As with much in life, it turns out that the television business, as well, can change a lot and tends to be cyclical. After CBS’ daytime show, The Talk, endured several host changes (whether by choice, being “stabbed in the back,” or the “humiliation” of an outright firing) across its many seasons, rumors of it being canceled began to spring up in March. It was then on April 12 that word of the talk show’s axing became official, with Season 15 wrapping things up this December, at the end of the 2024 TV schedule. Now, just a few days after being canceled, the network already has a replacement for the long-running talker.
What Show Will Replace The Talk On CBS?
Though CBS Studios president, David Stapf, noted that The Talk had broken “new ground when it launched 14 years ago,” while revealing the show’s cancellation, it didn’t take long for a replacement to be set. As previous rumors had indicated, while daytime talk shows are now dead on CBS, the network seems to be betting anew on daytime drama, as it announced that the soap opera The Gates, is set to debut in The Talk’s former slot at some point in January 2025.
It sounds like daytime drama fans will be treated to something special with The Gates, as it will focus on a rich Black family in an exclusive, gated neighborhood. Writer, showrunner and executive producer Michele Val Jean has won Daytime Emmys and WGA Awards for her work on other soaps like General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful, so we know the upcoming series is in good hands.
The new show is the result of a partnership between the network and the NAACP, which joined forces to “help elevate a diverse range of voices as well as increase the visibility of Black artists on broadcast and streaming platforms in an ever-evolving media landscape.” Though this is good news, as additional representation is always welcome, there is hardly a soap opera boom going on at the moment.
Right now, CBS is home to two of the three long-running soaps still on network TV, The Young and the Restless (which got a four season renewal in February) and the aforementioned B&B. Those two series are currently at spots one and two overall when it comes to daytime show ratings, with only one additional long-time series, Days of Our Lives, still airing for people with a Peacock subscription.
When fans started to think that The Talk was about to be canceled, they noted how ironic it was that word pointed to a brand new daytime drama being the reason. Not only have soap fans been without a much wider variety of shows for well over a decade now, but CBS canceled As the World Turns (which ended in 2010 after 54 seasons) specifically to air the talk show that’s now been canceled to air another daytime drama.
Fans can look forward to hosts Sheryl Underwood (who’s the last remaining original host), Amanda Kloots, Akbar Gbajabiamila, Natalie Morales and Jerry O’Connell to stick around for the final season, and we’ll get more information about The Gates as its premiere gets closer.
