Soap operas, or melodramas with massive ensemble casts, have been a staple in popular culture for nearly a century. Though long-running soaps like “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “General Hospital” have dominated day-time television for decades,

The first thing viewers of “Beyond the Gates” see is a black Mercedes gliding past manicured lawns and stately estates.

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.