Missing the target. By The 100 Unpleasant River valleycan’t every TV couple hold the landing when it comes to selling a believable love story.
Fans of the iconic Archie Comics were in for a wild ride when The CW adapted the story into a teen drama. The series, which premiered in 2017, followed a group of friends who come together to uncover the dark secrets in their town. Along the way, the four core characters ended up in various love triangles.
According to maker Roberto Aguirre-Sacasahe wanted to introduce a coherent story that did not incite the audience to divide the group of friends.
“It was much more important to me that Betty and Veronica were real friends, not bitchy frenemies,” he explained to The cover in 2017. “The truth is that Archie, Betty, and Veronica will all have romantic storylines that don’t lock us into the love triangle — at least not during Season 1.”
Aguirre-Sacasa noted that the original comics led to major changes in his own stories. “There’s a reason the comic books have been around for 75 years,” he continued. “There’s a reason even shows that aren’t Riverdale have love triangles. That will always be part of it, but it’s not my bag. I don’t want Betty and Veronica fighting over Archie. The comic book has done that, there are fresher ways to tell that story.
The showrunner added, “In the series finale, we will finally answer the question. If Betty and Veronica even care about Archie at that point, they’ll do so as friends, but they won’t wait for him to make his decision.
In the meantime, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series had his own issues with the relationship that was central to the show. Viewers were meant to fall in love with Ricky (Joshua Bassett) and Nini (Olivia Rodrigo) – until the duo got back together in the season one finale. Since rekindling their romance, Ricky and Nini couldn’t go to a place that felt right for them and eventually broke up.
Creator Tim Federle weighed in on the creative decision to pull the plug on Ricky and Nini as a couple.
“I was really happy that we got the chance to tell the story of a healthy breakup before it got really bad, something I didn’t really have an example of in the mass media when I was growing up,” he said. Decide in July 2021. “One of the fundamental truths of living normally, but certainly being young, is that just when you get things where you want them, something changes. We wanted to tell stories that showed how people deal with it, instead of letting everything go the way they dreamed it would.”
During Season 3, Nini made the move to California following Rodrigo’s off-screen success in her music career. Ricky, for his part, faced his feelings for Gina (Sofia Wylie) after several seasons of uncertainty.
“Ricky and Gina are so much fun to write for, and these two characters understand each other like no one else can. They both share a lot. They actually have a lot in common,” Federle stated Entertainment tonight after the season 3 finale in September 2022 showed the pair sharing a kiss. “Cliffhangers are fun, but sometimes you have to breathe. I felt that for what the fans have been through for the last three seasons, at least for the Gina-Ricky fans, it was time to let the world win a little bit.
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