by the devil. JER thrived on supernatural story lines and made them entertaining and engrossing. Unfortunately, the soaps he worked on already established a brand which wouldn't really allow for the exploratory plots he had in mind; enter Passions, the brainchild where JER could do whatever he wanted and build a fanbase around a different kind of soap...a soap that would be unlike any you'd watched before. It wasn't your Grandmother's soap. Passions began July 5th, 1999 to a lot of buzz--both good and bad. Many were disgruntled that Another World, an established brand, was cancelled for this new soap. True to form, JER wanted to keep people talking. Remember no press is bad press. If people are talking and watching--regardless of whether they like it or not-- then JER has accomplished what he set out to do. Oh, and boy did he ever! Many people began immediately petitioning the shows cancellation when it depicted the late Princess Diana as being heroine Sheridan Crane's best friend. NBC must've known that they stumbled upon gold because Passions proved the naysayers who prophesied it wouldn't see the end of 1999 wrong. Although never a top-rated soap opera--it only topped one other show consecutively, Port Charles--Passions still managed to always hit number one in key demographics. Full of memorable characters, whacky story lines, fated couples you loved to root for and the funnest spoofs (The Boozebornes, where Ben Masters (Julian) imitates a character similar to Ozzy Osbourne in one of Theresa's fantasies or any of the musical numbers such as Edna Wallace's Chicago-inspired fantasy of "I Ain't Sorry" or Gwen's of "Love is Ecstacy"). Passions revolutionized what a soap opera could be and JER loved pushing new boundaries--just when you thought you'd seen it all JER would laugh and remind you that on his show you ain't seen nothing yet. Because of some of the more outlandish plots many "soap opera purists" found the show terrible and refused to recognize it as a soap opera. Again, people still talking means something! Witches, dolls-come-to-life, closets as portals to hell, zombies, hermaphrodites and more. Passions embraced the outlandishness and never took itself too seriously. However, to say the show lacked heart would be criminal! Just as when it knew to lighten up it also knew when to pour out some gut-wrenching storytelling. What made Passions even greater was the casts chemistry--unlike many other soap casts you could tell that everyone genuinely cared about each other and became almost extended family. Another popular soapy theme in the show was love triangles; popular ones being Gwen-Ethan-Theresa, Kay-Miguel-Charity, several combinations of Beth-Luis-Sheridan or Antonio-Sheridan-Luis and Simone-Chad-Whitney. Sadly in 2007 NBC decided to cancel Passions in favor of an additional hour of the-already-too-long Today Show. JER, true to form, traded some great slams to NBC and the Daytime President too. Thankfully, Passions proved naysayers wrong again and managed to pull a soapy move by coming back from the dead and moving to DirecTV's exclusive 101 Network. Passions managed to pull The 101 it's best ratings ever yet got cancelled once again in August of 2008. Unfortunately there wasn't another save. But JER managed to take some jabs at DirecTV too. If you haven't seen Passions then you are truly missing out on iconic, groundbreaking and entertaining television. Sadly, JER passed away shortly after Passions ended but he left behind an incredible legacy and a TV show that--whether it was being talked about positively or negatively--was nevertheless being talked about even after it's cancellation (if you've seen Family Guy the news anchor Tom Tucker got drunk one newscast and vowed to bring Passions back!). You've gotta see Passions. I promise you that you'll become addicted!
