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Passions
Creator(s)	James E. Reilly
Senior cast member(s)	Galen Gering Lindsay Hartley Liza Huber James Hyde Ben Masters Juliet Mills Tracey Ross Eva Tamargo Kim Johnston Ulrich McKenzie Westmore
No. of episodes	NBC: 2,075 DirecTV: 057 (December 21, 2007)[1]
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lisa de Cazotte
Head writer(s)	James E. Reilly
Running time	60 minutes with commercials, roughly 37 minutes without commercials
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (1999-2007) DirecTV (2007-2008)
Premiere date	July 5, 1999 (NBC) September 17, 2007 (DirecTV)

Passions is an American television soap opera created by James E. Reilly. It debuted on NBC on July 5, 1999 (replacing Another World), and its final airdate on NBC was September 7, 2007. The series began airing new episodes on DirecTV-exclusive channel The 101 on September 17, 2007.^[2]

The show follows the various romantic and supernatural adventures of the residents of Harmony, a fictional New England hamlet. Originally Passions centered largely around horror-oriented themes, but now routinely uses drama and comedy instead.

Though plagued since its inception by low overall Nielsen Ratings, Passions has historically been top-rated in key demographics.^[3] The series was not renewed by NBC for a full ninth season in 2007 as a result of the network's decision to extend its morning news and talk show Today to a fourth hour.^[4] Satellite provider DirecTV soon picked up the series, and began airing new episodes on its original-programming channel The 101 in September 2007.^[5] The series runs Monday to Thursday at 2 pm ET/11 am PT, with repeats airing on the weekends.

As announced in May 2007, most principal cast members had been signed for the series' continuing season on DirecTV.^[6] On July 3, 2007 is was reported that new Canadian premium television service SuperChannel will air Passions in Canada when the channel launches in October 2007.^[7] DirecTV also announced on September 27, 2007 that Passions will be made available online at NBC.com for a monthly fee.^[8]

In early December 2007, Variety, and various stars of the show^[9][10] confirmed that DirecTV has decided not to renew the show for a tenth season. The cast and crew will go into an extended holiday hiatus next week, and then resume filming in February. Production will continue until March 28, 2008 and new episodes of Passions will air throughout August 2008. The show will also be reduced from four episodes per week to three. According to Variety Passions may find a new home on Oxygen Television or even as an Internet-based sudser.

Contents 1 Storylines 2 History 2.1 Controversy 2.2 Move to DirecTV 2.3 NBC finale 3 Trademarks 3.1 Pop culture spoofs 3.2 Dream sequences 3.3 Roman Catholicism 3.4 Fate and "destined" couples 3.5 Summertime extravaganzas 3.6 Sexual violence 3.7 Eerie deaths 3.8 Breaking the fourth wall 3.9 Promotion and product placement 4 Theme song and opening sequence 5 Hidden Passions 6 Reruns and other media 7 Ratings/broadcasting history 8 Cast 8.1 Current cast members 8.2 Recurring cast members 8.3 Comings and goings 8.4 Deceased cast members 8.5 Noted guest stars 8.6 Historical cast information 9 Awards 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

Major storylines throughout the soap's run have included:

• Theresa's (Lindsay Hartley) schemes to steal Ethan Crane (Travis Schuldt, Eric Martsolf) away from his wife, Gwen (Liza Huber, Natalie Zea, then Huber again). Ultimately Theresa seduced Ethan away from Gwen, who retaliated by exposing the fact that Ethan was not a biological Crane (his father being his mother's secret lover), a move that resulted in Ethan changing his name from Crane to Winthrop. Since then, Theresa and Ethan have married, though the revelation that Theresa's son from another marriage is Ethan's own biological son hangs over her head.
• Kay's (Taylor Anne Mountz, Gina Marie May, Deanna Wright, Heidi Mueller) desire to be with her cousin Charity's (Molly Stanton, Kristina Sisco) boyfriend, Miguel (Jesse Metcalfe, Adrian Bellani), and her current inability to choose between Miguel and now-husband Fox Crane (Justin Hartley, Mark Cameron Wystrach). After Fox lied about his fake illness and Miguel trying to run him over with his car, Kay has chosen to be with Miguel.
• Tabitha's (Juliet Mills) desire to wreak havoc upon the citizens of Harmony, her exploits with her "living doll" Timmy, and the raising of her daughter, Endora (Nicole Cox).
• Eve's (played by Tracey Ross) affair with former Crane heir Julian (Ben Masters) and the search for their long-lost son, who was revealed to be the hermaphrodite tabloid reporter Vincent Clarkson (Phillip Jeanmarie), who wreaked havoc throughout Harmony as the villainous masked blackmailer.
• Charity's premonitions and powers of good being a target of Tabitha and other evil forces. Her powers often foreshadowed many secrets and events that would affect the people of Harmony. More specifically, Tabitha trying to prevent Charity from making love to Miguel so she would not come into her full powers, the prom boat disaster, Warlock Island, Hecuba the witch, and much more.
• The recurring character, Norma, trying to kill Tabitha (and Timmy during his time on the show)
• Whitney's (Brook Kerr) romantic relationship with Chad (Donn Swaby, Charles Divins); when Chad was mistakenly assumed to be Whitney's long-lost brother, Chad turned to a homosexual relationship with Vincent Clarkson, who later revealed that he seduced Chad to punish Whitney for growing up with her mother.
• Ivy's (Kim Johnston Ulrich) schemes to win back her first love Sam (James Hyde), with whom she conceived her son Ethan behind her husband Julian Crane's back.
• Sheridan (McKenzie Westmore) and Luis's (Galen Gering) relationship, which collapsed when Sheridan chose to marry Luis's brother Antonio (Christopher Douglas) rather than be with Luis. Their relationship was further strained when Sheridan had accused Luis of not doing anything to find their son Marty, who was kidnapped by Luis's psycho ex lover Beth,(Kelli McCarty), and was presumed dead. When Luis attempted to move on with his life by beginning a relationship with Sheridan's niece, Fancy (Emily Harper), Sheridan transformed from heroine to villain and vowed to destroy both Fancy and Luis's lives if she could not have Luis. This has led Sheridan, among other crimes, to allow Luis to be convicted and executed for a murder he did not commit, to attempt to murder Luis's sister Theresa, to make Fancy look like she is crazy and lying about being attacked, and to attempt to slander Fancy's good name; this culminated with the arrival of Fancy's sister Pretty, whom Fancy accidentally disfigured when Pretty provoked a physical altercation with her sister over a boy, and Luis finally realizing what Sheridan had been up to and wanting nothing more to do with her.
• Alistair's (David Bailey, John Reilly) continuing efforts to meddle in the lives of the citizens of Harmony, and recently his quest for ultimate power, including the impersonation of a monk to lure sixteen people from Harmony to Rome as pawns in his scheme.

Passions debuted with major fanfare (Reilly had been credited for a large surge in the ratings for Days of our Lives) but also some controversy (lead heroine Sheridan's best friend was the late Princess Diana, and, in flashbacks, Sheridan spoke to Diana on the phone right before she was killed).

For much of the first three to four years of the series, supernatural elements such as witches, warlocks, and closet doors leading to Hell were major plot points. One central character was Charity (Molly Stanton, Kristina Sisco), a saccharine young woman who would regularly become possessed by the "forces of evil" and turn into "Evil Charity" or "Zombie Charity." NBC even made a deal with the owners of Bewitched to allow "Dr. Bombay" to appear in scenes with witch Tabitha Lenox (not to be confused with Bewitched's Tabitha Stevens). "Dr. Bombay" appeared on three occasions, but Bewitched nixed any future visits; however, when Tabitha had a child in 2003, she named the baby Endora. Tabitha also stated on an episode that her mother was named Samantha and that her father was a mortal named Darren. Recently, a new storyline brought back some of these elements with the introduction of the character Siren, a mermaid that Endora brought to life and made human to keep Kay from leaving Fox for Miguel.

Over time, Passions moved away from supernatural elements and began to concentrate on the usual array of love triangles and returns from the dead. One of their most popular storylines was the interracial romance between filthy rich letch Julian Crane (Ben Masters) and icy doctor Eve Russell (Tracey Ross). Their '70s love affair produced a child, but Julian's father Alistair demanded they break up so Julian could marry a more "suitable" (white) woman. Eve married former tennis star TC (Rodney Van Johnson) and had two daughters, Whitney (Brook Kerr) and Simone (Lena Cardwell, Chrystee Pharris-Larkins, then Cathy Jenéen Doe). Years later, the revelations of Julian and Eve's love as well as the news that Eve had caused the car accident which ended TC's tennis career led TC to dump Eve and take up with her half-sister, Liz. Julian, who had never stopped loving Eve, reunited with her after giving up his boozing and adulterous ways. During the summer of 2005, TC and Eve's youngest daughter Simone came out as a lesbian. Passions made daytime history by being the only serial to show two women (Simone and Rae) in bed making love. Most recently, Chad was revealed to be the child of Alistair and Liz, allowing him and Whitney to get married and raise their son Miles.

A major storyline started on October 10, 2006 entitled "Passions: Tabloid Truth" This was another interactive storyline not unlike "Passions: Red" and "Passions: Vendetta" During the 12-week umbrella story we will see the some of the shows biggest secrets revealed via tabloid reporter JT Cornell. In the last months of Passions on NBC a mysterious half man and half woman blackmailer was practically blackmailing the entire hamlet of Harmony and that lead to many secrets being revealed. The blackmailer turned out to be Vincent the long lost son/daughter of Eve and Julian, who happens to be intersexed which leads many fans to think Vincent and Valerie are the same person since they are never shown together. Valerie knew who their child was months before it was revealed to be Vincent. Vincent blames his intersexed state on Julian and Eve's drug use during their early relationship.

When it premiered in 1999, Passions featured a controversial storyline in which Sheridan Crane was identified as a close friend of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. In the storyline, Sheridan recalled speaking to Diana on the phone immediately prior to the 1997 car accident which took the Princess' life. Sheridan also had a similar accident in the same Paris tunnel, and spoke to a "guardian Angel Diana" who urged her to fight to survive.^[11] Sheridan later adopted the name Diana after a boating accident that resulted in amnesia.

In 2003, Passions submitted a trained orangutan named BamBam, who had been portraying the recurring role of Precious, for a Daytime Emmy Award. Precious was the non-speaking live-in nurse and caregiver for elderly Edna Wallace (Kathleen Noone), and held an unrequited love for Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald (depicted in elaborate fantasy sequences). In early 2004, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which administers the awards, disallowed the entry, with the following statement:

Our ruling is based on the belief that the Academy must draw a line of distinction between animal characters that aren't capable of speaking parts and human actors whose personal interpretation in character portrayal creates nuance and audience engagement that uniquely qualifies those performers for consideration of television's highest honor.

In recent years, homosexuality has become a focal point of several of Passions' storylines. In 2007, Passions began the storyline of Chad Harris (Charles Divins) cheating on his wife Whitney (Brook Kerr) with a man (his biological nephew, Vincent, played by Phillip Jeanmarie). Passions also featured the lesbian union of Simone Russell (Cathy Jeneen Doe) and her partner Rae Thomas (Jossara Jinaro). Another recurring couple with an implied lesbian relationship is Norma and Edna, who met in a mental instution and became allies against Tabitha. In an August 2007 episode they were seen dancing romantically and talking about their love life.

Shortly after NBC announced that Passions would be ending its run on the network on September 7, 2007, DirecTV announced that it would be picking up the soap and start airing new episodes of the series on September 17, 2007 on its entertainment channel The 101.

The following current performers signed contracts to continue on the series on DirecTV: Erin Cardillo, Dylan Fergus, Galen Gering, Emily Harper, Lindsay Hartley, Liza Huber, James Hyde, Eric Martsolf, Ben Masters, Juliet Mills, Heidi Mueller, Tracey Ross, Melinda Sward, Eva Tamargo, Kim Johnston Ulrich, and McKenzie Westmore. Meanwhile, Nicole Cox, Andrea Evans, Phillip Jeanmarie, Christopher Maleki, John Reilly, Daphnee Duplaix Samuel, Colton Shires, Danica Stewart, Rodney Van Johnson, and Adrian Wilson all agreed to appear on DirecTV on a recurring basis (though Stewart, Van Johnson, and Wilson have yet to be used). Having been newly introduced on NBC briefly before the show left the network, Amy Castle also continued on a recurring basis. Silvana Arias, Adrian Bellani, Charles Divins, Cathy Jeneen Doe, Brook Kerr, James Stevenson and Mark Cameron Wystrach departed the series. Divins' and Wystrach's characters were killed and the others written off, while Arias' character was recast with Hannia Guillen, who signed a contract. Bellani was recast four months later in the form of Blair Redford.

In September 2007, DirecTV announced that episodes of Passions would be available on NBC.com for a small fee starting on October 1, 2007.

In December 2007, it was announced that DirecTV chose not to renew Passions. The soap would begin airing three times a week in January 2008 and the final episodes would air in August 2008. There is a possibility the soap may continue via another venue.^[12]

The final airdate on NBC for Passions was September 7, 2007. The episode, while answering a few questions, was largely made up of cliffhangers designed to entice viewers to DirecTV. Cliffhangers included the following:^[13]

• Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald finally found out that Tabitha Lenox is a witch, and that his girlfriend, Kay Bennett, possesses magical powers. When demons from Tabitha's basement tried to kidnap Tabitha's daughter, Endora, Miguel rushed after the little girl to save her and became trapped in Tabitha's basement. When Tabitha and Kay were finally able to get into the basement, it was empty; the Boys in the Basement had left, and they had apparently taken Miguel and Endora with them.

• While Viki slept in her room, Fox Crane and Esme Vanderheusen made love for the first time; each admitted to feeling as if they'd "always been together." When Fox got up to get some wine, a loud sound was heard. Esme hid under the covers and asked Fox what had happened, and he replied, "A gunshot." When she re-emerged from beneath the covers, she found Fox lying on the floor, a gunshot wound in his chest and blood trickling from his mouth; she began to scream for help, and he appeared to die. (It was later revealed that he had died.)

• Eve Russell went to visit Valerie Davis and inform her that her ex-boyfriend, Vincent Clarkson, had fallen from a cliff and died. After Eve left, Valerie began to converse with Vincent, who answered with Valerie's mouth. Looking in the mirror, Valerie ripped off her mask and revealed Vincent beneath.

• Spike Lester showed Sheridan Crane a video of her son, Marty Lopez-Fitzgerald, in an unknown playroom. When he zoomed in on a calendar, which showed September 2007, Sheridan received proof that her son did not die in a train accident a year earlier.

• Alistair Crane attempted to use his mind-control device to force his granddaughter, Fancy, to slap and verbally abuse her boyfriend, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. The device malfunctioned, though, and gave Fancy a near-fatal headache. The headache stopped, but Fancy soon received a heavy nosebleed, and fainted.

• After learning that their son, Ethan, had awoken from his coma, Sam Bennett and Ivy Winthrop kissed, apparently reuniting. In earlier scenes, Sam also seemed to have forgiven Ivy for her schemes to break him apart from his late wife, Grace.

• Ethan Winthrop finally awoke from his coma and remembered his wife, Theresa, telling him that he had a son. While Theresa waited for Pilar to bring in her son with Ethan, Little Ethan, Ethan's ex-wife, Gwen, arrived with an infant baby boy and announced that he was her son with Ethan. (Theresa only never told Ethan that he had a son, never clarifying that said son was Little Ethan, or that she was the mother of his son.)

Over its run, Passions has become widely known for its numerous parodies of pop culture. One fan favorite was the 2003 spoof of the 2002 film Chicago, in which character Edna Wallace fantasized that she, her demented daughter, Beth, Charlie, and her orangutan caretaker, Precious, had been incarcerated for the kidnapping of Sheridan Lopez-Fitzgerald and her unborn son, Marty. In this fantasy, the three women sang "I Ain't Sorry", a parody of "Cell Block Tango". The song was performed in the style of musical theatre, and was simultaneously mocked and adored by fans. Another spoof popular with the fans was the 2006 Bollywood spoof, in which Gwen dreamt of a life in India with her husband, Ethan, far away from his ex-fiancée, Theresa. The original song accompanying this spoof, "Love is Ecstasy", was a hit with fans, and NBC even put both a video clip and a downloadable mp3 version of the song on their website. The show has also featured storylines and sequences paying homage to or parodying films and books like Titanic, Brokeback Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Wizard of Oz, The Da Vinci Code, The Little Mermaid and Wicked.

One of Passions' most notorious trademarks is the false "dream sequence". Often, the show will play out an outlandish event, or explode a huge secret viewers have longtime been waiting to see, only to immediately after go back and reveal it all to be a day dream. This dream sequence can last anywhere from a few scenes to a few episodes, typically beginning without warning. On Passions, often a dream sequence will begin with no visual cues of any sort what so ever. Often going as far to include contradictory elements to give the dream sequence credence. (For instance, another character may show up within the dream wearing an outfit, or revealing information that the daydreamer had no possible way of knowing about beforehand.) While a veteran viewer can usually spot a fake dream sequence once it's neared its climax, the fake dream sequence tend to cause confusion amongst the more casual viewer who may not get to catch the revelation that it was all dream.

Roman Catholicism and its principles figure greatly into the show's themes. Several characters, including Grace Bennett and Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald, are portrayed as being particularly devout Catholics, often praying with a rosary. Father Lonigan, the blind priest, has the ability to sense evil, causing lots of trouble for Tabitha over the years. Many theological debates on the importance of Catholic marriage vows have arisen over the years as well, as various characters attempt to divorce or remarry.

Another trademark of the serial is its preoccupation with the concepts of fate and soulmates. Since the show's first episode in 1999, the writers have pushed several couples onto the fans, claiming that they are "fated", and, with few short-lived exceptions, have failed to mix up any of the relationships. Some of the early "fated" couples were considered to be those of Luis and Sheridan, Ethan and Theresa, Miguel and Charity, and Chad and Whitney. Common indications of a couple's status as "fated" include (but are not necessarily limited to) Tabitha's desire to split said couple up, an unshakeable love that survives numerous break-ups and relationships with third parties, and/or an ability of one character, or perhaps both characters, to "sense" when his/her "soulmate" is in danger. However, despite the fact that each of these couples has existed as a storyline since the first episodes, the show seems to have given up on the "fated" angle as it approaches its end. Ethan and Theresa are still in love and fighting to be together, but Miguel is now in love with Kay (not Charity), Luis loves Fancy (not Sheridan, though Sheridan schemes to get him back), and Whitney recently left Chad after finding out about his affair with Vincent. Chad later died.

Likely due to Passions' school-aged target audience, the show often cooks up large, wild storylines for the summer, which often, but not always, take place in a city outside of Harmony. In 1999, a carnival came to town as characters were introduced; 2000 saw Luis and Sheridan traveling to New Mexico in search of his then-missing father, Martin Fitzgerald, and 2001 witnessed the failed double-wedding of popular couples Luis and Sheridan and Ethan and Theresa, and their subsequent journey to Bermuda, where Sheridan apparently perished in a boat explosion and Theresa wound up married to Ethan's ex-stepfather, Julian Crane. In 2002, Julian and Timmy set out on a journey in the magical land of Oz as Theresa was "executed" for Julian's "murder"; 2003 saw six characters (Chad, Whitney, Fox, Theresa, Ethan, and Gwen, collectively known as the "LA Six") travel to Los Angeles for the summer (and into October), while, in 2004, Luis and Sheridan traveled to Puerto Arena, Mexico, to retrieve his younger sister, Paloma (and ended up finding his missing father, Martin, and her "dead" mother, Katherine). The plot of the summer in 2005 was a deadly earthquake and tsumani, which destroyed much of Harmony and resulted in the death of James's mother, Maureen, while 2006 saw the extravagant Passions Vendetta plot,^[14] in which Alistair lured seventeen people (Whitney, Simone, Paloma, Chad, Ethan, Theresa, Gwen, Lena, Spike, Jessica, Maya, Noah, Esme, Fancy, Luis, Beth, and Marty) to Rome, where he planned to take over the world with a chalice stolen from the Pope's private chambers; the plot saw the death of Lena, Maya, Alistair, Beth, and Marty. Summer 2007 saw the resolution of the "blackmailer" storyline as Vincent Clarkson was revealed to be the half-man/half-woman blackmailer and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald was saved at the last minute from execution for Vincent's crimes.

Another recurring theme on Passions is sexual violence. Many storylines, especially since 2005, have included rape as a plot point.

In 2005, so many plotlines came to involve an element of rape that fans began to refer to that year as the "Year of the Rapes". Early that year, Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald was sexually assaulted and nearly raped during a club raid, the show then carried a plotline over whether they should do a rape test while Paloma was in acoma(For at the time she was a virgin) and Jessica Bennett was also raped a few weeks later while at a club. Also early in the year, Alistair Crane repeatedly raped his wife, Katherine Crane, while at the Crane Compound. Late in May, heiress Fancy Crane was nearly raped by a man in Las Vegas who demanded "payment" for letting her into a party after she lost her invitation. During the tsunami and later in November, Liz Sanbourne attempted to rape Julian Crane at knifepoint. In August, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald was raped by Alistair Crane when she refused to pay him (with sex) for helping her with visitation of her infant daughter, Jane; Theresa later married Alistair, and he continued to rape her throughout their marriage. Also in August or September, Kay Bennett was attacked by a gang of men while walking through the park at night, though Fox Crane soon arrived and the two defeated the group. Liz Sanbourne also revealed during the tsunami that Julian Crane had raped her in Boston many years previously (she later revealed that it had been Alistair who had done the deed, thus producing a son, Chad Harris-Crane).

Oddly enough, men on the show are equally as likely to be violated as women. Fox Crane, Julian Crane, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald, and Ethan Winthrop have all been victims of sexual assault.

One unfortunate trademark for Passions has been eerie deaths. In 2002, Josh Ryan Evans, who played Tabitha's extremely popular doll sidekick Timmy, died while on medical leave, just as scenes were airing where Timmy died in the hospital and went to Heaven. Passions had planned to revive the character in a few months once Evans returned from his own surgery, but instead had to write Timmy out. After five years of evil Crane patriarch Alistair being heard but never having his face seen (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), Passions finally cast the role with longtime daytime vet David Bailey. Bailey was a hit with the cast as well as the fans, but on Thanksgiving Day 2004, he drowned in his pool, just as scenes were airing where various characters tried to kill Alistair, who actually suffered clinical death before being magically revived by Tabitha. Again, the viewers and the producers were stunned, but the show had no choice but to recast the pivotal role (with John Reilly).

With its humor and occasional tongue-in-cheek tone, Passions has been known to "break the fourth wall," or somehow call attention to the fact that the show is fictional. In an early episode, Kay, Simone and Zombie Charity were seen actually watching Passions. In a 2002 episode Theresa was giving birth while stuck in a cabin with Ethan and Gwen; she had a hallucination in which the three of them did a dance together and sang the show's theme. In 2004, TC made a reference to "that crazy soap after Days of our Lives", which in most areas airs before Passions. In one episode Fancy Crane used a magazine to hide her face from Noah; the magazine had an image of the then-unseen Rachel Barrett with the sentence "Who is she?" under the Passions logo. Fancy later commented that serials "are just like life; you never know what's going to happen!" In an early 2006 episode, Ivy and assistant Valerie were searching on the internet for Miguel to bring him back to Harmony and interfere with Fox and Kay's relationship. They couldn't find him, but Valerie tracked down his last place of employment: he was last seen working as a gardener in some suburban town on a street called Wisteria Lane. At that time, Jesse Metcalfe (ex-Miguel) was playing a gardener on the prime-time serial Desperate Housewives, which takes place on a street called Wisteria Lane. In the March 30, 2006 episode, while Passions reruns were airing on the Sci-Fi Channel, Simone compared life in Harmony to living in a show on the Sci-Fi Channel.^[15] Similarly, in the August 10, 2006 episode, Theresa commented that her office wasn't like a NBC daytime serial, and that she wouldn't hire somebody just because he looked like Jesse Metcalfe (who had portrayed her brother Miguel from 1999-2004). A similar inside joke occurred when the character Fancy had a dream that she was a cheerleader; in real life, Fancy's portrayer Emily Harper was a "Laker Girl" (cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers) from 2000-2003.

In the April 6, 2007 episode, Kay was watching the sixth [sic] hour of The Today Show (an apparent jab at NBC's decision to extend it at the expense of the Passions timeslot) when it was interrupted with a news report that Luis had been arrested. In one August 2007 episode, Tabitha said that a certain soap opera was starting on DirecTV and she would have to tell her friends not to call her between the hours of two and three PM, blatantly referring to Passions itself.

During its NBC run, Passions was known to "promote" other NBC programming within its storylines, and to incorporate commercial products into the plot in a promotional tactic known as product placement.

Shortly after Passions debuted, Campbell tomato soup was featured as an ingredient in Grace Bennett's tomato soup cake. Also, Nestlé Purina Dog Chow was used to feed Tabitha Lenox's pet cat Fluffy.

In a 2004 episode, TC watched an NBC ad for Days of our Lives on his TV, and went on to praise the writers of Days of our Lives for coming up with such good storylines; Days, at that time, was under the helm of James E. Reilly, head writer of Passions. In the September 4, 2006, episode, Fox was sucked into a black hole; he then told Tabitha that it was the kind of black hole that one gets sucked into on the Sci Fi Channel, which was the channel on which Passions repeats aired in 2006. Tabitha then told him stick with NBC (Passions' network). In an episode later in September 2006, Siren tried to get Miguel into bed by singing her Siren's song. Miguel told her that she should not audition for America's Got Talent, which airs on NBC. In another episode, Tabitha talked about The Biggest Loser season finale, which was also aired on NBC. A more recent episode featured characters watching a trailer for the 2007 Diane Keaton film Because I Said So (produced by Universal Studios, which, like NBC, is owned by General Electric).

The real-life 2001 release of the novel Hidden Passions was incorporated into the storyline as a book written by character Tabitha Lenox (the novel was actually written by Alice Alfonsi). For a time, Jessica Bennett was an Avon mark saleswoman, and more recently the show featured Johnson & Johnson's K-Y Jelly personal lubricant, and characters were seen drinking from Brita water pitchers.

In July 2007, Passions began to promote its own move to DirecTV the following September. Tabitha's home, as well as the Bennett home and the Crane mansion, were seen sporting DirecTV dishes on their roofs, and several characters, including Tabitha, Norma, Edna, Endora, Rebecca, Gwen, Julian, and Whitney began to make references to switching to DirecTV; by early September, one of these references usually appeared in every episode.

The theme song for Passions is titled "Breathe," performed by Jane French and written by French and John Henry Kreitler. A long version of this theme was also released but was never used on the show.

The opening title sequence used since the show's premiere in 1999, features shots of the city of Harmony and its landmarks. The sequence opens and closes with the show's logo in an italic typeface and in an Arial Black typeface in generic caps posted in front of the cursive form of the title. From time to time, the opening theme is shortened to the last two verses to fit in extra scene time.

Passions is one of the few American serials that, with the exception of occasional abbreviated versions of the intro, has not changed its opening theme since the series debut.

In January 2001, HarperEntertainment released Hidden Passions: Secrets from the Diaries of Tabitha Lenox, an inside look into the history of Passions involving all the major characters, written from the viewpoint of Tabitha Lenox. A storyline involving the character of Tabitha and Timmy and the promotion of this book was aired on the show. During this time when the show enjoyed its peak popularity, the book even reached #4 on the New York Times Best Seller list. The novel was billed as being canonical, but the televised canon has diverged significantly from the novel since that time. For example, Rachel Barrett presumably did die in a boating accident decades earlier, and the death scene of her sister, Katherine, who was recently revealed to be alive, is included in the novel. In addition, the book portrayed Eve Johnson Russell as the daughter of a wealthy society couple in Boston, but the show has more recently revealed an upbringing in the rural South.

The Sci Fi Channel (which is owned by NBC) began airing Passions from its first episode starting February 13, 2006.^[16] The reruns had originally been announced to begin February 6, 2006.^[17] Due to low ratings, as of May 25, 2006 the reruns were taken off the air.

On August 15, 2006, Passions became the first daytime drama to make full episodes available for download and purchase from the popular online music store iTunes. On November 6, 2006, the show also became the first daytime drama to make full episodes available for free viewing via streaming on NBC.com.^[18] Passions episodes were no longer available via iTunes once the series left NBC; on 1 October 2007, the series became available for viewing on NBC.com for $19.99 a month.

As a replacement for the long-running serial Another World, Passions claimed AW's 2 PM timeslot when it debuted on NBC on July 5, 1999, and spent its entire NBC run there.

Passions debuted ahead of fellow NBC soap Sunset Beach with a 2.1 rating (1.9 million viewers) and remained there until "Beach" was cancelled in December. From January 2000 until early May the show remained dead last among all 10 soaps. During May Sweeps 2000, Passions was gaining in popularity and pulled ahead of ABC's Port Charles Passions remained ahead of Port Charles until October 2003 when ABC cancelled the gothic serial. The show once again was dead last, and would stay there for the virtially rest of it's run. It did top Guiding Light on occasion, but never for more than one week at a time. During 2001-2003 when the show was possibly at the peak of its popularity, the show averaged a weekly 2.1-2.3 rating (which at that time equaled roughly 2.4 million viewers). However, the ratings slowly declined with each passing year, to the point that the show averaged a 1.5 weekly rating (about 1.9 million viewers) throughout much of the 2006-2007 season. The final episode on NBC had a household rating of 1.3/4 (1.68 million viewers).^{[citation needed]}

While Passions was never a big hit in household ratings, the show was a powerhouse in the younger-skewing demos. For it's entire NBC run it ranked as the #1 soap in Girls 12-17, Women 18-24, & Girls 12-24. The show also ranked #2 in Women 18-34 and even overtook fellow NBC soap Days of our Lives for a short period during the 2004-2005 season. In the most important 18-49 demographic, Passions usually ranked #7, ahead of the long running CBS soaps As The World Turns, and Guiding Light. The highest ranking Passions ever achieved in 18-49 demos was 4th place in November 2002 and once again in January 2007.

Passions was broadcast nationally in Australia on the Seven Network each weekday at 3 pm, beginning in 2001 with the series' 1999 episodes. In 2005, the series was moved to an earlier 9.30 am timeslot, before the show's international licensing was cancelled due to the music copyright fees.^[19] During 2007, Passions made its return to Australian television's Channel 7, though merely as a "filler," airing at 1 am each weekday morning. The series also aired in Canada, first on CTV and later on Global, for its entire NBC run.

Actor	Character
Erin Cardillo	Esme Vanderheusen
Dylan Fergus	Noah Bennett
Galen Gering	Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald
Hannia Guillen	Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald
Emily Harper	Fancy Crane
Lindsay Hartley	Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane
Liza Huber	Gwen Winthrop
James Hyde	Sam Bennett
Eric Martsolf	Ethan Winthrop
Ben Masters	Julian Crane
Juliet Mills	Tabitha Lenox
Heidi Mueller	Kay Bennett
Blair Redford	Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald
Tracey Ross	Eve Russell
Melinda Sward	Pretty Crane
Eva Tamargo	Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald
Kim Johnston Ulrich	Ivy Winthrop
McKenzie Westmore	Sheridan Crane Boothe

Actor	Role
Amy Castle	Viki
Daniel Chalfa	Marty Lopez-Fitzgerald
Nicole Cox	Endora Lenox
Jack and Nathan Ecker	Jonathan Winthrop
Andrea Evans	Rebecca Hotchkiss Crane
Phillip Jeanmarie	Vincent Clarkson
Christopher Maleki	Spike Lester
Abby and Emma McCoy	Maria Lopez-Fitzgerald
John Reilly	Alistair Crane
Jill Remez	Juanita Vasquez
Daphnee Duplaix Samuel	Valerie Davis
Camille and Kate Schwary	Jane Winthrop
Colton Shires	Ethan Crane
Danica Stewart[20]	Jessica Bennett

• None

Actor	Character	Year of Death
Owen Bush	Orville Perkins	2001
Josh Ryan Evans	Timmy Lenox	2002
David Bailey	Alistair Crane	2004
Alice Ghostley	Matilda Matthews	2007

Actor(s)/Performer(s)	Character	Year of Appearance
Melissa Caulfield (Juliet Mills' real-life daughter)	Nanny Phoebe Figalilly, a role her mother originally played in the short-lived sitcom Nanny and the Professor	1999, 2005
Julia Duffy	Mother Superior at the convent Whitney Russell ran off to after discovering her lover Chad could also be her half-brother	2005-2006
Georgia Engel	Tabitha's old school rival Esmerelda	2007
Judge Mablean Ephriam	Herself, in a fantasy sequence where T.C. Russell takes wife Eve onto Divorce Court	2003
Bernard Fox	Doctor Bombay	1999
Marla Gibbs	Irma Johnson	2004-2005
Alternative band Scissor Sisters	Themselves	2007

For a full listing of performers by role, see List of Passions characters

For a full listing of award wins and nominations, see List of Passions awards

Passions has been honored with numerous awards and nominations during its run, including Daytime Emmy Awards, Imagen Foundation Awards, and a GLAAD Media Award.

• List of Passions awards
• List of Passions characters
• List of US daytime soap opera ratings

• Passions at NBC.com
• Rotten.com essay on Passions
• Daytime Soap Operas - Passions - news, rumors, cast updates, polls

v • d • e Passions
Passions characters
Current contract cast
Esme  · Ethan  · Eve  · Fancy  · Gwen  · Ivy  · Julian  · Kay  · Luis  · Miguel  · Noah  · Paloma  · Pilar  · Pretty  · Sam  · Sheridan  · Tabitha  · Theresa
Important recurring characters
Alistair  · Endora  · Jessica  · Little Ethan  · Rebecca  · Spike  · Valerie  · Viki  · Vincent
Important crew
Executive producer: Lisa de Cazotte  •  Head Writer: James E. Reilly
Related topics
Crane Industries · DirecTV · Harmony, New England · Luis and Sheridan · NBC · Passions Vendetta · Sci Fi · The 101

v • d • e U.S. daytime soap operas currently on the air
	All My Children (ABC)	As the World Turns (CBS)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	Days of our Lives (NBC)	General Hospital (ABC)	Guiding Light (CBS)	One Life to Live (ABC)	Passions (The 101)	The Young and the Restless (CBS)