'Beyond the Gates' makes TV history on CBS as the first all-Black daytime soap

“Beyond the Gates,” CBS's new daytime soap opera premiering this week, is the first all-Black daytime soap on TV.

Black firsts in the 21st century are often surprising. “Beyond the Gates” is no exception. 

The first daytime soap solely focused on a Black family premieres this week on CBS and comes as the daytime genre is disappearing. “Passions,” which debuted in 1999 and ended in 2008, was the last new soap opera. But it was nothing like this.

Even behind the scenes, it is not lost on executive producer Sheila Ducksworth and creator Michele Val Jean that they are television pioneers. 

“It is 2025 and it’s very true that Michele and I, from all accounts, appear to be the first two Black female executive producers doing a daytime drama,” she said during a virtual news conference in January.

Tamara Tunie, who plays matriarch Anita in “Beyond the Gates,” also remarked about the historic nature of this soap. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/-gates-makes-tv-history-cbs-first-black-daytime-soap-rcna193265

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