This is cool as hell. Just such insanely good news.

20 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

The other names mentioned

 Sheila Ducksworth, producer of Ambitions, The Baxters, and various TV Movies

Leon Russell -couldn't fond anything on quick Google search

Derrick Johnson - lawyer and humanitarian. He serves as the 19th President and CEO of the NAACP

Kimberly Doebereiner -  Group Vice President, Future of Advertising and Head of P&G Studios at Procter & Gamble.

Leon Russell is the chair of the board of the NAACP. AKA “Chairman of the Board”.

https://naacp.org/people/leon-w-russell

18 minutes ago, John said:

That would be cool. But there is also CBS. Im excited for the show but still nervous, given how networks have micromanaged their daytime soaps inthe past. 

There really are no guarantees in life, no? But CBS is doing this jointly with the NAACP and Sheila Ducksworth is the head of that joint venture, she was name President of this joint venture four years ago, so this may very well have been years in the making, which is why it is launching in the first month of 2025, rather than spring, summer or fall.

A quote from 2020, from the President and CEO of CBS Entertainment George Cheeks (also the chief content officer of News and Sports at Paramount+(which could come in handy later)-

Quote

“Sheila is an extraordinary creative executive with an incredible eye for great content,” said George Cheeks, President and CEO of the CBS Entertainment Group. “We are excited to draw upon her leadership and experience to establish a production venture that is committed to telling compelling, inclusive stories, while expanding the range of creative voices that bring these stories to the screen.”

Something tells me that Ms. Ducksworth will not be bossed around.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

I agree.  I, myself, don't have any hopes and dreams for this show beyond just wishing the best for it and everyone attached to it.  (Although, a new title would be nice, lol).

Considering that when I told someone about the show earlier today, they asked me why the show was called "The Gays," I tend to agree. 

(if anyone does want to start a soap called "The Gays," [not you, Ryan Murphy], I'll support it)

14 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Considering that when I told someone about the show earlier today, they asked me why the show was called "The Gays," I tend to agree. 

(if anyone does want to start a soap called "The Gays," [not you, Ryan Murphy], I'll support it)

😂😂😂

I'd love to be a soap called "The Gays". Come on CBS!😊

Edited April 16, 20241 yr by Soapsuds

Trust me: all the parties involved - MVJ, CBSD, NAACP, P&G - will do their best to get this one right, if only because of the "blacklash" they will receive from the African-American community if they don't.

8 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

I'd love be a soap called "The Gays".

Uh, no, lol.

Edited April 16, 20241 yr by Khan

15 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Considering that when I told someone about the show earlier today, they asked me why the show was called "The Gays," I tend to agree. 

(if anyone does want to start a soap called "The Gays," [not you, Ryan Murphy], I'll support it)

As long as it's not My Gays ,I'd consider it.  But, I'm still recovering from The Real Gays of Weho.

2 minutes ago, j swift said:

As long as it's not My Gays ,I'd consider it.  But, I'm still recovering from The Real Gays of Weho.

The SON Gays😊

Wait, is "Gays of Our Lives" officially dead, lol?

2 hours ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

I definitely wish this show the best, and I plan to watch it.  But I understand it will probably be a 60-minute soap, which concerns me a bit.  I think 30-minutes would be a better decision.  It has always been difficult to get a new soap opera started.  And there really have been no soaps that premiered in the 60-minute format that were ultimately successful.  It think it would be wise to premiere the show at 30-minutes, then a couple of years later -- if the ratings are high -- expand it to 60-minutes.  Or maybe just leave it at 30-minutes.  

I too wish we could have had a 30 minute soap, or potentially two 30 minute soaps. I suppose that's too cost-prohibitive, and a 60 minute soap makes more sense financially, but I genuinely am not sure if a public now trained to watch ass-shaking on tiktok for 10 seconds can watch a 60 minute soap.

2 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

And with the way time flies, it really won’t be that long. 
 

I know we’re pretty much all excited and it’s been fun proposing our casting hopes and dreams and ideas and such but I hope people will remember that this is MVJ’s vision and I hope people will allow her to kick off this series her way. We will all have our respective opinions, like we always do and I expect at some point, we will feel free to express them, that’s the fun of this board. But I hope that she'll at least get the honeymoon period that most HWs and especially show creators get when launching something brand new.

IOW, let that Black woman write her show!😂

I'm going to be as positive and supportive as I can be, unless MVJ decides to do her own version of the Passions Princess Diana moment, because this role is so groundbreaking and Michele has such a long history in the industry worthy of respect. It's also been so long since we have had a soap that isn't choked on decades of malaise, we have to have a whole new approach to this show.

Edited April 16, 20241 yr by DRW50

So much to speculate on.

Will the show follow the traditional soap format eg x number of sets and performers per ep and being told in 'real time' or will they go for a faster pace?

will we have some primetime 'names' in there or unknowns or a mix?

So happy we have a debut date. That isn't all that far away so things must be moving along well.

8 hours ago, dragonflies said:

This is the first soap CBS will actually own, is that correct?

 

And HERE...WE...GO!!!

 

Once THE TALK made its announcement, I hoped...but now it's official. Excited to see it.

 

8 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

Its going to be..

GH vs The Gates

PM vs MVJ

Yasss!!! Let the fun begin!!!

1 hour ago, Khan said:

Trust me: all the parties involved - MVJ, CBSD, NAACP, P&G - will do their best to get this one right, if only because of the "blacklash" they will receive from the African-American community if they don't.

Exactly! That was how I felt when I heard the NAACP was involved originally. They know what's 'at stake' so they are going to try to put out the best project possible. 

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I too wish we could have had a 30 minute soap, or potentially two 30 minute soaps. 

I will never stop suggesting it for AMC and OLTL. And I still think Edge and GL are strong ideas if this goes well for CBS, but I don't expect them to return per se.

I also have mixed feelings on an hour slot, but it's what the network has and I think it can work.

Edited April 16, 20241 yr by Vee

An hour means more ad dollars and the producers, network, etc. probably didn't want to have a soap opera with a Black cast limited to just a half hour because a lot of Black viewers might feel like "so they only gave us 30 minutes?" even though CBS is home to a half hour soap already.

They gave it an hour slot because that's the show that's being replaced (The Talk). It was either that or try and develop a companion piece, which in itself would be riskier than just doing a hour show. Personally, I think the soap format - especially with the gigantic growth on streaming - probably works better as a half hour (or ~20 minutes). It makes for very easy catch up viewing at the very least.

 

That's just imho of course. But after watching old soap episodes I think a daily format works better shorter.