Riverdale is an American teen drama television series based on the characters of Archie Comics. The series was adapted for The CW by Archie Comics' chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and is produced by Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios, in association with Berlanti Productions and Archie Comics. Originally conceived as a feature film adaptation for Warner Bros. Pictures, the idea was re-imagined as a television series for Fox. In 2015, development on the project moved to The CW, where the series was ordered for a pilot. Filming takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The series features an ensemble cast based on the characters of Archie Comics, with KJ Apa in the role of Archie Andrews; Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, the series' narrator. The cast also features Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy and Casey Cott as Kevin Keller. Other characters in the series include the parents of the main characters: Luke Perry as Fred Andrews, Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper, Marisol Nichols and Mark Consuelos as Hermione and Hiram Lodge, and Skeet Ulrich as FP Jones.
The series debuted on January 26, 2017 to positive reviews. A 22-episode second season premiered on October 11, 2017, and concluded on May 16, 2018. On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which is set to premiere October 10, 2018.
Video Riverdale (2017 TV series)
Premise
The series follows Archie Andrews' life in the small town of Riverdale and explores the darkness hidden behind its seemingly perfect image.
Maps Riverdale (2017 TV series)
Cast and characters
- KJ Apa as Archibald "Archie" Andrews: A high school football player who has a passion for music. He is best friends with Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper.
- Lili Reinhart as Elizabeth "Betty" Cooper: A smart girl with a longtime crush on Archie, she becomes friends with Veronica Lodge to help upend her perfect life.
- Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge: A former socialite from New York who moves to Riverdale and becomes friends with Archie and Betty.
- Cole Sprouse as Forsythe "Jughead" Jones III: A philosophically inclined social outcast who is Archie's best friend.
- Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge: Veronica's mother, who has returned to Riverdale with her daughter following the incarceration of her husband Hiram Lodge.
- Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom: A wealthy, entitled, and manipulative girl who is a classmate of Archie and his friends.
- Ashleigh Murray as Josephine "Josie" McCoy: The lead singer of Josie and the Pussycats and a classmate of Archie and his friends.
- Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper: Betty and Polly's mother, who is the editor of the local paper.
- Luke Perry as Frederick "Fred" Andrews: Archie's father, who owns a construction company.
- Mark Consuelos as Hiram Lodge: Veronica's father, who was recently incarcerated for illegal activities. Consuelos joined the cast for the second season after his character was only mentioned by name in season one.
- Casey Cott as Kevin Keller: An openly gay high school student who is friends with Archie, Betty and Veronica and is the son of Riverdale's sheriff. Cott was promoted to series regular in the second season.
- Skeet Ulrich as Forsythe "F.P." Jones II: Jughead's estranged father and the leader of the Southside Serpents, a gang of criminals that live and operate on the fringes of Riverdale. Ulrich was promoted to series regular in the second season.
Episodes
Production
Development
Warner Bros. began development on an Archie feature film in 2013, after a pitch from writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and director Jason Moore that would place Archie's gang into a teen comedy feature film in the John Hughes tradition. The duo brought the project to Warner Bros., where a VP recommended a more high-concept direction involving time travel or interdimensional portals, suggesting Louis C. K. to portray an older Archie. Dan Lin and Roy Lee became producers on the project, which eventually stalled as priorities shifted at the studio towards larger tentpole films and was reimagined as a television series. Riverdale was originally in development at Fox, with the network landing the project in 2014 with a script deal plus penalty. However, Fox did not go forward with the project. In 2015, the show's development was moved to The CW, which officially ordered a pilot on January 29, 2016. On March 7, 2017, The CW announced that the series had been renewed for a second season. On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which is set to premiere October 10, 2018.
Casting
Casting Archie was a difficult process, with Aguirre-Sacasa stating "I think we literally saw every redheaded young guy in L.A. It certainly felt that way." The production team found KJ Apa just three days before they had to present screen tests to the network, which created tension in the last few days leading up to the studio presentation.
In April 2017, it was announced Mark Consuelos had signed on for the second season to play Veronica Lodge's father, Hiram Lodge. The role was in second position to his existing role on Pitch but the cancellation of that series was announced on May 1, 2017. The next month, it was announced Charles Melton was cast to take over the role of Reggie from Ross Butler in season 2 due to his status as a series regular on 13 Reasons Why. It was also announced that Casey Cott, who played Kevin Keller, was promoted to a series regular. In July 2017, it was announced that True Blood star Brit Morgan had been cast in the recurring role of Penny Peabody, an attorney the Southside Serpents call in case of any run-ins with the law. In August 2017, it was announced Graham Phillips had been cast to play Nick St. Clair, Veronica's ex-boyfriend from New York.
In March 2018, Andy Cohen appeared in the sixteenth episode of the second season as himself. In the series, he and Hermione are friends. He previously offered her a role as a cast member on The Real Housewives of New York City; however, Hermione turned down the offer to keep things private for the Lodge family.
In May 2018, it was announced that Charles Melton and Vanessa Morgan, who play Reggie Mantle and Toni Topaz, respectively, would both be promoted to series regulars in the third season.
Filming
Filming of the pilot began on March 14, 2016, and ended on April 1 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Production on the remaining 12 episodes of season one began on September 7, 2016, in Vancouver. Sets include Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe, a copy of the functioning diner used in the pilot that is so realistic a truck driver parked his 18-wheeler there, believing that it was open. Season two was also filmed in Vancouver and the nearby Fraser Valley. The aerial view of Riverdale is actually drawn from stock footage used in the series Pretty Little Liars, Gilmore Girls, and the landmark setting are the same utilized in both of the aforementioned series as well as in Hart of Dixie. Filming for the second season started on June 22, 2017, and concluded on March 27, 2018. Filming for the third season started on July 6, 2018.
Homages to other films and TV series
Several reviewers had noted that the series' episode titles are often taken directly or slightly altered from the titles of older films. For example, De Elizabeth of TeenVogue points out that Riverdale's pilot episode was named "River's Edge" after the 1986 film of the same name, and the season finale also takes its name from 1997's The Sweet Hereafter. Executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa notes that this is a deliberate choice, in order to hint at what will happen in that episode. References to the fictional setting of the Black Mirror episode "San Junipero" can be seen in viewed in season one as well as heard amongst dialogue in season two.
Additionally, Katie-Kouise Smith, of Popbuzz, notes that the opening credits for Riverdale mirror those of the Twin Peaks television series, and are intended as an homage to that series' co-creator, David Lynch.
Music
Musical performances are featured throughout the series, a blend of cover versions and originals. Songs performed in episodes are released as digital singles after broadcast; WaterTower Music released a digital compilation of the season 1 songs on May 12, 2017.
An album of Blake Neely's scoring for season 1 was released on compact disc by La-La Land Records and simultaneously on download by WaterTower Music on July 18, 2017.
WaterTower Music released the songs performed in the musical episode in a separate digital album on April 19, 2018. A vinyl edition will be released at Urban Outfitters stores on July 13, 2018.
Season 1
Season 2
Release
Broadcast
Netflix acquired the exclusive international broadcast rights to Riverdale, making the series available as an original series to its platform less than a day after its original U.S. broadcast.
Marketing
In July 2016, members of the cast and the executive producers attended San Diego Comic-Con to promote the upcoming series, where they premiered the first episode "Chapter One: The River's Edge". The first trailer for the series was released in early December 2016. The CW also sponsored multiple Tastemade videos, where they cooked several foods that are popular in the Archie universe.
Comic-book adaptation
Along with heavily promoting the TV series in their regular comics since January 2017, Archie Comics are planning to release a comic book adaptation of Riverdale, featuring auxiliary story arcs set within the television series' own continuity. The comic book adaptation is being headed by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa himself, along with various other writers from the show. Alongside a one-shot pilot issue, illustrated by Alitha Martinez, released in March 2017, the first issue of the ongoing Riverdale comic book series was set to release starting April 2017.
In addition to the adaptation, Archie Comics are releasing a series of compilation graphic novels branded under the title Road to Riverdale. This series features early issues from the New Riverdale reboot line, introducing the audience of the TV series to the regular ongoing comic series that inspired it. Archie Comics plans to re-print the volumes of Road to Riverdale in subsequent months as digest magazines. The first volume was released in March 2017.
Reception
Critical response
The first season of Riverdale received a generally positive response from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a fresh rating of 88% based on 61 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.27/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Riverdale offers an amusingly self-aware reimagining of its classic source material that proves eerie, odd, daring, and above all addictive." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 68 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Dave Nemetz of TVLine gave the series a "B+" saying that it turned, "out to be an artfully crafted, instantly engaging teen soap with loads of potential."
Some writers have criticized the series for its handling of minority characters. While reviewing the first season, Kadeen Griffiths of Bustle declared "the show marginalizes and ignores the [people of color] in the cast to the point where they may as well not be there." In an article for Vulture, Angelica Jade Bastien discussed the show's treatment of Josie and the Pussycats (who are each played by African Americans), noting, "They're not characters so much as they are a vehicle for a Message. Josie and her fellow pussycats are positioned to communicate the message that Riverdale is more modern and inclusive than teen dramas of the past, even though it has yet to prove it beyond its casting." Monique Jones of Ebony noted, "Despite the show's multi-racial casting choices, it seems like Riverdale is still a mostly white town." She also expressed fondness for the relationship between Archie Andrews and Valerie Brown, but declared "Archie shouldn't be what makes Valerie interesting to us".
Ratings
Awards and nominations
Spin-offs
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
In September 2017, it was reported that a live-action television series based on the comic series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was being developed for The CW by Warner Bros. Television and Berlanti Productions, with a planned release in the 2018-2019 television season. The series, featuring the Archie Comics character Sabrina the Teenage Witch, would be a companion series to Riverdale. Lee Toland Krieger directed the pilot, which was written by Aguirre-Sacasa. Both are executive producers along with Berlanti, Schechter, and Goldwater. In December 2017, it was reported that the project had moved to Netflix under a yet-to-be-announced new title. Two seasons, comprising ten episodes each, were ordered by the streaming service. In January 2018, it was announced that the lead role of Sabrina Spellman would be portrayed by Kiernan Shipka, and CW president Mark Pedowitz noted that, "at the moment, there is no discussion about crossing over" with Riverdale. Aguirre-Sacasa added that no crossovers were planned initially so that each series could establish "their own identities and own set of rules". Filming for first season began on March 19, 2018, just as filming of the second season of Riverdale concluded, which allowed the same crew members to work on both series. It is expected to film back-to-back with the second season.
Other
In August 2018, Aguirre-Sacasa revealed that another spin-off was in the works at The CW. He said that the potential spin-off would be "very different from Riverdale" and that it would be produced "in this development cycle."
References
External links
- Official website
- Riverdale on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
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