Five Things That Happened On July 5 In Soap History

In 1999, Passions premiered on NBC. The brainchild of Creator James E. Reilly, the show was a fixture on NBC through September 7, 2007 on NBC, then moved to DirecTV from September 17, 2007 until August 7, 2008. Set in the New England town of Harmony, Passions centered around four core families — the Cranes, the Lopez-Fitzgeralds, the Russells and the Bennetts . It was known for its colorful characters, outrageous storylines and inclusion of supernatural elements and developed a cult following among soap fans. Its original cast featured current daytimers Brook Kerr (Portia, General Hospital) as Whitney Russell and Galen Gering (Rafe, Days of Our Lives) as Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, while Eric Martsolf (Eric, DAYS) joined the Harmony ranks in 2002 in the recast role of Ethan Crane.