"Clerks" (2000) TV series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

31 May 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Animation

Plot:

The continuing adventures of clerks Dante and Randal, who try to make the best of their menial labor, with no help from Jay and Silent Bob.

Plot Keywords:

Jay And Silent Bob | Video Store | James Bond Spoof | Hockey | Based On Film

Cast

Jeff Anderson	...	Randal Graves (6 episodes, 2000-2001)
Jason Mewes	...	Jay (6 episodes, 2000-2001)
Brian O'Halloran	...	Dante Hicks (6 episodes, 2000-2001)
Kevin Smith	...	Silent Bob (6 episodes, 2000-2001)
Kevin Michael Richardson	...	Also Starring / ... (6 episodes, 2000-2001)
Alec Baldwin	...	Leonardo Leonardo (5 episodes, 2000-2001)
Charles Barkley	...	Himself (5 episodes, 2000-2001)
Diana Devlin	...	Also Starring (5 episodes, 2000-2001)
Tara Strong	...	Giggling Girl (4 episodes, 2000-2001)
Dan Etheridge	...	Mr. Plug (4 episodes, 2001)
April Winchell		(4 episodes, 2000-2001)
Jeff Bennett	...	Also Starring (3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Bryan Cranston	...	Helicopter Pilot / ... (3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Walter Flanagan	...	Fanboy / ... (3 episodes, 2001)
Elon Gold		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Bryan Johnson	...	Steve-Dave Pulasti (3 episodes, 2001)
Michael McShane	...	Also Starring (3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Jim Wise		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Brian Posehn	...	Albert / ... (3 episodes, 2001)

Also Known As:

Clerks: The Cartoon (Australia)
Clerks: Uncensored (USA) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual humor.

Runtime:

22 min | USA:22 min (6 episodes) | 130 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:MA | USA:R | USA:TV-14 (TV rating)

Company:

Miramax Television

Trivia:

The ending to Episode 6 (The Last Episode Ever) is a parody of the Looney Tune cartoon, Duck Amuck (1953).

Goofs:

Continuity: In episode four when the NBA All Star jury is entering the courtroom, there are a few seconds when they are standing in front of the jury box. For a split second, the front wall of the box goes from behind them to in front of them, making it look like they are standing in the box, but then it switches back to being behind them.

Quotes:

Man: [running in from the street] Run for your lives! Someone let the gorilla out of his cage and he's attacking everyone in sight!
[Gorilla arm pulls him back out the door]
Dante Hicks: Oh, no! Caitlin!
Man: [runs back in] Except Caitlin Bree and Dan Whiffler who are having sex in a car!

Movie Connections:

References Schindler's List (1993)

Hilarious, but disjointed.

It's really too bad that Clerks was up against the two highest rated events of the summer season- Survivor on CBS and the NBA Finals on NBC. I'm sure that the unfortunate scheduling contributed heavily to the lack of ratings; in some markets, including mine, the second episode wasn't even shown, because of the heavyweight competition. (Luckily, my local station sent me a videocassette of ep. 2.)

Both episodes of Clerks were hilarious, but not uniformly so. There are parts of both episodes that dragged, and parts of both that actually kind of shocked me. (Randall explaining to the jury how alike they and Dante are; the Indian convenience store). My friends and I, while enjoying the show immensely, realized there was no way the average viewer would even understand much of the cartoon, let alone appreciate the in-jokes and find the whole affair funny- in fact, there are parts of each that many would find downright offensive. While we wish the show would have continued (and perhaps with more equal competition, the show could have matured into something really good), perhaps it's best that the shows just come out on video for the benefit of the converted.

My main problem with the show was the stylistic similarity to "The Critic"- most of the jokes were not only pop-culture based, but they were essentially non-sequiters, contributing nothing to the story. Their use in the original movie fit in with the feel of the film- that of bored coworkers who are just killing time. They felt awkward, though, nestled in the sitcom-like plot of the cartoon.

All in all- recommended for the Clerks fans out there; everyone else may want to see the movies before seeing the cartoon.