Come �Beyond the Gates� for the First Black-led Soap Opera � the First New Network Soap in Decades
By MARK KENNEDY
9:52 AM EST, February 24, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) � The first thing viewers of �Beyond the Gates� see is a black Mercedes gliding past manicured lawns and stately estates. The sedan pulls up at an elegant country club and the valets come out. The Emotions� funky tune �Best of My Love� is playing.
That car and the glamorous woman behind the wheel are driving into TV history on Monday as CBS begins airing the first Black-led daytime soap opera � and the first new network soap since �Passions� premiered in 1999.
�I think that not only will it change daytime, but it�ll also change the landscape of TV,� said Sheila Ducksworth, president of CBS Studios/NAACP Venture and an executive producer. �I think it really will be something that will have far-reaching effects, and I look forward to it.�
Set in an affluent, gated Maryland community, �Beyond the Gates� has drama, joy and heartbreak played by very attractive people with a strong pocket-square vibe. But even the rich can lose it: The first episode ends with a roundhouse punch. A later episode has a golf club raised in anger.
�We want people to be entertained. We want people to have fun with it,� said Ducksworth. �There�s a lot of unpredictable stuff that�s going to be happening, a lot of juicy storylines. We have a lot of scandal and secrets and lies embedded in this world of power and prestige.�
Four generations represented
Actor Daphn�e Duplaix, a veteran of �Passions� and �One Life to Live,� is the driver of the Mercedes and therefore won the distinction of being the audience�s first glimpse of life in upscale Fairmont Crest.
�It was pretty awesome when I realized that I am the opening scene into this new world that we�re creating. I was like, �Oh, that is fun and exciting,�� she said. �That meant a lot. It really did.�
This is normal. It�s not a fluke. It�s not a one-off. Black excellence is everywhere. So I�m so excited for that to be normalized Monday through Friday on television.
Daphn�e Duplaix, �Beyond the Gates� star
The premiere episode airs after �The Young and the Restless� and �The Bold and the Beautiful,� capping a three-hour block of CBS soaps. NAACP has partnered with the network, and Procter & Gamble, connected with soaps for decades, is a sponsor. It will stream on Paramount+, giving it a global reach.
The show is centered around four generations of the Dupree family, from a grandfather who is a civil rights icon to grandchildren who are social influencers. Unlike NBC�s �Generations,� the short-lived soap that made history in 1989 for featuring a Black family from the start, the main cast of �Beyond the Gates� is predominantly Black.
�We just wanted something that felt fresh, new, different, really glossy, fun and really epic,� said Ducksworth.
Characters born on index cards
Michele Val Jean, an Emmy-winning veteran daytime writer, is the creator, executive producer and showrunner. She created the characters in her mind on morning walks, jotting down ideas on index cards.
�By the time I was ready to start writing, I had this big stack of index cards. And once I sorted everything out, the characters were there,� she said. �It�s hard to describe. It�s almost like I�m a stenographer and the stuff just sort of came through me.�
Val Jean wanted to create soap characters viewers hadn�t seen before and describes one pairing � played by Tamara Tunie and Clifton Davis � as if Diana Ross married the late Rep. John Lewis. One of their daughters � played by Karla Cheatham Mosley � has no filter and holds a fearsome grudge against her ex-husband.
�I love the characters that come into your house five days a week and sort of get inside you,� she said. �That�s what I want this show to do. I can think of many times I would have loved to have taken a golf club to somebody�s desk.�
Another thing that differentiates �Beyond the Gates� is the music. Tunie, who has a degree in musical theater from Carnegie Mellon, is one of a few cast members who will sing.
�The writers told me, �We�re going to have you singing on the show,�� she said. �And I was like, �Oh, OK. Didn�t know that, but OK. Let me let me dust off my cords.��
Black excellence on screen
�Beyond the Gates� is the long-gestating dream of Ducksworth, who has been watching soap operas since she was 10 but yearned for more representation: �I have to say, for many years it�s been very few and far between having real diversity on soaps.�
The show is grounded in real Black excellence. Ducksworth points out there are pockets of affluent Black families in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
�It�s something right here in our backyard that many people may not be aware of,� she said.
Duplaix said Black wealth is often only portrayed as enjoyed by athletes or entertainers, so to be able to show Black doctors, psychologists and lawyers is important.
�This is normal. It�s not a fluke. It�s not a one-off. Black excellence is everywhere. So I�m so excited for that to be normalized Monday through Friday on television,� she said.
The series is filmed in Georgia on 27 sets over 35,000 square feet with a cast and crew of some 200 people. They�ve been working long hours since the end of October.
Val Jean recalls watching the first episode and gasping at the moment it all became real: A scene when all the Duprees gather as their grandfather tells a story. �My God, there they are � my babies,� she recalled with a laugh.
Inclusivity with intention
Ducksworth points out there�s something for everyone � from people who have money inside the gates to those with less outside, lawyers and entrepreneurs as well as nurses and firemen. All races and sexual orientations are depicted.
�While it is primarily a Black cast, we intentionally wanted to include everybody,� she said. �What was important to me was what I felt was missing in so many of these soaps, which is real inclusivity.�
The cast and crew will be working to create more episodes on Monday, so they won�t be able to tune in and see TV history being made. But there�s a screening party planned at the end of the day for the first two episodes.
�Then we�ll pop some Champagne and have some food and fellowship together and celebrate our accomplishment,� said Tunie. �We need a moment to mark the moment and celebrate what we�re doing.�
MARK KENNEDY
Kennedy is a theater, TV, music, food and obit writer and editor for The Associated Press, as well as a critic for theater, movies and music. He is based in New York City.
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