Mar 6, 2011  •  In Entertainment, Personal

Clarissa Goes from Explaining It All to “Clarissa Now”

Does anyone remember the early 90s Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All? I used to watch it ALL the time, fully soaking in the witty narration of Melissa Joan Hart’s Clarissa Darling, enjoying her wacky outfits and accessories, and wishing that I too had a best guy friend named Sam who would climb in through my window.

I always thought that Clarissa and Sam should hook up, and was majorly disappointed when they tried to be more than friends in that one episode which turned out to be a big FAIL. I was also sad to see the sitcom come to an end after 5 seasons and wondered why Clarissa couldn’t go on explaining it all in college…

Well, apparently the show’s producers had wondered the same thing!

Late last year, the pilot for Clarissa Now, the coulda-been spinoff of Clarissa Explains It All was uploaded to YouTube and the interweb has finally taken notice. According to Flavorwire:

Though the intro music still has some na-na-nas, in Clarissa Now, Miss Darling is 18 and interning at a newspaper in New York City, winning over her bosses (including the publisher, played by Tony Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Marian Seldes), pissing off the suspiciously cute reporter-in-training, playing with laughably outdated office equipment and riding the subway, which looks exactly the same as it does today. Unfortunately for us, CBS passed on the show, so the series was never filmed, but Clarissa fans can still click through to watch the pilot and have their minds blown. As Sam would say, what’s the worst that could happen?

Ack!

And here it is, for your viewing pleasure:

I haven’t watched it yet, but I will as soon as I finish writing this post!

P.S. — Other live-action Nickelodeon shows I used to enjoy watching include Salute Your Shorts, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and The Secret World of Alex Mack. And after watching a few episodes iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place, I feel like the pre-teen shows these days just don’t compare. Or maybe my tastes are just old-fashioned?

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13 Responses to “Clarissa Goes from Explaining It All to “Clarissa Now””

  1. Kristie says:

    I used to love this show!! I totally agree on your P.S. too – the shows from long ago were so much better than what is out today!

  2. Jenn says:

    I loved all those shows you mentioned! What about Hey Dude? That was another favorite. I can’t wait to watch this pilot episode. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Jen says:

    I was so into this show (and all the other ones you mentioned). You’re right, preteen shows couldn’t possibly be as good.

  4. Sarah S says:

    I can’t wait to watch this when I get home from work tonight!

    I’m really tempted to order season 1 of Clarissa Explains it All.

  5. Angie C says:

    OMG, I loved Clarissa Explains it All. I also think that the cartoons these days are subpar to the ones we watched growing up. Duck Tails! Gummy Bears! Thundercats!

  6. Vee says:

    I LOVED Clarissa Explains it All – AND Salute Your Shorts. And I would probably still watch Are You Afraid of the Dark if it came on. All great Nick shows… those were the Good Old Days, for sure!

  7. Carol says:

    LOL. I LOVE, LOVE those old shows too!

    Clarissa: I loved her name. She kinda reminded me of a non-Asian Claudia from BSC. I thought Claudia was a fun name too!

    Salute: I would randomly hum a song and think “where is this song from?!” It was the intro song to Salute Your Shorts! I totally remember all of the episodes… hhaha

    Are you Afraid: Some of those stories were truly scary for me, like being stuck in a video game mall..shudder.

    Alex Mack: I thought she was gorgeous! I still really love her. She was cute in 10 Things I hate about you.

  8. Araba says:

    Hey Jen,
    You know, Nickelodeon is bringing back some of the shows and cartoons from the 90s on March 14th?
    They realized that their ratings have gone down drastically since the 90s so they’re bringing back the old shows and some of them are continuations of the old ones. So maybe (hopefully) they’ll bring this back too?
    Anyway, just thought I should let you know 😀

  9. I’m so very excited! I loved that show! I hope this one is as good. I thought she was cute in Melissa & Joey, if a little corny. Yay for Clarissa!

  10. Shayna says:

    Yess! Shoutout to Clarissa! Also, Alex Mack was my favorite show. I don’t even know what the preteen shows are…That’s so Raven and Hannah Montana? I don’t know…ours were way better! 🙂

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