Passions Lives on DirecTV
Direct-Broadcast Satellite Provider’s The 101 to Air All-New Ninth Season of NBC Soap
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 4/25/2007 9:23:00 AM
In a further expansion into original programming, DirecTV reached a deal to keep soap opera Passions,which NBC canceled, alive for a ninth season.
Under the agreement, NBC Universal Television Studio will produce brand-new episodes of Passions that will air Monday-Thursday on DirecTV’s original-programming channel, The 101.
Passions will be the first scripted drama series to join The 101’s original-program lineup, which includes Project MyWorld,The Fizz, havoc on The 101 and Championship Gaming Series.
Passions -- which currently averages more than 2 million viewers and enjoys an intensely dedicated fan base -- will end its network run on NBC Sept. 7 with a series of cliffhangers. It will resurface on DirecTV Sept. 17, picking up where the series left off. The daytime drama will remain in its current 2 p.m. time slot, and DirecTV will air encore marathons of the show each weekend.
“Passions fans no longer need to mourn the demise of their beloved program as it has found new life on DirecTV,” DirecTV executive vice president of entertainment Eric Shanks said in a prepared statement. “We care about this show and are extremely proud to give it an exclusive home here at DirecTV.”
The majority of the cast and crew is expected to return when the one-hour series begins shooting the new DirecTV episodes in August.
The series will broadcast four one-hour episodes per week, as well as a weekend marathon of that week’s shows so fans can catch up on the action each week.
The direct-broadcast satellite provider will make it easy for Passions viewers to keep track of the happenings in Harmony by providing fans free installation, a digital-video-recorder or HD-receiver upgrade and a portable DVD player by calling a special phone number (866-788-0003) or visiting the Web, giving those without DirecTV plenty of time to switch before the new season begins. Passions fans can also visit NBC’s site for more information about the show.
Passions explores the lives, loves and losses of four core families in the small New England town of Harmony: the Cranes, the Lopez-Fitzgeralds, the Bennetts and the Russells, each of whom have their own distinct and diverse personalities. The series debuted on NBC in 1999 and has routinely been among the top daytime programs for women 18-34. It is currently tied for No. 1 among all daytime dramas in both women ages 18-24 and females 12-24.
New episodes of Passions will begin shooting in August and will continue to be taped at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, Calif. The show is produced by NBC Universal Television Studio in association with Outpost Farms Productions.
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i think its very wrong to take a soap oprea that everyone watches and put it on a cable taht most pple either don't have or can not afford!! since u have done that ... u should either put it on a channel that u don't need direct tv to see or put it on the internet so pple that love passions can watch!
jane witherd - 7/1/2008 6:22:00 PM EDT -
I think it is wrong that they took Passions off NBC. I loved that show and I cried when they took it off the air, it's not fair to people like us who love our soap operas. I'm not going to switch my cable just to watch it. You should at least air it on the internet so peopl like us can still watch. It's wrong, just plain wrong. I don't even get in to watching my other soaps since passions went off. It all about MONEY! WEll Direct TV you suck!!!!
Sheila - 4/17/2008 7:02:00 PM EDT -
That's right get us hooked on it like a drug and then take it away and make us loyal fans pay for something that will no longer make it to the Day time Emmy's cause half the world may not find it nessessary to purchase a subscription to Direct T.V.there-for less viewers to vote for the show.
What a shame just like a drug dealer get-em hooked and then force to charge them.
Heck thats right we the viewers had nothing to do with the popularity of the show Hummmmm. That's right we're are only viewers "what was I thinking"
Love Passions but can/will do with out the show !sorry!
Raquel Mearls - 1/3/2008 1:00:00 PM EST -
I am sure that Direct TV makes plenty of money. I would hope that you would at least care enough about us devout fans that can not afford to get Direct TV and don't punish us by not lettings us watch it online. NBC did allow us to watch it online if for some reason we missed an episode. I believe you could do the same if you were not so money hungry. I am very disapointed that NBC canceled it just so the Today show could have another hr. 3 hrs was quite enough they did not need another hr, and I am very disappointed in Direct TV.
Deborah Manning - 9/21/2007 11:44:00 AM EDT -
It was July 1999... I had just come back from a trip to Paris in which I visited the cathedral Sacre Coeur, the very one Sheridan was first shown on the show in. I never planned on watching the show but It intrigued me since I had just been there myself. I have taped this show every day since then while I was at work. I am no longer working and able to be home to watch the show without taping and now cannot even see it since I don't have direct tv. We currently have a very good internet setup & do not want to switch for one tv show!!! The fact that we cannot even read about the episodes makes it even more frustrating!!!!
Denise Carney - 9/17/2007 2:36:00 PM EDT
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