First things first, the Passions theme song was freaking awesome. You can鈥檛 even deny that. Passions followed the lives of the residents of the fictional town called Harmony, 聽chronicling their various romantic and paranormal adventures. The major storylines focused on the interactions between the core families: The Russells, The Cranes, The Bennettes, and The Lopez-Fitzgeralds. Like any good soap opera, Passions had it all (romance, lies, betrayal, sex, murder) but truly excelled when they included elements of the supernatural involving the characters Tabitha (a centuries old witch), her doll, Timmy (who could come to life) and Charity Standish (a girl who had the ability to harness the forces of goodness. Lol). We were all crushed when AIT for some reason decided to stop airing Passions. Contrary to what people think, the show wasn鈥檛 cancelled and actually ran from 1999 and had a proper ending in 2008. If you miss the show and want to catch up, you can go to NBC鈥檚 website and read up.
2. Sunset Beach
Sunset Beach actually premiered in 1997, 2 years before Passions did, but didn鈥檛 last as long. AIT hooked Nigeria up and and began airing it after they stopped airing Passions (probably so people wouldn鈥檛 start committing suicide due to awesome soap opera withdrawal). It followed the lives of the residents of Sunset Beach and the shenanigans they got involved in. The show was mostly known for its batshit crazy storylines like that time when all around evil woman, Virginia, stole a doctor鈥檚 sperm, drugged Vanessa and artificially inseminated her with a freaking TURKEY BASTER (LOL!) so Vanessa鈥檚 husband, Michael, would think she had been sleeping with the doctor. Or that time a couple of characters stole jewels from a statue of Mary only to find out that the jewels were cursed and whoever possessed them would eventually shrivel up and die. You guys, Sunset Beach might have been insane but it was pretty good. Also, how do cursed jewels end up on a statue of Mary? LOL
3. When You Are Mine (Cuando Seas Mia)
When You Are Mine was pretty much the first Nigerian foray into the world of Mexican telenovelas. It starred Silvia Navarro and Sergio Basanez 聽as Paloma and Diego respectively who spent most of the show鈥檚 run just trying to be together but family members and other factors wouldn鈥檛 let them be. Who remembers Diego鈥檚 brother, Fabian and his INSANELY hot wife, Barbara? Or Diego鈥檚 slightly unattractive wife, Berenice, who seemed to sleep with everybody?? When You Are Mine was a very good show but what made it really great was the chemistry between the show鈥檚 leads. It was epic.
4. Second Chance
EVERYBODY watched Second Chance. Someone once said that if you went out on the street whenever Second Chance was on, there would be no one out and you would hear the show鈥檚 dialogue coming from the TV sets of every home. 聽It was about this rich old man named Don Pedro that marries a much younger woman named Isabel and then promptly dies. Thing is, his soul doesn鈥檛 move on to the afterlife but goes into the body of a poor handsome man named Salvador. He goes to his house, gets a job as driver and slowly begins to uncover a shitload of secrets, truths and deception. This show was mostly popular because of how fine the main character, Salvador, was. This is pretty much how the conversation goes between people who watched it and people who didn鈥檛.
Person 1: Did you watch Second Chance?
Person 2: No.
Person 1: AH! You missed gan! Salvador the main character was so fine!
A lot of people who didn鈥檛 watch the show now think that the only reason people liked it was because the lead was fine.
One question nobody bothered to ask was this, if Don Pedro鈥檚 soul went into Salvador鈥檚 body, even tho the real Salvador wasn鈥檛 dead at the time, where did the real Salvador鈥檚 soul go the entire time his body was possessed by Don Pedro鈥檚 soul?
Feel free to answer this in the comments.
If you can.
5. Catalina and Sebastian
This show was the first time Sergio Basanez and Silvia Navarro lit up the screen together (it was their undeniable chemistry on this show that led to them being cast again on When You are Mine). Catalina (Silvia Navarro) marries a rich man named Sebastian (Sergio Basanez) purely for his money but is given the shock of her life when she goes to the ranch he lives on after the wedding and finds out that he鈥檚 really just the ranch supervisor. In reality, he really is rich and is just testing her by forcing her to live the life of a poor woman. Eventually, Catalina starts to love him regardless of him being poor. If you haven鈥檛 seen it, you should.
Astor George is a writer and senior editor at zikoko.com, Nigeria’s most notable youth culture publication. When he’s not creating thigh-slappingly hilarious written and video content, he’s watching his favourite movie of all time; The Mummy 1999.
