The Archie Show
1 9 6 8 - 1 9 6 9 (USA)
Adapted from the comic book
creation of cartoonist Bob Montana and John Goldwater, Archie and the
whole gang from Riverdale High came to Saturday morning TV in the USA
in the late 60s and stayed through various incarnations for almost 10
years.
The Archie Show was the
first of several TV incarnations of the beloved comic book series,
which began in the 1940s. The popular show (which seemed to change
titles every season) focused on a group of teenagers who, despite
their wildly different personalities, still preferred to hang out
together.
The main character in the group
was the perpetually youthful and red-headed all-American nice guy
Archie Andrews. The object of his affection was primarily the
dark-haired beauty Veronica Lodge, who was wealthy and too aware of
her devastating looks. Competing with Archie for Veronica's
affection was the equally self-absorbed Reggie Mantle.
Jughead Jones was Archie's
eternally hungry (yet skinny!) best friend, who had a pathological
fear of girls and so played the cynical bystander while the other
boys actively pursued Veronica. The other female in the cast was
Betty Cooper, the blonde girl-next-door, who was Veronica's best
friend/ worst enemy in the ongoing competition to be Archie's best
girl.
Other key characters were
Riverdale High School staff members Miss Grundy (homeroom teacher),
Mr Weatherbee (the Principal) and Coach Kleats; and class-mates
Big Moose (the school 'jock'), Dilton Doily (the school 'brain') and
Jughead’s pursuer, Big Ethel. The gang were usually also accompanied
by Hot Dog, Jughead's big, white sheepdog. When the kids weren't
riding around in Archie's old car or eating at Pop's Chock'lit shop,
they were singing groovy tunes in their rock band called,
appropriately, The Archies.
In the real world, The
Archies were a group of studio musicians while the voices behind
the singing cartoon characters were vocalists Ron Dante, Toni Wine and
Andy Kim, who were later called upon for touring purposes. Everything's
Archie (the theme song to the show) is just one of the hits by the
musical group that scored 5 top ten hits including the number one
song, Sugar Sugar which spent four weeks at the top of the US
charts in August/September 1969.
The Archie Show was
followed by The Archie Comedy Hour (1969 - 1970) and in various
forms the show lasted through the 1980s.
Not to be confused with The Archers!
|
