Posted in: TV | Tagged: archie, archie comics, Camila Mendes, fans react, KJ Apa, lili reinhart, riverdale, the cw

Fans React! Riverdale Episode 1

Published Fri, 27 Jan 2017 18:15:59 -0600

After a long buildup, Riverdale premiered last night on the CW. "The Rivers Edge" clearly won me over, but how did it fare with other Archie fans? I asked my fellow Archie fans last night what they thought, and the answers may surprise you…

"It was MEH… didn't hate it… didn't love it… Dawson's Creek for the new generation. I also feel it's not aimed at me a classic Archie fan. Not entirely sure the producers or company cares if fans of the classic Archie like it anyway. DVR is set but it wont be a have to watch it" Sean Allen, Facebook

"Betty and Veronica's friendship felt real. Archie seemed to be a sweet guy that just can't make up his mind about the women in his life. Cheryl was the mean girl I wanted to see, but not so mean that she became unlikable. I thought Kevin was often the voice of the audience and was very enjoyable." Jimmy Autry, Facebook

"I thought I was really going to hate it… and I didn't, I ended up being pleasantly surprised for the most part. It was a first episode so it had a lot of characters to introduce and plot to set up. I am excited to see where it goes!" Marc Goldberg, Facebook

"My take is that this is a fairly good, but typical CW type teen oriented show that has the clever hook of using character names from a well known comics universe." Rick Boyer, Facebook

"Outside of Marvel and D.C., Archie has had the longest running success while keeping the same formulas. Riverdale is what Archie needed to bring back the fans that outgrew these stories, and to also rope in new fans. They don't truly realize the subtle impacts these characters have had on pop culture while staying in the background." Archie Lewallen, Twitter

"It's tone deaf to its core audience. In the world we are in we don't need more darkness. Twin Peaks this is not, no matter how hard it tries." Bobby Crogan, Twitter

"I enjoyed it. It's much more interesting than the reboot comics, the story moves way faster, and it's more edgy and less bland. The show has a much brighter look than the bland reboot comics and in a way feels more old school comics than new. The actors all did a great job." Chris Collins, Facebook

Overall reactions have been good. A few people commented they were boycotting the show, or that they felt very alienated since it wasn't classic Archie. These points and valid and important, but I firmly believe in order to grow as a company Archie needs to do something different. A number of my friends who were not familiar with Archie comics thought the show was smart and fun, and definitely worth watching.