Riverdale is a reboot of the malt-drinking, girl-juggling, All-American, Archie Andrews and his ne'er-do-well classmates.
Not invested in the Archie mythos, I wanted to read up on the characters and their personalities and the paths they've taken. There have been some drastic (and some not so drastic) changes among the group to better fit them into the teen drama setting that is the CW.
At its core, the CW is teen fodder. Archie, respectfully, is full of teen drama; the greatest example of this is the ongoing love triangle shared between 3 of the main characters.
Where it (originally) deviates from the usual CW ingredients is its playfully soft humor and it's modest, every-day, inaction. Archie, for all intents and purposes, saw its best live action revival under the guise of the long-lasting show, Saved By The Bell. With a little steamy drama added, Riverdale could've become, based on the success of SBtB, a very popular addition to the CW network if it followed its own formula with guidance from the NBC hit show and the network's own flare for teen angst.
Instead, Riverdale took the characters made famous from the comics and attempted to update and tweak some personalities, adding secrets and flaws and something unfamiliar to the students and characterizations of the students; murder and mystery.
Whether this works out well for the network and the show is not for me to predict; the gamble has already set itself in motion. The biggest mystery to me however, is not who killed the twin (even though I continue to tune in each week to find out) but, rather, why did they choose to use the Riverdale gang in this setting.
If Archie is anything, it's a group of teens whose personalities write themselves. Archie is the lovable dope (Zack Morris) Jughead, the quirky best friend (Screech), Reggie (Slater) and so on. The show could've have used these archetypes, some of the most common traits in characters, to write itself in any setting, even doing so under the murder mystery premise and not called the school Riverdale. Not one person, I believe, would've said that these characters too closely resemble the Archie gang had no character used these names.
I will lay out the (sometimes obvious) options the CW had that could've went in place of Riverdale: Murder at the Malt Shoppe if they were gunning for mystery.
Archie is Hanna-Barbera
First, I'll start with the most obvious.
The Scooby Gang
It was these 4, and their little dog, too, that started all the mystery-solving cartoon teen teams. While the teen mystery didn't start with them, the popularity boom of the genre certainly did. The most intricate, on-going capers came in the form of the 11th incarnation of the groups adventures, Mystery Inc. There's also a new comic book starring my favorite gang and, right now, it looks troubling. The die-hards, from what I've read, are finding it difficult to like. The sudden re-exposure, though, added to the love most have for the characters, and the well-written Mystery Inc show proving there is depth to be found in these characters, should've been all that was needed to green-light this show instead of Riverdale: Not Your Parent's Archie, Nor Your's.
The look of Shaggy irked some people, as I understand it. To me, it makes sense that the beatnik is now a hipster. Irrelevant to this is whether or not I want to head butt hipsters and tell them a burley beard does not a man, make. Velma, in order to appeal to everyone and their neighbor, could (and judging by Kevin and Moose), and would, be an easily believable lesbian; though, if I'm writing, she isn't, because she wasn't, and the best way to accept the road people take in life is to treat all situations equal and stop overcompensating.
The only trouble I see in having a live action Mystery Inc that is taken seriously by viewers is bringing Scooby-Doo to life. If I were given the golden pen, my Scoob wouldn't talk and he'd be JUST a Great Dane (with no emoji bubbles); he would be an intelligent, and scared dog that responded, almost oddly, to everything. At its core, however, this would be the story of 4 teens and not about the dog.
The show would be called Crystal Cove
Another mystery/suspense-type that H-B has had huge success with is a personal favorite that I've been wishing to see (in any live-action form) for a long time is Jonny Quest. I would absolutely love this over Beauty and Jughead: The Veronica Diaries
Originally, JQ centered around the 10(ish) year old getting caught up in the hijinks that would develop around him on account of his father's dealings with the government. It would take the involvement of his personal security, Race Bannon, Jonny, and the others within the show to right the wrongs by the episode's conclusion. Later, a reboot would age JQ and Hadji to upper-high school and add Bannon's daughter who was roughly the same age (in between, actually) as the 2. These episodes were JQ heavy and the 3 were the main characters with Bannon and Jonny's father, Dr Benton Quest, played second fiddle most of the time. Also, it was here that the characters were involved in mysteries and espionage (Moreno than the original).
This recipe is ripe for the CW in every way. Even taking them to different locations leaves less room for boredom.
In this case, unlike casting the imperfect (but lovable) Archie as an irresistible hunk to win over the (target) female audience, which was met with irritation from the (what, 22 die-hard Archie) fans that actually care enough to get angry, casting JQ as a stud can work. Even casting Hadji and DR Quest as good looking can work just fine. It is CW, after all. Race and Jessie are definitely as good looking as JQ.
Calling it (simply) Jonny Quest is the easiest answer.
Sabrina, the teenaged witch, is rumored to cameo on iArchie. The enchantress could likely spin off into her own series which, by my best guess, would be a darker, dramatic reboot of the original series, Sabrina Explains It All. This could have been the original concept but I am fully behind an introduction this way, testing the audience response before investing in a series.
Not a H-B property, although, admittedly, I don't know who owns what and to what extent, the next plausible show is ready for a reboot and fits the premise of mystery-CW far better than 9021Archie: Riverdale Place. To my displeasure, as of this writing, the fictional Nancy Drew was mentioned in the third episode of Riverdale, leaving zero room to bring this character to life in Archieverse. Had this not been the case, I think the female lead, an independent, intellectual, teen sleuth is a perfect protagonist this day and age. She could also serve to reestablish another teen (team of) sleuth detective(s) that she has worked with in the past.
The Hardy Boys, like Drew, with whom they have, as already written, shared the screen, make sense to have an ongoing mystery where each season serves to unravel a new mystery. Whereas, I can't see Riverdale by the Bell needing to work through many more mysteries that will continue to captivate an audience, the Hardy brothers are built to do this exact thing. Again, whether or not CW can, or was able to, reserve the rights to these 3 characters remains a question unanswered for me.
Here's where I begin to look desperate. I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that an insider motto of Hollywood is the saying 'What's old is new.' If that is the case, and all signs point to it, indeed, is, then why haven't we rebooted The Goonies. How spectacular would it be if the ragtag team of outcasts saw new life in an ongoing series where adventure, murder, and mystery were unveiled every week? That's a rhetorical question. Under a darker, dramatic setting, the Goonies could be an incredible hit for the targeted youth as well as bringing the nostalgic generation that may stick around to watch another show or 2. Goonies are a much more exciting ride and a ratings grabber than One Archie Hill: Hart of Archie of one were to ask me.
Lastly, and certainly the most difficult sale on this list or any, is a B-Movie that I might love just a little too much. Validating an ongoing series of Monster Squad may just result in erasing any argument that these other properties would work at all, never mind in place of Archie the Jughead Slayer.
The story of the Monster Squad is that a group of Goonie knockoffs must outwit Dracula and the monsters he has collected in order to rise up again, as they had in the past. It's corny fun and laughable even when it's not supposed to be. However, under CW, Monster Squad could be the next Supernatural (not alluding to the actual show of the same name here) success. In actuality, it could be Kid Supernatural. Maybe, then, this is best suited as cinematic reboot that is a dark reinterpretation of the B-movie made for laughs than rehashing a Supernatural storyline on the same network as SN.