Passions is dead…for real this time
Usually when you talk about death on soap operas, you have to know that like science fiction, death doesn’t mean the end of the story. After all, many characters have come back from the dead thanks to mistaken identity, bizarre abductions, switched coffins, et. al. But when I tell you now that the NBC soap opera Passions is dead, I really mean it. Really.
There is no chance that Passions is coming back to NBC. The soap was yanked from the daytime lineup last year, but in a deal with DirecTV, Passions has remained in production. The satellite provider has been showing episodes of the bizarrely-plotted show for months. However, in a recent development, DirecTV has decided to pull the plug. Universal Media Studios, which produces the one-hours, has been trying to find a new place on the dial for Passions without any luck.
There was a wrap party for the cast and crew last week, and there was some scuttlebutt that Passions would survive as an Internet soap, but that’s a pipe dream. It costs too much to be sustained on the net. Then came this nail in the coffin: on Monday, UMS and Premiere Props announced a two-day blowout sale this weekend of props and costumes from the show.
It’s not really surprising that Passions has bit the dust. NBC has been systematically destroying the soap opera genre since it canceled Santa Barbara — an Emmy-winning, classy romantic drama that starred A Martinez and Marcy Walker — in 1993, then did the same to Another World in 1999. Another World had been on the air for 34 years and was a beloved daytime drama with a loyal, huge following. Tepid alternatives on the network, like the youth-oriented Sunset Beach (1997-99) were never destined to survive, and Passions was a long-shot at best. It was a latter-day Dark Shadows, a twisted comedy-horror soap that was too outlandish to last. Some viewers embraced the goofiness, like evil spells, witches, elves, etc., but most soap fans simply tuned out.
And now that it’s gone for good and all, NBC has just one soap opera left on the air, Days of Our Lives. If it survives the decade, I’ll be shocked. My feeling is that Jeff Zucker believes the future of daytime is all about cheap, unscripted entertainment and syndicated fare. Or maybe he’ll just opt for Today all day — it takes up four hours of the daypart now. Perhaps he can get Kathie Lee, who just signed to co-host the fourth hour of Today, to stay on all afternoon. Yeah, that’s the ticket. That’s entertainment.
Nikki Cox Biography
Nikki Cox (born Nicole Avery Cox on June 2, 1978 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress known mostly for her roles on the television series Unhappily Ever After and Las Vegas.
Cox’s career as an entertainer started at the age of four, as she appeared as a dancer in several ballet productions and TV specials. At the age of ten, she got into acting, as she made appearances in several movies, and guest starred on shows such as Baywatch, California Dreams, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Blossom. She starred on General Hospital 1993–1995.
Her appearances on various TV shows would lead to her first prime-time starring role as Tiffany Malloy on the sitcom Unhappily Ever After, which ran on the WB 1995–1999. With her good looks, buxom figure, and her character’s penchant to wear revealing outfits, many viewed her as the only reason to watch a sitcom which was generally viewed as a Married… with Children ripoff. (In one interview she described Tiffany Malloy as “Smart, virginal, and dressed like a cheap hooker.”)
After Unhappily left the airwaves, she would portray Taylor Clayton on the sitcom Norm and star as Nikki White in Nikki, a sitcom vehicle that would only last for less than two seasons (2000–2002). She currently stars as Mary Connell on the tv drama Las Vegas. On May 20 and 23, 2005, her Las Vegas character crossed over to NBC’s cult-favorite soap opera Passions to coincide with the arrival of two new characters introduced on Las Vegas.
Cox was engaged in 1999 to Bobcat Goldthwait, a comedian more than 15 years her senior, who played the voice of Mr. Floppy, a stuffed bunny, on Unhappily Ever After. She was later linked to her Las Vegas co-star Josh Duhamel. Cox confirmed on the January 2, 2006, edition of the morning talk show Live with Regis and Kelly that she is in a relationship with comedian/actor Jay Mohr. The couple are now engaged to be married in a ceremony to take place in late 2006.