The History Behind the Unaired 'Clerks' Live-Action TV Pilot

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The unaired 'Clerks' pilot lives in infamy on the internet, but it wasn't all bad...

The 1994 indie classic Clerks from writer and director Kevin Smith is a straightforward flick. A really chill hangout movie, it focuses on Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), two 20-something Gen X'ers on a normal work day in retail. The movie doesn't utilize a standard three-act structure because it doesn't need to. Instead, it's divided into bite-sized chapters, and it only ends when they clock out. The simplicity of the movie isn't a bad thing; it's what makes it magical and why it still resonates nearly three decades later.

After the original film screened in New York, it was noticed by producer Bob Hawk, which eventually led to the film being purchased and distributed by then-Disney subsidiary, Miramax. At the time, Miramax was the company that distributed and funded a lot of classic indies, and with it being owned by Disney, this of course meant they wanted to look at these movies and directors as franchise starters.

The powers that be assumed that since Clerks has such a universal and basic premise, it was prime for a TV adaptation. They were absolutely correct, because Clerks is an American pop culture landmark, and the original movie was even put in the Library of Congress National Film Registry back in 2019 for being culturally significant. The film spawned an entire cinematic universe over a decade before Marvel made it cool, and it spawned two direct sequels, with Clerks III coming out this September, multiple spin-offs, comics, and more. And it did eventually have a TV show that became beloved, but it took more than one attempt.

The 'Clerks' Sitcom Never Moved Beyond a Pilot Episode

The first attempt at a TV show was a standard live-action sitcom about Dante and Randal, now played by Andrew Lowery and Jim Breuer, respectively, working in a strip mall. Dante spends the episode feeling pressured to move on with his life while Randal is more focused on messing with customers. Dante is also having relationship problems with his girlfriend Veronica (Noelle Parker), which largely stem from his insecurities, like the movie. It has the same foundation as the original movie, just with a few more characters sprinkled in.