‘Beyond the Gates’ Renewed For A Second Season On CBS
The first Black soap opera in decades is going to get a second season. Beyond the Gates, has pulled in great ratings for CBS through its deal with CBS Studios/NAACP Ventures. With over 1 million viewers, it’s beating General Hospital, which shares its time slot, by 7% in the 25-54 female demographic.
Veteran stage and screen actress Tamara Tunie stars on the soap along with longtime actor Clifton Davis and Queen Sugar’s Timon Kyle Durrett. It centers on the Duprees, an affluent Black family living in a gated community in Maryland (think Potomac). Tunie plays Anita Dupree, a former singer, and Clifton is her senator husband, Vernon. They share two daughters.
Beyond the Gates is the first soap since the short-lived Generations, which ran on NBC from 1989-1991, to feature a predominantly Black cast. It’s also the first new soap opera on network television since Passions debuted on NBC in 1999.
The soap first aired on Feb. 24, 2024, supported by a five-part behind-the-scenes special on Entertainment Tonight. It’s one of the shows that has helped CBS extend its daytime ratings lead, which dates back to the 1986-1987 season.
“There is an audience out there that for decades had not been represented or catered to, to say, ‘This is for you,’” Tunie told the New York Times earlier this year. “And this is the Black audience. And the Black audience has been very loyal to daytime drama for decades and decades and decades. The Black dollars are very strong and waiting to be spent. I think that this show is being provided for that constituency.”
Beyond the Gates airs on weekdays at 2 p.m. on CBS and can be watched on demand via Paramount+.
