VIDEO SATURDAY - REMEMBERING "DARK SHADOWS"

Halloween is about a month away, so I thought we might use this last Video Saturday of September to prepare for it.  And since this month has been a showcase for soap operas, why not take a look at the first supernatural soap, 'Dark Shadows'?

Until next time.....

FRIDAY HALL OF FAMER - LA LUCCI!

For this last Friday Hall of Famer in September, as we wind down our month-long salute to the soap operas, we’re not going to induct a soap opera character into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, but instead the actress who played her.  (It’s the only way – she is known for playing perhaps the greatest soap opera character of all time, but she never strayed from her home base into other soap operas.  But the actress?  She’s all over the TV map!

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present…..

SUSAN LUCCI
THE QUEEN OF DAYTIME TELEVISION

From Wikipedia:

Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is an American actress, television host, author and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama All My Children from 1970 to 2011. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime television.  As early as 1991, her salary had been reported as over $1 million a year.

In 1996, TV Guide ranked Lucci number 37 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list. In 2005, she received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006. She was named one of VH1's 200 Top Icons of All-Time and one of Barbara Walters's Ten Most Fascinating People. 

She has also played roles in made-for-TV movies (like "Mafia Princess" with Tony Curtis), hosted many shows and guest starred on television comedy series, including 'Saturday Night Live' and 'Hot in Cleveland'.

She also has her own line of hair care products, perfumes, lingerie and skin care, called The Susan Lucci Collection. As of 2012, Lucci hosted 'Deadly Affairs', and starred as Genevieve Delatour in the Lifetime television series 'Devious Maids'.

In 2015, Lucci was inducted as a Disney Legend.

Well, we here at Toobworld Central can top that.  We're going to induct her as this week's Friday Hall of Famer - not as Erica Kane, but as a member of the League of Themselves!

Doesn't that sound better than a stupid old Disney Legend award?

The televersion of Susan Lucci is known for playing Erica Kane in her televised docudrama entitled ‘All My Children’. (I’m sure Ms. Kane approved of the casting for that TV show within a TV show.)

Here are the other TV shows in which Susan Lucci appeared as the televersion of herself: 

‘Hot in Cleveland’ 
Six episodes

‘Desperate Housewives’
- Not While I'm Around
Acting as Erica Kane

From the IMDb:
A clip of Jeff Martin kissing Erica Kane from ‘All My Children’ is shown on the television during a scene at the prison.

O’Bservation: Remember, within the “reality” of Toobworld, the events from ‘All My Children’ actually happened.  What TV characters see when they watch ‘All My Children’ is a docudrama based on the happenings in Pine Valley.  When we saw 'All My Children', we were watching the actual characters in Toobworld.  That's how this fantasy realm works.

There are other TV shows from the Trueniverse in which Susan Lucci made an appearance or two, but which don’t carry the same “oomph” as a scripted series – game shows, award ceremonies, sporting events, variety programs.  They don’t really carry the weight to guarantee membership in the TVXOHOF – otherwise, everybody would be able to get in!

But some of them are to a lesser degree added to her tally for consideration as they have televersions as well.  TV characters in other shows have appeared on these select shows, are seen watching them (as was the case with AMC in ‘Desperate Housewives’), or at least engage in “water cooler talk” by making referenes to them.

For Ms. Lucci, these would include:

• ‘Saturday Night Live’ (She guested three times, hosted once.)
• ‘WWE Raw’  (Not a fan, but I’m tipping my hat to my Brother Crossoverist Matt Hickman with this mention.)
• ‘Hollywood Squares’ (Center Square a few times!)
• ‘Family Feud’
• ‘All-Star Family Feud’
• ‘Jeopardy!’
• ‘The Apprentice’ hosted by another TVXOHOF member, Class of 2009.  (He was inducted as the April Fool’s Figurehead in 2009.)

La Lucci with C&W singer Trace Adkins
'Celebrity Apprentice'

But Toobworld Dynamic has the option to add to their list of qualifications with the “Unseen On TV” option.  In this case, we accept that any mention of a real person or fictional character by another TV character in another TV series (or commercial even) verifies that the cited character does indeed exist in the World of Toob.

And while she doesn’t have as many mentions as the late Burt Reynolds over his career, still she has enough to have earned the sobriquet “La Lucci” in the League of Themselves” wing of the Hall.

Here are a few examples:

Will & Grace
A New Lease on Life

GRACE:
Then Regis looked right into the camera and said, "Just give her the damn Emmy already."
WILL:
No. "La Lucci." He didn't say "her." "Give La Lucci the damn Emmy."
GRACE:
Right, right. La Lucci. Do it. Do Regis.
WILL:
[IMITATING REGIS]
Give La Lucci the damn Emmy already!

The New Normal 
Blood, Sweat and Fears 

Goldie Clemmons:
Uh, is my Nana here? Jane?
Receptionist:
She's your gra-#?  She told me she was your mother.
Goldie:
Well, probably because a lot of men don't associate "grandma" with "sexy."
Receptionist:
Well, I'm sure there's a whole legion of Susan Lucci fans that would disagree with you.
Your grandmother is out showing a house, but she'll be back soon.

Psych
Lights, Camera... Homicidio

Jorge:
[about Quintessa]
You don't know her wrath. She hates me. She is like the Latina Susan Lucci. She beat me up.
Burton 'Gus' Guster:
I hardly think there's a woman capable of that.
Shawn Spencer:
Bea Arthur.
Burton 'Gus' Guster:
I stand corrected.

So there’s a trifecta of three verifications of Susan Lucci as a member of Earth Prime-Time.

Welcome to the Hall, La Lucci!

THURSDAY'S THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - THE BUDDY SYSTEM

Team Toobworld probably knows that Maurice "Buddy Sorrell" is one of my all-time favorite TV characters.  In fact, he ranks as Number Two, right after Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless.

I inducted him into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame as the April 2017 member.  (Traditionally, April is the month we bring in the "Fools" - those TV characters who are humorous in some way, not always in a good way.)

In that salute to Buddy Sorrell, I came up with a lot of theoretical appearances in other shows and passed them off as being real.  It was April Fool's Day when I ran the post, after all.  But there were enough actual appearances for him to qualify for entry.  

But one that I skipped was the possibility Buddy was related to a small-time criminal who bore an incredible likeness to him.  That criminal was named Morey (probably short for "Maurice", Buddy's real name.)  

From the 'Young & The Restless' wiki:
Morey (alias Robert) was a fictional character on 'The Young and the Restless', portrayed by Morey Amsterdam.

Morey was a small-time criminal and bumbling kidnapper. In 1990, Marge Cotroke was discovered by Rex Sterling's former cellmate, Clint Radison. Clint realized Marge was a dead ringer for Katherine Chancellor and plotted to steal the wealthy woman's fortune by kidnapping her and putting Marge in her place. Clint planted two cohorts, Morey and Lil in the Chancellor household first. They worked for Kay as houseman Robert and maid Shirley. This pair then trained Marge to act like Katherine. The bunch kidnapped Kay and a pregnant Esther Valentine, and held them captive.

I think Buddy and Morey/Robert fall into the category of "identical cousins".  And that type of identical cousin brought about by some philandering cad.  In this case, I think Buddy's father fooled around with Morey's mother back around 1907.

I can't state categorically that Morey was Buddy's full brother.  He had a brother, a pool hustler and con man nicknamed Blackie.  (Blackie once tried to follow in his brother's footsteps by working as a nightclub comic - he used the stage name Jackie Silvers and worked in small dives across the country.  He was seen doing this during the 1950s in Milwaukee.)

But when Buddy told Rob Petrie about Blackie/Jackie, I think he would have mentioned that he had other siblings as well.

Morey may have looked like his half-brother Buddy, but he was more like his half-brother Blackie.

If I recall that storyline (it was 27 years ago!) correctly, Morey became a sympathetic character who finally took off, regretting that he was involved in the kidnapping Katherine and Esther.

By the mid-1990s, I think Morey passed away, probably in a dingy SRO, alone and without anything of value in his possession.  

SHOWS CITED:

• 'The Young & The Restless'
• 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'
• 'Happy Days'

Until next time....

WIKI TIKI WEDNESDAY - GOING DUTCH

While doing my research into soap operas and their characters, in this case information... information... information about one of my favorite characters, Sally Spectra of 'The Bold & The Beautiful', I stumbled across a reference to a Dutch comedy show which spoofed a very popular soap opera.  Darlene Conley appeared on that comedy show as her character of Sally Spectra.  One day I will go into that aspect but for now I'm going to focus on the soap opera and its spoof.

From Wikipedia:
'Goede tijden, slechte tijden' ('Good times, bad times'), also known as GTST or simply 'Goede Tijden', is the longest-running Dutch soap opera, which began on 1 October 1990 on RTL4. The programme was the first daily soap in the Netherlands. The soap is produced by Joop van den Ende and to date over 5,000 episodes have been broadcast. It was inspired by the Australian soap 'The Restless Years', although it started following its own course during the third season. GTST is broadcast Monday to Friday at 20:00. Around 1.5 million viewers watch each episode. It is the highest rated soap opera in the Netherlands.

The soap mainly revolves around the lives of the families Alberts, Sanders, De Jong, Van Houten and Bouwhuis. It all takes place in the fictional town of Meerdijk. Like any other soap, marriage, divorce, kidnapping and business are a few of the ingredients of GTST, although in recent years, GTST has become known for writing and producing more controversial storylines. GTST is also known for having a summer break each year, ending a season sometime in June with a cliffhanger, only to resume three months later in September. Although the early cliffhangers often revolved around family drama, later cliffhangers have often revolved around disasters and unexpected twists.

Many former actors who once were part of the cast are now well known in the Netherlands and Europe, such as Katja Schuurman, Reinout Oerlemans and Antonie Kamerling (who, in spite of a successful career as an actor, committed suicide in 2010 suffering from chronic depression).

In 2016 the show got a spin-off called 'Nieuwe Tijden' (English: 'New Times') which follows some of the younger characters from GTST and some new characters as they go off to college.

The script of the first two seasons is based on the Australian series 'The Restless Years'. The main characters were also derived from characters from this series. From the third season this formula has been released and since then the storylines of GTST have been fully developed by Dutch authors. 

O'Bservation: 'Goede tijden, slechte tijden' and 'The Restless Years', as well as the German adaptation, 'Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten', all belong in the main Toobworld.  The characters all might share the same storylines, but the names are all changed and eventually both of the remakes headed off in their own directions.

From Wikipedia (translated):
'Pittige tiljden' ('Spicy Times') was a press release series on the soap opera 'Good times, bad times'. The series was made by Irene Moors and Carlo Boszhard as part of the children's program 'Telekids'.

Boszhard was one of the presenters of the youth program 'Pauze TV' around 1990 . For this program he played at the time in the same kind of persiflage, called 'Moderate Times'. This series is often seen as a forerunner of 'Spicy Times', which was broadcast weekly between 1996 and 1999 . In total, 99 episodes have been made of the series. The title track was listed in the Dutch Top 40 in 1997.

Boszhard and Moors took care of the leading roles themselves. These roles were caricatures of a number of 'Good Times, bad times' - characters, including Arnie, Rik, Linda, Meta, Jessica and Robert. Each character had his own standard outfit, wore a wig and had standard phrases. For example, Meta and Jessica said each episode, respectively: "I am Meta, but I am actually a man", and "What a condition!". Little Wagons were provided by the Ask-But-Touch-Guest. These were mostly well-known Dutch people, of whom regularly actors who played bad times themselves in 'Good Times'. However, foreign guests also participated. One time is the now deceased Irish / American actress Darlene Conley came along in the role of Sally Spectra which she played in 'The Bold and the Beautiful'.

The storyline consisted of the same kind of situations as in 'Good times, bad times', but then very over the top. Furthermore, current news facts in the series were processed. You could see how Edsilia Rombley and Marlayne Sahupala participated in the Eurovision song contest . Despite the fact that the program has been stopped for years, the popularity of 'Spicy Times' is still high.

The pub of 'Spicy Times' was called De Peerenboom , named after De Rozenboom from 'Goede Tijden, Bad Tijden'. Many scenes were recorded here. Often there was also a somewhat musty man at a table; a member of the editorial staff fulfilled this role as an [extra].

O'Bservation: I would place 'Pittige Tiljden' in two other other TV dimensions - Skitlandia and Doofus Toobworld.  But if push came to shove in picking only one, I'd choose Skitlandia.

This post is dedicated to my friend Lynn Hippen, who has deep roots in the Netherlands with a "second family" with whom she bonded while there as a high school transfer student.

Whoever Lynn's televersion is in Toobworld, she spent that transfer year in Meerdijk.

Until next time....

TWO FOR TUESDAY - ROSEANNE'S REALITY ("ONE LIFE TO LIVE")

'ROSEANNE'
"ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?"

During this episode, Roseanne fantasized about being romanced by three characters of the soap opera 'One Life To Live'.  All of them were members of the Buchanan family – the brothers Clint & Bo and Cord Roberts, Clint’s son.  Roseanne dreamed herself into the TV and into the Buchanan living room in Llanview, Pennsylvania.  One by one, she sampled what loving each of them might entail…..

CLINT BUCHANAN

CLINT:
Hold on, you two.
You may be my brother, and you may be my son, but this is a woman.
A woman I'm not related to.
ROSEANNE:
Wait a minute.
I'm looking for romance, but I can't have all of you.
At least, not at the same time.
CLINT:
If you'll be mine, my darling, I can give you everything you've always wanted.
Wow! I've always wanted everything that I’ve always wanted.

BO BUCHANAN

BO:
Don't listen to him.
Because what you need Is a soul mate.
Someone who can extinguish the loneliness burning in your soul.
Someone who knows your deepest, darkest thoughts.
ROSEANNE [as thought]:
Man, this guy is good.
He really knows what goes on inside of us women.
BO [as thought]:

It's true.
I do know what's going on inside of you.
ROSEANNE [as thought]:
Really? Can you hear this?
BO [as thought]:
Yes.
ROSEANNE [as thought]:
Can you hear this? (Bo nods.) 
Wow! Talk about being in sync.

CORD ROBERTS

ROSEANNE:
What about you, Cord? 

[Cord takes off his shirt.]

ROSEANNE:

Wow! Good answer.

At that point, the fantasy was interrupted…

DAN CONNER:
Roseanne, I’m home!
ROSEANNE:
Cheese it, it's my husband!

And the fantasy clicks off as if it was a TV show.

That fantasy was in the form of a TV soap because ‘One Life To Live’ is recognized not only as a TV show, but as a soap opera.  In this very episode, Roseanne refers to OLTL as a soap opera while her sister Jackie was watching it:

“You're not gonna get what you want
from these soap opera guys.
They can only love you for an hour a day.
'course, that is four times longer than Dan.”

And the ‘One Life To Live’ in Toobworld is not the same show from the real world.  As part of the fantasy realm, the characters of ‘One Life To Live’ actually exist in that same world in which ‘Roseanne’ exists.  Toobworld’s OLTL is a TV show based on the real lives of the people in Llanview, Pennsylvania.

And we know that this soap opera has to be a fictionalized look at life in Llanview because of this dialogue from it as heard in that episode of ‘Roseanne’:

Clint Buchanan:
I need to know, Bo,,,.
Does Viki really love Sloan? Or do I have a chance to win her back?

As in the Trueniverse, ‘One Life To Live’ seems to have hired the same actors to play the roles – Clint Ritchie (Clint), Robert S, Woods (Bo), and John Loprieno (Cord).  Only in Toobworld, they are playing actual people. 

It’s a Toobworld standard that eventually everybody will have a TV show about them.  It’s the only way to disable Zonks, those discrepancies where TV shows refer to other TV shows which should be sharing the same dimension.

I’ve got three other examples establishing ‘One Life To Live’ as a soap opera, and a fictional one at that:

‘Friends’
“The One with Joey's Award”

Joey Tribbiani, who was nominated for his role in the televersion of ‘Days Of Our Lives’ (but he didn’t win), presented the Soapy Awards telecast for Best Supporting Actress.

Joey Tribbiani:
“Any one of the brilliant actresses nominated for this award deserves to take it home. Unfortunately, only one can. 
The nominees for Favorite Supporting Actress aroee: 
From ‘Passions’, Erin Goff. 
From ‘One Life to Live’, Mary Lauren Bishop. 
‘All My Children’, Sarah Renee. 
And from ‘Days of Our Lives’, Jessica Ashley.”

O’Bservation: As far as the IMDb knows, Erin Goff and Mary Lauren Bishop don’t exist in the real world; Sarah Renee and Jessica Ashley are listed as actresses.  (Although the last name for Sarah Renee is spelled RENEE’.  That apostrophe could be a typo.)  But none of those women are listed in the cast for ‘One Life To Live’.  More evidence that Toobworld’s version is fictional.

Degrassi: Minis:
Good Times Part 2

Dave Turner and Bruce the Moose watch the angst-driven conflicts between their fellow students, which Bruce thinks resemble a soap opera…..

Dave Turner:
How often do you do... this?
Bruce The Moose:
Ever since I found these losers, I've totally given up 'One Life To Live'!

 
General Hospital:
Episode #1.12743

Tracy: 
Lauren is real, and between her and pickle-Lila, I'm gonna be back on top, starting right now.
Luke: 
Oh, Tracy, sadly, "One Life to Live" isn't on anymore.

O'Bservation: So even in Toobworld, ‘One Life To Live’ no longer exists as a TV show.

In this case, Roseanne interacted in a fantasy with characters from a soap opera w ho were based on "real life" citizens of Toobworld.  But there was another time when she actually met the real people"who were being portrayed in a soap opera.  And we'll be tackling that next.  No surfing!

I’m dedicating this blog post to Mary Brooks O’Creagh, who got me hooked on ‘One Life To Live’ once upon a time…..

Until next time.....


UPDATE: Thanks to Mike Doran, I've edited out a paragraph in which I claimed that Sloan was not an actual character in the show.  As Mike pointed out, he was and he was played by Roy Thinnes.  When I ran a search of the IMDb full cast list for 'One Life To Live', the name "Sloan" did not come up.  That's because only the first character played by Thinnes was listed - Alex Crown - and you couldn't see "Sloan Carpenter" unless you expanded the entry.  Thanks, Mike!

TV-GPS - HARMONY, MAINE OR MASSACHUSETTS?

Edited from Wikipedia:
‘Passions’ is an American television soap opera that originally aired from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and produced by NBC Studios, ‘Passions/ follows the lives, loves and various romantic and paranormal adventures of the residents of Harmony.   

A coastal New England town founded in 1646 with a small population, Harmony features a large fishing industry. The shots of the town shown on screen are filmed in the real town of Camden, Maine.
 
Throughout the show's run, Harmony has only ever been identified as being in New England, which is traditionally made up of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; and on the Atlantic coast, thus eliminating the land-locked Vermont. Though early episodes implied that Harmony is in Maine, this was never established. Characters also frequently take trips to Boston, which is implied to be a manageable distance away.

In 2002 and 2007, Theresa Crane and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, respectively, are sentenced to death by the state; only New Hampshire and Connecticut still allow capital punishment. However, during Luis and Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald's double trial, the jury foreman declares their case names as The Commonwealth v. Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald and The Commonwealth v. Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald, and, of the four US states that are also US commonwealths, the only commonwealth in New England is Massachusetts.  

I'm going to chalk this up to a difference between Earth Prime and Earth Prime-Time.  Having the televersion of Maine be a commonwealth instead of a state isn't going to be a Zonk-level discrepancy.  The fact that the United States is chock-full of fictional cities and towns already renders "Telemerica" different from "Murrica". 

Another discrepancy according to Wikipedia, "North 22 and North 137 are highways near Harmony."  

But, also from Wikipedia:
U.S. Route 22 (US 22) is a west–east route and is one of the original United States highways of 1926, running from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Newark, New Jersey.

As for 137, almost all of the states have a 137 and not all of them connect.  Even Hawaii has a Route 137!  Both Maine and Massachusetts, the leading candidates for the location of Harmony in the TV show 'Passions', have their own 137.  But neither one of them have a Route 22.  

But that's even less of a concern for Toobworld.  There have been plenty of geographical changes which differentiate Toobworld from the Real World - from fictional countries and kingdoms, fictional islands, rivers, lakes and even subway systems as seen in the TV series 'Clubhouse'.

I lean toward Maine as the location of 'Passions'. One of the neighboring towns is Castleton and I could see that as being a split or a subsection from Castle Rock.

Just because Boston was mentioned all the time on the show, I don't think it's indicative of Harmony's location.  I think it's just because Boston is the largest nearest American megalopolis.  Bangor wasn't going to cut it.
 
And there's that craggy point on the shoreline seen in the opening credits which seems more like Maine.  And skyline shots of Camden, Maine, stand in for Harmony.

But the main reason I think Harmony is located in Maine is because of all of the supernatural occurrences on the show.  Witches, demons, living dolls, Dr. Bombay even!  And Maine is dripping in the supernatural.

This isn't just due to all of the adaptations of Stephen King's stories on TV.  Tele-Maine had the Spooky long before he came along.

Remember that episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ called “Night Call”?  An old woman started getting calls from a strange voice asking for her.  It turned out that a phone line had fallen across the grave of her long-dead fiancé which gave his spirit the opportunity to converse with her.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it happened in Maine.  I doubt this would ever have happened in Delaware.

And then there are all of those murders concentrated in Cabot Cove, Maine, which I think is just down the coastline from not only Harmony but also Crabapple Cove.  All of that violent death in such a small area must be generating serious hoodoo even after all of these years since we as the Trueniverse audience visited.  (Remember, Life in Toobworld continues even after a show’s cancellation.)

But the biggest reason why I think the supernatural aspect of ‘Passions’ locks that soap opera into the Pine Tree State is another location – the town of Collinsport, home of the Collins Family, including Barnabas… a vampire.

Ghosts, werewolves, more witches, and that incredible premise of “Parallel Time” – I think that dark magic saturates the entire state of Maine and that it couldn’t be contained within Collinsport.  I have a feeling some spell-caster in the distant past may have emigrated from Collinsport to Harmony, from one coastal town to another.  And whoever that might have been, they brought their talents to “infect” some of the residents of the original Harmony settlement.  (But like I said, I think it was already there in the land, affecting the settlers like a poisoned water table.)

In keeping with the mood, I’d like to practice a bit of wish-craft: I wish some TV show would mention Collinsport as a real place.  You know, like a past case for the Winchester Brothers or even in a show more grounded in reality like ‘Criminal Minds’ or the ‘Law & Order’ franchise.

Hey, ‘NCIS’ mentioned some characters as having come from Derry, so it’s pozz’ble, just pozz’ble….!

Until next time.....

O'Bservation: The Collinsport sign is from the Cineverse.


 

VIDEO SUNDAY - A VISIT TO HARMONY

For this edition of "Video Sunday", we're taking a look at the wild ride from James E. Reilly in which he gave his imagination free reign - 'Passions'.

From Wikipedia:
'Passions' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on Free Broadcast over-the-air network NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007, and on the DirecTV-exclusive The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and produced by NBC Studios, 'Passions' follows the lives, loves and various romantic and paranormal adventures of the residents of Harmony. Storylines center on the interactions among members of its multi-racial core families: the African American Russells, the Caucasian Cranes and Bennetts, and half-Mexican half-Irish Lopez-Fitzgeralds. The series also features supernatural elements, which focus mainly on town witch Tabitha Lenox (Juliet Mills) and her doll-come-to life, Timmy (Josh Ryan Evans).

NBC cancelled 'Passions' in January 2007, and the series was subsequently picked up by direct-broadcast satellite paid subscription television service DirecTV. The series aired its final episode on NBC on September 7, 2007, with new episodes continuing on DirectTV's 101 Network starting on September 17.[2] In December 2007, just months after picking up the series, DirecTV decided not to renew its contract for 'Passions', and the studio was subsequently unable to sell the series elsewhere.  The final episode was broadcast in August 2008.  As of 2018, 'Passions' is the last daytime television soap opera created for American network television.

Over its run, 'Passions' featured several storylines and sequences paying homage to or parodying other television series, films, books, and musicals like "Gone with the Wind", "Carrie', "Titanic", 'I Dream of Jeannie', "Brokeback Mountain", "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "The Wizard of Oz", "The Da Vinci Code", "The Little Mermaid" and "Wicked".  A 2003 fantasy sequence imitated the "Cell Block Tango" number from the 2002 film "Chicago"; 'Passions' version of the song, "I Ain't Sorry," received a 2004 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song. A 2006 Bollywood homage featured the song "Love is Ecstasy," which earned the show another Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Original Song and was made available on the NBC website.  In nods to 'Bewitched', Bernard Fox appeared as that series' "Dr. Bombay" twice on 'Passions in scenes with Tabitha (not to be confused with 'Bewitched's own Tabitha Stephens). When 'Passions' Tabitha has a child in 2003, she names the baby "Endora" which was Tabitha's grandmother's name, and later notes that her parents had been "Samantha" and a mortal named "Darrin."

So for this spotlight, we have the first half of the very first episode and the last episode as well.  We also have that crossover episode in which Dr. Bombay paid a house call.

But most importantly, we have videos showcasing the soap opera's best character - Timmy.  If you're not familiar with him, I'll let the videos do the talking...... 

Until next time.....