Clerks: The Animated Series

Clerks: The Animated Series
Title card featuring the four main characters. Top from the left: Dante Hicks, Randall Graves, bottom from the left: Jay, and Silent Bob.
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Kevin Smith
Developed by	David Mandel Scott Mosier Kevin Smith
Voices of	Jeff Anderson Jason Mewes Brian O'Halloran Kevin Smith
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	6 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein David Mandel Scott Mosier Kevin Smith
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Miramax Television View Askew Productions (2000) Woltz International Pictures (2000) Touchstone Television (2000)
Original release
Network	ABC Comedy Central (original television airing of episodes 1, 3 & 5-6)
Release	May 31 – June 7, 2000 Episodes 1, 3 & 5-6: December 14, 2002

Clerks (retronym: Clerks: The Animated Series) is an American animated sitcom based on Kevin Smith's 1994 comedy of the same name. It was developed for television by Smith, Smith's producing partner Scott Mosier and former Seinfeld writer David Mandel with character designs by Stephen Silver.

Cast

Actor	Character(s)
Brian O'Halloran	Dante Hicks
Jeff Anderson	Randal Graves
Jason Mewes	Jay
Kevin Smith	Silent Bob
Alec Baldwin	Leonardo Leonardo
Dan Ethridge	Mr. Plug
Tara Charendoff-Strong	Giggling Girls
Walt Flanagan	Fanboy
Bryan Johnson	Steve-Dave Pulasti
Charles Barkley	Himself

Broadcast history

Only two episodes were broadcast on ABC in the year 2000 before the series was canceled. Several factors contributed to the cancellation, including low ratings, the show's not fitting in with ABC's other programming, unsuccessful test-screening to older audiences, and ABC's decision to air the shows out of order. ABC aired the fourth episode first, as opposed to the intended first episode, and then aired the second episode despite the fact that the second episode is the 'flashback' episode, and derives much of its humor from the fact that it flashes back to the first episode. Additionally, the second episode aired without the scene from "Flintstone's List", the fictional RST Video rental that spoofed Schindler's List.

All six episodes were released on DVD (as well as VHS) in 2001, marking one of the first occasions in which a short-lived TV series found success in this format. The DVD commentary features cast and crew who frequently cite their disagreements with the network over the show's development. The entire series was eventually aired on Comedy Central, with the unaired episodes airing for the first time on television on December 14, 2002. In 2006, digital freeview channel ITV 4 in the UK, began broadcasting episodes late on Monday nights. Starting November 14, 2008, Adult Swim aired the series on Friday nights.

Several scenes filmed for, but cut from, the film Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (but included on the film's DVD release) contain metafictional moments when Randall makes references to the animated series, as well as its cancellation. On his DVD commentary for the film, Smith said the intent was to make the quick cancellation of the series a running gag.

Clerks: The Animated Series was produced by Miramax and View Askew Productions in association with Touchstone Television (now ABC Studios).

Episodes

#	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Leonardo Leonardo Returns and Dante Has an Important Decision to Make"	Chris Bailey	David Mandel & Kevin Smith	December 14, 2002 (2002-12-14)
Billionaire Leonardo Leonardo returns to Leonardo, New Jersey and opens the Quicker Stop right across from the Quick Stop, nearly costing Randal and Dante their jobs.
2	"The Clipshow Wherein Dante and Randal are Locked in the Freezer and Remember Some of the Great Moments in Their Lives"	Nick Filippi	David Mandel & Kevin Smith (teleplay) David Mandel & Kevin Smith & Paul Dini (story)	June 7, 2000 (2000-06-07)
Dante and Randal get locked in the freezer. There, they look back on their lives, primarily in clips from the same and previous episode.
3	"Leonardo Is Caught in the Grip of an Outbreak of Randal's Imagination and Patrick Swayze Either Does or Doesn't Work in the New Pet Store"	Chris Bailey	David Mandel & Kevin Smith	December 14, 2002 (2002-12-14)
Quick Stop is put under government control after Leonardo is said to have been infected with a deadly virus by a monkey at the new pet store next to RST Video.
4	"A Dissertation on the American Justice System by People Who Have Never Been Inside a Courtroom, Let Alone Know Anything About the Law, but Have Seen Way Too Many Legal Thrillers"	Steve Loter	David Mandel, Kevin Smith & Steve Lookner (teleplay) Steve Lookner (story)	May 31, 2000 (2000-05-31)
Jay sues the Quick Stop for $10,000,000 after slipping on Randal's soda.
5	"Dante and Randal and Jay and Silent Bob and a Bunch of New Characters and Lando, Take Part in a Whole Bunch of Movie Parodies Including But Not Exclusive To, The Bad News Bears, The Last Starfighter, Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom, Plus a High School Reunion"	Nick Filippi	Brian Kelley	December 14, 2002 (2002-12-14)
Leonardo Leonardo decides to let Dante manage his Little League team, which includes Jay and Silent Bob. Meanwhile, Randal is put into slave labour after beating the high score on an old video game.
6	"The Last Episode Ever"	Steve Loter	Kevin Smith & David Mandel	December 14, 2002 (2002-12-14)
Series finale. Dante and Randal work inside the Quick Stop discussing various things. Meanwhile, outside, Dante's supposed to have a date with Caitlin Bree, Jay and Silent Bob go to a fair where havoc ensues, Walt and Steve-Dave need stuff, Leonardo Leonardo finds a soccer team on his roof, and Dante keeps getting called by a guy who wants to show him "the truth about The Matrix". Eventually, due to a phone call unknowingly made to the President, the Army surrounds the Quick Stop, the President is attacked by hookers and vampires who are enraged to find RST closed, and Dante and Randal finally go outside.

Proposed but never made

According to the DVD commentary, these were some ideas that were being considered for episodes of the show if it were to continue:

• Randal exploits Jay by making "snoogans" a catch phrase, leading to Jay becoming a recording artist.
• Randal buys KITT from Knight Rider at a used car lot. The car becomes jealous of Randal's relationship with Dante and attempts to kill Dante and impersonate him at the store (a reference to Single White Female). He manages to trick everyone except Dante (and likely Silent Bob) with his thin disguise.
• Jay joins a boy band. Silent Bob is sad that Jay is gone, so Randal and Dante bring Bob in to work at the Quick Stop. He turns the store around and it becomes a great success. Silent Bob is given a piece of gum and says, "Mmm, Juicy Fruit," which shocks Dante and Randal asking him, "You can talk!?" (a reference to the Chief in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).
• Allegedly in 7th or 8th episode, Dante and Randal would have added to their cast of friends a boy ward, named Robin, in a direct reference/parody of Batman's own "boy wonder", though like Lando, would probably not have been featured prominently. This plot element was most likely not intended to actually be part of series as it was described by Kevin Smith after mentioning that Paul Dini, best known for his work on Batman The Animated Series, had also worked on Clerks: The Animated Series.
• The DVD commentary briefly mentioned an episode idea where Ben Affleck would play the King of Canada. The episode premise was also described as "the Aladdin parody."

Clerks: Sell Out

For several years following the series' cancellation, Smith has announced plans to make an animated direct-to-video film. The basic plot involved Dante and Randal making a movie about their lives at the Quick Stop, a reference to the production of the original film. As of September 2009, the status on the project is unknown. In a recent interview Kevin Smith expanded on the delays surrounding the film. Apparently, when Harvey and Bob Weinstein left Miramax, owned by Disney, the split was not completely amicable. The rights to the Clerks television show are still owned by the Disney Corporation, who as a result are reluctant to work with The Weinstein Company, throwing the future of Clerks: Sell Out into question. At the 2007 Cornell Q/A Kevin said due to the Miramax/Weinstein argument "you will see a Jay and Silent Bob cartoon before Clerks: Sell Out."

However, when Miramax was bought in 2011, Kevin Smith revealed on his podcast 'Jay And Silent Bob Get Jobs' is that Miramax has contacted him for new projects, and they discussed the possibility of bringing back the series.

Reception

Clerks: The Animated Series was named the 98th best animated series by IGN, comparing it to Firefly due to its partial, out of sequence airing. They specifically praised the second episode for its parody of the old television staple of clip shows, by showing clips of the previous episode as well as clips from the episode itself.

Home release

The show was released on DVD in a two-disc collector's edition set called "Clerks Uncensored." The "Uncensored" of the title refers to the restoration of a segment that was cut from the ABC broadcast of the second episode, as well as uncensored episode introductions by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, portraying their Jay and Silent Bob characters. The DVD was also given an R-rating by the Motion Picture Association of America for some sexual humor.

External links

• Test footage for Clerks: Sell Out, a rumored feature film of the animated series
• Clerks: The Animated Series at IMDb
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