Watching Beyond The Gates: CBS's new soap

[cijimccashin]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first week. Episode 5&6 really made things real for me. It's off to a great start for sure.
I thought it was smart for them to start in the middle of a scandal/storyline I feel like I have been watching these characters for years.

Karla Mosley/Dani started off pretty shaky but now she owns her role and carrying the show like the second coming of Susan Lucci!

I love the family dynamics amongst the Duprees. It is a lot to unpack there. I am not the biggest Anita fan right now but I adore the relationship Vernon has with Dani and Martin.

I don't hate Bill and Hayley. The actress who's playing Hayloy has a sweetness to her that makes me want to learn and understand her more.

Nicole and Ted have the best and most loving family unit. Leslie and Eva seem like fun gifters. But I hope Leslie is lying and Ted is not some cheater.

The show is already hitting its stride, and the writing has been great the last 3 episodes. The production and set design is great, wardrobe is amazing!

Anita/Dani/Chelsea relationships are very layered.

 

[ChrisSumner]

Some tidbits about filming from Karla Mosley's interview with Michael Fairman:

She mentioned that when they started filming they didn't have their custom lighting which was being flown in from Germany. That explains why the first episode was lit so much brighter than the other episodes. She said after their first week they filmed what felt like 17 episodes in one week. My guess is this was mostly reshoots due to the early technical issues. They've now settled into filming 5-7 episodes a week and have found their creative groove.

Tamara Tunie also mentioned in her press interviews that she sent a letter to the entire cast and crew with rules of how to be successful on a soap opera. With them filming in Atlanta, the majority of the cast doesn't have soap experience and probably never even looked into how soaps filmed. When in LA or in the past NY, many would've at least had experience working as an extra on one. I thought that was a smart thing for her to do and I think we'll see improvements in some of the newer actors performances once they get the hang of it.

Another thing that EP Sheila Ducksworth revealed is that they are currently filming end of April/beginning of May and that the stuff they have planned is going to be must see tv. I thought this was interesting because this is going to be their first full sweeps period. Some of the US soaps ignore soaps these days so I'm excited to see they actually have plans to give us something special.

If there is one thing the other soaps could take from BTG, I'd say they need to just go for it storywise. I look at a show like General Hospital which I do enjoy. GH can set up wonderful storylines and potential secrets and pairings but they always seem so cautious and end up dragging things out and sometimes never even following through with it. I love that so far BTG is going there, like with Dani and the gun. The typical thing to do would've been to make that a dream sequence or have someone get shot in the struggle. I'm glad they made it a real thing and that the characters had to deal with the fallout from doing that.

 

[Soaplover]

Some tidbits about filming from Karla Mosley's interview with Michael Fairman:

She mentioned that when they started filming they didn't have their custom lighting which was being flown in from Germany. That explains why the first episode was lit so much brighter than the other episodes. She said after their first week they filmed what felt like 17 episodes in one week. My guess is this was mostly reshoots due to the early technical issues. They've now settled into filming 5-7 episodes a week and have found their creative groove.

Tamara Tunie also mentioned in her press interviews that she sent a letter to the entire cast and crew with rules of how to be successful on a soap opera. With them filming in Atlanta, the majority of the cast doesn't have soap experience and probably never even looked into how soaps filmed. When in LA or in the past NY, many would've at least had experience working as an extra on one. I thought that was a smart thing for her to do and I think we'll see improvements in some of the newer actors performances once they get the hang of it.

Another thing that EP Sheila Ducksworth revealed is that they are currently filming end of April/beginning of May and that the stuff they have planned is going to be must see tv. I thought this was interesting because this is going to be their first full sweeps period. Some of the US soaps ignore soaps these days so I'm excited to see they actually have plans to give us something special.

If there is one thing the other soaps could take from BTG, I'd say they need to just go for it storywise. I look at a show like General Hospital which I do enjoy. GH can set up wonderful storylines and potential secrets and pairings but they always seem so cautious and end up dragging things out and sometimes never even following through with it. I love that so far BTG is going there, like with Dani and the gun. The typical thing to do would've been to make that a dream sequence or have someone get shot in the struggle. I'm glad they made it a real thing and that the characters had to deal with the fallout from doing that.

There was a syndicated soap opera in the 80s called Another Life that was on CBN (Christian Broadcast network), that had a shaky start even though the creator of the soap was the same person that created Search for Tomorrow/Secret Storm/Love of Life... that soap started to improve when some New York based production people joined the soap some months into its run. So I think once more experienced people like Tamara join this soap.. it will continue to thrive/improve.

To me, I need a break from Dani. She's too much and isn't quite on the Susan Lucci level yet.

I'm more interested in the Nicole/Ted/Eva/Leslie story then the Dani/Bill/Hayley story for some reason.. and want to see the other characters get focus and Dani be moved to the sidelines for now.

 

[Daniel Avery]

When Susan Lucci premiered on AMC, she was only supposed to appear every other Tuesday. But I can see why they would place their most immediately recognizable actress in the forefront for the first few weeks. Karla Mosley's fans would carry over since the show airs right after B&B.

Another thing that EP Sheila Ducksworth revealed is that they are currently filming end of April/beginning of May and that the stuff they have planned is going to be must see tv. I thought this was interesting because this is going to be their first full sweeps period. Some of the US soaps ignore soaps these days so I'm excited to see they actually have plans to give us something special.

Just once I'd love to see some EP go to the press and say "Oh, the next few weeks are going to totally suck and I'm so ashamed of it that I beg you not to watch any of it."

 

[ClassyCo]

There was a syndicated soap opera in the 80s called Another Life that was on CBN (Christian Broadcast network)

The almost complete series of ANOTHER LIFE is You-Know-Where, and I've had the playlist saved for a while. I've yet to start watching any of it though because there's a 100 or so episodes missing from the beginning.

 

[ChrisSumner]

There was a syndicated soap opera in the 80s called Another Life that was on CBN (Christian Broadcast network), that had a shaky start even though the creator of the soap was the same person that created Search for Tomorrow/Secret Storm/Love of Life... that soap started to improve when some New York based production people joined the soap some months into its run. So I think once more experienced people like Tamara join this soap.. it will continue to thrive/improve.

The loss of New York soaps is something that always breaks my heart. Of course I'm glad they're giving Atlanta a chance but New York was always such a good place to launch a soap because you have so many people you can pull from the theatre which would be helpful in launching a new soap. But I hope BTG's success helps build the industry up in ATL in case someone decides to launch another soap.

To me, I need a break from Dani. She's too much and isn't quite on the Susan Lucci level yet.

I'm more interested in the Nicole/Ted/Eva/Leslie story then the Dani/Bill/Hayley story for some reason.. and want to see the other characters get focus and Dani be moved to the sidelines for now.

I am with you here! I love the Dani/Bill/Hayley story as a big flashy launching point but as the story develops I'm starting to realize how hypocritical some of the family members are and I want to see what they're hiding. The Ted story is a big one but I also want to know what Anita has in her past. She screams the type of mother that is hard on her kids because she doesn't want them to repeat the same mistakes she mad. I wanna know what those mistakes are.

Just once I'd love to see some EP go to the press and say "Oh, the next few weeks are going to totally suck and I'm so ashamed of it that I beg you not to watch any of it."

I know they're always going to hype it up but I found it interesting that she specified that specific time period. She mentioned they've written up to six months but she said specifically the end of April some new things kick in that we need to keep our eye on. I also think that'll be an interesting time because they hopefully will have worked out any production kinks and the cast should be settled in by then.

 

[Soaplover]

The almost complete series of ANOTHER LIFE is You-Know-Where, and I've had the playlist saved for a while. I've yet to start watching any of it though because there's a 100 or so episodes missing from the beginning.

The first 69 episodes of Another Life were not very good and have never been shown in rerun/syndication form since they first aired. Episode 70 is a pretty good place to start from, and there are flashbacks sprinkled throughout those first episodes that give context to the current stories.

 

[ChrisSumner]

The first 69 episodes of Another Life were not very good and have never been shown in rerun/syndication form since they first aired. Episode 70 is a pretty good place to start from, and there are flashbacks sprinkled throughout those first episodes that give context to the current stories.

Honestly, this has only made me want to see those first 69 episodes more lol. I've always found this tidbit so interesting and I love to see early soaps work out the kinks. I know this show had a wild production behind the scenes with the struggles between doing a soap and including religion. I'd love to see the full package one day. I did watch some of the episodes posted and it wasn't bad from what I saw but I never continued watching.

 

[Emelee]

BEYOND THE GATES is doing great sweetie:

'Beyond the Gates' Splashes In Debut, 'The Young and the Restless' & 'The Bold and the Beautiful' Hit Season Highs Among Key Demos

"Beyond the Gates" performs well in debut week, topping "General Hospital" and helping lead CBS' other soaps to season highs among key demos.

www.soapoperanetwork.com

Raises overall ratings for CBS, wins time slot and smashes previous occupant. Boo-ya!

It just worries me that it is up against GH. I don't like that. I want both to shine.

 

[Monzo]

It just worries me that it is up against GH. I don't like that. I want both to shine.

GH has suffered a little, but I don't think it will lose many viewers in the long run. Here are the same day ratings, and GH was even ahead of BTG:: https://www.soapoperanetwork.com/20...-total-viewers-households-february-24-28-2025

What is definitely a cause for concern is the difference in viewership between BTG (1.8 million) and Y&R (3.2 million) and B&B (2.6 million), and that was just the premiere week. What will it look like in a month? Soap Opera Network (and CBS and Paramount, of course, too) is celebrating BTG as a huge success, but that's their job. When NBC News Daily took over the timeslot from Days of our Lives, this site acted on the ratings as if Days would have to return in a week or two after News Daily's poor premiere ratings, but nothing happened.

One advantage is that many (over five million) were actually interested in BTG, as this article shows:: https://deadline.com/2025/03/beyond-the-gates-cbs-ratings-first-week-1236312805/

The way the numbers are twisted in this press release can be seen by comparing it to the premiere of Passions. Back then, the official TV ratings were still live ratings, whereas nowadays everything is included in press releases, so the premiere of Passions, including the people who recorded it on VCRs at the time, certainly had more viewers than BTG.

 

[tommie]

When NBC News Daily took over the timeslot from Days of our Lives, this site acted on the ratings as if Days would have to return in a week or two after News Daily's poor premiere ratings, but nothing happened.

That was just a bit of gloating.

The way the numbers are twisted in this press release can be seen by comparing it to the premiere of Passions. Back then, the official TV ratings were still live ratings, whereas nowadays everything is included in press releases, so the premiere of Passions, including the people who recorded it on VCRs at the time, certainly had more viewers than BTG.

VCR ratings were counted by Nielsen back in the day, btw. They had a "top VCR'd" programs chart!

But is it functional to compare the Passions premiere to Beyond the Gates? Not really ... but that's because live ratings have fallen so much. That's why it's impressive it came in around it. It's not to beat down on Passions - it's more like - wow, look at the interest in the daytime soap genre!

As for who beats what and when... networks tend to cancel shows based on how they perform on their own network - Beyond the Gates beating General Hospital is nice, but it won't make CBS cancel Beyond the Gates if General Hospital surpasses it, or ABC cancel General Hospital if Beyond the Gates stay ahead. What it will make them do is look at their overall programming, how they can stay with the flow in daytime and if they can improve on their numbers. Hopefully this will make ABC see that daytime soaps can work, can provide a good flow in the daytime AND get streaming numbers.

 

[Daniel Avery]

It really is a stretch to attempt to apply lessons learned during the run of Passions, since 1999 was a very different era in TV and Passions was not a "normal" attempt at furthering the soap genre. One thing no one seems to mention is that during the entire run of Passions--even its premiere weeks--it never got ratings equal to, much less higher than Another World, the soap that it had replaced. The Talk, which replaced As the World Turns, actually did achieve ratings parity with ATWT for about a year but couldn't hold onto that once they started replacing hosts and playing with the format. In this premiere week, BTG got higher ratings than The Talk (something like a 78% increase over what that slot had pulled last year), which if nothing else says that people want to try something new, even if it is using older blueprints. CBS will crow about the ratings increase, of course, but they will need to crunch the numbers (in secret, over time) to see if they're making money off this new soap, since The Talk was so much cheaper to produce.

I see no real benefit from trying to draw large conclusions right now from a week of shows, since the sampling audience might or might not stick around. I'd say the best gauge of audience reaction would be audience retention after +/- 6 mos. And though it feels like many people want to draw conclusions about the health of General Hospital (like saying that if BTG succeeds, then GH will get cancelled), I don't subscribe to that feeling at all. As long as both soaps continue to stay within their budget and both sell enough ad time to pay their bills, neither network would opt to cancel because they've seen other formats like talk and news shows not fare any better. When the networks went on soap opera cancellation sprees in the 2000s and early 2010s, they did it assuming they'd replace them with something that would improve upon their ratings while being more profitable....but instead, what they developed to replace soaps never really caught on and ended up driving away potential viewers.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I’ve finally gotten around to finishing the first five episodes. The sluggishness of my viewing pace isn’t a commentary on the show but more to do with the show’s availability where I am and the opportunities that I get to watch it.

I think that it’s a good show. It’s mostly well cast and I like the pace of it. Dani is definitely being pushed as the lead at the moment, in her role as woman scorned/super neurotic modern day stage mother. I really like Anita and Vernon too, as the solid heads of the Dupree clan. The whole Dupree family dynamic is very good. The setup is classic soap opera with Haley fulfilling the “cat among the pigeons” trope by moving into Fairmont Crest. There’s also the usual “dark secret from the past” involving Martin and the “secret vendetta” box being ticked by Leslie and her daughter.

On a style level, the fashions are immaculate and the sets look great. The Duprees showing up to Bill and Haley’s wedding, dressed like they were going to a funeral, was a great touch. The only aspect that I don’t really care for is the nurse that’s just started working at the hospital and her fireman boyfriend. I’m not really sure what their roles are yet but I’m presuming they’ll become entangled with the Duprees soon.

Given that it’s taken me two weeks to watch a week’s worth of episodes, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with the daily pace but I’ll probably watch in batches when I can.

She mentioned that when they started filming they didn't have their custom lighting which was being flown in from Germany. That explains why the first episode was lit so much brighter than the other episodes.

That’s interesting to read. I did actually wonder what was going on in the first episode as I thought that some of the sets looked a bit like a home decor showroom they were so brightly lit.

Just once I'd love to see some EP go to the press and say "Oh, the next few weeks are going to totally suck and I'm so ashamed of it that I beg you not to watch any of it."

I think that the producers of the BBC’s ill fated soap Eldorado essentially had to do a version of this. What made it to screen in the show’s early months was quite poor, so when a new producer came in, they basically acknowledged that what had aired to date wasn’t great and they were working on turning the show around but that it would take some time before the results were seen onscreen.

 

[tommie]

And though it feels like many people want to draw conclusions about the health of General Hospital (like saying that if BTG succeeds, then GH will get cancelled), I don't subscribe to that feeling at all.

I agree with this - I think a lot of soap fans tend to subscribe to the what-soap-is-beating-the-other mentality of past when we had a full daytime line up of just soaps. But the truth is that ABC will look at the overall health of their daytime line up and GMA3 is looking worse even if it's cheaper than General Hospital. Then again, The Talk was cheaper than Beyond the Gates, but what ultimately likely killed it is that it had no streaming value; BTG apparently improved something like 7000+% over The Talk in that metric. General Hospital is frequently seen inside Hulu's top ten during the week and ABC fully owns the show. I wouldn't be worried that the shows are killing each other; though hopefully it will lead to ABC to invest a bit more in it.

As for BTG - it's moving along nicely storylinewise. There's still a bit of clunky dialogue, green actors and it's obvious that the writers are mainly invested in Bill / Hayley / Dani and Leslie's revenge plot, with all other storylines kind of taking a backseat (with Ashley / Derek / Andre sort of floundering a bit in the writing). I also feel the ages are kind off for some characters, especially Martin - he would've made far more sense as Anita and Vernon's youngest son both from an age perspective and where his storyline is heading.

 

[tommie]

As we were speaking of GMA3...

ABC News Sticking With 'GMA3: What You Need to Know' Despite Staff Cuts, Unimpressive Ratings & Industry Turmoil - REPORT

ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic shares support for "GMA3" despite significant staff changes impacting the news show, and a restructuring at the news division.

www.soapoperanetwork.com

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

‘Beyond The Gates’ Adds Keith D. Robinson As Series Regular In Recasting

Keith D. Robinson has joined the cast of CBS daytime soap Beyond the Gates as a series regular in a recasting.

deadline.com

Granted, I haven’t watched much of it but I didn’t think Maurice Johnson was noticeably bad in the role of Ted.

 

[tommie]

I'm guessing that he either couldn't handle the workload or he's just too likeable in the role. I feel like they're going to turn him into a surprise villain to explain Dana/Leslie/"Sherry Carter's" behavior.

 

[cijimccashin]

But why? They have enough bad guys on the show IMO. They should be focusing more on their good guys. Ted is in the lane right now, He and Bill are the two male standouts so this is a major loss.

 

[Emelee]

Keith D Robinson seems to be a good replacement as Ted. And in 6-8 months, viewers have likely almost forgotten there was another Ted.

 

[tommie]

Keith D Robinson seems to be a good replacement as Ted. And in 6-8 months, viewers have likely almost forgotten there was another Ted.

Yup. It's funny though how many people act as if this is a huge scandal when it's fairly common, especially on new soaps. I guess it shows that BtG at least reaches out to an audience not used to usual daytime soap shenanigans.