maninahat
Since: Apr, 2009
05/07/2017 00:00:00
I think it would have been better to talk more about the show itself, rather than the lead up to its production. The production history certainly might explain why it might not be good, but a review is meant to explain in what way the show isn\'t good.
Also, you taking issue with Josie and the Pussycats being black is a bit disconcerting, especially without any elaboration on that point.
Book me today! I also review weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs.
Cindylover1969
(Private)
05/11/2017 00:00:00
Amour is just trying (and failing miserably) to be funny, don\'t worry about it.
penguinist
Since: Nov, 2015
11/06/2017 00:00:00
Oh, good, I\'m not the only one bothered by that comment.
Leave a Comment:
Why Riverdale was a big let-down...
(sigh...)
I feel bad for Riverdale as a whole, and even though I'm not really a fan of the Archie Comics, I was looking forward to this series until shakeups ruined everything.
It all goes back to October 2014, when J. J. Abrams, reportedly a die-hard fan of the Archie Comics, pitched a stealth adaptation of the comic books to Fox, but it ended up going nowhere until July 2015, when it moved to ABC.
Feeling that network TV wasn't making teen dramas anymore, Abrams pitched it as being set five years after Archie and his friends have graduated high school, but ABC wanted it to be more faithful to the source material, as then-president Paul Lee confessed that the Alphabet network "hadn't tried their hand at teen dramas before." The original title, "Homecoming", also had to be changed due to the new Spider-Man film having a title with that name.
Then, Lee resigned, with Channing Dungey taking over as the network's new president, and she decided that Riverdale was not the right fit for ABC. And even though it could have been a better fit for ABC's sister cable channel Freeform, the Alphabet punted it to The CW instead, and J. J. Abrams pulled out for economic reasons. That's right, Abrams just ruined his own life-long dream of making an Archie Comics TV show.
Not only that, but one of the actors in the pilot, namely Victoria Justice, who played Veronica Lodge, was forced to leave the project due to her NBC drama Chicago Med getting picked up for a second season. I was hoping that either Sam Raimi or Kevin Williamson would take over as executive producer of the show, but, in the end...
...it was Greg Berlanti, creator of the Arrowverse, who was named the new EP of Riverdale, which was really shocking to me. When I finally saw the premiere last January, it was just plain atrocious. Poor acting, lame subplots, and even horrid casting, especially with Josie and the Pussycats, who in the show are all black, this was not the kind of Archie drama I had looked forward to. And with Sabrina likely appearing in season two, I fear this series will fall into the Sci Fi Ghetto.
I give the show 1 1/2 stars out of five.