CBS Greenlights ‘The Gates,’ First New Soap Opera in 25 Years — When Will It Premiere?
The flood gates are open! CBS has green-lit an all-new soap opera titled The Gates, which will be the first all-new soap opera in 25 years. The series’ development was previously reported in March.
The Gates follows the lives of a wealthy Black family in a posh, gated community. It will premiere in January 2025, CBS announced on Monday, April 15. At the helm of the series is 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 The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital. Val Jean will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. She executive produces alongside Sheila Ducksworth, Leon Russell, Derrick Johnson, and Kimberly Doebereiner.
The Gates was first developed as a joint venture between CBS Studios and the NAACP. Both parties will produce the series, with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. The CBS Studios production venture and development deal with the NAACP 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.
In addition to The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital, Val Jean is known for her work on Santa Barbara. She was also previously a writer on the first soap opera focusing on Black families, Generations, which aired from 1989 to 1991 on NBC. That time period was also the last time CBS launched a new soap.
The Bold and the Beautiful, which first debuted in 1987, was the last new daytime drama released by the network. The genre at large has been hungry for new stories for decades. NBC’s Passions was the last all-new soap created in general (a.k.a. one that wasn’t a spinoff).
“The Gates will be everything we love about daytime drama, from a new and fresh perspective,” Sheila Ducksworth, president of the CBS Studios NAACP venture, previously said in a statement. “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.”
The Gates, Series Premiere, January 2025, CBS
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