Sunday, September 23, 2018

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.....


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