Passions is being resurrected. The long-running soap was canceled by NBC earlier in the year, but today DirecTV announced that they will be picking up the show. The series will end its run on NBC on September 7, and then begin its ninth season on DirecTV on September 17.
Passions will remain in its current time period (2:00 p.m. ET), and all story line’s will continue with the majority of the cast expected to return.
“This new arrangement with DIRECTV is truly a landmark development that allows NBC Universal to extend the Passions brand in a fresh and entirely new way, to DIRECTV’s 16 million homes,” said Marc Graboff, president, NBC Universal Television, West Coast. “It will reward the dedicated fans of the daytime drama who can continue to enjoy it on DIRECTV and also opens up a great new model for other television programs to find new life on other non-traditional platforms.” DIRECTV will make it easy for Passions viewers to keep track of the happenings in “Harmony” by providing fans free installation, a DVR or HD receiver upgrade, and a portable DVD player by calling a special phone number (866-788-0003) or visiting the Web (www.directv.com/passions) that will give those without DIRECTV plenty of time to switch before the new season begins. Passions fans can also visit www.nbc.com for more information about the show.
Passions averages over 2 million viewers an episode. Source: NBC Universal