Rueben's Ramblings

Here are the The CW pilots up for consideration for the 2017-2018 TV season:

Black Lightning: The pilot is about Jefferson Pierce. He made his choice: he hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend, Black Lightning.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Salim Akil, Mara Brock Akil, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter.

CAST: Cress Williams (Veronica Mars and Hart of Dixie), Nafessa Williams (Code Black), China Anne McClain (A.N.T. Farm), Christine Adams (Pushing Daisies and The Mentalist),

NOTE: If Black Lightning is picked-up, the network could stagger the superhero shows throughout the year, rather than scheduling five separate nights of superhero programming.

Dynasty: The modernized remake will follow two of America’s wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children. The primetime soap will be told primarily through the perspectives of two women at odds: Fallon Carrington, daughter of billionaire Blake Carrington and her soon-to-be stepmother, Cristal, a Hispanic woman marrying into this WASP family and America’s most powerful class.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Creators Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, Sallie Patrick and Esther and Richard Shapiro.

CAST: Nathalie Kelley (The Vampire Diaries, Revenge), Elizabeth Gillies (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll), Sam Adegoke (Murder in the First), Robert Christopher Riley (Hit the Floor), Grant Show (Melrose Place), Alan Dale (The O.C., 24 and Lost) and Rafael de la Fuente (When We Rise).

Insatiable: The pilot follows a disgraced, dissatisfied civil lawyer-turned-beauty pageant coach who takes on a vengeful, bullied teenager as his client, and has no idea what he’s about to unleash upon the world.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Lauren Gussis (Once Upon A Time), Ryan Seacrest, Nina Wass, Todd Hoffman and Dennis Kim.

CAST: Debby Ryan (former Disney star), Erinn Westbrook (Awkward), Michael Provost (Six), Dallas Roberts (The Good Wife), Sarah Colonna (Chelsey Lately), Kimmy Shields (Big Little Lies), Christopher Gorham (Ugly Betty and Popular), Alyssa Milano (Charmed and Mistresses),

Life Sentence: The pilot is about a young women diagnosed with terminal cancer who finds out that she’s not dying after all and has to learn to live with the choices she made when she decided to “live like she was dying.”

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Erin Cardillo, Richard Keith, Bill Lawrence and Jeff Ingold.

CAST: Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck and Unforgettable), Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars), Gillian Vigman (The Hangover), Elliot Knight (American Gothic), Carlos PenaVega (Grease: Live), Jayson Blair (Young & Hungry and The New Normal) and Brooke Lyons (2 Broke Girls).

Searchers: Searchers is about a group of unlikely heroes who find themselves on the journey of a lifetime. Ten years after the death of their parents, a pragmatic brother and free spirited sister are forced to team up when they learn that their mother’s terrifying and bizarre stories may be a road map to discovering the great legends, myths, and unexplainable mysteries of the world.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Jason Rothenberg, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter.

CAST: William Miller (Ruta Madre and Cinco de Mayo), Jeanine Mason (Of Kings and Prophets), Zane Holtz (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series), Alex McGregor (Of Kings and Prophets), newcomer Josh Kidd and Marc Blucas (Underground and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer).

Valor: The boundaries between military discipline and human desire are tested on a US Army base that houses an elite unit of helicopter pilots trained to perform clandestine international and domestic missions. The drama unfolds in the present as well as in flashbacks to a failed mission involving one of the first female pilots in the unit, ultimately uncovering layers of personal and government/military secrets, and leading to a season-long plan to rescue a group of MIA soldiers.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Kyle Jarrow and Bill Habor.

CAST: Matt Barr (Sleepy Hollow and Hellcats), Charlie Barnett (Chicago Fire and Secrets and Lies), newcomer W. Tre Davis, Melissa Roxburgh (Arrow, Supernatural and Star Trek Beyond), Christina Ochoa (Matador and Animal Kingdom), Nigel Thatch (American Dreams and Selma), Corbin Reid (How to Get Away With Murder),

MOST LIKELY TO BE PICKED-UP: Black Lightning

WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE: Life Sentence

LONG SHOT: Insatiable

UNNECESSARY REBOOT: Dynasty