'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.

[Ronald Morgan]

 For some reason they changed the name of To Riverdale and Back awhile back. I'm very familiar with that film because my sister was the girl in yellow that can be seen dancing near Reggie during Jughead's Sugar Sugar rap.

It would have been the 70s pilot. I didn't see the beginning. Sounds like they put their best material first and ended with the least funny bits.

I remember reading several years ago Jughead was selling less than 10,000 copies an issue. The digests were cancelled and replaced with new series, but they seem to be doing well enough, since they've been back at Kmart and Walmart since their reboot, and they're still using the old material there, even some of the 40s stories they used to avoid reprinting, so somebody must be asking for them.

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!

[Richard Willis]

The advantage of the digests, I think, is that the old material is recognizable to parents and is kid-friendly.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Like a lot of you, I don't have high hopes for this series, but am willing to be surprised. It could wind up being a lot of fun (in a subversive way), or it could have too many of its edges sanded off by focus groups. Wait and see, I guess.

[Ronald Morgan]

Perhaps this might be a good time to introduce a new Archies band? Hopefully with better contracts. I've heard the writer of their old songs sued a few years ago trying to get residuals.

How many Archie comics besides Afterlife are they making that aren't kid friendly?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Chilling Tales of Sabrina isn't. And neither is Hangman or Black Hood, though I'm not sure if Hangman is still being published. The others are largely kid-friendly*, though Josie seems to veer into naughtier territory from what I hear.

*says a guy who's not a parent and never has to make those judgments.

[Captain Comics]

What Rob said. All of the Archie Horror and Dark Circle (superhero) titles are rated Teen+. Josie does have a suggestive joke or situation here or there, but I doubt kids would catch them. But not being a parent either, I can't really judge that very well. The new Archie, Betty & Veronica, Jughead and Reggie and Me aren't rated, and therefore presumably All Ages.

[Ronald Morgan]

Are their superheroes actually selling this time?

[Captain Comics]

"Cleverer than it had to be" is an insightful description. If you read any of the "teen humor" competition over the years, the difference was stark. There's a reason Archie succeeded when Binky and all the rest failed.

Alexandra Kitty said:

Archie was all about the levity and was cleverer than it had to be. This vibe is subdued.

Meanwhile, here's the latest promo poster:

Who's the blonde at back right? Sabrina?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I think that's Sabrina, yeah. Which is one of the intriguing things about it: A teen drama where one of the kids can, incidentally, do magic? But she's not the star, just one of the neighborhood girls in the periphery? That's odd...in a good way.

[JD DeLuzio]

I'd like to see that.

For what it's worth, though, the imdb lists no Sabrina, but has two different actors identified as Dilton. The information there may or may not be accurate.

The promo material and imdb both identify Josie and the Pussycats, and Cheryl Blossom is reportedly a major part of the show.

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

I think that's Sabrina, yeah. Which is one of the intriguing things about it: A teen drama where one of the kids can, incidentally, do magic? But she's not the star, just one of the neighborhood girls in the periphery? That's odd...in a good way.

[Captain Comics]

Judging from the information available on the Archie Comics site, it could either be Josie or Cheryl Blossom. I'm guessing Cheryl (actress Madelaine Petsch).

[Richard Willis]

IMDB, like Wikipedia, is updated by members. Having a lot of sources footnoted, in this case Wiki seems to be clearer and more authoritative:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverdale_(2017_TV_series)