PASSIONS Postmark – DIRECTV!
It’s been a few months since PASSIONS made the unprecedented jump from NBC to its new home on satellite provider DIRECTV. While most fans haven’t noticed any difference onscreen, behind the scenes the show’s cast and crew have embraced the move. Here, original cast members Eva Tamargo (Pilar) and Galen Gering (Luis) discuss some of the changes involved.
Soap Opera Weekly: So how has the move been?
Eva Tamargo: It’s been great! We are working twice as much, because we do a lot more — a lot more scenes. And DIRECTV has been wonderful as far as promoting the show. You can tell they’re genuinely happy to have us, which is a nice thing, because sometimes with corporate things, it’s not that way. But they really are excited about the show.
Galen Gering: The tone of the show has been a lot of fun lately. It reminds me of the show’s high points throughout the years. When it’s at it’s best, it’s very zany. That seems to be a sentiment echoed by a lot of the actors here.
Weekly: It’s interesting to hear you say you’re doing more work now, because you’re only doing four episodes per week.
Tamargo: We have fewer actors on the show now, like, 15, 17. We used to have thirtysomething. There’s a lot more for us to do, which is great. And the scenes are broken down into smaller segments, so the way that we’re shooting the show now is different. It makes a longer day for us, but it doesn’t affect the viewers; everything they see is the same.
Gering: We’ve been working really hard, but hopefully it’s at least for something that the audience can really enjoy.
Weekly: How has the production day changed?
Tamargo: We start the same time: early! We’ve never really had super-long days here. Once in a while we do, but it hasn’t been the norm for PASSIONS.
Weekly: Is it weird being a much smaller cast?
Tamargo: It’s more intimate, and I like the fact that most of the cast that’s here now is the core cast that’s been here from the beginning. I’ve loved everybody else that’s come and gone. I’m a very loving person, but you do get like this sense of familia with the people who were here from day one. We see a lot more of each other, too, because we’re in more scenes together now.
Weekly: What has been the biggest difference since you switched over to DIRECTV?
Tamargo: The biggest change is the amount of dialogue. It just doubled in some way. I don’t know how, but it’s a lot! It could be coincidental now I have a huge storyline, but I think it’s the same for everybody. We just have a lot more to say. We have, like, diarrhea of the mouth now (laughs). But that’s part of soaps, really. Soaps are talky!
Weekly: Sounds like they’re trying to squeeze as much as they can into those four episodes each week.
Tamargo: I feel like it’s boot camp all over again. When you’re first on a soap, you’re like, “Oh, my God. Are they kidding me? I have to memorize that?” And then by the fourth episode, you’re like, “Oh, okay. I’m good.” But now it’s like starting all over again. But the brain is like a muscle, so the more you work at it, the easier it gets — eventually!
Weekly: A lot of people speculated that once PASSIONS was on DIRECTV, they’d start pushing the envelope with language, nudity and other things.
Tamargo: I don’t know if the language will ever change because we have so many younger viewers. But I do think they’re pushing the envelope in other ways. We’ve just shot some stuff that hasn’t aired yet that’s really pushing the envelope. Hopefully that will be fun for everybody.
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