Riverdale

Riverdale is a CW network teen drama series based on the characters by Archie Comics which premiered on January 26, 2017.

Plot
As a new school year begins, the town of Riverdale is reeling from the recent, tragic death of high school golden boy Jason Blossom and nothing feels the same.

Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) is still the all-American teen, but the summer’s events made him realize that he wants to pursue a career in music and not follow in his dad’s footsteps despite the sudden end of his forbidden relationship with Riverdale’s young music teacher, Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel).

Now Archie has no one to mentor him, certainly not singer Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray), who is only focused on her band, the soon-to-be-world-famous Pussycats. It’s all weighing heavily on Archie’s mind as is his fractured friendship with budding writer and fellow classmate Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse).

Meanwhile, girl-next-door Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) is anxious to see her crush, Archie after being away all summer, but she’s not quite ready to reveal her true feelings to him. And Betty’s nerves, which are hardly soothed by her overbearing mother Alice (Mädchen Amick), aren’t the only thing holding her back.

When a new student, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), arrives in town from New York with her mother Hermione (Marisol Nichols), there’s an undeniable spark between Veronica and Archie, even though Veronica doesn’t want to risk her new friendship with Betty by making a play for Archie. And then there’s Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), Riverdale’s Queen Bee is happy to stir up trouble amongst Archie, Betty and Veronica, but Cheryl is keeping secrets of her own. What, exactly, is she hiding about the mysterious death of her twin brother, Jason?

Riverdale may look like a quiet, sleepy town, but there are dangers in the shadows.

Note (summary from the CW press release)

Cast
Main Cast Recurring Cast Guest Cast
 * K. J. Apa as Archibald "Archie" Andrews
 * Lili Reinhart as Elizabeth "Betty" Cooper
 * Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge
 * Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones
 * Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge
 * Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom
 * Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy
 * Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper
 * Luke Perry as Frederick "Fred" Andrews:
 * Casey Cott as Kevin Keller
 * Cody Kearsley as Marmaduke "Moose" Mason
 * Ross Butler as Reginald "Reggie" Mantle
 * Sarah Habel as Miss Geraldine Grundy
 * Lochlyn Munro as Hal Cooper
 * Ashanti Bromfield as Melody Valentine
 * Hayley Law as Valerie Brown
 * Olivia Ryan Stern as Tina Patel
 * Caitlin Mitchell-Markovitch as Ginger Lopez
 * Kyle Stehura as Dilton Doiley
 * Robin Givens as Sierra McCoy
 * Trevor Stines as Jason Blossom
 * Nathalie Boltt as Penelope Blossom
 * Barclay Hope as Cliff Blossom
 * Tiera Skovbye as Polly Cooper
 * Colin Lawrence as Coach Clayton
 * Jordan Calloway as Chuck Clayton
 * Peter James Bryant as Mr. Waldo Weatherbee
 * Martin Cummins as Sheriff Keller
 * Alvin Sanders as Pop Tate
 * Tom McBeath as Smithers
 * Shannon Purser as Ethel Muggs
 * Skeet Ulrich as FP Jones
 * Rob Raco as Joaquin
 * Raúl Castillo as Oscar
 * Molly Ringwald as Mary Andrews

Reception
The first season of "Riverdale" has received generally positive reviews from critics.

On Rotten Tomatoes, it has fresh rating of 88% based on 40 reviews with a weighted average of 6.71/10.

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 normalized score of 67 out of 100 based on 35 critics, (indicating "generally favorable reviews").

TVLine gave the series a "B+" saying, "Riverdale actually turns out to be an artfully crafted, instantly engaging teen soap with loads of potential."