How 'Beyond the Gates,' network TV's first largely Black soap, is 'rooted in reality'

USA Today

24-02-2025

How 'Beyond the Gates,' network TV's first largely Black soap, is 'rooted in reality'
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'The Talk' canceled on CBS after 15 Seasons
CBS canceled daytime chatfest 'The Talk' after 15 seasons and will replace it with a new daytime soap opera called "The Gates."
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CBS is opening the gates.
The network Monday introduces viewers to Black soap opera "Beyond the Gates," which follows the powerful Dupree family in the fictional, affluent Maryland community of Fairmont Crest. The show, created by Black soap opera veteran Michele Val Jean, is the dream of producer and lifelong soap fan Sheila Ducksworth.
"I've been a lover of soap operas since I was 10 years old, and I've always felt that there was a huge void in soap operas, which is just beyond apparent," Ducksworth says.
Ducksworth is president of the multi-year production partnership between CBS and the nation's oldest civil rights organization, the NAACP, announced in summer 2020 as the country wrestled with race in America. The soap is also produced by Procter & Gamble (P&G), the consumer goods company that helped invent (and name) the soap opera.
CBS plans 'Beyond the Gates,' first new daytime soap in decades, about a wealthy Black family
It's been two generations since "Generations," a short-lived NBC soap, premiered in 1989 and made history as the first to begin with a Black family, although the show also featured a largely white cast.
But "Beyond the Gates," replacing "The Talk" on CBS' lineup (2 EST/1 PST), will make history of its own. Along with its Black History Month premiere date, the series is the first new daytime soap since NBC's "Passions" premiered in 1999.
'Beyond the Gates' features predominantly Black cast, crew to remain 'authentic'
"Beyond the Gates" is opening new doors for Black-forward TV shows in Hollywood.
The show stars "Madam Secretary" star Clifton Davis as former senator Vernon Dupree, the patriarch of the central family. Davis thinks it's "the right time" for a Black-led soap, "because we haven't seen stories of this nature before" on network TV.
Tamara Tunie, who played lawyer Jessica Griffin on CBS soap "As The World Turns," is matriarch Anita Dupree, a former singer. Val Jean describes the characters as "if Diana Ross married John Lewis," referring to the legendary Supremes singer and Atlanta congressman.
The show features multi-generational families that live within and outside the gated community. Although the cast is predominantly Black, it features a diverse depiction of sexualities and racial identities including white, Asian and Latino characters, Ducksworth promises.
"We're serving up another perspective of Black stories for Black people as well," Davis says, adding that the show is "not just for Black folks" and "this is a very, very diverse audience we're seeking and we're a diverse show, but the lead family is African American and affluent, and I'm so proud to be a part of it."
'The Talk' comes to an end after 15 years, so 'The Gates' can open
Davis says the pace of working on a daytime soap challenged him with "a different kind of schedule that requires an adjustment. You got to get your rest, and you've got to do your homework."
Ducksworth created a friends and family reunion in the show's makeup, wardrobe and hair departments as well as Black composer Kurt Farquhar — a rarity in television.
"I've brought a lot of friends and family into the mix, but they happen to be the best at what they do," Ducksworth says of the show, which is taped in Atlanta.
'Beyond the Gates' is 'rooted in reality' of affluent Black communities
Despite its soapy appeal, Ducksworth says "Gates" is "rooted in reality. If you were to go anywhere (in) suburban Maryland, you would see these gated communities of predominantly Black people living in 10,000-square-foot mansions on acres with golf courses and country clubs. And the world has never seen that, and it was really important to me in telling this story."
"I wanted to do a soap opera that focused on a Black, affluent family in the Washington, D.C., area," she says, noting the "rich and historical contributions" of Black people in the metropolitan area.
After the concept was cleared by CBS CEO George Cheeks, Ducksworth recruited Val Jean, the only Black writer on "Generations." The pair were introduced 25 years ago by actress and soap opera alum Vivica A. Fox.
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"I knew I wanted to create it, and Michele has not disappointed in the least," Ducksworth says. After the groundbreaking nature of "Generations," Val Jean believes the Black representation in soap operas "went away."
There was "the occasional best friend or a family that would sort of shuffle through (and) disappear, until this show, where the core family is African American," Val Jean says. "I don't think there's been a lot of representation. We haven't been totally shut out, but we haven't been portrayed in this particular way."
Despite its trailblazing focus, Val Jean says "Gates" is true to soap opera form: "It's still messy, they're still getting in trouble, it's still love and hate and betrayal and lies. It's still all of that, it just looks different."
"Beyond the Gates" is about family — Black families, chosen families and the Duprees, of course.
"This was a world that I carried around in my head for four years and here it is, and it lives, and it breathes and it walks, and it talks and it's so beautiful," Val Jean adds. "This world is populated by these beautiful people, and they live in these beautiful homes, and they wear these gorgeous clothes."
Val Jean fell in love with soap operas as a young girl, watching them with her mother Orphey, who the show's diner is named for, and her grandmother. "I wish they were here to see this. They would just be bursting with pride. I know they're watching from somewhere."