“Beyond the Gates” is true to the daytime soap formula. There’s jaw-dropping drama, over-the-top antics, forbidden romances, intricate plots, vile villains and more. And this only sums up the first week of episodes, which kicked off on Monday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on CBS. (The show is also available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.)

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

Tunie, whom fans will recognize from her years on “Law & Order: SVU,” has returned to her soap opera roots in CBS’s “Beyond the Gates,” the first daytime serial centered on a Black family in the history of U.S. broadcast television. Premiering Monday, it chronicles the dramas of the Dupree family, the de facto rulers of a tony gated community.