The series was adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon by Hanna–Barbera in 1970 and a live-action motion picture by Universal Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2001; each of these productions was accompanied by a Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack album.

A completely African-American version of the band also appeared in the drama series Riverdale on The CW, after which the character Josie joined Katy Keene.

[5][6][a] The series featured levelheaded, sweet-natured redhead Josie, her ditzy blonde bombshell friend Melody, and the brainy, cynical, bespectacled brunette Pepper.

These early years also featured the characters of Josie's beatnik boyfriend Albert; Pepper's strong but not-too-bright boyfriend Socrates ("Sock" for short); Albert's rival Alexander Cabot III, who chased after both Josie and Melody; and Alex's obnoxious twin sister Alexandra Cabot.

From 1970 on, most of the stories in the comic book revolved around the Pussycats traveling around the country and the world to perform gigs, with Alan M., Alex, and Alexandra (and sometimes Sebastian) in tow.

Archie & Friends #47-95 (June 2001-November 2005) featured new Josie and the Pussycats stories in the regular house style after the 2001 film renewed interest in the series.

Josephine McCoy is orphaned shortly after her birth in 1906 and winds up in an orphanage run by Alexandra Cabot, who has three other children: Melody, Valerie, and Pepper.

Due to their singing talent, "Uncle Buddy" (one of Alexandra's friends) takes the trio on tour, eventually forcing Pepper to marry him.

The reboot features Josie uniting the band to take their big shot at musical stardom, only to contend with the machinations of Alexandra Cabot, the ever-Machiavellian sister of the Pussycats’ manager.

Portrayed as a sweet, attractive, and level-headed teenage girl, Josie is usually the stable center in the middle of the chaos surrounding her band and her friends.

She was played by Rachael Leigh Cook in the 2001 live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie (singing voice performed by Kay Hanley).

[16] The co-founder and drummer for the Pussycats (she also sang occasional lead vocals for the TV series), Melody is a cute, vivacious blonde and usually speaks in a sing-song voice, denoted by the musical notes in her cartoon word balloons.

She is a slightly ditzy, bubbly sort of character, often taken to using silly nonsense language and provides much of the comic relief of the series.

In addition to being the group's main songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist, dark-haired Valerie also performs back-up vocals (in the comics, cartoons, and the movie) and occasionally sings lead (nearly always in the TV series) for the Pussycats.

Besides being good at science and a skilled auto mechanic, she occasionally shows a quick temper as well as being physically stronger than she might appear.

She is also less concerned about her appearance or her love life than Josie, Melody or Alexandra, and had rarely been seen in a romantic relationship, though in the cartoons she seems attracted to Alexander.

The interest seems genuine, since, unlike other boys, who fall helplessly in love with Melody at first sight, Alexander tends to remain composed around her.

The animated version of Alexander also exhibits no romantic feelings towards Josie, tends to gravitate towards Melody or Valerie, depending on interpretation, and is very similar to Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo.

Alexandra is usually depicted as having black hair with a white lightning-bolt shaped stripe running through the middle of it, giving her ponytail a slight impression of a skunk's tail.

In contrast to the good-natured girls in the Pussycats, Alexandra is cynical, hateful, cantankerous, mean, offensive, rude, envious, scheming and self-centered.

Alexandra's voice in the cartoons is provided by former Mouseketeer Sherry Alberoni, while Don Messick supplies the meows, screams, and Muttley-esque snickers for Sebastian.

Alexandra appears as a supporting regular character who dislikes Josie McCoy on The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Camille Hyde.

In the cartoon series, he plays the role of the self-appointed group leader, similar to that of Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo (and perhaps not coincidentally does bear some resemblance to him as well).

In Riverdale, he appears as a guest character in the musical episode "Chapter Ninety-One: The Return of the Pussycats", portrayed by Chris McNally.

The film stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson as the Pussycats, with Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, and Gabriel Mann in supporting roles.

[citation needed] Competing animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions contacted Archie Comics about possibly adapting another of its properties into a similar show.

[citation needed] Archie Comics offering to redevelop the Josie series into one about a teenage music band, and allowing Hanna-Barbera to adapt it into a music-based Saturday morning show.

After the show's cancellation, Josie and the Pussycats made a final appearance in a guest shot on the September 22, 1973 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "The Haunted Showboat".

In the wake of the 2001 feature film, DiC Entertainment, a company with extensive ties to Archie Comics, announced it had bought merchandising and adaptation rights to the characters[21] and was planning to create a cartoon with them.

In this, Josie finds two new Pussycats, Cricket O'dell and Trula Twyst portrayed by Azriel Patricia and Emily Rafala.