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!

I began watching Passions when it began in 1999 and It's going to be sad when it ends at the end of this year. The series has became such a guilty pleasure for me and one of my favorite shows. The series became so good and I actually feared for the characters lives but the show has lost realism, I mean it's a Soap Opera so of course it's going to wacky and Passions has made it so much more wacky but the series stop seeming real by 2004. Characters kept dying and coming back, characters kept surviving multiple murder attempts and I realize because it's a soap opera this will happen. I also started watching it's NBC lead-in, Days of Our Lives in 1999 but stopped watching the show in 2005 when it became so boring and now Passions is just becoming stupid in it's final year. But even with all these complaints it is one of the best shows on TV and if it continued beyond 2008, I might just stop watching just like I did Days of Our Lives but although it will be sad when it ends, the series should end I think because it is getting dumber and dumber by each passing year but I will stick with it until it's end and if you've never seen this show and you somehow get the resources to watch old episodes, I recommend the entire series to watch but be warned the final years sometimes became hard to watch.

I have been a found of Juliet Mills since I was a child. Little did I know that she would marry the gorgeous and 18 year old her junior, Maxwell Caulfield, from Grease 2. Not only that, they have been almost 25 years too. Besides, Juliet Mills' Tabitha would delight her departed godfather Lord Laurence Oliver and her godmother Vivien Leigh. Her acting father, Sir John Mills, should have guested once on this show. He died recently at 97 years old. While I am crazy about Juliet too, the show has improved since it's debut in 1999. I really wish Juliet won the Emmy Award last night. Without her, this show would have bite the dust like All My Children without Susan Lucci. I hope we can honor Juliet by getting her something else like an M.B.E.(Member of the British Empire). The last British born actress in daytime to receive this honor was Anna Lee in 1982 from Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. I know an M.B.E. is a lower honor than an O.B.E.(Officer of the British Empire), a C.B.E.(Commander of the British Empire) or Dame Commander of the British Empire but Juliet should be rewarded with something. Since nobody at All My Children appears not to care about Eileen Herlie who has played Myrtle Fargate since the seventies, maybe the Passions fans would be more willing to do something. It only costs postage! There is nothing much more than that. There is no $15,000 to upkeep a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which Juliet deserves too. Anybody who knows anything about an M.B.E. knows that it goes to ordinary people who do extraordinary things or for years of service. But for soaps even in England, the M.B.E. has been bestowed upon British actors on Coronation Street and EastEnders. Please help me do something to honor this special lady.

NBC 4's Passions first aired in 1999. It's in it's 6th season and boy, what a soap it's been. For 6 years, we have seen into the lives of the inhabitants of New England's quiet and seemingly peaceful town of Harmony, discovering every dirty secret. This soap opera was a breakthrough because it was the first soap since perhaps "Dark Shadows" in the late 60's to combine supernatural/magic elements with routine soap opera elements. Actress Juliet Mills plays the ancient witch Tabitha Lennox, who is always stirring up trouble for the residents of Harmony. The main love stories involve the relationship between Sheridane Crane, the wealthy and sophisticated daughter of the evil and powerful Alistair Crane, and Luis Lopez Fitzgerald, cop for the Harmony Police and oldest son of Pilar, the former maid to the Cranes. The evil schemes of Alistair have also figured greatly in the soap, as he has broken the dreams and ruined the lives of so many characters- he stole Chad, the black ,illegitimate child of Dr. Eve Russell and his son Julian, he abused his own wife so that she had to run away with Pilar's husband Martin, with whom she would fall in love with later. The show used to be quite emphatic about the magic and the love between the equally magical Charity, who loved Miguel Lopez Fitzgerald, the youngest son. The actor who plays Miguel by the way is Jesee Metcalf, who is now enjoying even more fame in "Desperate Housewives" as the sexy teen gardener.Currently, the magic has been toned down, almost to the point it's non-existent. Tabitha wields no more power and merely looks in her magic pot to spy on the residents and their secret lives. Chad and Whitney, formerly lovers, have discovered they are half brother and sister and now Whitney is expecting his child. True soap stuff!! Teresa still loves Ethan and is in a constant battle with Gwen, his wife, who has abducted her own daughter. The show is still good, though I'd like to see some of the magic again. The characters of Timmy, the doll that came to life and companion to Tabitha, died some years ago. Also, the first Alistair Crane died recently and is now being played by another actor. They have switched actors in certain roles from time to time. But this soap is especially good because of the performances of : Eve Russell, Whitney, Chad, T.C. and Liz, Tabitha, Gwen, Teresa, Ethan, Gwen's mom Rebecca the eternal promiscuous flirt and very funny in the role, Alistair, Luiz and Sheridan, Martin and Katherine Crane. But please bring back Miguel. I'm sure he can sneak off from Desperate Housewives from time to time. And bring back Charity!! And even the now long forgotten dead brother and rival to Luis for Sheridan's hand...Antonio..played by Christopher Douglas. Talk about sexy hunks. The men of Passions are hot...they include Ethan Martsolf (Ethan) James Hyde (Police Chief Sam Bennett). This is a great soap opera, one of a kind.