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“Riverdale” will keep exploring the mysteries of its characters and the title town in 2017-18



The CW on Tuesday handed out a second-season renewal for the show, a moody, murder-mystery take on the classic Archie Comics characters. The pickup comes six episodes into its first season.

It’s the first CW rookie to earn a spot in next season’s lineup — no surprise, given it’s performed measurably better than fellow first-year shows “Frequency” and “No Tomorrow.” “Riverdale” is averaging a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 1.16 million viewers the night it airs. A week of DVR and on-demand viewing pushes the show up to 0.8 and 2 million viewers.

Both “Frequency” and “No Tomorrow” averaged 0.3 ratings during their fall runs and were not big gainers in delayed viewing.

“Riverdale” joins seven veteran CW shows — “Arrow,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “The Flash,” “Jane the Virgin,” “Legends of Tomorrow,” “Supergirl” and “Supernatural” — on the network’s schedule for next season. The net has yet to make a call on “The 100”; “The Originals” and “iZombie” premiere in the coming weeks.

“Riverdale” was created by Robert Aguirre-Sacasa, who’s also the chief creative officer of Archie Comics. Greg Berlanti — whose company is behind about half the network’s lineup — is among the executive producers.

K.J. Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Luke Perry, Marisol Nichols, Madchen Amick, Ashleigh Murray and Sarah Habel star.