Most Promising Trailer: Dynasty. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super hyped for Black Lightning, but I was expecting to like that one. Dynasty was pretty much a surprise.
Most Anticipated New Show: Black Lightning. I’m looking forward to a DC superhero show on The CW with a different voice, with no offense to the current ones: Salim Akil and his wife Mara Brock Akil seem to have a unique vision, and I like that this is a family affair on screen too, with Jefferson Pierce raising two daughters who may also develop powers of their own. I also really like that Black Lightning is, for now, separate from the other DC Universe projects in the “Arrowverse.”
Best Scheduling Move: The whole Wednesday night thing surprised me but I think it could pay dividends for The CW and get them away from being just the DC Channel (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I don’t know how the four-show crossover thing will work with Arrow off on an island (too soon?), but we’ll see.
Worst Scheduling Move: I’d be happy to be wrong on this, but I’m really not sure about Valor on Mondays at 9.
Most Likely New Hit: Dynasty, for reasons already listed.
Likely First Cancellation: Valor. Maybe it’ll air all 13 episodes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if things start moving around if it pulls low numbers to start.
What I’ll Be Watching In the Fall: It’s The CW, you and I both know I’ll be watching pretty much everything, even if some shows are on a DVR delay. I’ll also check out Life Sentence when it premieres; the trailer was a lot more appealing than the log line seemed to be, though they need to get away from the cancer thing and move on with the show as quickly as possible.
Most Promising Trailer: The Black Lightning trailer was really good. It’s a CW comic drama that Says Something, which is an interesting change of pace, with a good lead in Cress Williams and a reliable creative team in Mara Brock Akil and husband Salim. I’m not a comic guy at all, but it made me curious to see what this shows looks like on a weekly basis, both in terms of how it handles its timely content and how the effects (which I mostly liked) hold up on a weekly basis.
Most Anticipated New Show: Dynasty looks like the catty, campy good time that broadcast television, which has gotten too self-serious, needs and Elizabeth Gillies is the type of ferocious soap heroine that I live for. In a season where the broadcast networks have regressed in terms of diversity and ran scared from any drama that isn’t a conservative-leaning procedural, it’s nice that stuff like Dynasty can still get made. I just hope that it can find an audience in a tough-ish scheduling situation.
Best Scheduling Move: Keeping Legends of Tomorrow after The Flash makes sense. It puts the latter in a better situation than it had in the fall, it plays upon the inherent compatibility between the two, and it keeps a good slot warm for Black Lightning. Though I would have understood if The CW used the post-Flash slot for something new in the wake of This Is Us moving to Thursday, I think this is the easiest way for them to ensure that Black Lightning gets to air after The Flash while keeping the comic load to four shows at once.
Worst Scheduling Move: Dynasty got more of a raw deal than I expected. I think it could still find something of an audience, but it’s been handicapped in a way that I didn’t expect for something that’s been buzzed about in development. The compatibility with Riverdale isn’t great, The CW hasn’t been a home for this type of soap in quite a few years, and it’ll be airing on the same night as Empire and Star, two shows that are doing similar things. Where the Dynasty brand doesn’t mean much for younger viewers, and it’s particularly tough for a 9:00 show to build from a weak 8:00 lead-in on The CW, Dynasty finding itself behind a teen soap that’s strong everywhere but in live ratings will hinder sampling and keep it as a marginal performer that’ll have to rely on outside factors in order to survive.
Most Likely New Hit: Though I think one will probably survive, I don’t think either new fall show is going to be a hit in L+SD ratings, so I’m going with Black Lightning. It’s fully on brand for The CW, should generate buzz with its subject matter, and has already been ear-marked for the best slot on the network with the most compatible lead-in possible. If any new show is going to succeed this season for The CW, it will be Black Lightning. If the show doesn’t find an audience, it’s more about the state of The CW than anything else.
Likely First Cancellation: Valor is severely off-brand, should be the third military drama to premiere in the fall, and airs at the same time as a genre drama its lead-in audience might be interested in. Where The CW’s cupboards are quite full, with five shows in reserve for midseason, they might be less patient than they were this past season, particularly since Valor will have one of the strongest CW shows as a lead-in. If both fall newbies underwhelm, The CW would be more likely to save Dynasty, which has the brand name for international audiences and keeps them in a genre they want to get back into, than Valor, so Valor is probably going to have to overperform in order to stay on the schedule.
What I’ll Be Watching In the Fall: I’ll probably check out Dynasty since it was far and away my favorite trailer from upfronts.
HOW DID WE DO?
Giving a half point for each correct half hour, and half credit if we go the night right but the time wrong, here’s how we ranked. Shilo earned 5 points out of a possible 10, while Craig came away with 2 points.
Overall, Shilo walked away from upfronts 2017 with 47.75 total points. For his part, Craig took 40.5 points.
Thanks to everyone for reading our upfront coverage this year. We hope to see you next year.
