The 1978 ‘Archie’ TV Special Exists, Is Even Weirder Than Expected [Video]

I'm not exactly an Archie Comics expert, but I'm a big enough fan of Riverdale's favorite teenagers that I like to think I know about the more obscure bits of Archie media out there. I know about the Riverdale and Back Again movie where Lauren Holly plays a grown-up Betty Cooper and I've even seen the obscure Archie sitcom pilot from the '60s, but every now and then, I run across something I've never even heard of. Case in point: The 1978 Archie Situation Comedy Musical Variety Show special that aired on TV before being lost to the sands of time.

Fortunately, comic book media historian Derek Crabbe has unearthed a copy, and is here to tell you all about how we almost got David Caruso as Archie and explain a bit where Archie and Betty are very eager to lose their virginity. Check it out below!

There's a lot to be weirded out by in this special, but I appreciate Crabbe going all out to point out how Jughead's joke about being the unwanted child of divorce conflicts with established Riverdale continuity.

[via @bionicbigfoot]