Clarissa Explains It All

Clarissa Explains It All is an American teen sitcom created by Mitchell Kriegman for Nickelodeon. In the series, Clarissa Darling (Melissa Joan Hart), is a teenager who addresses the audience directly to explain the things that are happening in her life, dealing with typical adolescent concerns such as school, boys, pimples, wearing her first training bra, and an annoying younger brother.
A total of 65 episodes were produced and aired from March 23, 1991 to October 1, 1994. From August 1992 onwards, the series headlined the popular SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) lineup. Reruns of the show have appeared intermittently on TeenNick's channel block The '90s Are All That, eventually NickRewind, from 2011 to 2020.
In 2015, Kriegman released a novel, "Things I Can't Explain", which serves as a sequel to the series. In the novel, Clarissa is now in her late 20s and trying to navigate life as an adult. In March 2018, it was reported that a sequel to the series was in development at Nickelodeon, with Clarissa now as a mother. In March 2022, Melissa Joan Hart revealed the reboot was not moving forward at the network.
Premise.
The main characters in the show are Clarissa Darling, her family (consisting of her father Marshall, her mother Janet, and her younger brother Ferguson) and her best friend Sam, all living in a small, unnamed suburban town. Clarissa had a pet baby alligator, Elvis, which she kept in a kiddie-sandbox and appeared sporadically in early episodes.
"Clarissa" 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 Amanda Show" and "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo". Its popularity among both boys and girls also helped to debunk a myth that a children's series with a female lead would not appeal to boys.
Clarissa dealt with normal adolescent issues such as first crushes, getting a driver's license and preparing for college and working. These topics were dealt with far less dramatically than they were on other similar shows at the time (such as "Full House" and "Blossom"). For instance, in one episode Clarissa accidentally shoplifts a piece of lingerie but is neither caught by store security nor punished by her parents; she spends most of the episode trying to figure out how to remedy the situation on her own. Although terms like "hell" and "sex drive" were occasionally uttered during the show's run, most dialogue was kept family-friendly. One running gag involved her friend Sam often entering the scene by a ladder (accompanied by a characteristic chord of guitar music) through her bedroom window. A repeating theme during the series was the sibling rivalry between Clarissa and Ferguson, showing their repeated attempts to harm or even (as in the series premiere) to "kill" each other.
Unique to the show was Clarissa's tendency to tackle the episode's central theme through the creation of a fictional video game. The show also integrated some of Hart's real-life likes, such as the band They Might Be Giants.
Episodes.
The decision to structure the episodes into five seasons of thirteen episodes each was made after the show ended its original broadcast run. During the original run of the series, the seasons were not well defined.
Characters.
Notable guest appearances.
These are other guest appearances, in single episodes by notable actors known for their other work.
Production.
Show creator Mitchell Kriegman, who had a background as a short-story writer and video artist, had previously worked on shows such as "Saturday Night Live" and "Sesame Street". He sought to create an offbeat, trendsetting character living a typical teenager's life, but who did not fit the stereotypical representations of teenage girls on television at the time. Kriegman said, "I thought that if other people ... knew what was going on in a 13-year-old girl's mind, it would be cool. They are really experimenting at that age."
"Clarissa Explains It All" was the second sitcom to premiere on Nickelodeon in 1991, after "Hey Dude" ended its run. It was one of seven new programs (three animated and four live-action) to premiere on Nickelodeon that year, as the network began producing more original programming. It outlived the other live-action series introduced that year, "Welcome Freshmen", "Salute Your Shorts", and "Fifteen", although "Fifteen" (an imported Canadian series) also lasted 65 episodes. Production on the pilot episode took place in September 1990, with Season 1 production beginning in February 1991 and series production wrapping in December 1993.
The show's theme song was sung by Rachel Sweet. It consisted entirely of a melody sung on the syllable "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", was shot for CBS in 1995, but was not picked up by the network. The pilot was shown on two occasions on Nickelodeon after the original series had ended production. The new series would have involved Clarissa's internship at a New York City newspaper. Comedian Robert Klein costarred in the pilot as the newspaper's editor. Supporting roles were 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 television series, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", her character actually did become a journalist.
Broadcast.
After debuting on Saturday, March 23, 1991, at 6 p.m, and repeating twice the next day, "Clarissa Explains It All" moved to Sundays at 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. starting on April 7, 1991. The following year the show moved to anchor the SNICK block of Saturday-night Nickelodeon programming, airing at 8 p.m. Saturdays starting on August 15, 1992. New airings continued to be shown at that time (with repeat airings at noon on Sundays) until the end of the series run.
Reruns.
The series aired in reruns on Nickelodeon from 1994 to 1999, a second time in 2001 as part of the TEENick block, and a third time in 2004 as part of "U-Pick Live" Old School Pick. It also aired on The N from 2002 to 2003.
The series returned in reruns to "TeenNick" on July 25, 2011, as part of its The '90s Are All That block. It aired at 10 p.m. Pacific / 1 a.m. Eastern, with the first episode having been 'The Understudy' from Season 2.
TeenNick replaced the show with "Rocko's Modern Life" on September 5, 2011. The series returned to The '90s Are All That from September 26, 2011, to October 6, 2011, when the show was replaced with "Hey Dude". It then returned to TeenNick on December 31, 2011, with the airing of the series finale at a special timeslot, 11:00 p.m., to celebrate the end of 2011, and aired on the block again at 1:00am on January 1, 2012, with the airing of the series premiere to celebrate the beginning of 2012. The show aired on The '90s Are All That in a marathon on the night of December 30, 2012, and then a marathon every night from January 21, 2013, to January 27, 2013. On October 6, 2015, the show returned to the block, now known as The Splat. In 2019, the show is being rerun during the overnight hours on the Nick Pluto TV channel. On March 23, 2020, the show began airing reruns on the NickRewind block.
Home video releases.
Throughout the early 1990s, a number of VHS tapes were released through Sony Wonder each containing 2 or 3 episodes alongside other Nickelodeon shows, usually centered around a certain theme such as school, dating, or sibling rivalry.
In May 2005, the show's first season was released on DVD as part of the "Nickelodeon Rewind Collection" by Viacom's corporate subsidiary, Paramount Pictures. The second season was scheduled to be released a few months later, but it was pulled from Paramount Pictures' release schedule. To this date, there are no plans to release the series further on DVD.
Season one is also available on iTunes, Xbox Live, and the PlayStation Store.
Many of the various episodes from the 5 seasons of the series are also available on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Paramount+.
Awards.
In 1994, the series was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program. In addition, Hart, O'Neal, and Zimbler also received multiple Young Artist Award nominations. Hart won three competitive Young Artist Awards during the show's original run, as well as receiving the association's honorary Former Child Star Award in 2013 for her role as Clarissa.
Revival.
In March 2018, "The Hollywood Reporter" said a revival of the show was "in early development" at Nickelodeon. Hart was reportedly to reprise her role as the title character, who would now be a mother. Hart was also to serve as executive producer on the series alongside original series creator Kriegman, who was in talks to return as a writer. The reports were not confirmed by any of the participants.
In March 2022, Hart revealed that the reboot was not moving forward at Nickelodeon.