What May Cause Riverdale to be a Hit?
Teen drama
What is the CW known for? Well, now it's more of superhero shows, but it used to be teen drama. It wasn't all that long ago when The Vampire Diaries was big. In fact, it was really only last season where the show was no longer big, and that was probably due to a major cast member departure more than anything else. This show could bring back much of that audience, and be the CW's next big hit.
Promotion
The CW has gone crazy with promoting Riverdale. When I tune in to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend every Friday, I see many Riverdale promos. Since The Vampire Diaries has been airing the last two weeks, I assume that it got a lot of Riverdale promotion as well, and I think that the audience of The Vampire Diaries are very likely to be interested in Riverdale.
What May Cause Riverdale to be a Miss for the CW?
Everything's been on hiatus (except low-rated shows)
The majority of the CW's line-up has been off the air until this week. The only shows that haven't are their Friday shows, and their fall failures of No Tomorrow and Frequency. So, while the show has been promoted a lot, how many people have really seen that promotion?
Where are the superheros?
The CW was the network for this show three years ago. But the times have changed, and now the network is the super hero network. Is there still room for this type of show on the network? I don't know.
The CW chose No Tomorrow and Frequency over this
The CW's two new fall shows failed, and it's not hard to see why. No Tomorrow was supposed to be like Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but it lacked the compelling lead character that those two shows have, and it didn't have anything like the heart of Jane the Virgin or the exploring of mental health issues of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Meanwhile, Frequency simply does not belong on the network, but it ended up in the fall unlike the shows like Containment, The Messengers, and Cult, which similarly were out-of-place on the CW. Since the network chose to air those shows in the fall over Riverdale, maybe they have a reason to think it won't do well.
What to Expect for Riverdale?
While the CW's new show priorities concern me, I think that the teen drama and promotion factors will win out, and Riverdale will perform well.
Which factors do you think will have the most effect in causing Riverdale to be a hit or a miss? Leave your thoughts in the comments!