Beyond The Gates

[whoknowstv]

Well, the first week of Beyond the Gates is in the books. I am not a 100% fan of the individual that created Beyond the Gates, but she is giving me something that I never thought I would see again ... a brand new daytime soap. A soap opera that is on one of the original network channels and it does not involve streaming it from an app. If this experiment proves to be successful, who knows, maybe it will mean that more daytime soap operas will be formed. Granted, we will never see an era in which we have 12 daytime soap operas airing daily on screen. But if 3 more gets added by not making The Today Show go on all day or getting rid of GMA's afternoon show, the networks could once again have a balance of talk shows, game shows, and soap operas.

As an over 40-year viewer of the soap opera genre, I have gotten quite use to fast-forwarding the scenes involving characters that I cannot stand. On General Hospital, my fast-forward button is getting a workout with all of the Drillow stuff. For Young and the Restless, I give the same fast-forward treatment to anything that Chelsea is in. It is really kind of strange to watch a whole episode of the soap all the way through without forwarding, but I promised myself that I will watch every scene of Beyond the Gates for 2 weeks before I decide which characters to give the fast-forward treatment to.

After watching the show all week, I like it. I am excited about it. Right now, this new soap is more soapier & messier than any of the other daytime soaps currently on the air. I think that Bill Hamilton can give Bill Spencer (Bold) a run for his money. To me, Hayley is like a younger version of Tina Lord Roberts (OLTL), a vamp who pulls out the innocent card at the drop of her hat, all the while she is scheming. There are really not enough words in the Dictionary to fully describe Dani. Dani is a very messy loose cannon that everyone tiptoes around for fear that her lava will burn into their skin. A drama queen from the word go. I am amazed that Naomi and Chelsea came out normal concerning the fact that Bill and Dani are their parents. Bill is a narcissist and Dani is crazy. Nicole and Ted's marriage is just way too perfect, so you know that something is going blow up their marriage. As far as Anita goes, I would not say that she is an Erica Kane, but she does rule the world around her. When she orders, everyone falls into line. That is what makes Anita different. She is the female version of Adam Chandler (AMC), Asa Buchanan (OLTL), or Victor Newman (YR). That type of female character is rarely seen on soaps.

If there is a scene in a public place, like the country club, there are extras galore. A lot of these extras have lines & they have names in which the main character knew. That part amazed me because you do not see that on soaps.

Out of the horrendous editing job that was done on the first episode, this soap is pretty good in my opinion. The storylines seem to be moving really fast, which is refreshing. Even the sets are nice. Sorry for the ramble. So, what are your thoughts?

[Laura Luke]

I have to admit I don't have regular TV I just look for shows on line & I can't watch Behind The Gates but I 've seen clips on X twitter. The production is beautiful,& the scenes I've watched were very captivating! I hope they have a long & happy run !