In January, NBC announced that the network would be canceling the eight-year-old soap Passions in the Fall. Millions of viewers were understandably upset. After weeks of uncertainty, it looks like fans of the residents of Harmony will be able to rest easy — at least those who have satellite television.
The soap will end its eighth season on NBC on September 7th with a series of cliffhangers. DirecTV will begin airing the ninth season of Passions starting on September 17th. Passions will remain in its usual 2pm timeslot and DirecTV will also air encore marathons on weekends. This will be the first scripted drama series for the satellite TV provider who has been offering other original programming to its subscribers.
Executive vice president of Entertainment for DirectTV Eric Shanks said, “Passions fans no longer need to mourn the demise of their beloved program as it has found new life on DirectTV. We care about this show and are extremely proud to give it an exclusive home here at DirectTV.”
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Marc Graboff (president of NBC Universal Television, West Coast) added, “This new arrangement with DirectTV is truly a landmark development that allows NBC Universal to extend the Passions brand in a fresh and entirely new way, to DirectTV’s 16 million homes. It will reward the dedicated fans of the daytime drama who can continue to enjoy it on DirectTV and also opens up a great new model for other television programs to find new life on other non-traditional platforms.”
It is unclear how much DirecTV will be paying NBC Universal for the soap. Passions will be cut back from five to four episodes a week and will probably endure additional budget cuts. How these cost reductions would affect the soap cast and crew is unclear. The ninth season will begin filming in August.
The satellite provider is encouraging Passions fans to subscribe to the DirecTV service and is offering several incentives. Episodes of Passions are currently made available for free online at NBC.com and via iTunes. It’s unknown if online distribution will continue in some form but it’s looking doubtful thus far. Stay tuned!
I don’t have directv or know anyone who does. i really want to watch this show but can’t aford directv. i would be willing to download it off of itunes occasionally for a good price. but i heard it is not going to be available on i tunes either. i am sooo sad
Gosh i have frekin dish! that sucks…im crying right now
Hey i dont like this idea at all. I have watched Passions from the first episode and i have never missed an episode in my life. It is my favorite show in the entire world. I don’t know what I am going to do if I can’t watch my favorite show anymore. I know that Passions is going to Direct TV but all i have is cabel i cant afford to get Direct TV. It isn’t fair they shouldn’t be allowed to do this. What all those people who have cable, like me, going to do. I just don’t believe… Read more »
i love passion so much i can’t stop wacthing it. please i did not wacth the concluding part please kindly forward the story to my inbox or any tv station in nigeria to show it please i beg if you do this for me i will appreciate it thanks
I hope DirecTV allows online distribution of some sort.I will be unable to watch as I don’t have DirecTV, nor do I live in my own house to get it. This is unfair to viewers who can’t use this service.Pleas allow online distribution!!!!!!!!!!!!
Am a Nigerian. I started watching the soap opera since when i was fifteen .I love passions so much that it keeps ringing in my memory up till today.I celibratrate it every year.I love all the characters in it.So please am beging on behalf of every nigerian do something about the soap opera.
ALRIGHT!!!!!! All our hard work has paid off! I cant tell you how excited & very glad I am that Passions has been picked up by DirecTV. I’m also really glad we decided to get DirecTV years ago! NICE! I’m so excited! TABITHA & ENDORA, LUIS & FANCY ALL LIVE ON!!!!!!
I too still watch TV via antenna. I refuse to pay for TV until it is offered a la carte. (ie -I only pay for channels I want) Too bad, because I will really miss this show, but not enough to pay for the service.
The current rediculus showing is an abortian to tv programing of any plot. In fact, there is no plot but some yukko crazy that we don’t want to see. Whats wrong with the writing? They’ve become nuts and are out of control. It STINKS!
Woot, woot! I knew this crappy direct tv would get better. First it was thoses previews of Tudors and now my favorite soap! I am so stocked. While everyone else was getting comcast, I got the direct and it paid off. too other fans, I am sorry yall cant watch but direct is very cheap and the 101 channel its showing passions on is automaticly added into your list of channels, so if you get like a 10$ plan on direct you get all of its preview channels iincludeing 101 =) hope i bought some sunshine!
thats great for all the direct tv folks. but seeing that im with dish, thats gonna cause some problems. hopefully i can find out what happens to the people of harmony some other way.
Life is good again. Passions is one of the most unique show on tv. If Directv gives Passions a big enough budget it has a good chance of being sucessful in this new venue. For the past year the show has had a very small budget yet somehow has managed to keep things interesting.
I’ll only watch it if JER gets the boot!
I am really not liking this because I love the show and can’t afford Directv. I just have the old fashion antenna. What channel on DirecTv will they air it? Maybe I can go in debt for this show..
This is so great I hope they put the soap on the web since a lot of people don’t have direct tv in any case I am glad that its not being cancelled!