Daytime Drama with Mostly Black Cast, Black Creator in Development at CBS

[setsuna16]

Click to view

CBS NAACP Ventures, in partnership with P&G Studios, has announced a new Daytime Drama in development for CBS. The series, currently titled "The Gates," is touted as being the first Daytime Drama to feature a predominately black cast since the run of "Generations" (see the video for the intro to that show), which ran on NBC. Michele Val Jean, who began her daytime writing career writing for "Generations," is tapped as the show runner. Val Jean is the first black creator to be named as a head writer for a daytime drama, when she was named the co-head writer of "General Hospital," although her tenure in the position was short lived. Most recently, Val Jean has spent the last 12 years as a member of the writing staff of the "Bold and the Beautiful." P&G Studios is also no stranger to daytime dramas, responsible for the production of many shows. However, it was widely reported that P&G Studios wanted to remove themselves from the daytime drama world when they stopped production of "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns" at the end of the aughts.

VIDEO SOURCE
ARTICLE SOURCE

This was super surprising to me! I really wanted Michele to go back to GH, but the idea of a new soap in 2024? That's something that I didn't think would happen! And I'm so happy that it's going to have a black focus because I've always heard that the sizeable majority of daytime viewers are black, despite the casts and creatives lacking black performers and creators. I personally want Debbi Morgan as some sort of matriarch, but I'm sure most people want Victoria Rowell above all else. I'm an ABC soaper, so I know way more about Angie than I do Dru. However, in this case, daytime could have them both!