Show business veteran Clifton Davis — whose 60-year career spans TV, Broadway, movies and Motown — will headline the cast of the new soap Beyond The Gates from P&G Studios.
Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble — which filled radio and TV airwaves for 70 years with Ma Perkins, Guiding Light, As The World Turns, and a dozen other daytime dramas — is developing and producing the show with CBS Studios/NAACP Venture led by Sheila Ducksworth, whose credits include Soul Food, Veronica Mars and College Hill.
Beyond The Gates will replace The Talk in CBS’ afternoon lineup at 2 p.m. weekdays starting Feb. 4. CBS announced in April that The Talk would cease production in December after 15 seasons.
Davis, best known on TV for his roles on Madam Secretary, Billions and Amen, will star as Vernon Dupree, a civil rights pioneer and former U.S. senator, in the show about wealthy Black families who live in a gated community in a Maryland suburb outside of Washington, D.C.
On Broadway, the Chicago native recently played Dr. Dillamond in Wicked, originated the role of the sultan in Aladdin and was Tony Award nominee for Two Gentlemen of Verona. He also was a Grammy nominee for writing “Never Can Say Good-bye” for The Jackson 5.
Beyond The Gates (originally called The Gates when announced in April) centers on three families — the Duprees, Hamiltons and Richardsons.
The cast includes Alex Alegria, Lauren Buglioli, Ben Gavin, Jibre Hordges, Jen Jacob, Mike Manning, Tamara Tunie, Daphnee Duplaix, Karla Mosley, Brandon Claybon, Timon Kyle Durrett, Sean Freeman, Marquita Goings, Maurice Johnson, Trisha Mann-Grant, RhonniRose Mantilla, Ambyr Michelle, Colby Muhammad and Arielle Prepetit.
The Cincinnati consumer goods giant left daytime television in 2010 when CBS canceled As The World Turns. The previous year CBS dropped Guiding Light, the longest-running soap opera which had aired 72 years on radio and television (1937-2009).
CBS says this is the first one-hour Black daytime soap, and the first new daytime drama to premiere since Passions in 1999. Beyond The Gates is the first daytime soap with a majority Black cast since Generations on NBC in 1989, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Beyond 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.
As I noted in April, P&G 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 include 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.
