Why Isn’t ‘Riverdale’ on Tonight? When Does It Return?

If you tuned in tonight to see the latest episode of Riverdale on The CW, then you were very disappointed. Instead of Riverdale, The CW is airing Relationships Just for Laughs, followed by The Top 14 Greatest Valentine’s Day Movies. Originally, tonight was going to at least be a rerun, but now we don’t even have that. So why isn’t Riverdale on tonight and just how long are we going to have to wait for the show to return? (This post has spoilers through the Riverdale episode that aired last week.)

Unfortunately, we’re going to be waiting quite a while for Riverdale to return. The show is off for three weeks and Riverdale won’t return with a new episode until Wednesday, March 7. You’ll also be waiting this long to see Riverdale again even if you’re watching it outside the U.S.  Internationally, Riverdale is released on Netflix every Thursday the day after it airs in the United States. So international viewers outside the U.S. will be waiting until March 8 to see Riverdale again on Netflix.

And yes, you’re right, that’s practically a month without a new episode. It’s going to be a really long break. But why are we having to wait so long? Although The CW hasn’t released an official statement about it, the reason is pretty easy to guess. The CW likely doesn’t want to compete with The Olympics right now. The Olympics will be airing until February 25. If that were the only reason, Riverdale could have at least come back on February 28, a week early. But the show is likely also building in some time to catch up on filming, and to make sure that the best episodes air during sweeps. The CW often builds hiatuses strategically into its series to make sure they can take advantage of sweeps later in the spring.

Riverdale‘s last episode was “The Telltale Heart,” where Betty and the rest of the Coopers went into a big tailspin trying to deal with the man who attacked them and was killed in their house. (Or was Chic really as innocent as he pretended to be? That’s doubtful.) After Betty opened up to Jughead, they finally brought in FP, who was able to help them get a handle on things. But it wasn’t an easy task for him. It did, however, bring him and Alice closer. Meanwhile, Hal is spending a lot of close time with Cheryl’s mom and things are getting a little strange at the Blossom household.

We also got to see Archie and Veronica get closer than ever, and we learned that Agent Adams wasn’t an FBI agent after all. (Many of us suspected that was the case.) He was actually a plant by Veronica’s parents to test Archie’s loyalty. And he passed with flying colors.

The rest of the season is going to be really interesting, as we further explore all the strangeness that is Chic, learn more about the Lodges’ plan, and maybe — just maybe — finally find out who the Black Hood really is. What are you going to be doing while you wait for Riverdale to return? Let us know in the comments below.

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