Riverdale spent its final season back in the 1950s, but it almost hopped its way through the rest of the 20th century, too. “Originally, whe
“Originally, when we pitched the season,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tells TVLine, “one of the ideas that we pitched was that the first 13 episodes would be in the ’50s, and then starting around Episode 14 or so, we would start moving in time. So Episode 14 would be set in the ’60s, Episode 15 would be set in the ’70s, and then the ’80s, the ’90s… kind of working through to the present day.”
But “it sort of became clear” that, in terms of the show’s budget, all that time-hopping “was not in the realm” of possibility, the EP notes. Plus, Riverdale had already done “a more elaborate time travel, time-jumping plot” in Season 6, and “the writers and the cast and the crew, we were having such a fun time in the ’50s… We thought we would just continue telling the domestic, personal, romantic coming-of-age stories that we tell, and then move everyone back at the end.”
wait, what? your third-rate teen drama in its 7th season on a dying almost-network didn't have enough budget to [checks notes] convert all of your sets and costuming to the 1950s, then convert them again several more times to cover several other decades, and then convert them back to their original form in the present day one more time for good measure???
"wait, what? your third-rate teen drama in its 7th season on a dying almost-network didn't have enough budget to [checks notes] convert all of your sets and costuming to the 1950s, then convert them again several more times to cover several other decades, and then convert them back to their original form in the present day one more time for good measure???"
And he would have known this far before he started writing the season. Plenty of time to know what he could afford to do. No one at the network cut his budget while he was halfway through writing the season.
This, "We were gonna do [x thing], but the mean, stingy network meant we had to change course halfway through the season and not do the shit we promised we were going to do while the season was already airing!" lie has already worn thin.
People hated the season, Roberto, which means they hated what you did. What you chose to do, because you thought the 50s would be peachy keen, and didn't give a fuck what anyone else (including viewers) thought. The reactions of the aforementioned viewers should be clear to you by now.
That means the destruction of your own show is on...still you, buddy.
Dude - maybe if you hadn't spent so much money on stupid RiverVale and the "superhero" special effects bullshit in Season 6, and if you hadn't let Ted and Evan take over and ruin everything and drive viewers and advertisers away, maybe you would have had the money to do a decent Season 7. Face it, you fucked up.
Riverdale spent its final season back in the 1950s, but it almost hopped its way through the rest of the 20th century, too. “Originally, whe
“Originally, when we pitched the season,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tells TVLine, “one of the ideas that we pitched was that the first 13 episodes would be in the ’50s, and then starting around Episode 14 or so, we would start moving in time. So Episode 14 would be set in the ’60s, Episode 15 would be set in the ’70s, and then the ’80s, the ’90s… kind of working through to the present day.”
But “it sort of became clear” that, in terms of the show’s budget, all that time-hopping “was not in the realm” of possibility, the EP notes. Plus, Riverdale had already done “a more elaborate time travel, time-jumping plot” in Season 6, and “the writers and the cast and the crew, we were having such a fun time in the ’50s… We thought we would just continue telling the domestic, personal, romantic coming-of-age stories that we tell, and then move everyone back at the end.”
wait, what? your third-rate teen drama in its 7th season on a dying almost-network didn't have enough budget to [checks notes] convert all of your sets and costuming to the 1950s, then convert them again several more times to cover several other decades, and then convert them back to their original form in the present day one more time for good measure???
"wait, what? your third-rate teen drama in its 7th season on a dying almost-network didn't have enough budget to [checks notes] convert all of your sets and costuming to the 1950s, then convert them again several more times to cover several other decades, and then convert them back to their original form in the present day one more time for good measure???"
And he would have known this far before he started writing the season. Plenty of time to know what he could afford to do. No one at the network cut his budget while he was halfway through writing the season.
This, "We were gonna do [x thing], but the mean, stingy network meant we had to change course halfway through the season and not do the shit we promised we were going to do while the season was already airing!" lie has already worn thin.
People hated the season, Roberto, which means they hated what you did. What you chose to do, because you thought the 50s would be peachy keen, and didn't give a fuck what anyone else (including viewers) thought. The reactions of the aforementioned viewers should be clear to you by now.
That means the destruction of your own show is on...still you, buddy.
Was it just me who didn't think Betty looked surprised at seeing her ex high school sweetheart show up in her bedroom? Like perhaps Jughead has been visiting her before.
Truthfully, the finale cemented Bughead as soulmates imo. He was her special friend, the angel that lead her down memory lane and gave her one last happy moment, the one who took her where she wanted to be in her hereafter, and the narrator/writer of her story. I think it being beanie!Jug was also very pointed. She never trusted or loved anyone else more than her hs boyfriend, or it would've been someone else to lead her through that journey.
They're OURS now - forever. Bughead was integral in establishing Riverdale as a fan-favorite show, they won awards and they are still clearly beloved by a majority of the RD fandom. Sadly, they were disrespected by the stupid writers of this show and Riverdale nosedived in popularity and became a dumpster fire as a result, yet Bughead brought many of us together in friendship and they inspired some amazing posts and fan fics! I have regrets (as does Bughead, clearly), but I'm so proud and happy to be a member of this wonderful community!
Where do you think it all went wrong with Riverdale?
honestly, part of me is like, the show's over and nothing but fandom matters. so who cares?
the other part of me loves to complain about Riverdale and will continue to do so until the day I die in the parking lot of Michael's Diner in Montgomeryville, PA at the age of 86. so, long-winded answer under the cut
I'm tempted to say it's the s4 b*rchie kiss. It was so wildly out of character for both Betty and Archie that it's laughable. You know how you can tell when something is just blatantly OOC with no justification? They...don't justify it. They find ways to dance around any interaction that might offer clarification. They mute the reactions of the characters who should be devastated by it. And then they jump ahead 7 years so it's easier to just handwave it away as something that happened a long time ago.
but the thing is, I did keep watching after that. I thought: okay, at least we should get an exes-to-lovers arc out of this, which is one of my favorite tropes. there is no way they would spend 4 seasons developing Bughead as this loving, supportive, communicative, sexy, and almost-unbelievably-compatible couple just to tear them apart and never do anything with that dynamic again. maybe it'll be even sweeter seeing them come back together after so much hurt and longing.
boy was i wrong!!!!!!!!!
so, the episode that actually made me stop watching for good, with the exception of some standalones like The Jughead Paradox and the finale, was the s5 musical. that was when i realized that this team of writers was 100% willing, maybe even eager, to completely drop storylines they themselves had been building over the course of a season - do a 180 with all of the characterization and relationships - and then act as though the buildup they wrote never even happened.
in this case, i'm specifically talking about the Bughead reunion storyline they dropped in s5. i'm not going to pretend like it was a GREAT buildup - and it was mostly on Jughead's side, Betty's character in s5 was basically an emotionless misery bot that had sex sometimes - but it was there. Jughead told Tabitha he had unresolved feelings around Betty. that's followed by an entire episode that lays out Betty & Jug's time jump relationship, and how Jughead still believes she's the one who saves him from himself. they work on a case together, they start opening up to one another. Jughead's so worried about her he can't eat.
and then...you know what happens.
(i'll also note here that there was random bts stuff that strongly indicated the musical ep storyline had a drastic last-minute rewrite: lili tweeted a blue dress, suggesting the song with that line was meant for her character; RAS said cole had to do last-minute recording sessions; supposedly crew members have confirmed this was the case, too. since none of it's 100% confirmed you can take it all with a grain of salt, but i believe it.)
it was so fucking insulting as a viewer to give my time and attention to a show made by people who would not only randomly drop the threads they set up, but torpedo them altogether, and then behave like the fans are the ones somehow at fault for expecting a story that actually follows through on its own emotional and plot beats. we're just shippers, so our opinions are dumb and biased! it's just a tv show, so who cares! get over it!
so, i stopped watching, because i knew they would continue to write without any thought or respect for their characters or their audience, and therefore inevitably write themselves into another corner. and, shocker, i was right. they did it again, whisking everyone away to the 1950s because actually resolving any of the scenarios they set up was ToO hArD. why bother when you could just make every single character Righteously Angry and Incurably Horny all the time, lecture the audience about social issues that have already been mainstream progressive for the last several decades, and call it a "love letter" to your fans?
That sudden 360 complete turnaround at the end of Season 5 after that great 5 x 17 episode, with the stupid Jabitha Hey #3 duet that was obviously meant for Bughead, was the DUMBEST SHIT EVER. It literally made me sick and I'll never, ever forgive the writers for the sudden bullshit switches to BA and JT at the end of Season 5. Lawdhammercy, I'm angry again.
None of y’all are allowed to go anywhere, mind you. We haven’t yet had all the Thoughts. Our creators aren’t done, and I actually feel like the end of the show means everyone is more free?
Plus the joy of finding new fixations together. So. Park it. 😘❤️
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