Passions Cancelled... Again

It's a horrible sense of deja vu for fans of Passions. soapcentral.com has learned that, for the second time this year, the oft-times campy soap has been cancelled. An official announcement has yet to be made.


The soap world is abuzz with the newss that Passions has been cancelled - again. Though no official word has come from the show's spokesperson, several of the show's performers have informed their fans that the plug has been pulled on the show for the second time in 12 months.


In a message posted on soapcentral.com's message boards, a claim was made that Passions star Tracey Ross (Eve Russell) directed a webmaster of a fan site to post a message stating that the cast and crew of Passions had been given notice that the show would be ending.


Later, actress Liza Huber (Gwen Hotchkiss) posted a message on her official web site with the same unfortunate news.


"Yes, it is true that Passions will finish taping at the end of March 2008," Huber said. "We will start airing 3 days a week on DirecTV which should last through summer of 2008. It has been a wonderful ride (although Gwen has completely lost her mind!) and I want to thank all of you for your amazing support for Passions through the years!"


"This rumor is indeed true at this point. Passions is scheduled to stop shooting March 2008," added Eric Martsolf (Ethan Winthrop).


While Passions is currently DirecTV's highest-rated original program, insiders say that the satellite television provider failed to meet the projected total of new subscribers expected to sign up for DirecTV in order to see Passions after it left broadcast television.


NBC canceled Passions in January 2007 to make way for a fourth hour of its morning news show, Today, but left open the possibility that the supernatural soap could find new life on another network. Before the show ultimately landed on DirecTV, it is widely believed that NBC shopped the show to the Disney-owned all-soaps cable channel, SOAPnet, along with several other cable networks. Passions' low-ratings and high production costs were the reasons cited by NBC for ditching the eight-year-old soap. Ironically, those very reasons are believed to be the rationale for other networks not wanting to pick up the rights to broadcast Passions.


Reruns of Passions aired briefly on The Sci-Fi Channel in 2006, but were quickly stopped due to low ratings.


The cast and crew of Passions will tape its final episodes of the year on December 19th before taking a Christmas-New Year's break. The show will resume taping in 2008 with the final episode being taped on or around March 24th, 2008.


New episodes of Passions will air through the summer, which would fulfill DirecTV's one-year commitment to the show.


As the news of Passions rumored cancellation made their rounds on the Internet, some fans threatened legal action against DirecTV.


"I think they knew that they were going to cancel Passions all along," said one poster on soapcentral.com's Passions forum. "They just wanted to increase their subscriber base."


It appears unlikely that Passions will move to another network.

Source

I wished they would have let the show end on NBC when it was suppose to and give us a last episode instead of moving it to DirecTV. The people that switched to DirecTV to watch Passions are going to be p'ed.

I knew something was wrong when even my best friend (who's one of the biggest fans of Passions on this earth, who stayed faithful to this show in the past, no matter how crazy it got) said that she no longer cared because in her opinion, the show has been worse since it's move to DirecTV and nothing has still been resolved. I can't believe that just over 2 years ago, I could not miss an episode and now this cancellation doesn't come as a surprise.

mmm. knew it was coming.
now not only has JER ruined a treasure trove of a+ soap opera he had going a few years ago, he's also deprived the majority of the fans of said former greatness, now washed out shipwreck of a proper ending. watch the finale part 2 in the spring/summer be shitty.

I had DirecTv before they picked up Passions, so it didn't really matter. I tried to watch once it moved, but it just seemed so low budget and corny. It was getting really sad. With no Whitney or even Chad for that matter, it was down right boring. (Not a big fan of Chad, but he did manage to keep Whitney in the storyline. Served his main purpose for being allowed to live). They need to put the first 8 seasons on DVD.

omg, THEY SHOULD! i was thinking the same thing. they need to become the first soap ever put on dvd.

It's actually way past time this show was put to rest. What's funny is that I had heard that Passions was an "out there" show but when I first started watching...right after Fox revealed his love to Whitney, I caught it at a time were it seems normal. A guy madly in love with a woman who was in love with him and fighting her feelings left and right to push him away. Then the incest reveal came and it was still a normal show. Whitney reacted realistically and Fox was there to help her through..then in 2005 like Justin said, couples got mixed up and everything got backwards..and that's exactly what I saw happen with Fox and Whitney. And the ratings then started to take their nose dive and has not recovered. I'm not saying it's because of Fox and Whitney being apart but like Justin said, everything got backwards and in the most disgusting and vile way. I know there were some Whitney and Foxney fans that said, they would not watch Whitney in that crap incest storyline when the reunited Ickney in their tryst and I completely understood. I held on for as long as a could and had to be done with the foulness because Brook/Whitney had become impossible to watch in what JER had done to her character. I am glad that Brook got to leave before it was cancelled though I hate she loss her role on True Blood but I will only say that is was not meant to be for her and something else is in her cards.

I would get all of Foxney on DVD. So 2003, 2004, and 2005..or the seasons there were on. Though I love Whitresa, I have no need to go back to all of that.

I agree, it is past time for Passions to be laid to rest. The only way this show can be redeemed and go out with a least a shred of dignity is to follow one of two scenarios:

1) Follow the Allistair Crane school of thinking and choose one dedicated shooter who will just come out blasting anyone they don't like (i.e. Gwen, Sheridan, Luis, Vincent/Valerie...heck the whole town of Harmony)

2) Do the whole cult thing like Applewhite did back in the late 80s early 90s--wait for a comet or other meteorlogical phenomenon, and decide to sacrifice their lives to it--they should all drink poisoned Martimmies at the appointed time and wait for the comet to claim them. The show is crazy anyways

This will end the madness we know (and used to love) as Passions

lmao.