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For more than 30 years, John Kiesewetter has been the source for information about all things in local media — comings and goings, local people appearing on the big or small screen, special programs, and much more. Contact John at johnkiese@yahoo.com.

Procter & Gamble returning to daytime TV soap operas

91.7 WVXU | By John Kiesewetter

Published April 16, 2024 at 10:33 AM EDT

a closeup of a woman in glasses with curly hair smiling at the camera — Producer Michele Val Jean from *General Hospital* and *The Bold & The Beautiful* will be *The Gates* showrunner.

After a 15-year absence, P&G Studios will produce "The Gates," a 2025 daytime drama about a wealthy Black family developed through a CBS partnership with the NAACP.

Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble is getting back into the daytime TV soap opera business.

P&G — which filled radio and TV airwaves for 70 years with Ma Perkins, Guiding Light, As The World Turns and a dozen other daytime dramas — will be a production partner on CBS’ The Gates premiering next January.

The consumer goods giant exited daytime television when CBS canceled As The World Turns in 2010. The previous year, CBS dropped Guiding Light, the longest-running soap opera, which aired 72 years on radio and television from 1937-2009.

The Gates will follow "the lives of a wealthy Black family in a posh, gated community," CBS announced Monday. It's the first daytime soap with a majority Black cast since Generations on NBC in 1989, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Gates was developed from the joint venture between CBS Studios and the NAACP, "which was established to help elevate a diverse range of voices as well as increase the visibility of Black artists on broadcast and streaming platforms in an ever-evolving media landscape," according to CBS.

Sheila Ducksworth (Soul Food, Veronica Mars, College Hill) will be an executive producer of The Gates. — Sheila Ducksworth (*Soul Food, Veronica Mars, College Hill*) will be an executive producer of *The Gates.*

It will be produced by the CBS Studios/NAACP venture in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble.

Michele Val Jean, who has written more than 2,000 episodes of daytime dramas and won multiple Daytime Emmy and WGA awards for her work on CBS' The Bold & The Beautiful and ABC's General Hospital, will be a writer and showrunner. Val Jean also will be an executive producer, along with Sheila Ducksworth (Soul Food, Veronica Mars, College Hill), Kimberly Doebereiner (Serving in Secret: Love, Country and Don't Ask, Don't Tell), Derrick Johnson (55^th and 53^rd NAACP Image Awards) and Leon Russell.

Variety and the Hollywood Reporter have speculated that The Gates will air replace The Talk. CBS announced Friday that The Talk (2-3 p.m. weekdays) would cease production in December after 15 seasons.

The CBS release Monday said the casting, time period, launch date and other details will be announced at later dates.

P&G's communications staff did not respond to a request for a comment for this story.

Procter & Gamble first invested in daytime dramas with Ma Perkins, which aired on WLW-AM in 1933 from Aug. 14 to Dec. 1 before being picked up by NBC. The daytime drama broadcast 7,065 episodes on NBC and CBS before it ended in 1959.

P&G's daytime TV series have included The First Hundred Years (CBS 1950-1952); Search for Tomorrow (CBS 1951-1982; NBC 1982-86); Guiding Light (CBS 1952-2009); The Brighter Day (CBS 1954-1962); The Edge of Night (CBS 1956-1975; ABC 1975-84); As the World Turns (CBS 1956-2010); From These Roots (NBC 1958-1961); Another World (NBC 1964-1999); Somerset (NBC 1970-76); Lovers & Friends:For Richer, For Poorer (NBC 1977-78); Texas (NBC 1980-82); The Caitlins (TBS 1983-85); and Down to Earth (TBS 1984-87).

P&G also used to produce The People’s Choice Awards; a syndicated sitcom called Throb (1986-88) starring Diana Canova, Jonathan Prince and Jane Leeves (with Cincinnati's Taft Broadcasting); and many TV specials and movies.