So did everyone think of Riverdale’s premiere? I’m not sure how I feel about the darker & edgier thing, but I’ll give it a shot. The Ms Grundy subplot has a shocker. :eek: On the other hand Kevin/Moose is an interesting pairing and Cole Sprouse has said Jughead’s asexuality is going to be explored.
There are posters for this all over Chicago “L” platforms, but it looks like Archie 90210.
Complete with Luke Perry!
I don’t generally mind the tone shift or the character updates, but hunky, brooding Archie just does not work for me.
Does the awkwardly handsome Dawson prototype not work in teen dramas anymore?
Gave it a try, probably won’t be watching again. Like almost everything else on the CW (no matter what the setting or premise) it’s a bland, rather generic relationship drama about a group of improbably attractive, affluent, highly emotional twenty-somethings (even if they are playing teen-somethings.)
If it helps, the guy playing Archie apparently is a for-real no-foolin’ teen.
Yeah, the ads did nothing for me. Looked like a typical CW teen drama where the characters have the same names and approximate hair colors as the characters in the Archie comics.
Of course, I haven’t read an Archie comic in decades so maybe I’m being unfair and what’s in the ads is an accurate portrayal of a 2017 Archie comic digest.
The humor of things like “Punisher visits Archie” was the juxtaposition of that against the soapy clean Riverdale world including the classic artwork. I didn’t watch so I’m not sure if they tried to capture any of that or if this was just some dude named Archie making out with some chick named Betty/Veronica against a wall in a dimly lit room.
Heck, the very first episode got an out-of-nowhere Betty/Veronica kiss out of the way.
Archie made out with Grundy. Grundy, :eek:
Who the hell is the “gay best friend” anyway? No need for an original character. Make Jughead gay instead. And WTF with Moose?
Archie’s Mum has left him and Dad? Probably they thought there already were too many redheads and wrote her out.
And Veronica’s Daddy is now a Madoff expy? Which is sad, cause Mr Lodge was one of the more level-headed characters.
Kevin Keller is an existing – and gay – character in the comics.
Well apparently he is. Looked him up. Though I have not read the comics for going on 10 years.
Still, I thought he was poorly done. It was like, "here is Kevin, who is gay". and thats it. I don’t know how he is portrayed in the comics. Hopefully like Chuck? Chucks race is acknowledged but in 95% of his stories, its not an issue. You can grow to like him on his own merits and quirks.
They are doing some really excellent things with Archie these days in the comics. Between the rebooted main Archie series that updates the gang to modern days (and improves the artwork) to the wonderfully creepy Afterlife with Archie to the even more wonderfully creepy (and extremely gory) Sabrina, I applaud the Archie team’s efforts to keep the series relevant for modern audiences. They are taking more chances than a lot of the more traditionally “edgy” comics, and I love it.
Haven’t watched Riverdale yet. I recorded the first episode, so I’ll have to do that soon.
This is my first introduction to Kevin as well. For me, Riverdale earned plenty of time to develop him later just by hanging a lampshade on the unveiling of such a seemingly stock character:
Kevin: Is cheerleading still a thing?
Cheryl: Is being the gay best friend still a thing?
Or, as Cat Grant put it in Supergirl, “the attractive, yet non-threatening racially diverse cast of a CW show.”
I don’t know why but I was totally not turned off by Riverdale. And I am the girl who didn’t watch any teen dramas (Dawson, My So Called Life, Party of Five, 90210) when I was an actual TEEN.
I was never really in to Archie either but then again the only comics I ever read were Betty & Veronica in the late 80s/early 90s. My dad bought them for me when he went to buy beer haha I don’t remember a thing about the stories, just that sometimes Archie liked Betty and sometimes Veronica. But i read them a lot!
I also do not remember Kevin and was disappointed to find out he wasn’t Jughead.
Anyway, I have a feeling I might actually watch this. Weird.
Yeah, when they can be bothered to publish an issue. There have been what, ten issues in the over three years since it started? I gave up on it after waiting a YEAR between issues 8 and 9. Apparently this crapfest tv show is the reason for the delays.
I thought it was kind of impressive (if that’s the right word) how they managed to cram most of the first season and a half of Glee into a single episode, including a cover of a 1980s pop hit performed by the characters, lezploitation cheerleaders, a closet case jock, a backstory involving a music teacher’s inappropriate sexual behavior with a student, and a leading man torn between football and his musical aspirations. Oh yeah, and there’s also kinda incestuous seeming fraternal twins, although that wasn’t a thing on Glee until the final season.
As it turns out, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is both Chief Creative Officer for Archie Comics and a former staffwriter for Glee.
I never saw Glee, but now I’m wondering whether they likewise managed to throw in a whole put-a-girl-in-a-mental-hospital plot for a guy who then got murdered.
I figured I’d just watch the pilot (I do that for many new shows, because I’m curious and so I’ll have something to talk about if they come up in conversation), but by the end of the pilot I was sufficiently intrigued (Veronica’s nice? Why aren’t Archie and Jughead friends any more? The bullet hole in the forehead puts the kibosh on the sister’s story, but the final voiceover implied that someone else is going to be arrested.) that I’ll probably watch at least another episode or two.
No, while Glee was never particularly restrained or realistic, they never did a murder plot. At least not that I can remember, but so much nonsensical rubbish happened in the later seasons that it’s possible I’ve forgotten something.