CBS Making Soap Opera About Wealthy Black Family, Would Be First New Soap in 25 Years
Daytime TV may be getting its first new soap opera in decades. CBS is partnering with the NAACP to develop an all-new daytime soap that centers a wealthy Black family. The potential soap will be called The Gates.
The Gates will follow a wealthy Black family living in a posh, gated community, per Variety. If ordered, the series will air on CBS as a partnership between CBS Studios NAACP production and P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble.
Soap veteran Michele Val Jean, who has worked on hit series such as General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Santa Barbara, will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. Val Jean was a writer on the first soap opera focusing on Black families, Generations. The soap aired from 1989 to 1991 on NBC. Sheila Ducksworth, Leon Russell, Derrick Johnson, and Kimberly Doebereiner will also serve as executive producers.
CBS hasn’t launched a new soap opera since The Bold and the Beautiful in 1987. Generations debuted in 1989 and was the last time a Black daytime soap was created. The last time a new soap was made at any network was in 1999 with NBC’s Passions, which is now defunct. There have been soap spinoffs in recent years, but The Gates would be the first new series.
“The Gates will be everything we love about daytime drama, from a new and fresh perspective,” said Sheila Ducksworth, president of the CBS Studios NAACP venture. “This series will salute an audience that has been traditionally underserved, with the potential to be a groundbreaking moment for broadcast television. With multi-dimensional characters, juicy storylines and Black culture front and center, The Gates will have impactful representation, one of the key touchstones of the venture.”
“I’m excited to develop this project with CBS and P&G, two of the longest and most passionate champions of broadcast and daytime television, and the NAACP, whose enduring commitment to Black voices and artists is both powerful and inspiring,” the statement continues. “I also want to thank CBS’ George Cheeks, NAACP’s Derrick Johnson and P&G’s Marc Pritchard for their personal involvement and support to take our next step forward with The Gates.”
The Gates would join The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful on CBS.
