That's certainly how it turned out, but on the very first page we were given to understand that it was indeed the marriage that would make the difference... hence my later disappointment. But then the introduction to Life with Archie also claims that the series is set between the marriage and before Veronica gives birth to twins (as seen in the "Archie marries Veronica" story line), and as we know that later event would never happen. It's a bit as with the early Valiant comics: the timeline was very tightly controlled for a few years, and then (with titles like Timewalker) it became far more malleable.

Regarding the example of Moose running for mayor: I don't mean to nag, but I believe it is the marriage that caused Marmaduke to have two different fates! In both universes, there is a reunion of the old gang at Pop Tate's and in both cases Moose tells of his taking anger management classes (suggesting that up to that point the two Mooses (Meese?) have had pretty much the same history). But In the A+V universe, Archie and Betty deliver Mr. Lodge's ultimatum to Pop, causing everyone to bemoan the disappearance of the Old Riverdale and prompting Moose to realize he can do a difference by running for mayor. This does not happen in the A+B universe, and since no ultimatum is delivered, Moose's road to Damascus moment slips away. He goes on with the regular job at Riverdale High, a job he held in the two universes.

Such butterfly effect moments were actually one of my favourite aspects of the two series at first!

very indepth stuff there guys!

And I still disagree with your opinion on Morrison's run on Batman Shax!

Though I think I was a member of the ugly horde at first ha. 

I loved the history of Moose. I need to get more Archie Crimebuster.

The podcast got me to re-read the first year of the series, and I just now realized that Mr. Weatherbee and Ms. Grundy are nowhere to be seen in "AmV". So perhaps Geraldine did die in that reality too, and that her funeral happened off-page.

As far as I can tell, neither character is mentioned at all. I remember seeing professor Flutesnoot in one panel, but that's about it for Riverdale High's staff.

I'm getting to the point where Mr. Lodge's behaviour and Fred Mirth's buying land around Riverdale are going to be tied to the transdimensional shenanigans of evil Dilton. What a pity... the book worked so well as a straight soap opera kind of thing.

I just discovered this podcast this week and found it very insightful on The Married Life, Four years too late I might add! The three Archie "Married Series'" starting with the 2009 Archie Wedding, this one and the 2019-20 10th Anniversary series are what got me back into reading Archie comics again. Your history lesson on the company and how major changes came about around 2009 was informative. Reading this series, I felt the Veronica universe was depressing and Archie's marriage was a train wreck. He's stuck at a job he hates. working for Veronica's father who forces him to betray his friends all in the name of "business". Their marriage got better much later in the story, but I still felt "Okay, when is Archie going to make Ronnie mad and file for divorce again?" I felt the same way like you said about the other couples, how, everyone ended up with the wrong person. Jughead and Betty should have been a couple in this universe, I sometimes think there is a "No Jughead/Betty" rule in the Archie Comics employee handbook. I felt the characters, in both universes, took on personality traits of the girl Archie was married to, For instance, in the Betty-verse, everyone seemed nicer, more mature, more willing to help one another. In the Veronica-verse, everyone seemed more stormy and angry. It's no coincidence that all the couples' strife and breakups happened in that timeline. The couples were stronger and more canon on the Betty side. Archie is simply happier with Betty. He still has a music career, and even though they were have problems toward the end with Betty's job taking up all her time, I never felt divorce would ever become an option. I actually liked the Jughead/Midge pairing in the Betty-verse. If it wasn't for Midge supporting Jughead in his bid to buy the Chock'lit Shop, he would have given up. It was pretty cool to see Jughead mature into a good husband and eventual father. I also agree that the ending sucked with Archie dying. They could have had him survive the shooting. He would have still been a hero and issue #37 could have shown Archie witnessing the birth of his twins in both universes.