Soap Opera Fans... Please Explain NBC's "Passions" To Me

[arwalden]

I'm not a devout soap opera watcher... but I've had on-and-off times when I'd keep up with All My Children and One Life To Live... so I know pretty much what to expect in daytime dramas as far as production quality, acting depth, and storylines.

Now... mind you... I'm not a daily watcher of Passions... just often enough (in passing, and as background noise) to realize that something's not quite right.

Is Passions a parody of itself? Is it a cross between Dark Shadows, Edge of Night, and Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, and SOAP?

Is it meant to be taken seriously, or is it entirely a spoof that those in the know take tongue in cheek... with half the fun being the joy of watching folks like me scratch our heads in befuddlement.

Or... perhaps I'm just "old-school" and totally out of touch with contemporary soap opera trends.

-- Allen

[LynneSin]

1. I just want to know why you watch sucky soap operas

I mean, anyone can tell you that CBS has the best soaps out there, including my favorites "Bold and the Beautiful" and "As the World Turns" (Yeah, they have the creme de la creme "Young and the Restless" and the Granddaddy of all the soaps "The Guiding LIght", but they are 3rd and 4th on my list)

[ploppy]

2. I catch Passions

every once in a while. I miss Juliet Mills' sidekick Timmy. Besides that???? I am not an expert but it seems to be on the spoofish side.

[Kat45]

3. Yes, Passions can be quite campy.

It doesn't take itself seriously at all. Sure, they have some of the typical soap stories, but they also do some pretty bizarre things. C'mon, when one of the regular characters is a witch, how serious can it be? I love it--it's such a riot!

The show has done some really funny bits of movie parodies: they had characters do a musical scene straight out of "Chicago", with some words slightly altered the fit the current plot line. They had a "Psycho" parody for a while with 'Norma Bates' carrying her father's skull around and talking to it. They've parodied a number of horror movies, as well as "The Wizard of Oz" in which 'Timmy,' the little boy played by a dwarf (who died last year), was Dorothy in drag and as they followed the yellow brick road they came upon a community of perverted munchkins. Three of the female munchkins propositioned one character and used the threesome to rob him. 'Dr. Bombay' from "Bewitched" appeared in one episode.

I love that show for it's humor, which is sometimes obvious but often subtle. It supposedly aims for and has a young audience, but many of the references in the show would probably go right over their heads.

[Kat45]

8. I almost forgot: they did a great parody of The Osbournes

on one of the shows. The guy doing the Ozzy role had it down so well: the mannerisms, the walk, the voice--it was too funny!

And somebody mentioned Adrian Zmed in the thread about the seventies. He showed up for a while in Passions as a floating head.

[Khephra]

9. A FLOATING HEAD???

Ok, that did it. Now I'm going to have to watch this show.

[Susang]

4. I adore Passions

My sister got me hooked on it during the plotline that included a doorway to hell in Charity and Kay's closet. The entire house ended up getting sucked into hell! How can you beat that?

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. Sounds like a Poltergeist ripoff to me

but at least if you had a doorway to Hell in your closet, you wouldn't have to worry about heating bills in the winter.

[Kat45]

11. I think that might have been 1 of the horror movies they spoofed

They parodied a whole bunch of them over a period of time, but I don't watch horror movies, so I didn't recognize some of them, except for Psycho and The Exorcist. There's a huge good vs evil thread running throughout the show.

[SOteric]

5. Okay, not really a fan, but I watched a considerable

amount of daytime television while in the hospital a while back.

Passions, is a lot like a cross between Dark Shadows and SOAP! (With maybe a little early 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' thrown in for dramatic bitchness with conspicuous consumption thrown in for flash.)

Good call! I thought 'Dark Shadows' myself and couldn't come up with the appropriate parody of a soap.

There are elements of the show that take itself seriously, but the overwhelming tone of the show is intentionally over-the-top. Surprisingly, it goes over extremely well with the younger daytime television viewers.

I had a chance to critique all those horrific talk shows and all the Judge Judy clones, too.

It made me feel so much better about my life to watch all those pathetic folks arguing in court with their neighbours over a Beany-Baby collection.

[Khephra]

6. You all are trying your best to get me to watch it, aren't you?

:evilgrin:

[Kat45]

7. Go for it!

:D

[Scimmio]

12. Passions is crap...

ever since Timmy died. I could really go for a Mar-timmy about now too.