Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
‘Riverdale’ gives all-American Archie a darker storyline
When did Riverdale become Twin Peaks?
Actually, the Archie Comics universe, which began in 1941, has been moving into the weird for years, including in 2013 when Archie and the gang found themselves in the middle of a zombie apocalypse that begins in their hometown.
The CW’s latest comicbook adaptation, “Riverdale,” doesn’t have any zombies, but it begins with a missing teen in the first episode, “The River’s Edge.” (All the episodes have movie titles.)
“From a distance, it looks like so many small towns — safe, decent, innocent,” aspiring writer Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) tells the audience. “Get closer, though, and you start seeing the shadows underneath.”
When Roberto AguirreSacasa, the chief creative officer of Archie Comics, was pitching the idea of “Riverdale,” he saw it as comingof-age story. So he brought it to producers Sarah Schechter and Greg Berlanti, who shepherd a lot of The CW shows.
“It made sense because Greg had done one of the most iconic small-town shows, ‘Everwood,’ “says Aguirre-Sacasa, who is also a playwright and was a producer and writer on “Glee.”
After the pitch, though, Berlanti told him, “You’re going to need a dead body.” Aguirre-Sacasa remembers. “I thought, ‘No way,’ “but about seven months later he came to the same conclusion.
“It went from just being a coming-of-age show to a lossof-innocence show, and it really framed every story we would tell,” he says, “a little bit darker, a little bit moodier, a little bit more noir.”
And without question a little bit more adult, too.
Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead and the rest are sophomores in high school, but they pretty much are 16 going on 25. The CW President Mark Pedowitz describes “Riverdale” as “The OC” meets “Twin Peaks.”
New Zealander KJ Apa plays the all-American teen Archie Andrews, referred to as the “ginger stallion” by Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), the school’s nasty head cheerleader. It’s her brother, Jason, who went missing on July 4. As it turns out, Archie was with the school music teacher (Sarah Habel) when they heard a gunshot that night, but for obvious reasons she doesn’t want him telling the police.
“I think Archie is just a kid who is trying to find his passion,” says Apa, 19, amending it to “trying to find out what he’s good at,” since he already has shown passion. Apa says he can relate, though, in the sense that while growing up he — like Archie, who also plays on the football team — was both into sports and music, too.
But what Archie really wants to become is a songwriter, playing football to please his dad. The situation with his teacher, however, changes the dynamics of his relationships with girl-nextdoor Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), his good friend who he hasn’t noticed has had a crush on him for years, and new girl in town Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), who moved back to Riverdale after her rich business father had been disgraced because of fraud and embezzlement charges.
When everyone finds out about her past, Veronica’s response is, “So I’m the Blue Jasmine of Riverdale.” Without money, her mother, Hermione Lodge (Marisol Nichols), has to take a job as a waitress in a diner. Looking frazzled one day, she tells her daughter, “I’m going for the Joan Crawford look in ‘Mildred Pierce.’ “
The series likes to toss out movie references like candy.
Jughead describes Betty as “Riverdale’s Hitchcock blonde.” Betty’s mother worries she will turn into her older sister, Polly, who has had a nervous breakdown after her relationship with the missing Jason. Some people are even casting suspicion Polly’s way.
“Our Betty isn’t just the sweet girl next door. There’s much more going on,” says Reinhart, 20. Since Veronica has her own woes and Archie has his eyes elsewhere, the two characters forge something of an alliance.
The actress says that the series doesn’t try to pit the young women against each other. “So I feel like we’re kind of breaking the barrier of saying you’re either a Betty or a Veronica,” says Reinhart. “I think everyone enjoys that, because we don’t see two girls that are actually just friends that often.”
“Twin Peaks” veteran Mädchen Amick, by the way, plays Betty’s mom, while Luke Perry, who grew to fame through the teen soap “90210,” portrays Archie’s dad. So as the new kids come on the TV scene, we are reminded of the TV kids from days gone by.
“It’s nice that Luke and Mädchen are on our show,” says Aguirre-Sacasa. “But to be totally honest, they came in and they were immediately Fred Andrews and Alice Cooper from two seconds into auditioning.”
Yes, that’s right, Alice Cooper, the same name as the “godfather of shock rock.”
“Alice Cooper is probably one of the funnest characters I’ve ever gotten to play. She’s a little twisted,” says Amick. “I’m so excited to open up a script. Every time I get one I’m, like, what is Alice going to do in this episode?”
Not to be forgotten amid the teen angst and mystery of missing case of Jason, which is only the tip of the mystery are the pop-band Josie (Ashleigh Murray) and Pussycats, who have become the Destiny’s Child-style girl group of Riverdale.
One of the many incarnations of the comic was the animated series “The Archie Show,” which ran for a decade starting in 1968.
In it, Archie and the gang formed a band called The Archies. In reality the fictional group’s music was created by some of pop’s top session musicians. Practically right out of the gate, they had a hit with “Sugar, Sugar,” written by Brill Building veteran Jeff Barry (“Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” “River Deep, Mountain High”) and Canadian pop artist Andy Kim. It went to No. 1 in 1969.
Aguirre-Sacasa said he really wanted to use “Sugar, Sugar” in the pilot but couldn’t figure out how and didn’t want to wait until the Archie got around to forming a band. So the catchy ditty shows up in Episode 2 during a pep rally.
“I was like, Screw it, the Pussy Cats are going to do it,” he says. “And we found a really, really great version of it,” admitting, though, “It’s sacred territory that we’re treading on with that.”