Welcome to the neighborhood.
CBS airs a week-long promotion for its new Beyond The Gates soap opera with 30-minute specials airing at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, through Friday, Feb. 21.
Billed as TV’s first one-hour soap opera about a Black family, Beyond The Gates is a production of the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture in partnership with P&G Studios, owned by the Cincinnati consumer goods giant. Procter & Gamble has not been involved with daytime TV dramas for 15 years, since CBS canceled As The World Turns in 2010.
Kevin Frazier from Entertainment Tonight (and WXIX-TV in the 1990s) and comedian Sheryl Underwood will give viewers a guided tour of the 27 sets and introduce the cast in Beyond The Gates: Welcome To The Neighborhood. A repeat of The Bold and the Beautiful will fill the second half-hour until Beyond The Gates premieres 2-3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24.
TV veteran Clifton Davis (Madam Secretary, Billions, Amen) plays the patriarch of the wealthy Depree family living in a gated Maryland suburb outside Washington, D.C.
Who else stars in Beyond the Gates?
Beyond The Gates (originally called The Gates when announced in April) also stars:
- Alex Alegria
- Lauren Buglioli
- Ben Gavin
- Jibre Hordges
- Jen Jacob
- Mike Manning
- Tamara Tunie
- Daphnée Duplaix
- Karla Mosley
- Brandon Claybon
- Timon Kyle Durrett
- Sean Freeman
- Marquita Goings
- Maurice Johnson
- Trisha Mann-Grant
- RhonniRose Mantilla
- Ambyr Michelle
- Colby Muhammad
- Arielle Prepetit
From the CBS media release:
“Filmed on location on Beyond The Gates’ stages in Atlanta, Beyond The Gates: Welcome To The Neighborhood goes behind-the-scenes to see the journey of bringing the new daytime soap opera to life, from its powerful representation of Black culture and history, to the 27 meticulously designed sets that create the world of Fairmont Crest, a wealthy gated community with leafy tree-lined streets and luxurious mansions.
“With footage from the cast’s first table read, on-set interviews and never-before-seen moments, the special offers a front-row seat to the making of a series set to change the game. Through exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the executive producers, cast and crew, discover how Beyond The Gates balances authenticity, representation and storytelling to craft a series unlike any other.”
P&G's history with soap operas
P&G first invested in daytime dramas with Ma Perkins, which aired on WLW radio 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 longtime sponsorships of daytime serials resulted in the genre being dubbed “soap operas.” 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)
- Down to Earth (TBS, 1984-87)
