NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.
You probably expected this to be another Halloween-related review, didn't you? Well, I'm not in a particularly Halloween-y mood this week for several reasons, so instead you're getting this. Hey, it's MY blog.
I've never read any of the Archie comic books. I'm not a very big comic book reader in general. So I probably wouldn't be able to tell you how accurate any of the TV shows are to the comic. I also probably wouldn't be the most qualified to review any of the TV shows either, but, well, here we are.
The Archie Show is the creation of the good folks at Filmation. Premiering on CBS in September 1968, the show received one season of seventeen episodes. A year before the show's premiere, Filmation's agent Irv Wilson approached John Goldwater about licensing his comics, including Archie. After they worked something out (and filled in Filmation founder Lou Schiemer, who didn't even know what Archie was), they presented the idea to the daytime programming executive at CBS, Fred Silverman. They loved it, mostly because so many other cartoons at the time were being protested by parent-run organizations who thought they were too violent for kids or whatever. They couldn't possibly find anything to complain about in Archie, could they?
All of the characters from the comic were featured in The Archie Show... well, at least the main characters, like I said I've never read the comic books so I don't know for sure. You had Archie (voiced by Dallas McKennon), of course, the redhead leader of the gang. Blonde Betty (Jane Webb) and black-haired Veronica (also Jane Webb) were both head over heels in love with Archie. Jughead (Howard Morris) liked to eat. Hot Dog (Dallas McKennon) was Jughead's pet sheepdog. And Reggie (John Erwin) was a massive tool who you wondered why the others hung out with. The show's episodes usually consisted of two eight-minute stories, a "Dance of the Week" segment, a musical number, and a quick segment starring Jughead. Eventually, the show gained a segment starring Sabrina the Teenage Witch and was renamed The Archie Comedy Hour. Then it was renamed again to Archie's Funhouse before being taken off the air entirely.
Is The Archie Show any good? Let's find out, shall we? We're going to watch the sixth episode of the show. Come on, let's go, with The Archie Show!
