CBS and the NAACP Developing New Soap Opera Centering on Black Family

CBS Studios and NAACP Venture announced they are developing a new daytime drama series for the CBS Television Network titled “The Gates,” with veteran writer Michele Val Jean (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “General Hospital”) set as writer and showrunner.

Val Jean, who exited “The Bold and the Beautiful” last month as a scriptwriter after writing more than 2,000 episodes of daytime dramas and winning multiple Daytime Emmy and WGA Awards, will also serve as an executive producer for “The Gates” alongside Sheila Ducksworth, Leon Russell, Derrick Johnson and Kimberly Doebereiner.

The potential series will follow the lives of a wealthy Black family in a posh, gated community. It will be produced by the CBS Studios/NAACP production venture in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. P&G, in particular, might sound familiar to soap fans as the company helped pioneer the genre with the likes of “As The World Turns,” “Guiding Light,” and “Another World.”

“‘The Gates’ will be everything we love about daytime drama, from a new and fresh perspective,” said Sheila Ducksworth, president of the CBS Studios NAACP venture. “This series will salute an audience that has been traditionally underserved, with the potential to be a groundbreaking moment for broadcast television. With multi-dimensional characters, juicy storylines and Black culture front and center, ‘The Gates’ will have impactful representation, one of the key touchstones of the venture.”

[SOURCE: SOAPOPERANET]

CBS to Air ‘Byron Allen Presents theGrio Awards’

CBS will broadcast the inaugural “Byron Allen Presents theGrio Awards,” a two-hour event honoring “icons, leaders and legends” including Patti LaBelle, Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah, who also took the stage for a special performance with Fantasia and Yolanda Adams.

The star-studded black-tie event — a first for the African American-focused news, lifestyle, sports and entertainment platform theGrio — was co-hosted by Sheryl Underwood and Taye Diggs. Allen Media Group founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen serves as an executive producer of the special, which will be broadcast Saturday Nov. 26 on CBS from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT, and will be available to stream live on Paramount+.

Honorees include Dave Chappelle (Cultural Icon Award), Ben Crump (Justice Icon Award), Allyson Felix (Sports Icon Award), Hudson (Trailblazer Icon Award), LaBelle (Music Icon Award), Latifah (Television Icon Award), Norman Lear (Champion Award), Alena Analeigh McQuarter (Young Icon Award), Don Peebles (Business Icon Award), Tyler Perry (ICON Award), Robert F. Smith (Philanthropy Award) and Kenan Thompson (Comedy Icon Award).

[SOURCE: VARIETY]

Byron Allen’s HBCU Go streamer enters deal with CBS stations to air HBCU football games

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group (AMG) free-streaming digital platform, HBCU GO -- the leading media provider for the nation’s 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) – proudly announces nationwide clearance for their 2022-23 sports season as part of the new carriage deal with CBS owned-and-operated duopoly stations. Key television markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Tampa, Detroit, Miami, and Pittsburgh. HBCU GO will kick off the fall sports season on September 3rd with a star-studded pre-season show featuring the nation’s top Gridiron NFL and Black College Hall of Famers and HBCU alums.

With this new carriage deal, HBCU GO is currently in 60 percent of U.S. television households and 70 percent of African-American households. This news comes on the heels of HBCU GO’s recent announcement of the distribution partnership with the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAA) -- that grants HBCU GO cable, linear, streaming, broadcast, VOD, and pay-per-view rights to premier NCAA Division 2 HBCU conference sporting events.

In addition to the newly announced CBS owned-and-operated duopoly station clearances, HBCU GO has secured distribution with group-owned television stations including Nexstar, Gray, Cox, Scripps, Tegna, Sinclair, Lockwood, Allen Media Broadcasting, Hearst, Circle City Broadcasting, McKinnon Broadcasting, Cowles, Graham, Block, Sun Broadcasting, Tougaloo College, Sagamore Hill, and Marquee. HBCU GO programming is available on HBCUGO.TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. Viewers can also access programming by downloading the HBCU GO App.

“Allen Media Group is thrilled that the CBS O&O stations have joined our excellent group of broadcast television station partners to increase the reach of HBCU GO’s high-quality sports programming,” said Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “We are proud to amplify these amazing athletes and HBCUs, while at the same time helping to finance the education of these young adults. Now sports fans across the country will have access to best-in-class games from America’s HBCUs.”

“We are honored to work with our partners at Allen Media Group to bring live broadcasts of HBCU football games to our audiences in 12 major markets,” said Wendy McMahon, President and Co-Head, CBS News and Stations. “As a Louisiana native and football fan, I am personally and professionally proud to play a role in having our stations shine a light on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the student athletes who are living out their dreams both on the field and in the classroom.”

Mishael Morgan becomes first Black actor to win Best Actress Daytime Emmy

The Young & the Restless star Mishael Morgan became the first Black artist to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the Best Lead Actress category in Pasadena Friday night.

"I was born on a tiny island in the Caribbean, and I'm now standing on an international stage and I am being honored regardless of the color of my skin, regardless of my passport, for being the best at what I do," Morgan said as she accepted her statuette.

"Now there are little girls around the world and no matter what the industry, the vocation ... they can strive to be the best."

The actress also thanked viewers for their support since she joined the soap opera in 2013.

,p>"I am so immensely proud of our generation," she said. "We are breaking glass ceilings left right and center and I am so honored to be a vessel and to experience this moment. Everybody out there today, we can do this thing called equality and unity together."

[SOURCE: UPI]

Inaugural HBCU All-Star Basketball Game to air on CBS

The 2022 HBCU All-Star Game, a new event that will showcase college basketball's top talent from Historical Black College and Universities. CBS Television Network is carrying the game live, which will take place at 4 p.m. ET April 3 at the University of New Orleans' Lakefront Arena on Sunday, the day between Final Four and the national title game, also in New Orleans this season.

"The University of New Orleans Lakefront Arena is a perfect location for this inaugural event," HBCU All-Stars co-founder Travis Williams said. "We are truly excited about the opportunity to honor HBCUs contribution to the great game of college basketball and showcase the nation's best HBCU student-athletes and brilliant coaches on a national stage during college basketball's biggest weekend. This historic endeavor with CBS Sports will raise national awareness of our prestigious HBCUs rich legacy of academic and athletic achievement."

Tickets for the game are available at www.arena.uno.edu, and a portion of ticket sales will go to the HBCU All-Stars Scholarship Fund. Players from the MEAC, SWAC and other Division I HBCU schools will be featured as well as players from the SIAC and CIAA from Division II.

Former Young and the Restless Star Victoria Rowell Sues CBS for Racial Discrimination

Victoria Rowell, who starred as Drucilla Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1990 to 2007, has sued CBS and Sony for racial discrimination, Deadline reports.

In a suit filed Wednesday, Rowell claims she has not been allowed back on The Young and the Restless or The Bold and the Beautiful because of her advocacy for greater diversity on soap operas. Rowell alleges that she was "impoverished and blackballed because she had chosen to speak out against the discrimination and injustice that she had endured and witnessed happen to other African Americans."

Read more: Former Young and the Restless Star Victoria Rowell Sues CBS and Sony for Racial Discrimination