CBS, NAACP, P&G join together on new daytime serial “The Gates”

First daytime serial to debut in 25 years

In an unusual deal, CBS Studios is teaming up with the NAACP and Procter and Gamble (P&G) to launch The Gates, a new daytime serial centered around a wealthy African-American family.

The effort is born out of an agreement between CBS and the NAACP made in 2020 to increase the viability of Black talent in front of and behind the camera in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

“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 project, who is also a co-exec producer. “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.”

Michele Van Jean was named showrunner, head writer, and co-executive producer of the project. She’s credited with penning more than 2,000 episodes of daytime serials including The Bold & The Beautiful and General Hospital.

The Gates puts P&G Productions – now rechristened as P&G Studio – back in the TV production business for the first time since 2010 when it was producing As The World Turns when CBS ended its long 54-year run. A year earlier, CBS dropped another P&G show with Guiding Light ending its run after 72 years on TV and radio, where it began. P&G has long produced daytime serials dating back to the 1930s for radio (to sell…”soap” products like laundry detergent and beauty products) and pivoted over to TV in the 1950s. P&G also produced serials Search For Tomorrow, Another World, The Edge Of Night, and Texas.

P&G also produced several non-soap programs – notably syndicated sitcom Throb from 1986-88, from Worldvision Enterprises (now part of CBS Media ventures.)

For CBS, it’s the first new soap since The Bold & Beautiful debuted in 1987, and the first overall since NBC’s short-lived Passions in 1999.

A daytime serial featuring a predominately black cast isn’t new; in 1989, NBC debuted Generations, a similar soap opera also with a wealthy Black family at its center. The ground-breaking program lasted until 1991.

Since 2008, the future of serials has been in question due to changing times, dwindling audiences, and of course, increasing expenses. Two years after CBS canceled their two soap operas, ABC pulled the plug on All My Children and One Live To Live in an unpopular move to make room for non-scripted The Revolution and The Chew. Neither replacement show is no longer on the air.

In September 2022, NBC shifted Days Of Our Lives to Peacock and replaced it with NBC News Daily. In a win-win for everyone involved, ratings for the time slot improved while Days was able to grow its audience on the streaming platform.

The development of The Gates is certainly a win for the soap opera genre as CBS recently renewed The Young and The Restless and Bold for four more years and two more years, respectively. No debut date or casting was announced, or whether it would be a half-hour or full-hour, but with Restless and Bold not going anywhere – and Price Is Right also sticking around, the most likely targets for cancellation to make room for The Gates are either The Talk or Let’s Make A Deal.

This is the second big news regarding daytime television on Wednesday. The first – the NFL syndicating its Good Morning Football show – will be discussed in the next post.