25 shows to watch if you like Riverdale
By Sundi Rose
Dawson’s Creek
Fans of a certain age will remember this as their first real taste of teenage angst and precociousness. Riverdale nods to this series in its elevated language and its advanced use of allusions.
The premise: A group of overly mature and exceptional teenagers come of age in a creek-side town in Massachusetts.
Famously launching the careers of Michelle Williams, Katie Hudson, Joshua Jackson and James Van Der Beek, Dawson’s Creek was the first of its kind when it came to nighttime soaps about teenagers. It featured this group of sheltered teens with the vocabulary of graduate students, constantly pondering their existential existence while studying for finals and dealing with crushes.
Van Der Beek played the infamous Dawson, one-third of a love triangle with Hudson’s Joey and Jackson’s Pacey. Inexplicably, Joey constantly fretted over which boy to choose while worrying about her family’s financial status and her dad the inmate. She was plucky and independent, and sheinspired many a side braid and striped tank top in the early aughts.
Her constant foil and romantic competition was Williams’ Jen Lindley. Jen was a worldly transplant who wowed everyone with her exotic backstory and edgy music tastes. Her entrance to the world of Dawson inspired, shot for shot, Veronica’s entrance into Pop’s in the series premiere.
Why you’ll like it: Creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa must have had Dawson’s Creek in mind when he came up with Riverdale, because there are a ton of common threads. For one, the way in which the characters speak to each other in the town with pep is direct replication of how the Creek kids talk. With allusions to Capote and Kerouac, these two shows could be intellectual twins.
Where to find it: Take in all the beauty of youth with the six seasons of Dawson’s Creek on Hulu. Beware: that series finale is a real doozy. It will break your heart in a million ways.