Outlook Dismal For Abc’S ‘Clerks’
Even with a show that reeks, that offends the senses as you watch every pathetic minute of it, you’re not completely sure of its demise.
That is because everybody else might like it. Look how long “Veronica’s Closet” was around.
A hit, no matter how horrible, remains a hit. Nobody cancels shows in Hollywood just because they are bad.
That said, a really solid case can be made that “Clerks,” the new animated series from ABC is, in effect, DOA.
“Clerks” is indeed a spinoff of the popular independent cult film of the same name. Creator Kevin Smith and his band of actors from that picture are behind this animated effort. And a brave number of stars have loaned their voices to the show, a la “The Simpsons.”
That’s a decent pedigree. Why then the absolute certainty that “Clerks” is dead? Let’s enumerate.
1. ABC decided to put the show on when the TV season was over. Not a good sign. In fact, that’s dead fish wrapped in paper, delivered to the rival mob.
2. Kevin Smith, upon hearing when his show - the one he’d labored over for a full year - was going to debut after the season, went into a huge rant on his personal Web page. There was much anger and verbal stench.
Word of those words leaked into the press, and ABC, as clueless as it is most times, took notice. It’s pretty hard to get your show renewed when you assault the network.
3. ABC is, truly, clueless. And instead of trying to cash in on what has been a pretty lucrative market - young males - filled most of its half-hour slots with shows deemed unwatchable by both genders. Besides, this is the network that didn’t know how to make money off “Sports Night” and canceled the riveting series “Wonderland.”
4. Animated shows are falling out of favor.
5. “Clerks” essentially draws on what is a limited audience - cult hit movie or not - and almost no network is interested in gambling on niche programming, much less in patiently growing the audience.
This animated show, centered on slackers working at a convenience store and its neighboring video store, lacks the raw pop of the film and relies instead on inconsistent jokes that try to prop up premises that don’t exist.