'Riverdale': First Look

[Captain Comics]

GET A FIRST LOOK AT THE CW’S RIVERDALE TV SERIES

Live-action series based on Archie Comics characters premieres January 26th at 9pm ET/8pm Central

You’ve waited patiently for this moment – and now it’s here.

We’ve got a sneak peek at ‘Riverdale’, the new one-hour live-action drama based on the classic Archie Comics characters premiering January 26th, 2017 at 9/8c on The CW. What more could you want?

‘Riverdale’ is written by Archie Comics Chief Creative Officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and produced by Warner Brothers Studios and Berlanti Productions and has been described as a subversive take on the classic Archie mythos. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter, Jon Goldwater, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa serve as executive producers.

The live-action series offers a bold, compelling take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, exploring small-town life and the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade. The show will focus on the eternal love triangle of Archie Andrews, girl-next-door Betty Cooper, and rich socialite Veronica Lodge, and will include the entire cast of characters from the comic books—including Archie’s rival, Reggie Mantle, and his best friend, Jughead Jones.

‘Riverdale’ stars KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy, Luke Perry as Fred Andrews, Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Ross Butler as Reggie Mantle, Casey Cott as Kevin Keller, Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper, and Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge.

The show’s premiere on January 26th will be followed one week later on February 1st, with a special tie-in one-shot comic book written by ‘Riverdale’ showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and members of the show’s writing staff with art by Alitha Martinez. The RIVERDALE ONE-SHOT promises to reveal new secrets and stories from the summer before the eternal love-triangle debuts on television screens.

An ongoing RIVERDALE comic book series will debut in comic book stores and digital platforms in March by Aguirre-Sacasa and Martinez that will run alongside the show, expanding on the events of the series and diving deeper into the characters and their relationships.

For more information about ‘Riverdale’ and everything Archie Comics, visit the official Archie Comics website and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...Is Riverdale more a small town , in fact , or a suburb ?

  This leads to the eternal question ~ " Say , where in North America IS Riverdale located , anyway ??????? " .

  It has an active & lively downtown - Like , frankly , few American small towns have anymore !!!!!!!!!:-0 But , ther'es a mall(s) , too...........It's hot at the height of the summer but can get deep snowy in winter , with winter carnivals and ski-ing lodges at least nearby and attainabl; , if a treat , for hard-working middle-class Betty and Archie ~ but there's a beach ! With SURF !!!!!!!!!!!

[JD DeLuzio]

Well, I work in a small community (though I live in a larger one nearby).

It has a mall and a somewhat vibrant downtown.

It can get hot in summer and quite snowy in winter.

Winter carnivals and ski lodges are within driving distance.

It's within a short drive of a great lake, which has surf.

It's even a short drive from Springfield.

Emerkeith Davyjack said:

...Is Riverdale more a small town , in fact , or a suburb ?

  This leads to the eternal question ~ " Say , where in North America IS Riverdale located , anyway ??????? " .

  It has an active & lively downtown - Like , frankly , few American small towns have anymore !!!!!!!!!:-0 But , ther'es a mall(s) , too...........It's hot at the height of the summer but can get deep snowy in winter , with winter carnivals and ski-ing lodges at least nearby and attainabl; , if a treat , for hard-working middle-class Betty and Archie ~ but there's a beach ! With SURF !!!!!!!!!!!

[Captain Comics]

Two observations:

1) Archie has his shirt off a lot.

2) I never watched Twin Peaks, but this is kinda how I imagined it.

[JD DeLuzio]

2. I did watch Twin Peaks, at least initially. This doesn't look quirky or dark enough.

1. Although I will check this out, "from the network that brought you The Vampire Diaries and Gossip GIrls is not a selling point for me.

Captain Comics said:

Two observations:

1) Archie has his shirt off a lot.

2) I never watched Twin Peaks, but this is kinda how I imagined it.

[JohnD]

This seems to me like way too much a teen drama, rather than a teen comedy. Any attempt at an all ages appeal looks to have been jettisoned in favor of a more youth targeted audience. Yes, I know it's Archie, and thereby youth oriented by default; but, I would have liked seeing something a bit more balanced. My eldest daughter and I would read Archie together when she was younger. It would  be great to have a show we could both watch and enjoy as well.

Then again, this was a very short trailer; so, I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions yet.

[ClarkKent_DC]

It looks like The CW bought Archie just to fit it it in the mold of The Vampire Diaries, instead of making a comedy like Jane the Virgin (which I have belatedly discovered and begun to like; it scratches that itch for an Americanized telenovela that's gone unscratched since Ugly Betty went off the air).

One would think -- well, some of us would think -- that since Archie comics have always been about wacky teen hijinks that it makes dubious sense to turn it into a modern-day Twin Peaks. But then, we aren't TV producers for The CW.

[Ronald Morgan]

Previous attempts to make Archie live action never went past the pilot. Neither "got" Archie and the gang. The first one made Jughead woman crazy and the highpoint of the second was the gang trying to dissect frogs in science class. Archie fainted and Jughead apparently ate his frog, since he was going "Ribbit! Ribbit!" when Miss Grundy checked to see how he was doing. Then Archie chases Betty around the couch for several minutes. Finallty Jughead tells Moose a long story about his parents' divorcing and fighting over custody, with the punchline being the judge told them "One of you has to keep him!"

Mrs. Lodge but not Mr. Lodge? That can't be right.

[JohnD]

I'm not sure if the second one you refer to was the late 1970's pilot. I remember thinking it was quite funny and Archie-like. One segment had to do with Jughead goofing on "Archibald" and "Reginald" only to set Archie and Reggie on a quest to discover Jughead's real name. They convince the school secretary to reveal "Your friend's name is Steve", much to their dismay. Once Archie and Reggie depart, Jughead appears, thanking his aunt, the secretary, for the favor. Another scene focused on the gang attempting to tutor Moose, who had to pass a big test in order to play football in a big game. Moose is seen turning a page in a text book stating "finished", causing the gang to respond with "finally". The punch line: Moose states "now I can go on to page two".

I don't remember much more of this pilot; but, I thought it was great when it aired, so long ago. The only other pilot I can think of was filmed in black and white. I watched that one on You-tube.

Ronald Morgan said:

Previous attempts to make Archie live action never went past the pilot. Neither "got" Archie and the gang. The first one made Jughead woman crazy and the highpoint of the second was the gang trying to dissect frogs in science class. Archie fainted and Jughead apparently ate his frog, since he was going "Ribbit! Ribbit!" when Miss Grundy checked to see how he was doing. Then Archie chases Betty around the couch for several minutes. Finallty Jughead tells Moose a long story about his parents' divorcing and fighting over custody, with the punchline being the judge told them "One of you has to keep him!"

Mrs. Lodge but not Mr. Lodge? That can't be right.

[Richard Willis]

ClarkKent_DC said:

One would think -- well, some of us would think -- that since Archie comics have always been about wacky teen hijinks that it makes dubious sense to turn it into a modern-day Twin Peaks. But then, we aren't TV producers for The CW.

I wonder if the tone has been influenced by the style of the Archie comics stories in the last few years (Afterlife, etc).

[ClarkKent_DC]

Ronald Morgan said:

Previous attempts to make Archie live action never went past the pilot. Neither "got" Archie and the gang. The first one made Jughead woman crazy and the highpoint of the second was the gang trying to dissect frogs in science class.

John DeRubbo said:

I'm not sure if the second one you refer to was the late 1970's pilot. I remember thinking it was quite funny and Archie-like.

Which pilots are you two talking about? I don't think I've seen both of them, just the second one. I remember -- barely, because it's been so long since I've seen it -- one from the '70s that was a sketch comedy show in the MADtv vein, although all the sketches featured the Archie characters, and there were bumpers featuring Li'l Jinx. Mark Evanier has, as always, interesting behind-the-scenes stories to tell about them here, "The Archie Pilot" and here, "Another Damned Obit..." about the late Gordon Jump, who was in those.

There was a third attempt at a live-action Archie in the '80s, Archie: To Riverdale and Back. This one moved the group out of high school and featured them all growed up. The premise, as I recall, was that Archie has graduated, become a lawyer and moved away from Riverdale, but has returned for his 10-year 15-year high school reunion. So we catch up with everybody. Jughead is a divorced single father of a lookalike son. Betty is now a teacher. Veronica has five four ex-husbands behind her, but she, and Betty, are still hung up on Archie and he still can't choose between them. I forget specifically what Reggie, Moose and Ethel were doing, but they were there, too. The intention was for this TV movie to be a pilot for a series, but it didn't get picked up.

There was a comics adaptation of the show, with the flashback sequences of the Archie gang in their high school days drawn by Stan Goldberg, and the main plot post-high school stuff drawn by none other than Gene Colan!

[John Dunbar]

JD DeLuzio said:

Although I will check this out, "from the network that brought you The Vampire Diaries and Gossip GIrls is not a selling point for me.

Seconded, I feel the same way, but I will check it out.

[Captain Comics]

If you had asked me five years ago what I thought of this concept, I would have fallen somewhere between disinterested and outraged, since it doesn't adhere closely to the comic book version. And as I always say, why change what has been focus grouped (with monthly books) for decades and shaped into a successful franchise?

My usual example is Catwoman. She's been around since 1940, and writers over the years have tried countless directions with the character to make her work. Bit by bit, she came around to the Brubaker version, which worked on almost every level.

So the filmmakers threw that all away and tried yet another direction, dropping everything that had been "focus grouped" for decades and going with little more than the name. And, of course, it flopped. It flopped with Halle Barry in sexy leather. Now, that's just dumb.

But here's the rub with Archie: The concept as it had been around since 1941 was no longer working. Sales on the Archie books were in the low thousands. As much as I loved the DeCarlo house style when I was in middle school, I was no longer reading Archies -- nor, apparently, was anyone else.

So the folks at Archie, as comic folks tend to do, changed course and looked for new directions that would work. They came up with the new Riverdale, Life with Archie and the Archie horror books. That's actually three different directions, all of which work. While one of them is just a modern re-working of the teen humor genre Archie has always been in, two of them place the Riverdale gang in different genres (soap opera, horror) -- and they worked. What's wrong with a third genre?

I don't think anything is wrong with a third. It's clear that, while no one was really interested in reading the old Montana/DeCarlo-style stories any more, there was a huge reservoir of affection for the characters. Place them somewhere else, and we'll still love them. Place them somewhere interesting, and we'll buy them.

So, whereas I have zero interest in The Vampire Diaries or Gossip Girls, I am genuinely interested in Riverdale. It's just a new genre for our old friends, and they will be better at it than their peers.