In the last decade, a number of millennial-favorite sitcoms have made much-awaited returns to TV — Full House, Boy Meets World, and Saved By the Bell are only a few 90s favorites that received revivals and spinoffs 20 or so years later. However, there have been quite a few rumored reboots that unfortunately never came to fruition, such as Lizzie McGuire and Clarissa Explains It All.
If you don't recall, Clarissa Explains It All was a 90s Nickelodeon classic with a tentative reboot that has been in the works for quite a while now. And apparently, we aren't the only ones eagerly awaiting its return — Metro.co.uk recently talked to Mitchell Kriegman, the creator of Clarissa Explains It All, to celebrate the show's 30th anniversary, in which he also talked about the show's planned revival. However, we may have a bit of a wait to we see Clarissa Explains It All back on our screens.
Talking to Metro, Kriegman revealed that the reboot was unceremoniously stalled just before shooting as Nickelodeon didn’t appreciate Clarissa continuing to talk to camera - an aspect from the original series which helped make it a hit with fans.
"I had written the script of her grown-up in this newsroom," Mitchell revealed. "I had an amazing cast, finally I had a diverse cast. I had talking to the camera still, and the graphs, and fantasies and graphics.
"After writing it and building the set – which cost them at least £100,000 – and casting the whole thing, I get this phone call saying, 'we’re gonna hire another writer to write the whole thing over again'.
"I’m saying, 'Why?' and they said 'well we can’t have all that talking to camera'. Those graphics, those fantasies – that works on cable for kids but it won’t work for adults?
"I have very high standards for talking to camera. Fleabag is really good. That’s why I wince whenever I see Fleabag.’
Despite previous setbacks, Mitchell is now determined to one day revive Clarissa, and bring her up to date with a family of her own – and Melissa Joan Hart, who played the titular character is on board. "Of all my series, I would love to go back to that one the most," she said.
"I feel like there is a lot that was unsaid, and that there could be in continuation.
‘I feel like Sabrina [the Teenage Witch] we wrapped it up pretty nicely and I wouldn’t want to mess with the memory of that, but Clarissa is the one that I would go back to and see what happened.
"I don’t know, we’ve flirted with the idea. Mitchell and I have come up with numerous different takes on it, and presented it to Nickelodeon, who was looking at it but then things kind of got lost.
"It’s been years now since it’s been brought up so I don’t think it’s in the stars. But never say never. If it comes back around and it’s a great idea, then we’ll do it."
"Here’s what’s super cool right now is that we all talk to the camera," said Mitchell. "Think about what Clarissa was doing, she’d be in her room talking to camera, and we’d watch her as she did her stuff. You know, like her phone. She’d go to an earlier episode of her life, scrolling – she’d write on the screen, like TikTok and Snapchat."
"I’m planning on [reviving] it," he continued. "At this point, I think there’s so many reasons for the show to exist, and whether a girl or a boy or trans or multiracial, there’s still so many reasons for a kid to explain things in the world.
"I think it will always be something important – to have a kid’s point of view, in a way that’s authentic."
With Nickelodeon favorites such as Rugrats, iCarly and Dora the Explorer - which was directly influenced by Clarissa - all getting revived at Paramount+, let's hope there's room for a Clarissa revival, too!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have your say by leaving a comment below! NickALive! welcomes friendly and respectful comments. Please familiarize with the blog's Comment Policy before commenting. All new comments are moderated and won't appear straight away.