In a shocking twist worthy of the supernatural sudser, PASSIONS — recently cancelled by NBC — has risen from its premature grave. Earlier this morning, NBC Universal Television — the studio which produces PASSIONS — announced that the soap will end its NBC run with a cliffhanger-packed episode on Friday, September 7… and then return to the airwaves on Monday, September 17 with all new episodes. The only catch? The soap will be airing on DIRECTV. In other words, no satellite, no PASSIONS (although it remains unclear whether the episodes will be available on NBC’s website as is currently the case). The show will continue to air at 2 p.m. daily, although it will switch to four days a week as opposed to five, with a weekend marathon. Our fondest hope? That when the show makes the jump, headwriter James Reilly does not go along for the ride and instead new blood is brought in. Unless major changes occur behind the scenes to improve the quality of the stories being told, it seems likely that DIRECTV will quickly come to regret this expensive move. 
