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Courtesy of the Daily Variety
Toon 'Clerks' lurks
ABC is finalizing a deal with Miramax and Touchstone TV for six episodes of an animated series based on Kevin Smith’s first film “Clerks” as the latest addition to the primetime cartoon explosion. The comedy, slated for a midseason or fall 2000 launch, will be executive produced by Smith and former “Seinfeld” supervising producer Dave Mandel, who has a $9 million deal with Touchstone. “Clerks” is only the second TV series ever produced by Miramax, the other being Kevin Williamson’s upcoming drama “Wasteland,” also for ABC. The film powerhouse hired former CBS exec Billy Campbell as president of its fledgling TV division last August, and the company appears to be getting up to speed quickly. The TV version of “Clerks,” like the low-budget and raunchy 1994 pic, is about two young slackers, one who works at a Quick Stop convenience store and the other at a video store in New Jersey, and their wacky friends. The idea to translate the slacker ennui of the pic into an animation skein sprung from the recent success of several “Clerks”-related comic books that Smith did for the Oregon-based indie Oni Press. Smith’s previous work in TV was limited to a handful of shorts for MTV. The helmer says he wants to “open up” the horizons of the characters in the animated series’ beyond the convenience store setting of the pic. “For us, it’s not about recreating the movie,” Smith told Daily Variety. “We want to push the edge of the envelope in another direction. We’re talking about being a bit surreal using the animation medium. I mean, why bother doing animation unless you’re going to be wacky with it?” Although the film was laden with four-letter words and racy exchanges, Smith is realistic about the constraints of the network TV environment. “What we lack in vulgarity or salaciousness we’ll make up for in flat-out laughs,” he said. Aside from “Clerks,” which Smith wrote, produced, directed and starred in, Smith’s films include “Chasing Amy” and “Mallrats,” and he was a co-executive producer of “Good Will Hunting.” Mandel also was a writer on “Saturday Night Live.” Toon boom “Clerks” will be the first animated series at ABC since the short-lived “Capitol Critters” in 1992, but it’s the latest example of the unprecedented boom in edgy primetime animated fare. NBC on Tuesday ordered a new Carsey-Werner animated sitcom called “God, the Devil and Bob,” and the web is also expected to order a Brillstein-Grey toon with David Spade. Also on Tuesday, Fox ordered a new claymation toon called “Gary and Mike,” which will be paired with the web’s five other animated comedies. UPN launched “Dilbert” in January, and the netlet has “Home Movies” coming in April and “Quints” in the works for next season. The WB also is developing “Baby Blues” and “Downtowners.” CBS, which has the oldest audience composition, is the only web that isn’t jumping on the animation bandwagon. The Eye web has no toons in the pipeline for now. 'Simpsons'-'South' envy The enormous interest in primetime animation stems from the long-running success of Fox’s “The Simpsons” and the more recent Comedy Central hit “South Park.” While few typical mainstream sitcoms have caught on in recent years, animated shows like “King of the Hill” and “The PJs” have stuck. Animated hits can bring in coveted young auds and generate huge licensing and merchandising revenues. Creators also are able to push the envelope in ways they can’t with live-action sitcoms, and the characters never age, so episodes have an evergreen quality that works well in syndication. In other development news:
(Cynthia Littleton contributed to this report.) |
