Ten Good Things About Passions

1. Ben Masters
 

Mr. Masters is the best actor on the set of Passions. I’ve watched soaps for 25 years, and he ranks among a handful of actors that I’ve seen over the years that makes anything watchable.

Comedy, drama – Ben Masters can do it all. He is the rare actor that makes ANYONE in a scene improve. Characters that you can barely watch become almost enjoyable in a scene with Mr. Masters.

I always knew that Mr. Masters was important to Passions, but it took his absence, for several months, during Julian’s ‘death’ to pronounce just how deep he is needed on the show. I know that Passions is known for camp, but the truth of the matter is, in between the camp, there needs to be some level of ‘real’ soap opera to keep the people coming back for more. Mr. Masters provides that for the audience. Even in scenes where his dialogue is low, he uses body language, facial expressions, and mere differing looks of his eyes to express Julian’s complexity and humanity.

Thank you, Mr. Masters.

2. Juliette Mills
 

If Mr. Masters is the King of Passions, then Ms. Mills is the Queen.

Ms. Mills brought humanity to a 300 year-old witch. She and the late Josh Ryan Evans created one of the best love affairs in daytime, between Tabitha and Timmy. Only with Josh’s death, and the hideousness that is Cracked Connie and Cecil, does the gap of the loss of Tabby & Timmy show. They were a relationship as real as any other on Passions, with more depth than most on the show. The ‘loss’ of Timmy was some of Juliette’s finest work. We felt Tabitha’s pain and loss. We knew it to be true, because we had been privileged to watch the building of their relationship.

Ms. Mills has done it all also on Passions – comedy and drama.

Even though Tabitha is several hundred years old, with connections and history with each family in Harmony, she’s had the misfortune of being one of the characters held hostage by the wretched Charity/Miguel ‘WUV’ story. Yet, being chained to the teens for most of the show hasn’t altered Juliette’s performances. She’s a pro, giving all she can to each of her scenes.

3. Cultural Diversity
 

It is the year 2002, but you wouldn’t know it on some daytime dramas. I can state, without a doubt, that no soap in daytime has the level and depth of diversity in casting that Passions has.

Passions not only has cast ‘diversely’, but also given them stories. Sure, Passions is like frozen molasses when it comes to revealing the stories, but the point of the matter, with the exception of a couple of characters, each character has some story to tell of his/her own. The characters of color aren’t used as filler points, trotted out for a monthly ‘driveby’, then delegated to the corner until next month’s ‘driveby’. I’ve been watching soaps for over two decades and had never seen a national ad for a daytime drama, containing characters of color before Passions.

4. The Ability To Make You Laugh
 

As you circle the soap dial, you’ll see nothing but doom and gloom. Passions is one of the few soaps that has the ability and takes the opportunity, on a consistent basis, to try and make you literally laugh out loud.

Some things are so outrageous, you skake your head and say ‘ Only on Passions’. Sometimes, you have to laugh like that. Reinforces that this is entertainment. The good part about Passions and Humor is that it can come from anyone.

Some of my favorite funny moments:

· The Larry Winger Show
· Julian/Tabitha’s ‘Consoling’ after Timmy’s death
· The first moment Timmy/Julian met
· Ivy having fantasies of Sam as he’s trying to help Chad
· Theresa, Ethan and Gwen burst into song during Theresa’s birth
· Tabby as a mermaid
· Julian/Suzanne’s role-playing on the Crane Jet

I’m sure you have a list of your own.

5. Deanna Wright
 

It’s hard to find a young woman who can make you sympathetic towards her even though she does reprehensible things, but Deanna does that.

If you look at Kay Bennett objectively, as a villainous, she should be under the jail for all she’s done to Charity Standish since the show began. But, somehow, I still can’t totally hate Kay. I used to think it’s because I so utterly despise Charity/Miguel as a couple that I would root for anyone against them, but I think it’s Deanna Wright. She has that rare ability in a villainess to get you to see their vulnerability. I can know every rotten thing Kay’s done, and STILL feel for her, and root for her to get Miguel.

Ms. Wright had a hard job, taking over the role of Kay from the fabulous Taylor Anne Mountz, and then the subsequent horrible temporary Kay. She needed some time, but Deanna’s made Kay her own character. Even though Kay is in permanent scheme mode, I enjoy watching her, especially since they are branching her out to be involved with David and Ivy. Her conflict with Grace is on the money, and though I don’t agree with the disrespect Kay shows towards Grace, it’s one of the few things on Passions that as a viewer I can point to and follow the dots to see how the story has come to ‘this point’. Add in that Deanna actually brings something sexual out in the totally asexual Miguel – that’s a miracle in itself.

6.  Strong Foundation
 

My level of interest in daytime television has never been this low. Part of the reason is that the basic foundations of the shows are so weak, they go from plot-driven drivel to inane plot-driven drivel. Entire shows have been demolished, and their very cores erased. So much in daytime has been demolished by the constant recycling of hack writers and talentless Executive Producers. It’s almost scary to admit, but I have to: as far as foundations go, Passions has one of the strongest in daytime (top 2). What I mean by foundation, is that the background of many stories have been woven, and if someone, on a dime, called up NBC and said, “ I want to see actors X-Y-Z front and center”, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see that story come to the forefront. Passions has one of the smallest casts in all of daytime, but the truth is, almost every character could be used for something ‘meaningful’ on the show. This simply isn’t the case in most of daytime, where scores of talented actors are used as fluff and filler on a routine basis.

7. The Adult Storylines
 

There is a schism between the Adult and Younger storylines. The younger storylines are proliferated with triangles that can only be called that because they have three people in a storyline. Story wise, it’s a con. We have two people ‘destined’ to be together, a third without a chance in hell, which means that, as characters, they’re being completely wasted, and ‘triangles’ themselves are a complete and utter FARCE.

That’s the youth on the show.

The adults are a different story.

Each of the adult entanglements has real feelings at the base of it. Whether it be Sam and Grace, Sam and Ivy, David and Grace, Julian and Eve, Eve and TC, Julian and Ivy, Eve and Liz, TC and Julian……the feelings are real. The love is real, the hatred is real, the rivalries are real, the friendship is real. There is depth and substance to the stories, and you understand why these people are entangled with one another. I can’t think of a single Adult combination that bores me. That you don’t get to see part of the character’s personality when they step onscreen. That’s a true accomplishment for a show like Passions.

Well, I tried to make it to Ten, but I couldn’t. I guess the good part is, this list of positives is enough to keep me tuning in on a regular basis.