Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again

Before the TV show, there was this TV movie, and it was a pretty good one, with excellent casting, particularly Christopher Rich as Archie, Lauren Holly as Betty and Sam Whipple as "Jughead". There are also two familiar TV faces: David Doyle (Bosley on "Charlie's Angels") and James Noble (Governor Gatling on "Benson") as Mr. Weatherby the high school principal and Mr. Lodge, Veronica's wealthy father, respectively. There were some really entertaining moments, like the crazy car ride (courtesy of Mr. Lodge's unscrupulous chauffeur), Jughead and son performing a dance routine to an Archie's song turned to rap, and Archie finding himself a real ladies' man, as a suddenly seductive Betty shows up at his motel room, where he has to hide her from an equally sexy Veronica, and then keep them both out of sight of his fiancée, who pays a surprise visit! There are serious moments as well, since the famous Pop's Chocolate Shoppe is about to be torn down, courtesy of both Mr. Lodge and Reggie Mantle (Gary Kroeger), and lawyer Archie has to present the case in court. Meanwhile, a divorced jughead is having trouble communicating with his son (Billy Corben), while Veronica has a lot of issues with her father, as well as unresolved feelings for Archie, as does Betty (despite having a boyfriend), and all are connected to the town where their 15th high school reunion is being celebrated. Worth watching, but don't expect the big romantic question to be resolved!

I just watched this on Tubi for the first time. I like that the characters are on point with the way they are portrayed in the comic. It's funny but also pretty corny which is very accurate to the comics, as is the plot. However, it was a little boring. The Riverdale tv show on Netflix is better in many ways but I hate that it is such a stretch from the comic which I know and love from my childhood. I always thought they should use twins to play Betty and Veronica who are wearing different wigs. Archie and Jughead were not very handsome in the comic and they certainly picked the correct actors for that too.