America, your cries have been heard. Faced with an ever-expanding landscape of comic book-inspired television, you said, “We don’t want another superhero TV show!” You were kind of making a scene, so we took you outside to speak somewhere a little more private. You continued by saying, “We want Archie! We want Betty! We want Veronica!” It was getting hard to hear you through all the tears and spittle flying like shrapnel from your face, but we definitely heard you eke out, “We want Jughead, damn it!” Well, it seems that your outpouring of emotion was well warranted because Archie and the gang are coming to television in the Archie Comics-inspired Riverdale.

In a press release, Archie Comics revealed that Fox ordered the new one-hour drama series from Warner Bros. Studios and producer Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Flash). The show will be written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who is largely responsible for the rejuvenated interest in Archie thanks to his incredibly inventive and surprisingly spooky comic book series Afterlife with Archie (one of our top 10 comics of 2013) and the excellent new Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

According to the press release, Rivderdale will offer a “bold, subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, exploring the surrealistic twists of small-town life plus the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade.” Darkness and weirdness, you say? Could there be an eerie Pleasantville undercurrent to the world of Riverdale? Or maybe Twin Peaks, but with a hormonally-charged teenaged love triangle between Archie, Veronica, and Betty?

In addition to the infamous love triangle trio, the press release also promised appearances by the hamburger-loving Jughead Jones, Archie’s longtime rival Reggie Mantle, and “popular gay character” Kevin Keller. But that’s not all! You can also expect to see other characters from the Archie Comics library like Josie and the Pussycats strut their stuff into Riverdale‘s weird slice of suburbia. Considering Berlanti’s pedigree with shows like Arrow and Dawson’s Creek, and Aguirre-Sacasa’s work on everything from Glee to Afterlife with Archie to the American Psycho musical, they seem like the perfect team to bring this world to life and make it relevant for a new generation of viewers. That being said, Riverdale sounds good, but where’s our Afterlife with Archie movie, damn it?!

[HT: Archie Comics]