I saw much of Passions during that time because I videotaped it for my then ailing mom (who watched seven soaps - several that aired opposite each other) and on the weekends I would bring the tape to her and she and often I would watch it while we ate or simply spent time together, or I would at least overhear it while I was doing other things around the house. I initially wanted to like it, but even in those days the show was far too campy and goofy for my taste - hence my comparing it to The Dukes Of Hazzard. DS was many things, but it was never campy/goofy in my eyes. I, like many fans and in particular the DS actors, bristle whenever an article refers top DS as camp. (The actors see it as an insult because they insist they always played everything straight and any supposed campiness in purely in the eye of the beholder. But we've had this debate on the forum numerous times, so I won't go into it any further yet again.)
All that is not to say that Passions couldn't be enjoyable for some. It obviously was - and my mom was one. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with campy/goofy if that's what you're in the mood to watch. But just because Passions and DS were both soaps and there were supernatural elements in both, those things alone don't bind the two together as closely as some in the press have insisted upon doing. The overall differences in attitude and execution were worlds apart between them, just as they were between The Dukes Of Hazzard and Gunsmoke.