When Sheila Ducksworth was named president of CBS’ new production partnership with the NAACP back in 2020, one of her first calls was to Michele Val Jean — a longtime writer on such soaps as The Bold and the Beautiful,

That car and the glamorous woman behind the wheel are driving into TV history on Monday as CBS begins airing the first Black-led daytime soap opera — and the first new network soap since “Passions” premiered in 1999.

Tunie, whom fans will recognize from her years on “Law & Order: SVU,” has returned to her soap opera roots in CBS’s “Beyond the Gates,” the first daytime serial centered on a Black family in the history of U.

Enter “Beyond the Gates”: the first one-hour daytime drama centering a Black family in decades and the first daytime soap to premiere since 1999’s “Passions.” CBS Studios picked up the show last April under its production partnership with the NAACP.

CBS' new daytime drama about a well-to-do Black family in Maryland is pure, glorious soap opera. The last time a broadcast network debuted a new daytime drama, a good portion of America believed the President was a criminal,

It’s been more than 25 years since a new daytime drama has entered the chat, plus an additional decade since one has been led by a predominantly Black cast, so it’s fair to say that Monday’s premiere of Beyond the Gates (CBS,