“Dynasty” reboot, “Black Lightning” highlights CW’s 2017-18 schedule

Four new dramas on tap this fall

The year of the reboot rolls on with another familiar name: Dynasty.

The CW announced its new 2017-18 schedule in front of ad buyers Thursday during its upfront presentation, and the biggest show on the schedule is one from the 1980’s.

Unlike the more recent revival of Dallas, featuring original cast members Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, and Larry Hagman, this Dynasty reboot features an all-new cast in the roles. During its heyday, Dynasty was a pop culture trendsetter, influencing fashion and promoting “greed is good” excess. The series lasted nine seasons on ABC spending five of those in the top ten, but the controversial Moldavian Massacre storyline cost it any momentum going forward.

Also new to CW’s lineup is another addition to DC’s universe: Black Lightning, scheduled for midseason.

Leading off Mondays is Supergirl leading into Valor, a military drama with the Army as a backdrop. Tuesdays remain unchanged (Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow), with Riverdale shifting to Wednesday to lead off the night and leading into the new Dynasty. Replacing Riverdale on Thursdays is Arrow, leading out of Supernatural. And finally, Fridays have Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane The Virgin paired up again.

Other midseason entries include The 100, iZombie and The Originals. The CW also has some non-drama programming on tap as well, including Whose Line Is It Anyway? for filler purposes, but no comedies.

The skinny on this lineup is the comic book shows often beats programming on the other networks in the 18-49 demo. But ratings are still low, and with Sinclair now taking over CW affiliates in the top two markets, ratings need to improve.

The addition of Black Lightning is cool – another diverse program on The CW’s lineup. But when’s enough enough when it comes to superhero shows? Riverdale has solved the mystery of who killed Jason Blossom, but what can they do for an encore? Is shooting Luke Perry the best they can do? Empire may be a fading show, but they’ll have no trouble topping this cliffhanger.

Fridays has female-skewing and critically-acclaimed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane The Virgin. Solution to ultra-low ratings? Clone the people I follow on Twitter, problem solved. A special animated Scooby-Doo episode of Supernatural (a show I’ve never been a fan of) sounds very lame, even as a fan of the Great Dane. If there is one thing in life, Scooby-Doo and The Simpsons will both outlive us all.

Finally, the Dynasty reboot is something yours truly can do without. I was never a fan of this show, though the Linda Evans vs. Joan Collins rivalry (also in real life) was quite fun. But who would fill the shoes of these two? Plus, the locale shifts from Denver to Atlanta for some reason – I thought they were rebooting Dynasty, not Gone With The Wind. Are we going to see Scarlett O’Hara in this too? At least they didn’t take the easy way out by setting it in New York or Beverly Hills.

To sum up, it’s probably a good thing WGN bailed out of The CW when it did. Because outside of their existing shows, the network’s new programming isn’t really impressive. Maybe the new Sinclair network would be better when it debuts in 2021. Or not.

To see the fall schedule and read detailed descriptions of each show, including the complete list of midseason entries, click here.