After the move to DirecTV, the schedule was shortened to four days a week (Monday through Thursday), then later whittled down further to three days a week (Monday through Wednesday) starting January 2008. Many noteworthy stories was shown over the show's run, but the most constant ones were the triangle between Ethan Winthrop (Travis Schuldt Eric Martsolf), his true love, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald (Lindsay Korman) and Gwen Hotchkiss (Liza Huber Natalie Zea) which was resolved in the finale, when Gwen and her conniving mother, Rebecca (Maureen McCormick Andrea Evans) were exposed for their villainy (not to mention the fact that Ethan's marriage to Gwen was not even valid, as she was already married to another man after her first engagement to Ethan was broken) the constant machinations of evil Alistair Crane the star-crossed love between Sheridan Crane (McKenzie Westmore) and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald (Galen Gering) the supernatural misadventures of Tabitha (Juliet Mills), who began as an evil witch, until the end when she relinquished her powers and became a Christian to save the town Tabitha's daughter, Endora, who went against her mother's evil bent and was a good witch Ivy Crane's (Kim Johnston Ulrich) discovery that Ethan was her former lover Sam Bennett's (James Hyde) son Julian Crane's (Ben Masters) continual woes in love, until he reconnects with his first love, Eve Russell (Tracey Ross) the fighting between Pilar (Eva Tamargo) and Rebecca over their daughters and Kay Bennett's magical misadventures.ĭuring its NBC run, Passions ran for 60 minutes (including commercials, about 40 minutes without) every weekday (excluding some holidays). Storylines center around the interactions among members of its multi-racial core families - the African American Russells, Caucasian Cranes and Bennetts, and half-Mexican half-Irish Lopez-Fitzgeralds - as well as the supernatural including town witch Tabitha Lenox. Passions follows the various romantic and paranormal adventures of the residents of Harmony, a fictional New England hamlet. The final DirecTV episode aired on August 7, 2008.
However, DirecTV has decided to not renew its contract for the series with NBC, and NBC was unable to find a new home for the show. DirecTV then picked up the series with new episodes airing on DirecTV-exclusive channel The 101 starting September 17, 2007.
The show taped its final scenes for NBC on August 15, 2007, and its final episode on the network aired on September 7, 2007. In January 2007, NBC announced that it canceled Passions after eight years but later handed it over to DirecTV. The series directed by Jim Sayegh, debuted on NBC J(replacing Another World). We discuss his early career, how he landed the role on Soap, the controversy surrounding the show, and a lot of great anecdotes about working with the rest of the extraordinary cast.Passions is an award-winning American television soap opera created by veteran writer James E. This is the first part of an interview with the talented Johnson. Chuck and Bob have some of the funniest moments in the series and are two of the show’s most popular characters. Though they all know better, just about every member of the family gets sucked into the fantasy at one time or another. Chuck’s a nice quiet guy but he believes that Bob, his rude wooden puppet, is real and the two insist that he be treated that way. One of the most unique characters on the series is ventriloquist Chuck Campbell (Johnson), the biological son of Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan), Mary’s husband. Jessica and Mary are quite close while their families can’t stand each other - the Tates are wealthy while the Campbells are not. Soap follows the lives and families of two sisters, Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) and Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon). Still, Johnson will likely always be best known for his role on the landmark 1977 sitcom, Soap. In 2007, he won a Tony Award for his one man (and many characters) show, The Two and Only, following a successful run on Broadway. He’s appeared on dozens of TV shows including CSI, Empty Nest, That ’70s Show, and The Facts of Life. Jay Johnson has been a ventriloquist for most of his life and even had a local television show while he was still in high school.