'Beyond the Gates' Off to Good Start, Must Avoid Usual Soap Opera Conventions

by Tyler Glover

Photo: CBS

Daytime dramas, also known as “soap operas,” are an underappreciated artform. Daytime dramas have the unique opportunity to invite us into the world of these characters five days a week, 52 weeks a year. These people become like family to us. “The Young and the Restless” star Katherine Chancellor was like a grandmother to me, “As The World Turns” actress Lily Snyder was like a second mom, “All My Children” star Erica Kane was the diva I wanted to be like, and “As The World Turns” actress Rosanna Cabot was the friend I wanted to hang out with every day. Movies give us a small window into people’s lives, and television series give us more, but usually only 8-to-24 episodes a year. They can’t entirely give us the connection that soap operas can.  
 
The last 20 years have been very sad for this artform. In 2003, ABC’s “Port Charles,” was cancelled after six years, leaving only nine soaps on the air. However, 2008 started a mass exodus of soap operas getting cancelled: “Passions” (2008), “Guiding Light” (2009), “As The World Turns” (MY FAVORITE, 2010), “All My Children” (2011) and “One Life to Live” (2012). Beginning in 2013, this once-thriving genre only had four more shows on the air: “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Days of Our Lives,” “General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless.”  

I was shocked and thrilled when CBS announced a new daytime drama, “Beyond the Gates.” Ironically, “Beyond the Gates” is replacing the talk show, “The Talk,” which replaced “As The World Turns in 2010. This knowledge makes it very apparent that networks may have been giving up on soap operas too soon.
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“Beyond The Gates” is a groundbreaking daytime drama focused on a black family. The cast has many familiar faces who have made their mark in the daytime community throughout the years, including my two favorite on the show, Tamara Tunie from “As The World Turns” and Karla Mosley from “The Bold and the Beautiful.”  
 
“Beyond The Gates” follows the very rich and powerful Dupree family: matriarch Anita Dupree (Tunie), her husband, Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis), and their children, Nicole Dupree Richardson (Daphnee Duplaix) and Dani Dupree (Mosley).

This drama is set in a Maryland suburb just outside of Washington D.C.  The Duprees live in an elite gated community called Fairmont Crest. The main story that starts this soap opera is that Dani’s ex-husband, Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durett) has just moved back into Fairmont Crest with the woman he left Dani for: Hayley Lawson (Marquita Goings). Hayley is younger and was friends with Dani’s daughter, Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) but ended up moving in on her friends’ father. This infidelity led to the divorce between Dani and Bill. Dani is on a downward spiral and starts becoming unhinged very quickly when she learns that not only are they moving into this community, but they expect to get married at the country club her family helped start.  
 
This soap does have some secondary characters and families on the show: the McBrides: Vanessa (Lauren Buglioli) and Doug (Jason Graham), and their twin children; and the Thomases: Dana “Leslie” (Trisha Mann-Grant) and her daughter, Eva (Ambyr Michelle). The most interesting character out of the secondary characters is most definitely Leslie. Grant portrays Leslie as a scheming, manipulative woman to perfection. She can come across as a genuinely good person out in public, fooling everyone (including the audience in the beginning) that she is a heroine. Leslie’s plot will be the most interesting thing to watch unfold in the coming weeks.
 
The true standout on the show is Mosley as Dani Dupree. Dani is an infuriating character to watch because you love her so much but she manages to make mistake after mistake. She cannot seem to help herself, but you still root for her. I will be disappointed if Mosley's name is left off when the Daytime Emmy nominations are announced next year. She is definitely the most deserving of a nomination for this show so far.
 
This show does manage to move the genre forward in many ways. One of these is that instead of just shooting on a set, the show has scenes that are outside. It makes us all feel that these characters are people living out in the world. However, even the scenes filmed on a set feel more real than lots of soap opera sets in the past. This mostly has to do with incredible lighting that gives the space the feeling of a natural room in real life. Also, the writing team did an excellent job setting up these storylines and moved everything at a swift pace in the first couple of weeks.

Soap operas are known for having storylines that can last so long that you almost do not care about the ending when it comes. “Beyond the Gates” does not have that problem so far. Finally, the show also does not seem to be afraid of pushing the boundaries of the intimate scenes. A couple of scenes, while incredibly tame, might have made my grandmother blush years ago.  

The show has managed to be entertaining and given us characters to root for and care about. The biggest issue with the show is that it is an hour-long daytime drama. The other show on CBS that focuses mainly on one family, “The Bold and the Beautiful,” is only 30 minutes long and still proves to have very repetitive dialogue and episodes that feel like they were repeats of the day before. With limited characters, there will be limited storylines and things to talk about. Even within the first two weeks, multiple characters brought up Dani’s ex marrying her daughter’s best friend. While that was the most interesting thing, it will make the show very boring in coming weeks and years if this is a forecast of what is to come.  

“Beyond the Gates” is mildly entertaining and shows promise with new approaches to the genre. However, if it is not careful, it could also fall into normal soap opera conventions that make it less special.