CBS’ New Daytime Soap ‘Beyond the Gates’ Was Launched From the Question, ‘What If the Matriarch of Its Family Had Been Diana Ross?’
CBS has taken a leap of faith, greenlighting the first daytime drama on any network in 25 years, at a time when the genre’s future seems to be hanging by a thread. But “Beyond the Gates” — which had its premiere on Feb. 24 — is not your grandmother’s soap opera. It’s a show centered around a smart, affluent, powerful Black family, one with stature and a rich history — you could say they’re the very definition of Black royalty. For Black audiences, with the current political climate such that many minority groups are feeling marginalized and targeted, the timing for “Beyond the Gates” could not be better. And the NAACP has joined in on the creative process, working in partnership with CBS Studios and Procter & Gamble.
“I didn’t think it would happen — I’m still a little stunned,” says Michele Val Jean, the seven-time Daytime Emmy winner who’s the creator of “Beyond the Gates.” She was first approached four years ago by executive producer Sheila Ducksworth about writing a bible for a Black soap. At the time, Val Jean was a scriptwriter for CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and thought the request would never go anywhere — but why not give it a shot? “It’ll be a nice project to do,” she remembers thinking. “I’ll make a little money, and stretch muscles I’ve never used before and go about my happy little life writing scripts, and…” she adds, “I’ll retire soon.”
After Val Jean handed in the bible, years went by. “It was radio silence,” she says. “Then, all of a sudden, literally, [Sheila] called one day and said Procter & Gamble had closed [the deal], and we were a go. I give CBS a lot of credit for this. They’re taking a chance.”
But if the network is taking the chance by launching a new daytime drama, it’s doing so with a soap opera dream team that, collectively, has more than a hundred years of experience. Among the executive producing team alone, Val Jean has 35 years; Julie Carruthers has 39 and co-headwriter Robert Guza Jr. has 36.
“It’s a community: the feeling, the spirit, the love for each other, because we’re in something together,” Val Jean says of not only those working on the soaps, but also about the loyal fans of the genre. “It’s something that the rest of the business doesn’t necessarily respect as much as it could or should. We’re the ugly stepchildren in the entertainment business, and there’s a bonding in that because we know how hard we work.”
Yes, the hard work is real — with new episodes airing five days a week, daytime dramas have a punishing schedule. “You have to be a certain kind of animal to do daytime,” Val Jean says. “Everybody can’t hold up to the relentless deadlines. We’d give out trial deals, which is like six scripts over 13 weeks. I could predict it would be between weeks three and four, usually, when they crashed and burned.”
The support in the soap community for this project, Val Jean says, is “overwhelming.” It’s not only the fact that there’s a new soap in the daytime lineup that is exciting the community, it’s also the diversity of the cast, and the rich world the characters occupy. Set in a fictional Maryland suburb outside of Washington D.C., in one the most prosperous African American counties in the country, the powerful and prestigious Dupree family is the center of the community. But behind the opulent, palatial walls and immaculate gardens are secrets and scandals just waiting to be uncovered. And those that live outside the gates are watching closely, waiting for the mighty to fall.
“I wanted interesting characters that we had never seen before — and I wanted it to be a multi-generational family — so I thought, who would be interesting?” Val Jean recalls. “’What if the matriarch of its family had been Diana Ross?’ She had been the lead singer for a famous girl group back in the day, who went on to have a solo career and an acting career.”
That was how Val Jean began to map out the Dupree family’s matriarch and patriarch, Anita and Vernon, played by soap vets Tamara Tunie and Clifton Davis. Anita is a legend in the entertainment world, who, when she was with the group, met Vernon, a Civil Rights activist who became a senator. The two got — and stayed — married, building remarkable, successful lives, both individually and together as they raised two daughters. The oldest is Nicole (played by Daphnée Duplaix), a calm and composed psychiatrist, who has lived a charmed life and carries that family legacy very well. The youngest, Dani (played by Karla Mosley), is her polar opposite, a high-fashion model who was prone to tantrums when she was a teenager, and was — and still is — a handful.
“These are characters you’ve never seen before,” Val Jean says. There is, however, one thing that fans will recognize: The show has all the soapy elements that will reel in viewers. “It’s a messy daytime drama, with secrets and lies and betrayals and love and hate. But most importantly, the Duprees are a family that loves each other. And they might fight, they might disagree, they might be mad at each other, but if one of them needs something, that family is there. And I think that’s an important thing to show a really solid Black family that is sensual.”
This family of Val Jean’s imagination is something that she is very proud of having created. “When I was in Atlanta for the first three weeks of shooting, they shot a scene with all the Duprees in the country club,” she says. “It’s the matriarch, the patriarch, the two sisters, the kids — they were all sitting there. I was in the control room, and I got so choked up. It was like, ‘Oh my God, look at them. There’s my babies. That’s my family.’”
Her reel family and her real family have melded into one in a beautiful, sentimental way. One of the 27 sets on “Beyond the Gates” is a retro ‘60s diner — you know, the kind with red vinyl booths and juke boxes on the tables. The diner is called Orphey Gene’s.
“I named it after my mother,” Val Jean says. “My mother didn’t live to see me write soaps, so as long as my show is on the air, she lives in that arena. She would be really, really proud.”
“I didn’t think it would happen — I’m still a little stunned,” says Michele Val Jean, the seven-time Daytime Emmy winner who’s the creator of “Beyond the Gates.” She was first approached four years ago by executive producer Sheila Ducksworth about writing a bible for a Black soap. At the time, Val Jean was a scriptwriter for CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and thought the request would never go anywhere — but why not give it a shot? “It’ll be a nice project to do,” she remembers thinking. “I’ll make a little money, and stretch muscles I’ve never used before and go about my happy little life writing scripts, and…” she adds, “I’ll retire soon.”
After Val Jean handed in the bible, years went by. “It was radio silence,” she says. “Then, all of a sudden, literally, [Sheila] called one day and said Procter & Gamble had closed [the deal], and we were a go. I give CBS a lot of credit for this. They’re taking a chance.”
But if the network is taking the chance by launching a new daytime drama, it’s doing so with a soap opera dream team that, collectively, has more than a hundred years of experience. Among the executive producing team alone, Val Jean has 35 years; Julie Carruthers has 39 and co-headwriter Robert Guza Jr. has 36.
“It’s a community: the feeling, the spirit, the love for each other, because we’re in something together,” Val Jean says of not only those working on the soaps, but also about the loyal fans of the genre. “It’s something that the rest of the business doesn’t necessarily respect as much as it could or should. We’re the ugly stepchildren in the entertainment business, and there’s a bonding in that because we know how hard we work.”
Yes, the hard work is real — with new episodes airing five days a week, daytime dramas have a punishing schedule. “You have to be a certain kind of animal to do daytime,” Val Jean says. “Everybody can’t hold up to the relentless deadlines. We’d give out trial deals, which is like six scripts over 13 weeks. I could predict it would be between weeks three and four, usually, when they crashed and burned.”
The support in the soap community for this project, Val Jean says, is “overwhelming.” It’s not only the fact that there’s a new soap in the daytime lineup that is exciting the community, it’s also the diversity of the cast, and the rich world the characters occupy. Set in a fictional Maryland suburb outside of Washington D.C., in one the most prosperous African American counties in the country, the powerful and prestigious Dupree family is the center of the community. But behind the opulent, palatial walls and immaculate gardens are secrets and scandals just waiting to be uncovered. And those that live outside the gates are watching closely, waiting for the mighty to fall.
“I wanted interesting characters that we had never seen before — and I wanted it to be a multi-generational family — so I thought, who would be interesting?” Val Jean recalls. “’What if the matriarch of its family had been Diana Ross?’ She had been the lead singer for a famous girl group back in the day, who went on to have a solo career and an acting career.”
That was how Val Jean began to map out the Dupree family’s matriarch and patriarch, Anita and Vernon, played by soap vets Tamara Tunie and Clifton Davis. Anita is a legend in the entertainment world, who, when she was with the group, met Vernon, a Civil Rights activist who became a senator. The two got — and stayed — married, building remarkable, successful lives, both individually and together as they raised two daughters. The oldest is Nicole (played by Daphnée Duplaix), a calm and composed psychiatrist, who has lived a charmed life and carries that family legacy very well. The youngest, Dani (played by Karla Mosley), is her polar opposite, a high-fashion model who was prone to tantrums when she was a teenager, and was — and still is — a handful.
“These are characters you’ve never seen before,” Val Jean says. There is, however, one thing that fans will recognize: The show has all the soapy elements that will reel in viewers. “It’s a messy daytime drama, with secrets and lies and betrayals and love and hate. But most importantly, the Duprees are a family that loves each other. And they might fight, they might disagree, they might be mad at each other, but if one of them needs something, that family is there. And I think that’s an important thing to show a really solid Black family that is sensual.”
This family of Val Jean’s imagination is something that she is very proud of having created. “When I was in Atlanta for the first three weeks of shooting, they shot a scene with all the Duprees in the country club,” she says. “It’s the matriarch, the patriarch, the two sisters, the kids — they were all sitting there. I was in the control room, and I got so choked up. It was like, ‘Oh my God, look at them. There’s my babies. That’s my family.’”
Her reel family and her real family have melded into one in a beautiful, sentimental way. One of the 27 sets on “Beyond the Gates” is a retro ‘60s diner — you know, the kind with red vinyl booths and juke boxes on the tables. The diner is called Orphey Gene’s.
“I named it after my mother,” Val Jean says. “My mother didn’t live to see me write soaps, so as long as my show is on the air, she lives in that arena. She would be really, really proud.”