Yes I know, a touchy subject. Yes I know that you either love it or hate it. Yes the show has been bashed, and yes I too have been responsible for bashing it. This is one soap that brings out the tiger in all soap fans.

Now that Passions has passed the one month mark and is picking up steam like a boulder rolling down a mountain side. I think this is one train that will not stop in the near future. So it is time for me to sit down and tell you what I think.

First, lets look at the anger over how NBC handled adding Passions to their lineup.   

Established soap fans were not anxious to tune in because they saw that NBC had little respect for one of the longest running shows currently on the air. The cancellation of long time fan favorite Another World to make room on the new NBC daytime schedule ruffled quite a few feathers. Why not cancel a lower rated soap like Sunset Beach, or go to a 4 soap schedule like ABC and CBS? The press then reported that NBC was looking to cater to the 12-17 year old demographic. That's where the money is according to advertisers. Sunset Beach fit that demo and was doing strongly overseas. Since NBC owned a stake in Sunset Beach that meant they were making more money off of that show than they were with the Procter & Gamble owned Another World. All around it was a fiscal decision.

So take that anger and frustration on the part of fans, add in that most of this new show is comprised of many actors new to the genre, and many in the beginning were not Emmy caliber performers (I mean how often can someone say "I'm Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald" or "You're Theresa Lopez Fitzgerald" with any meaning or passion behind it?) Throw in some terrible dialog and you have the first week of Passions life. 

I admit, as a sporadic and long time Another World fan I was prepared to hate Passions, watch the first week, and just check in periodically after that. I also admit that at first it was hard to get through and entire episode...especially the Princess Diana storyline. I'm sure you've read in the mainstream press all about this shocking twist thrown at viewers within the first weeks. What ever prompted James E. Reilly to write a storyline that follows the almost exact same course the Princess Diana tragedy followed, I can only guess. (note: because of that storyline, I can barely stand to watch any storyline concerning Sheridan Crane and fast forward through most of her scenes) but then I said to myself... "Do not try to watch this show as you would the other soaps. This is not a run of the mill soap opera...it is campy, it is fun, it is corny, it is comedy...accept it for all of that and see what happens." I did that and surprise surprise I started liking Passions.

I doubt that Passions will go down in history as the greatest soap of all time. Watch it long enough and you'll start to appreciate the humor and parody of the soap genre this brings to our screens. This is a soap that asks us not to take soap operas too seriously, but to sit back and enjoy the ride. While the town of Harmony may have only experienced a total of 3 or 4 days and nights in the first six weeks of it's life, this show has already provided us with levitation, an angel girl, evil spirits, a living doll, a witch, a freak wind storm, many attempted arrests, murder, mystery, amnesia, obsession, stalking, love struck teenagers, and foreshadowing of what's ahead. I'd say these are all staples of a successful soap and though the days are long in this town, the pace moves quite quickly and rarely are you left bored at the end of the hour. All in all, Passions is a soap for those of us looking for some comic relief in our days.

I'd love to hear what you have to say about Passions. 
Why not leave me some reader feedback.

For easy reference bookmark this page: http://soaps.about.com/library/weekly/aa081399.htm