John Simpson really doesn't resemble "Archie Andrews." It would have been better to have cast a teenage boy with red hair.
Too bad this couldn't have waited about a decade, because Ronnie Howard, as he looked on "Happy Days," would have been perfect in the role of "Archie."
The late Cheryl Holdridge is perfect casting as "Betty," though.. She was an original "Mouseketeer," and frequent girlfriend-type on many 1950s and early '60s sitcoms (including of "Wally" on "Leave It To Beaver").
Mary Grace Canfield played "Ralph Monroe," the female half of the inept pair (the male being Sid Melton's "Alf Monroe") of carpenters on TV's "Green Acres."
@newstart2009 Yes, Archie's mom in this pilot is Jean Van Der Pyl, the actress who voiced "Wilma Flintstone" in Hanna-Barbera's "The Flintstones," and "Rosie the Robot" in "The Jetsons."
Van Der Pyl also did a couple of guest stints on "Leave It To Beaver." One I recall is her having played the mother of "Penny Woods," one of "The Beav's" classmates, who used to torment him after "Beaver's" arch classroom nemesis, "Judy Hensler" (as played by Jeri Weil) left the show.
@newstart2009 Van Der Pyl was a fairly nice character in that "LITB" episode--I recall her offering "The Beav" a snack, and maybe a glass of ginger ale.
But in another "LITB" episode, Van Der Pyl played a snooty wife of some character visiting "The Cleaver" home. She was great in that episode, and, as I recall, the object of some humorous scorn from "June & Ward Cleaver."
@newstart2009 Alan Reed, the voice of "Fred Flintstone," actually had a more extensive TV sitcoms resume, was a regular cast member of "Life With Luigi" (adapted from the radio version), and had many guest stints as well.
I recall Reed playing an auctioneer on an episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
@newstart2009 Both Reed and Van Der Pyl resembled their animated characters of "The Flintstones"; Van Der Pyl with her hair in a bun, Reed stocky and with a big nose.
So Hanna-Barbera must have drawn the characters with their portrayers in mind.
Does anybody remember watching a live action Archies TV show in the 70's? I have a vivid memory of it but I can't find any info on it. If anybody knows what I'm talking about, would you please tell me? It's driving me crazy.
@glacier1134 Yes! I remember it too. I seem to remember thinking the Jughead character looked the part, and I'm half convinced I've seen him in other things too (albeit not recently). I think there was a musical component to it?
Yes! I thought I was the only one! It was an episode of ABC Saturday Comedy Special. 1978. If you go to the Internet movie database you'll find it. I wish it was available to watch!!
First thing I'm gonna do when I get my time machine built is to go back to '64 and make sure this gets picked up. (And make sure they make it right, cos c'mon.)
Though I wish this clip actually had Real Life Wilma in it! I don't think I've ever seen her. Now I have a quest for the night.
@pulpstress Yes, she was. The actress' name was Mary Grace Canfield, and she played Thelma Lou's cousin, "Mary Grace". I think she later had a recurring role on Green Acres.
i dunno....doesn't look that bad. i mean...and i know i'll get attacked for this...but the archie comics aren't that great. these guys didn't have much too work with
i've never read, or heard of, the Archie comic book. probably too young. but from my ignorant perspective, this sitcom seems alright, and i'd probably watch it.
There was a TV sitcom about ARCHIE called DOBIE GILLIS. Max Shulman, who created Dobie was a fan of Archie Comics. In a '40s comic, Archie is sitting next to THE THINKER statue at Riverdale High (see it in the 1940's series Archie Comics sells). Shulman copied that at the start of each episode and all the characters when he made DOBIE. Jughead is Maynard. Reggie is Chatsworth. Veronica is Thalia. Grundy is Mr. Pomfred. There's no Moose but Zelda is a combination of Betty and Dilton.
@ItsFurmania You're right! I've read the Dobie short stories and there is no Maynard, Zelda, Chatsworth, or Pomfred. They were added for the TV version. And once you add those characters and their relationships to the book's characters, bang: Archie!
I can see why this got s-canned. Too much transparent exposition by everyone, even for a pilot where they have to get all the basic relationships sketched out early. First rule is that you should SHOW, not TELL. BTW, this was still an era in which a character could use the word, "indefatigable" and not lose 100% of the (presumably young adult) audience. Try that now -- huh.
This was actually produced in 1963, as a projected series for the 1963-'64 season. If this HAD been sold to a network, William Schallert wouldn't have been able to appear as "Martin Lane" on "THE PATTY DUKE SHOW" that fall.
@fromthesidelines Yes, and that would have been a great loss. Although I'm sure "The Patty Duke Show" producers would have found another, suitable actor to portray "Martin Lane," perhaps Richard Denning, Don Porter, William Windom, or some such.
Schallert seemed to be the perennial TV dad or teacher. On "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," he played a teacher, and "Natalie Lane" (Jean Byron) a guidance counselor.
@fromthesidelines Schallert also played a teacher on at least one episode of "Leave It To Beaver," I think.
He's one of those great presences on TV sitcoms we don't see much anymore.
And his distinctive voice was also put to use on many TV commercials. I always confuse Schallert's voice with those of Casey Kasem and Mason Adams, all voice-over actors..
Roland Winters was the last actor to play Charlie Chan in the movies. William Shallert (sorry for the poor spelling) would be Patty Duke's TV dad in the earlier 60s.
If they'd cast the show better, I bet it probably would have been very popular. I would have liked it more if they had the actors from the original radio show (though for all I know they may have looked even less like the characters than this). Well, at least this doesn't have them belting out an hour-long diatribe about Swift's Premium Franks in the middle of the show...
I remember watching yet another pilot for a proposed Archie tv show. This one was in color, around 1980 or 81. Can't remember any of the actors names but I recognized the guy playing Jughead as having had a bit part in one or two episodes of Happy Days.
@griffybutt Yeah, there were TWO other Archie pilots, late 1970s. As you know, the networks used to actually show failed pilots during the summer, just to have something "new" to broadcast. One summer ABC showed a pilot with the Archie gang circa 1950s. The following summer came a pilot set in 1970s present day, with musical numbers. Casting was PERFECT and the same in both pilots. Derrel Maury's Jughead Jones is remembered to this day! Audrey Landers was Betty, redhead Dennis Bowen Archie.
Reggie is kinda cute...I dunno Archie is just so overrated...and now he's proposing to Veronica, I knew that...Poor Betty...well she should get with Reggie...Lucky guy, he'll be...
Cheryl gave up her career as an actress to marry Lance Reventlow (whose mother, Barbara Hutton, was heiress to the Woolworth fortune), after his divorce from Jill St. John, in 1964. They were together until his death in a 1972 plane crash. She later remarried, twice [Manning Post, her third husband, died in 2000], and devoted most of her time to charity and fund-raising events in her final years...
Actually, 'zkg', the original 1941 comic book incarnation (and initial newspaper strip) created by Bob Montana and John Goldwater was inspired mostly by the radio series "THE ALDRICH FAMILY" {"Henry! HENRY ALDRICH!!"/"Coming, Mother.."}; Henry Aldrich was a typical "misunderstood teen", surrounded by family and friendship problems, usually of his own making...
Seriously, though, the Archie comic books were consciously based on the 1930-1940s Andy Hardy movies, so ANY live-action version of the Riverdale gang will come across as inferior Mickey Rooney. And this pilot didn't look like a winner.
This pilot was supposed to be emulate the "ARCHIE ANDREWS" radio show of the '40s and '50s (and most of that series' writers never followed the original comic books to the letter, either).
thank you for posting this! this is so cool and weird at the same time! :D i dun think jughead was casted very well, but not too bad on ronnie, betty and archie
On the CBS series Green Acres, Canfield played the all-thumbs carpenter Ralph Monroe, who greeted fellow Hootervillians with her signature, "Howdie Doodie!"
Is it me, or does most of this crew seem woefully miscast? I mean, Mr.Weatherbee looks like a linebacker, the actresses playing Betty and Veronica look like they're in their thirties, and Miss Grundy is way too pretty...and why does Jughead have a broken nose? Plus, this show looks awfully dirivitive of concurrent sitcoms like "Dobie Gillis", which, frankly, was a more faithful adaption of "Archie" than this.
Also: Columbia Pictures made the Chic Young Blondie movie series (with Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood) from the 1930's to the 1950's.
Anyone have anymore info on Mikki Jamison ?? IMDB has very little more about her ...
Malc2311 1 month ago
@Malc2311
Mikki Jamison was the first Jean Reed on the first two seasons of Adam-12.
After that, she sort of got lost into oblivion.
MrWilliamtom 1 month ago
Schallert also appeared regularly as high school/college teacher Leander Pomfritt in "DOBIE GILLIS", 'gym'.
fromthesidelines 4 months ago
John Simpson really doesn't resemble "Archie Andrews." It would have been better to have cast a teenage boy with red hair.
Too bad this couldn't have waited about a decade, because Ronnie Howard, as he looked on "Happy Days," would have been perfect in the role of "Archie."
The late Cheryl Holdridge is perfect casting as "Betty," though.. She was an original "Mouseketeer," and frequent girlfriend-type on many 1950s and early '60s sitcoms (including of "Wally" on "Leave It To Beaver").
gymnastix 4 months ago
Mary Grace Canfield played "Ralph Monroe," the female half of the inept pair (the male being Sid Melton's "Alf Monroe") of carpenters on TV's "Green Acres."
gymnastix 4 months ago
The best line was when Jug asks : "What would we use computer for ?"
Arch : "I dont's know !"
Fast forward them to 40 years ! :)
aamrun 7 months ago
Archie is my favorite comic, I would read the whole comic book in one day when I was younger
stargazerlily86 7 months ago
Would be great to see Jean Van Der Pyl acting in this, but this is great and thank you so much for posting this...
newstart2009 7 months ago
@newstart2009 Yes, Archie's mom in this pilot is Jean Van Der Pyl, the actress who voiced "Wilma Flintstone" in Hanna-Barbera's "The Flintstones," and "Rosie the Robot" in "The Jetsons."
Van Der Pyl also did a couple of guest stints on "Leave It To Beaver." One I recall is her having played the mother of "Penny Woods," one of "The Beav's" classmates, who used to torment him after "Beaver's" arch classroom nemesis, "Judy Hensler" (as played by Jeri Weil) left the show.
gymnastix 4 months ago
@gymnastix oooh i gotta find that epidsode... This is great. Jean was wonderful. I wish she was still around :(
newstart2009 4 months ago
@newstart2009 Van Der Pyl was a fairly nice character in that "LITB" episode--I recall her offering "The Beav" a snack, and maybe a glass of ginger ale.
But in another "LITB" episode, Van Der Pyl played a snooty wife of some character visiting "The Cleaver" home. She was great in that episode, and, as I recall, the object of some humorous scorn from "June & Ward Cleaver."
gymnastix 4 months ago
@newstart2009 Alan Reed, the voice of "Fred Flintstone," actually had a more extensive TV sitcoms resume, was a regular cast member of "Life With Luigi" (adapted from the radio version), and had many guest stints as well.
I recall Reed playing an auctioneer on an episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
gymnastix 4 months ago
@newstart2009 Both Reed and Van Der Pyl resembled their animated characters of "The Flintstones"; Van Der Pyl with her hair in a bun, Reed stocky and with a big nose.
So Hanna-Barbera must have drawn the characters with their portrayers in mind.
gymnastix 4 months ago
I think Mr. Wetherbee needs to get laid really bad. He's in his office mumbling to himself about a teenage boy. :-P
bluecatky 8 months ago in playlist That Unsold...Stuff (non-GS)
Why is Weatherby acting like Alfred Hitchcock or Rod Serling?
felixjazzage 9 months ago
Maybe Jughead had Rock Hudson's kind of problems?
felixjazzage 9 months ago
Oh, look at all those zany, loveable, 34-year-old teenagers.
Prankster36 9 months ago
Jughead is supposed to be sarcastic and indifferent
celebrei 9 months ago
@celebrei yeah,and isn't he supposed to not be interested in dating?
TheSlickAndroid 8 months ago
wow the guy who plays Archie doesnt look like Archie :(
vegettoSSJ3ROCKSS 9 months ago
live action Archie? cool i never now that theres a live action show based on Archie until now :D
vegettoSSJ3ROCKSS 9 months ago
Rock Hudson definitely never had Archie's kind of trouble.
echovalley11 9 months ago
Does anybody remember watching a live action Archies TV show in the 70's? I have a vivid memory of it but I can't find any info on it. If anybody knows what I'm talking about, would you please tell me? It's driving me crazy.
glacier1134 9 months ago
@glacier1134 Yes! I remember it too. I seem to remember thinking the Jughead character looked the part, and I'm half convinced I've seen him in other things too (albeit not recently). I think there was a musical component to it?
therealtattytiara 9 months ago
@glacier1134
Yes! I thought I was the only one! It was an episode of ABC Saturday Comedy Special. 1978. If you go to the Internet movie database you'll find it. I wish it was available to watch!!
mddon65 9 months ago in playlist That Unsold...Stuff (non-GS)
@mddon65 Thanks for the info. If I ever find a copy, I'll let you know.
glacier1134 8 months ago
what hath god wrought
etn751 9 months ago
I read Archie comics all the time as a kid, and this nearly killed my memories.
codeaires 9 months ago
I'd fuck the SHIT out of Veronica!
Kindahuge 9 months ago 3
Jughead doesn't like girls. Why is he asking that chick to the dance?
NoorAlShihaby 9 months ago 3
CRACKED.
killbot4178 9 months ago
Squaresville.
lexidart 9 months ago
"Ah gee what will I use this computer machine for? I know! I'll keep my mutilation pornography on it!"
automatwinslaytracks 9 months ago 3
First thing I'm gonna do when I get my time machine built is to go back to '64 and make sure this gets picked up. (And make sure they make it right, cos c'mon.)
Though I wish this clip actually had Real Life Wilma in it! I don't think I've ever seen her. Now I have a quest for the night.
}:)
EmpressNatalie 9 months ago
... Is Jughead 30?!
jackrubyultima 9 months ago 2
the chick playing veronica is stockard channing's long lost twin
techwiz81 9 months ago
These are the most unconvincing "Teenagers" I have ever seen and I used to watch the old 90210!
archer1949 9 months ago
@archer1949 "Your Allowance against mine." Heh. More like "Alimony payment".
archer1949 9 months ago
@archer1949 I dont think any kid would be able to be as big a douchebags as the kids in this show even if they tried
imjowsef 9 months ago
Does not look that terrible at all to me... might pass as some harmless fun when you have trouble sleeping and just watch something on the telly.
andersbiro 9 months ago
Wasn't the teacher on an episode of Andy Griffith? She played Thelma Lou's comely cousin or something.
pulpstress 9 months ago
@pulpstress Yes, she was. The actress' name was Mary Grace Canfield, and she played Thelma Lou's cousin, "Mary Grace". I think she later had a recurring role on Green Acres.
rodriguez1025 9 months ago
Here's some fridge horror: Actual human beings did the acts seen in this video.
thegreatcheesedemon 9 months ago
i dunno....doesn't look that bad. i mean...and i know i'll get attacked for this...but the archie comics aren't that great. these guys didn't have much too work with
bubblegum0monkeygurl 9 months ago 2
its funny because rock hudson was gay
bassistchris2 9 months ago 5
Cracked.
That is all.
72grantorino 9 months ago
arccchiiiieeeeeeee
Kiroswan 9 months ago
Jughead is a 40 year old gay man with mental disabilities? Sounds right to me.
djday 9 months ago 2
i've never read, or heard of, the Archie comic book. probably too young. but from my ignorant perspective, this sitcom seems alright, and i'd probably watch it.
fiddlefiend 9 months ago
not baked enough for this
Megatrousers 9 months ago 2
It's nice to see Ralph from green acres in another show, but when did it have to be this?
Drakmeire 9 months ago
Archie has all the charm of a serial date rapist.
lowcomedy 9 months ago
"I bet not even Rock Hudson has problems like yours, eh Archie?"
Dear God, if only they knew how funny that was...
BigJonB36 9 months ago 14
@BigJonB36 I had to google it.... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAA
0kidavenger0 9 months ago
I don't remember Weatherbee being schizophrenic in the comic
BigJonB36 9 months ago 5
Rest in Peace Sam Whipple.
Useless2112 9 months ago
I like how they made a point to hire nobody who looks like the comic book characters.
AMVpurgatory 9 months ago
Half the "boys" had receding hairlines and the "girls" look like their biological clocks needed winding.
shortylickens69 9 months ago
Thank you Cracked.... -.-
SazVlogs 9 months ago
lolololol rock hudson certainly didnt have those kinds of problems
OcTorthed 9 months ago 6
@OcTorthed Ain't THAT the truth! LOL!!
valsadie 9 months ago
you know what? Honestly, I would watch this show
puppetmaster124 9 months ago 4
At least the intro is good.
ACluelessKid 9 months ago
"These computers are wild!"
It's like a young Christopher Walken
AntiYourFacePhD 9 months ago 3
Why does Jughead have his eyes open
ValleLator 9 months ago
I wonder how this principle would deal with drug-dealing, grafitti-spraying, gang-joining high school kids nowadays.
flipwits2 9 months ago
2:33 "you know there's good stuff in Archie"
kimsquit 9 months ago
2:33 "you know there's good stuff in Archie"
kimsquit 9 months ago
Catchy themesong though
OriginalOwlAssassin 9 months ago
Thumbs up if Cracked sent you here!
UpgradedWorld 9 months ago 258
@UpgradedWorld
I'm giving you a thumbs down just because.
etovakala 9 months ago
I like how when Archie debuts the new computing machine plans, they play the Archie theme song so you just know that Archie is about to come around.
jonathanhenrysantos 7 months ago
An electronic computing machine? wow!
1991MRjesse 9 months ago
There was a TV sitcom about ARCHIE called DOBIE GILLIS. Max Shulman, who created Dobie was a fan of Archie Comics. In a '40s comic, Archie is sitting next to THE THINKER statue at Riverdale High (see it in the 1940's series Archie Comics sells). Shulman copied that at the start of each episode and all the characters when he made DOBIE. Jughead is Maynard. Reggie is Chatsworth. Veronica is Thalia. Grundy is Mr. Pomfred. There's no Moose but Zelda is a combination of Betty and Dilton.
ItsFurmania 11 months ago
@ItsFurmania You're right! I've read the Dobie short stories and there is no Maynard, Zelda, Chatsworth, or Pomfred. They were added for the TV version. And once you add those characters and their relationships to the book's characters, bang: Archie!
valsadie 9 months ago
I can see why this got s-canned. Too much transparent exposition by everyone, even for a pilot where they have to get all the basic relationships sketched out early. First rule is that you should SHOW, not TELL. BTW, this was still an era in which a character could use the word, "indefatigable" and not lose 100% of the (presumably young adult) audience. Try that now -- huh.
50zcarsman 1 year ago
A great effort. As good as anything that made the air back then. It should have sold.
TheGuillermo519 1 year ago
Hey its Arnold the Pigs mother as a teacher
Rollman1 1 year ago
@Rollman1 l thought she looked familiar.
imthedorf1964 1 year ago
An all white show
Rollman1 1 year ago
@Rollman1 Yes here comes the Littlerock 9 Gard the school doors
Rollman1 1 year ago
Where is the rest of this? I want to see it. I never knew that there was an unsold pilot. I love this. This should have taken off!
scootergreen3 1 year ago
This was actually produced in 1963, as a projected series for the 1963-'64 season. If this HAD been sold to a network, William Schallert wouldn't have been able to appear as "Martin Lane" on "THE PATTY DUKE SHOW" that fall.
fromthesidelines 1 year ago
@fromthesidelines Yes, and that would have been a great loss. Although I'm sure "The Patty Duke Show" producers would have found another, suitable actor to portray "Martin Lane," perhaps Richard Denning, Don Porter, William Windom, or some such.
Schallert seemed to be the perennial TV dad or teacher. On "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," he played a teacher, and "Natalie Lane" (Jean Byron) a guidance counselor.
gymnastix 4 months ago
@fromthesidelines Schallert also played a teacher on at least one episode of "Leave It To Beaver," I think.
He's one of those great presences on TV sitcoms we don't see much anymore.
And his distinctive voice was also put to use on many TV commercials. I always confuse Schallert's voice with those of Casey Kasem and Mason Adams, all voice-over actors..
gymnastix 4 months ago
3:38 I thought Jughead was gay!
MarkFanboyX 1 year ago
@MarkFanboyX When he mention's Rock Hudson at 4:08....
doublemandala 1 year ago
@doublemandala Well this was back in the 60's when Rock was the heart trob of every red blooded American woman.
MarkFanboyX 1 year ago
@MarkFanboyX LMFAO!!! Me, too... LOL
BLAQBUCK 1 year ago
I don't know that Archie was on show in1960's.
DeafCub2000 1 year ago
OMG I can't believe this! I have been an avid Riverdale high fan for well over four decades and had never heard of this...
It's too bad though that this Mr. Weatherby has so much hair when the real Weatherby had a toupee with two hairs on it.
ekocentric 1 year ago
We want to see more! I knew about this pilot from the comics in 1964. What a cool thing to finally see!
rrsaga 1 year ago
Is there more? I'd love to see the pilot in its entirety!
CGAWLEY 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I dig the theme song:
Archie, never see you nappin'
Things begin to happen, when you appear
Archie, what are you up to now?
Archie, never see you waitin'
You are percolatin', always in gear
Archie, you really come on like wow!
Wow!
LOL
aggo2008 1 year ago
Comment removed
aggo2008 1 year ago
Roland Winters was the last actor to play Charlie Chan in the movies. William Shallert (sorry for the poor spelling) would be Patty Duke's TV dad in the earlier 60s.
WSenator1 1 year ago
Cheryl played Betty - but in her real life she then became like Veronica
mary32724 1 year ago
I never seen this before in the Philippines. I saw the cartoon series on RPN 9 back in the 80's now solar tv. I wish there will be a dvd like this
hilarioph 2 years ago
WHAT THE...
robsimone 2 years ago
If they'd cast the show better, I bet it probably would have been very popular. I would have liked it more if they had the actors from the original radio show (though for all I know they may have looked even less like the characters than this). Well, at least this doesn't have them belting out an hour-long diatribe about Swift's Premium Franks in the middle of the show...
akumacornflakes 2 years ago
@akumacornflakes ROFL! Swift's PREE-MIUM Franks! In the flavor-savor pack!
valsadie 9 months ago
I remember watching yet another pilot for a proposed Archie tv show. This one was in color, around 1980 or 81. Can't remember any of the actors names but I recognized the guy playing Jughead as having had a bit part in one or two episodes of Happy Days.
griffybutt 2 years ago
@griffybutt Yeah, there were TWO other Archie pilots, late 1970s. As you know, the networks used to actually show failed pilots during the summer, just to have something "new" to broadcast. One summer ABC showed a pilot with the Archie gang circa 1950s. The following summer came a pilot set in 1970s present day, with musical numbers. Casting was PERFECT and the same in both pilots. Derrel Maury's Jughead Jones is remembered to this day! Audrey Landers was Betty, redhead Dennis Bowen Archie.
valsadie 9 months ago
I love reggie! i think that he and betty should be a couple itd be the best thing eva
janachocolita 2 years ago
Reggie is kinda cute...I dunno Archie is just so overrated...and now he's proposing to Veronica, I knew that...Poor Betty...well she should get with Reggie...Lucky guy, he'll be...
shifavenus 2 years ago
no betty and jughead
Drum127 2 years ago
@shifavenus - If Reggie and Betty had gotten together, Reggie would by Lucky Guy, Betty, VERY Unlucky Girl!
WSenator1 1 year ago
wait...no reggie and jughead likes girls???
way to eff with the source material
brabon1 2 years ago
Cheryl gave up her career as an actress to marry Lance Reventlow (whose mother, Barbara Hutton, was heiress to the Woolworth fortune), after his divorce from Jill St. John, in 1964. They were together until his death in a 1972 plane crash. She later remarried, twice [Manning Post, her third husband, died in 2000], and devoted most of her time to charity and fund-raising events in her final years...
fromthesidelines 2 years ago
I consider to be a big loss in my life that this series never took off. It would have been one of my favorites
Cheryl had to renounce to be Elli mae Clampbet With the Beberly Hill Billies (Or how is weritten) to be in this show.
But then she went to mary the owner of Woolwoth.
Anyone's got more information.
jorgecubria 2 years ago 5
The only funny line in the entire clip was the Rock Hudson line--and somehow, I don't think it was supposed to be funny...
MeInTX 3 years ago
The time when this was made Rock Hudson was considered a lady's man & it was not yet known that he was gay.
So for the times it would be considered funny.
rocky0713a 2 years ago
Actually, 'zkg', the original 1941 comic book incarnation (and initial newspaper strip) created by Bob Montana and John Goldwater was inspired mostly by the radio series "THE ALDRICH FAMILY" {"Henry! HENRY ALDRICH!!"/"Coming, Mother.."}; Henry Aldrich was a typical "misunderstood teen", surrounded by family and friendship problems, usually of his own making...
fromthesidelines 3 years ago
{"Henry! HENRY ALDRICH!!"/"Coming, Mother..)
Which the credit sequence here seems to be copying,
zkg 3 years ago
Hey gang, dig that hep "electronic computing machine"! I bet it processes as much as a whole kilobyte of information an hour!
zkg 3 years ago
Ah, William Schallert, sitcom father of us all...
Seriously, though, the Archie comic books were consciously based on the 1930-1940s Andy Hardy movies, so ANY live-action version of the Riverdale gang will come across as inferior Mickey Rooney. And this pilot didn't look like a winner.
zkg 3 years ago 2
This pilot was supposed to be emulate the "ARCHIE ANDREWS" radio show of the '40s and '50s (and most of that series' writers never followed the original comic books to the letter, either).
fromthesidelines 3 years ago
Cheryl Holdridge {"Betty"}, formerly a "MICKEY MOUSE CLUB" "Mouseketeer" (1955-'58), recently passed away of lung cancer on January 6th...
fromthesidelines 3 years ago
thank you for posting this! this is so cool and weird at the same time! :D i dun think jughead was casted very well, but not too bad on ronnie, betty and archie
trideegurl2 3 years ago
If John Simpson is playing Archie, his hair should be parted in the middle, then.
BrokenLeggBilly 3 years ago
No, Jughead, Rock Hudson "didn't have that kind of trouble."
That's Mary Grace Canfield as the teacher, isn't it?
jgbennie 3 years ago
Yes and yes.
On the CBS series Green Acres, Canfield played the all-thumbs carpenter Ralph Monroe, who greeted fellow Hootervillians with her signature, "Howdie Doodie!"
visaman 3 years ago
Is it me, or does most of this crew seem woefully miscast? I mean, Mr.Weatherbee looks like a linebacker, the actresses playing Betty and Veronica look like they're in their thirties, and Miss Grundy is way too pretty...and why does Jughead have a broken nose? Plus, this show looks awfully dirivitive of concurrent sitcoms like "Dobie Gillis", which, frankly, was a more faithful adaption of "Archie" than this.
cartoonjoe 3 years ago
Obviously whoever produced this pilot never read an Archie comic book.
visaman 3 years ago 38
@visaman produced? what about the person that wrote it??
PrestonDowMusic 9 months ago
This was produced by Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems who had hits with TV versions of Dennis the Menace and Hazel (both based on comics).
heine71 3 years ago
Also: Columbia Pictures made the Chic Young Blondie movie series (with Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood) from the 1930's to the 1950's.
heine71 3 years ago
Ooooh... post the rest!
ClassicShowbiz 3 years ago
ok it is funny that i knew about this pilot today and found that the only video in youtube was uploaded yesterday :) thats luck hehe
remix84 3 years ago