Posted by Phlogiston at jc-24-158-103-129.chartertn.net on June 28, 2001 at 22:11:21:
In Reply to: Clerks cartoon... posted by BoB Odenkirk on June 28, 2001 at 21:18:43:
: I just wanted to know what everyone thought of the clerks cartoon DVD...
: I've loved everything Kev's done so far, but I've heard the cartoon was a flop; and as a result got cancelled.
Just by coincidence, I have just watched the sixth and final ep of the animated CLERKS, part of the CLERKS UNCENSORED DVD package. Apparently, the big problem with the animated CLERKS is its appeal to an audience other than what many people expect for animation. Let's face it, most Americans ignorantly assume that all animation and all comic books are intended to appeal to either children or an audience in arrested emotional development. As a result, even the most challenging and satisfying stuff (THE SIMPSONS when it hits on all cylinders, KING OF THE HILL surprisingly often, DARIA fairly consistenly) will be dismissed as just a cartoon. If audiences and critics really took animation seriously, for example, they would have to concede that for a couple of seasons in its run, THE SIMPSONS probably deserved the "Best Comedy" Emmy. Many people don't see that; in a like manner, they go nuts when a comic book deals with mature themes and read popular press accounts that rely on Adam West-era BATMAN sound effect words in any story about comics. When a large portion of a potential audience cannot distinguish medium from genre, new ideas risk failure. There were big rumors a number of months ago, for example, that the producers of the current WB animated Batman wanted to produce a Lobo program as well, featuring that characters extreme mayhem as a variant of Wile E. Coyote. The suits nixed the idea.
Excuse the extended preamble. I have watched the six episodes a number of times, and I have found lots to enjoy. You'll see a major skewering of rampant consumerism. Almost every episode attacks sitcom conventions--one "flashback" episode occurs so early in the series' run that few of the things actually have happened. The writing is usually tight, and the range of pop culture references would stagger Dennis Miller (look for the "Duck Amuck" segment on episode 6, for example). The drawings look first rate, too.
As for the program's being a "flop," well, it didn't attract the big advertisers, and it didn't pull in a big audience. I think it is a success, however, in that it wrestles with the situation comedy format without falling prey to it. It is funny and often self-deprecating.
I mean, hell, Kevin could have sold out and let ABC turn it into the New Jersey version of TWO GUYS, A GIRL, AND A PIZZA place. It would have been just too easy to homogenize the characters (even Jay & Silent Bob) and make a show that would have survived at least as well as JUST SHOOT ME. I just think that ABC didn't know what to do with CLERKS ANIMATED once they had it. It's a shame that one of the cable channels didn't pick it up (HBO? IFC? VH-1?).
By all means, pick it up. If you have small children in your home, please preview the episodes before you decide to let kids watch them (that advice goes for any animation, by the way).