Clarissa Explains It All

Clarissa Explains It All
Title card
Created by	Mitchell Kriegman
Starring	Melissa Joan Hart Jason Zimbler Elizabeth Hess Joe O'Connor Sean O'Neal
Narrated by	Melissa Joan Hart
Theme music composer	Rachel Sweet, Anthony Battaglia and Willa Bassen
Opening theme	Rachel Sweet
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	65 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Mitchell Kriegman Marjorie Cohn Brown Johnson Geoffrey Darby Andy Bamberger
Production locations	Nickelodeon Studios, Orlando, Florida
Camera setup	Multi-camera setup
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Thunder Pictures
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon
Release	March 23, 1991 (1991-03-23) – October 1, 1994 (1994-10-01)

Clarissa Explains It All is an American situation comedy television series from Nickelodeon starring Melissa Joan Hart. It was created by Mitchell Kriegman, encompassing 65 episodes shown during five seasons. The teen sitcom ran from March 23, 1991, to October 1, 1994, and then went into reruns. In the series, Clarissa Darling, a teen girl, breaks the fourth wall and describes the things that are happening in her life (dealing with typical preadolescent concerns such as school, boys, pimples and an annoying little brother) to her television audience. It was originally rated TV-Y and was later changed to TV-Y7 in later reruns.

Plot and background

The main characters in the show are Clarissa Darling, her family (consisting of her father Marshall, her mother Janet and her little brother Ferguson) and her best friend Sam living in a small suburban town in Ohio. Clarissa and Sam's relationship was a novelty on television at the time, due to few television series allowing a girl and a boy to be merely friends without romance blossoming. (One episode featured the idea of their having a romance, but ultimately ended without their getting together.) Clarissa also had a pet baby caiman named Elvis which she kept in a kiddie-sandbox in the left corner of her room. Elvis lasted only the first few episodes of the first season.

The show was credited with becoming the first Nickelodeon series to feature a female lead, which led the network to create other shows such as The Secret World of Alex Mack, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, The Amanda Show, Taina, and more recently Unfabulous, Zoey 101, iCarly, True Jackson, VP, and Victorious.

The show was filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida. It was an enormous success, generating some of the highest ratings for a cable production, remarkable given its status as a "kids'" TV show. The final two seasons of the show headlined the popular SNICK (Saturday Night-Nickelodeon) lineup, which was a lead-in to shows like All That, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? Despite its seemingly innocent reputation, in hindsight Clarissa probably pushed a few boundaries at the time, even making subtle references to sex and teen partying, though in a light-hearted, contemporary fashion. It also was singular in its literary references and willingness to feature Clarissa as an independent free thinking teen. In one episode in the series, Clarissa accidentally shoplifts lingerie. It was also one of the few Nickelodeon shows to actually say and spell out the words "hell" and "sex" on screen. The pilot of the series revolved around Clarissa's attempt to kill her brother Ferguson, a theme never again repeated in kids' television. Although in the end it was a harmless attempt using helium balloons it highlighted the issue of sibling rivalry.

Like many other teen and kid shows of the day, Clarissa dealt with normal issues facing kids, such as first crushes, getting a drivers license (Clarissa's very vocal dream), sibling rivalry, grades at school, insecurities, and drinking. However, these topics were dealt with far less dramatically than they were on other similar shows at the time (such as Full House and Blossom). One such topic covered on the show was bullying, which was addressed, and ended up creating one of the longest lasting story arcs on the show. In the episode "Bully", Clarissa finds out her brother is being picked on by school jock Clifford Spleenhurfer. Clarissa defends her brother, angrily confronting Clifford verbally. This produced unforeseen results to everyone involved, Clarissa most of all. She became the first person to stand up to Clifford and, as a result, Clifford fell in love with her. Clarissa was shocked to discover this, and even more shocked to discover she liked him as well. They began dating soon after, and they stayed together for quite a while. The issue of whether a girl would stand up and fight a boy was also a hot topic at the time. It was cited in the trades at the time as one of the ten shows that "made" cable television.

Unique to the program was its representation of each episode's theme by showing Clarissa tackling the issue of the episode through a fictional computer game.

The show's unique theme tune was sung by singer/comedian/actress/writer Rachel Sweet. The song consisted entirely of "Na, na, na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na", punctuated with the occasional "Way cool!" or "All right! All right!", and underscored by rhythmic instrumentation, ending with a resounding "Just do it!".

A pilot for a follow-up series, Clarissa Now, was shot for CBS in 1995, but was not picked up as a series. However, the pilot was shown on a few occasions on Nickelodeon after the original series had ended production. The series would have revolved around Clarissa's internship at a New York City newspaper. Comedian Robert Klein co-starred as the newspaper's crusty editor, Hugh Hamilton as well as roles played by Marian Seldes and Lisa Gay Hamilton. In 2002 Hart said that she would not be interested in a cast reunion project; "No. Shirley Temple taught me one thing. And that was once you finish a career, you move on." In her next big television show, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Hart's character actually did become a journalist.

In May 2005, the show's first season was released on DVD as part of the Nickelodeon Rewind Collection by Nickelodeon's parent company, Paramount Pictures. The second season was scheduled to be released a few months later, but it was pulled with no explanation.

Awards

In 1994, the series was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program. In addition, Melissa Joan Hart, Sean O'Neal, and Jason Zimbler also received multiple Young Artist Award nominations. Melissa won three for her role as Clarissa.

Main characters

• Clarissa Darling (Melissa Joan Hart) – The main character. Clarissa is a smart, optimistic, sarcastic, witty and realistic teenage girl. The whole series is seen through her point of view (excluding the episode Ferguson Explains it All). Despite her rationalism, she often tends to exaggerate any problem she's facing. She was approximately 14-years-old when the series began and was an 8th grader at Thomas Tupper Junior High. By the end of the series, she was approximately 18-years-old and a high school senior. She is also a believer in UFOs. She is best known for her pop culture references and various surreal dream sequences. Clarissa is pretty and popular and generally well-liked by her classmates and her interests include photography, journalism, and listens to rock music. She also has had a revolving door of friends and boyfriends throughout the series. Though she is usually mild-mannered, she can be just as selfish and calculating as her younger brother Ferguson. Clarissa is best known for her unique teenybopper fashion sense, often colorful and mitchmatched which is similar to Blossom Russo and Lisa Turtle. She speaks in a minor dialect of Valspeak which was abandoned in the later seasons.

• Ferguson W. Darling (Jason Zimbler) – Clarissa's mischievous, redhead younger brother. He and Clarissa constantly antagonize each other. Clarissa refers to him with several epithets such as "Ferg-face" or "Fergeek". He loves money and comes up with get-rich-quick schemes. He is also a Young Republican who idolizes Dan Quayle and Ronald Reagan. Ferguson goes to school with Clarissa and is about one or two years younger than her, making him at least 12 and in the seventh grade in the first season. Despite their rivalry, he and Clarissa occasionally collaborate, usually to the advantage of both. Unlike Clarissa, however, he does not seem to be very popular at school.

• Sam Anders (Sean O'Neal) – Clarissa's best friend and confidant. Sam is considered more optimistic and upbeat than Clarissa. He is perhaps best known for saying "What's the worst that can happen?" usually to dismiss any worst-case scenario Clarissa comes up with. Sam is smart, polite, nice, and enjoys surfing and skateboarding. He usually enters Clarissa's second story bedroom with a ladder while a distinctive guitar tune plays every time he is about to enter.

• Janet Darling (Elizabeth Hess) – Clarissa and Ferguson's mother and Marshall's wife. She is only person Clarissa sees as a voice of reason and thus seeks advice from her. She works at a children's museum and is an environmentalist and organic food enthusiast who cooks various bizarre, tasteless meals much to her family's dismay.

• Marshall Darling (Joe O'Connor) – Clarissa and Ferguson's father and Janet's husband. He is an architect who designs unusually shaped buildings, mostly retail and tourist attractions (such as the "Fryfel Tower"). Clarissa also comes to him for advice, but he is less understanding than Janet is. Both he and Janet are former flower children from the 1960s.

Recurring characters

• Hillary (Sarah Burkhardt) – Hillary was Clarissa's other close friend at Thomas Tupper High, who appears mostly in season 2.

• Olivia DuPris (Nicole Leach) – Another one of Clarissa's friends at Thomas Tupper High, who appears in season 3.

• Clifford Spleenhurfer (David Eck) – Clifford is at first a bully who harassed Ferguson in a season one episode. However, when Clarissa confronted him, he made an advance onto her which she initially rebuffed. She later misses his affections in season 2 and they begin a relationship which ends inexplicably at one point in season 3.

• Debbie Anders (Susan Greenhill) – Sam's estranged mother who is rather unconventional (She is often on the road with a traveling women's Roller Derby team.) and is separated from Sam's father, she appears in episode "Sam's Swan Song" where she tries to take custody of Sam and make him live with her in a mobile home . She appears again in "A Tale of Two Moms" where she stays with the Darlings and becomes a burden.

• Aunt Mafalda (Heather MacRae) – Aunt Mafalda is Clarissa's aunt whom she can't stand and tries to get rid of in episodes "Haunted House" and "Return of Mafalda".

• The Soapersteins – The family that lives next door to the Darlings, they are rather well-mannered and genial people. They are unseen characters who are referred to constantly. Clarissa had to babysit their spoiled daughter Elsie (Michelle Trachtenberg) in episode Babysitting.

• Elise Quackenbush (Cassidy Rae) – Elise is a pretty and perky girl who appears in "Sam in Love", where she was the object of Sam's affection. Tired of Sam's hesitation, Clarissa urges him to ask her out which they began a good relationship, which results in them spending so much time together that they both got fed up with each other and then blame Clarissa for bringing them together in the first place.

• Paulie Slicksinger (James Van Der Beek) – The handsome drummer who Clarissa meets at a party in episode "Alter-Ego", while she is disguised as "Jade", her punk rock-ish alter ego with a Long Island accent. Because he is so fascinated by Jade, Clarissa is reluctant to reveal herself due to fear of being rejected. In the end, Clarissa cracks under pressure and admits that Jade was an act. Paulie is dumbfounded but is flattered that she would go through all that.

File:Clarissa Explains it All Season 1.jpg

The Complete First Season on DVD

Episodes

Main article: List of Clarissa Explains It All episodes

Season 1 is currently available on DVD, iTunes, Xbox Live, and the Playstation Store.

Production

Clarissa Explains it All was the second sitcom to premiere on Nickelodeon in 1991 after Hey Dude which premiered in 1989 ended its run. It was of the seven new programs (3 animated and 4 live-action) to premiere on Nickelodeon in 1991 when the network began producing with more original programming. It outlived the three other live action programs the sitcoms Salute Your Shorts which ended in 1992 and Welcome Freshmen which ended in 1993 and the teen drama Fifteen also ended in 1993.

Clarissa and music

In the first episode, Clarissa states that she loves John Linnell of the band They Might Be Giants. In addition to this, posters of the band are featured prominently in Clarissa's room. In a later episode, Clarissa mentions that she is a fan of Pearl Jam and is trying to duck out of a family party early that night to attend their concert. In the same episode, Marshall mentions that he is a fan of Vanilla Fudge, who is also playing at the concert. Another episode of the series had Sam defending the band The Violent Femmes to Clarissa's parents, explaining that they are neither violent nor femmes. The band also made an appearance on Hart's later show, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, using the same argument to defend the band. In another episode, Clarissa mentions her father's Jethro Tull bootleg collection. A line from the INXS song "Suicide Blonde" was sung by Ferguson while listening to headphones in the 1991 episode "Clarissa News Network".

Broadcast history

The series reran on Nick from 1994 to 1999. It appeared briefly in 2001 as part of TEENick block. The show was referred to by the network in 2003, in order to promote reruns of Sabrina on TEENick and again in 2004, as part of Nick's "Before They were Stars". It reran on The N from 2002 to 2007 and hasn't been on TV since.

In popular culture

New York synthpunk group Mindless Self Indulgence referenced the show in the song "Clarissa" from their 2000 album Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy.

External links

• Clarissa Explains It All at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show