Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again premiered on NBC in May of 1990 and found its way to home video shortly thereafter.
Comics were a big deal in 1990. Batman had gone boffo the year before, comic book sales were breaking records, The Flash was about to premiere that September, and everyone was speculating as to which four-colour character was going to be the next big hit. Punisher? Captain America? Brenda Starr? Archie? Yep, even Archie got some live action.
In this made-for-TV movie starring Christopher Rich, Lauren Holly and Karen Kopins, the whole Archie gang gets dragged into the burgeoning 90's as neurotic 30-something yuppies looking for a bit of deconstruction. This was mostly geared towards grownup-ish fans of the comics (c’mon, who didn’t go through an Archie phase, even for just a couple of weeks) as well as fans of the classic 60's Filmation show. Unfortunately, the pilot wasn’t picked up and the flick ended up buried on VHS.
It’s a niche byproduct of a bygone era, but I’ve always had fond memories of Archie’s very double-digestible return to Riverdale. I think anyone with a passing curiosity about this time capsule will find Jughead’s rap rendition of ‘Sugar Sugar’ worth the price of the rental alone. -Pop