If you watch a lot of TV, you know shows that are trying way too hard to be like every single one of your favorite shows meshed together come along far too often. Rarely do any of them achieve what they’re actually reaching for—to make you feel nostalgic for shows of the past and grateful that a new series has arrived to take their place. But there are exceptions—The CW’s Riverdale is one of them.
Since it just premiered last night, I’ve only seen one episode of Riverdale—a dark and twisted take on the classic Archie Comics—but already I can list more things that make it worth watching than your average new show. It feels like a very familiar combination of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Veronica Mars. A teen soap with a deep fog of mystery surrounding it (and more literally, the town), the pilot has already shown us the series is not afraid to approach every classic high school drama trope there is: murder, love triangles, illegal activities TV parents all get involved in at one point or another and the misguided teacher-student affair it could definitely do without.
A few characters in particular show promise. Veronica Lodge seems like she’s stolen more than a few pages out of Blair Waldorf’s playbook. Cole Sprouse’s Jughead, though he’s only appeared in a few brief scenes, is a character I’m dying to know more about. Where does he fit in with the rest of the Riverdale High crowd? Then there’s Cheryl Blossom, the crazy AF queen bee whose brother’s shady death looms large.
The only downside I can see to Riverdale so far is that it’s not bingeable. The premise is tailor made for watching every episode of the first season in a matter of days, but alas The CW is forcing us to settle for the standard one-episode-per-week formula that networks are so keen to preserve. Nevertheless, I still suggest you hop on this bandwagon before you get left behind.