TMC
08-25-2017, 12:39 PM
http://oneseasonwonders.blogspot.com/2017/08/clerks-animated-series-2000.html
In our last edition of One Season Wonders, we covered a kids cartoon based on a movie license. This time, we flip the script to see how an adult cartoon based on a movie series would fare in prime time. The answer: not so well. Snoochie Boochies, it's Clerks: The Animated Series. Unlike our previous reviews which saw shows cancelled after their 13 episode one season run had finished, Clerks stumbled ass over teakettle out of the starting gate, premiering on May 31st, 2000 on ABC, only to be cancelled on June 7th, 2000. Only two episodes originally saw air out of the mere six that were completed. Eventually the remaining episodes saw release on DVD and aired on television later on through Comedy Central and Adult Swim.
Clerks first saw reality in 1994 as an independent film from director Kevin Smith. The black and white misadventures of Dante Hicks, a convenience store clerk from Leonardo, New Jersey. Despite his constant complaints of how he wasn't supposed to be there that day, he still has to deal with being #37, his slacker coworker Randall Graves who works for the next door video store RST Video, a pair of goofball drug dealers named Jay and Silent Bob, among other things. The movie proved a massive success, grossing 3 million dollars from it's 27 thousand budget and launched Smith's career as a director. Following that, Smith continued the View Askewniverse with Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma.
The plan next was to bring Clerks to television through an animated series, which was picked up by ABC. And knowing ABC's poor history with any animated prime time sitcom not named The Flintstones, the show never stood a ghost of a chance. As previously mentioned, only two episodes ever saw air and even then those two weren't in production order. Be it the crude humor of the series or just a lack of interest, ABC ultimately canned the show without giving it a chance. But did it deserve that chance? Let's look through the episodes to see if we can mine some gold.
In our last edition of One Season Wonders, we covered a kids cartoon based on a movie license. This time, we flip the script to see how an adult cartoon based on a movie series would fare in prime time. The answer: not so well. Snoochie Boochies, it's Clerks: The Animated Series. Unlike our previous reviews which saw shows cancelled after their 13 episode one season run had finished, Clerks stumbled ass over teakettle out of the starting gate, premiering on May 31st, 2000 on ABC, only to be cancelled on June 7th, 2000. Only two episodes originally saw air out of the mere six that were completed. Eventually the remaining episodes saw release on DVD and aired on television later on through Comedy Central and Adult Swim.
Clerks first saw reality in 1994 as an independent film from director Kevin Smith. The black and white misadventures of Dante Hicks, a convenience store clerk from Leonardo, New Jersey. Despite his constant complaints of how he wasn't supposed to be there that day, he still has to deal with being #37, his slacker coworker Randall Graves who works for the next door video store RST Video, a pair of goofball drug dealers named Jay and Silent Bob, among other things. The movie proved a massive success, grossing 3 million dollars from it's 27 thousand budget and launched Smith's career as a director. Following that, Smith continued the View Askewniverse with Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma.
The plan next was to bring Clerks to television through an animated series, which was picked up by ABC. And knowing ABC's poor history with any animated prime time sitcom not named The Flintstones, the show never stood a ghost of a chance. As previously mentioned, only two episodes ever saw air and even then those two weren't in production order. Be it the crude humor of the series or just a lack of interest, ABC ultimately canned the show without giving it a chance. But did it deserve that chance? Let's look through the episodes to see if we can mine some gold.