“Beyond the Gates”: Time for Reappraisal

I’ve purposely put off a review of “Beyond the Gates” until the show’s six-month mark. Why? So many viewers really like this show, but I have some serious reservations about it.

Before I get to them, I’d like to recognize that“The Gates,” which premiered in February, has changed and probably saved a medium we all said was dying. It has attracted a lot of attention, not just in the soap press, but in the real world, too. Most importantly, it has brought new viewers to soap opera and generated advertising profits for CBS.

Here are the specific problems I have with this show:

—The cast is so large for this hour-long soap that six months after it premiered,I still have to watch with a cast list in my lap. Huh? By this point, I should be able to remember every character’s name and the actors who play them. I’m sure if the show premiered in half hour format—as “All My Children” and “One to Live” did — I wouldn’t be so confused.

I’d like to thank CBS Daytime, however. Normally I detest soap reruns. But when the show repeated in reruns the weeks of July 4^th and Labor Day, watching those episodes actually helped me to decipher who was who.

—Many days the show is too talky and– dare I say it? — almost boring. It reminds me of soaps I watched as a teenager, like “Love of Life” and “Search for Tomorrow.”

— Most of the characters on this show are wealthy, Fairmount Crest being a plush suburb of Washington, D.C. Soaps traditionally start out with two families, one rich one and one poor. For example. “One Life to Live” began with the poor Woleks and the wealthy Lords. This makes for instant conflict. When I watch “Gates” everyday I find myself not thinking as much about the personalities of the characters but instead thinking how gorgeous the show looks. It’s the soap opera equivalent of the old theater joke about a pedestrian musical: “The audience left humming the scenery.”

Indeed, “Gates” is handsomely produced. The ladies’ couture is splendid. What beautiful dresses and pants the women wear, complete with luxe necklaces and bracelets. These gals all have big bucks!

— As you know, the Dupree family is the center of the show. Husband Vernon (Clifton Davis, who is 79 years old, wow!) was once a congressman. His wife Anita (Tamara Tunie) is quite the formidable matriarch. This couple is pure magic, in my view the best soap super couple since Luke and Laura of “General Hospital” fame. That’s saying a lot! The actors who play them have vast acting experience. Tunie has done plenty of Broadway and starred in primetime television’s “Law and Order.” She played Jessica Griffin on “As the World Turns.” Davis, a composer as well as an actor, is also a veteran of Broadway and primetime. As performed by these two pros, Anita and Vernon’s marriage is one of pure love and intellect. Hallelujah!

While I’m being positive, casting director Kim Coleman has done a magnificent job of introducing a score of newcomers to our soap world. Daphnee Duplaix, as Anita’s daughter Nicole, is everything a female soap character should be: intelligent, well spoken (the character is a shrink) and drop dead gorgeous (she’s a former Playboy Playmate of the Month, a first for soap opera). A similarly great choice is Karla Mosely, who plays Dani, the Erica Kane of the “Gates” world. Mosely played the transexual Maya Avant on “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

— Other notable newcomers I like very much: Jen Jacob, who plays nurse Ashley Morgan, is a natural. Lauren Buglioli is just right as Vanessa McBride. Another interesting couple is the very tall Bill Hamilton, played by Timon Kyle Durrett, and his spunky, petite bride Hayley, played by Marquita Goings. And I absolutely love the mother-daughter team of crafty Leslie, played by the sensational Trisha Mann-Grant, and her daughter Eva, played by Ambyr Michelle.

As I said, the writing has its faults. One recent big mistake can’t go without comment. In a tasteless, downright stupid stunt, the show’s two female gay characters Chelsea (Rhonni Rose Mantilla) and Allison (Brianna Roberts) married each other in a messy mélange of bondage and sloppy mutual feeding of wedding cake.

As fans know, the soap opera plot device of characters marrying each other is not unheard of. For example, early on in “All My Children” Phil married Tara this way before he went off to Vietnam. But this “Gates” silliness isn’t cute or celebratory or whatever it’s supposed to be. Let’s just let it go, knowing that this canny crew can and surely will do much better.

It takes brains to launch a soap as serious and as ambitious as this one. Head writer Michele Val Jean, who has worked on several soaps over the years, has done a good bible with a lot of thought going into it.

The core of any good soap is the writing. The six-month milestone is a good time to take a hard look at what is working well and what might be improved. This kind of reappraisal is standard in the soap world. A good example is “Loving,” which premiered in 1983. At the end of six months, co-creators Agnes Nixon and Douglas Marland took a look at their show and did a reevaluation that led to many changes.

“Beyond the Gates” has just passed the six-month mark. The show has impressed us with its ambition, its casting, and its handsome production values. The show has already built a nice following.

Let’s hope the powers that be at CBS and co-sponsors Procter&Gamble and the NAACP will at this critical juncture take a fresh look at what they’ve done so far with an eye toward reinvigorating their very ambitious and valuable work.

What do you think of “Beyond the Gates” at six months?