After announcing the network’s new fall 2017 schedule, CW President Mark Pedowitz spoke to reporters about the new shows, scheduling changes and more.
Regarding the return of DYNASTY, Pedowitz said that the show’s executive producers (including Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage) had a great set of credentials and the network wants to be back in business with them. After all, the pair have created two big serial soaps of the 2000s: GOSSIP GIRL and THE OC, so this was a no brainer. Pedowitz believes that the writers have “a new take” on a show that existed 30 years ago. They’ve also talked about bringing back some actors from the original DYNASTY and, if the storylines and people’s schedules work, the network is completely open to it. It’s too soon to predict who might appear as the show has only recently been picked up, but when asked Pedowitz said that they would love to have someone like Joan Collins make a guest appearance if the executive producers want her.
As for VALOR –the other new fall show coming to The CW — Pedowitz has been trying to get a military series on the network for the six years that he’s been there. They’ve tried with two other shows, but the third time turned out to be the charm here. VALOR joins what looks like a trend of military shows coming to the air next season, but Pedowitz believes they’ll have a slightly different take on it than other military shows because they’re The CW.
Meanwhile, JANE THE VIRGIN’s move to Friday nights may have worried some fans who believe that Friday is where shows go to die. But Pedowitz said that, despite the move, the network still believes in JANE. They say that JANE has been a strong show this past season with delayed and digital viewing taken into consideration, but they had new shows to launch so a move was necessary. He did, however, say that they thought re-pairing JANE with CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND was a good move.
Read The TV Addict’s Full 2017 Upfronts Coverage
Pedowitz was also asked about superhero fatigue — after all, The CW will have five DC superhero shows on its schedule for next season. Pedowitz believes the network has the best superhero programming available, but they are committed to never having more than four DC shows on at any given time, which means they’ll continue to rotate the shows in and out. And as long as the writers are producing quality programming, Pedowitz believes that people won’t get tired of the genre.
Finally, Pedowitz addressed the question of whether there would be a five-way DC crossover next season. He explained that BLACK LIGHNING is not part of the ARROW-verse and “it’s a separate situation”. However, the network has every intention of doing a four-way crossover later in the year with the four fall DC shows — specifically in November 2017.