Clerks (found pilot of cancelled live-action sitcom TV series based on film; 1995): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:47, 12 April 2023

A screenshot of the pilot taken from an archived review.

Status: Found

Date found: 25 Jan 2015

Found by: Unknown

In 1994, Kevin Smith had his feature-length directorial debut with Clerks, a black and white comedy film about the daily lives of two store clerks. Despite its unconventional approach, the small budget film was a surprising success, fairing well with critics and earning over $3 million in the U.S. box office despite never playing on more than fifty screens at a time.^[1]

TV Series and Production

Due to its overwhelming success, Touchstone Television began work on a television series adaptation/continuation of the film unbeknownst to Smith. When the director was eventually made aware of the project, casting had already begun, and decisions had been made regarding the tone and story of the series. Although he attempted to be a part of the production, more of his time was devoted to his second film Mallrats, which he had been in the process of filming when approached by Touchstone.

These early production issues, in addition to the fact that an early script by Smith was rejected by the studio, caused the director to eventually become disheartened with the project.^[2] The R-rated film being translated to the small screen also meant that the content would have to be toned down considerably. The "family-friendly" Clerks series lacked the sexual humour, swearing, and mentions of drug use present in the film and added on new characters and locations (such as an ice cream parlour) that completely changed the tone of the series from that of its source.^[3]

Despite the fact that Brian 'O' Halloran ("Dante Hicks" in the film) and Jeff Anderson ("Randall Graves") had reportedly both auditioned for parts, both were rejected, with the series instead opting for an entirely new cast and only off-hand mentions of the film's characters to connect the two projects.

Availability

By all accounts, the pilot was a failure and faded into obscurity, the only proof of it ever existing being Kevin Smith's own insistence that it was "complete crap," until an anonymous vid.me user uploaded the full pilot on January 25th, 2015.

Due to the fact that vid.me shut down in December of 2017, the full pilot was mirrored and uploaded to YouTube by the user Cactus Jack on April 6th, 2015. The YouTube mirror of the original vid.me upload can be viewed below.

Gallery

The full pilot of Clerks, mirrored from the original upload to the now-defunct video service vid.me.

External Link

IMDb's page on the pilot. Retrieved 03 Nov '18

References

↑ The Box Office Results for the Clerks franchise. Retrieved 03 Nov '18
↑ Thatericalper.com article on the pilot. Retrieved 03 Nov '18
↑ Geek.com article on the pilot. Retrieved 03 Nov '18

[1] The Box Office Results for the Clerks franchise. Retrieved 03 Nov '18

[2] Thatericalper.com article on the pilot. Retrieved 03 Nov '18

[3] Geek.com article on the pilot. Retrieved 03 Nov '18

[1]

[2]

[3]

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-{{NeedingWork|poor writing and lack of content and references}}
 {{InfoboxFound
 |title=<center>Clerks (live-action pilot)</center>
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 |foundby=''Unknown''
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-In 1994, director Kevin Smith's comedy about the life of two convenience store employees ''Clerks'' won him dozens of awards and basically kick-started his career. Even today, it is regarded as a seminal independent film.
+In 1994, Kevin Smith had his feature-length directorial debut with ''Clerks'', a black and white comedy film about the daily lives of two store clerks. Despite its unconventional approach, the small budget film was a surprising success, fairing well with critics and earning over $3 million in the U.S. box office despite never playing on more than fifty screens at a time.<ref>[https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Clerks#tab=summary The Box Office Results for the ''Clerks'' franchise.] Retrieved 03 Nov '18</ref>
-Sometime during 1995 (while Smith was making ''Mallrats''), some TV executives tried to convince him to make a television series based on the film. However, due to the film's vulgar nature, the content was considerably toned down, and new actors were brought in.
+==TV Series and Production==
+Due to its overwhelming success, Touchstone Television began work on '''a television series adaptation/continuation of the film''' unbeknownst to Smith. When the director was eventually made aware of the project, casting had already begun, and decisions had been made regarding the tone and story of the series. Although he attempted to be a part of the production, more of his time was devoted to his second film ''Mallrats'', which he had been in the process of filming when approached by Touchstone.
-[[File:Kevin smith smokes.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Director Kevin Smith.]]
+These early production issues, in addition to the fact that an early script by Smith was rejected by the studio, caused the director to eventually become disheartened with the project.<ref>[http://www.thatericalper.com/2015/08/03/the-unaired-tv-pilot-for-kevin-smiths-clerks/ Thatericalper.com article on the pilot.] Retrieved 03 Nov '18</ref> The R-rated film being translated to the small screen also meant that the content would have to be toned down considerably. The "family-friendly" ''Clerks'' series lacked the sexual humour, swearing, and mentions of drug use present in the film and added on new characters and locations (such as an ice cream parlour) that completely changed the tone of the series from that of its source.<ref>[https://www.geek.com/geek-cetera/disneys-clerks-sitcom-would-have-killed-all-goodwill-for-kevin-smiths-film-1629491/ Geek.com article on the pilot.] Retrieved 03 Nov '18</ref>
-Reportedly, Smith was not even informed of the filming of the pilot, and actors Brian 'O' Halloran ("Dante Hicks" in the film) and Jeff Anderson ("Randall Graves") both auditioned for parts, but were rejected.
+Despite the fact that Brian 'O' Halloran ("Dante Hicks" in the film) and Jeff Anderson ("Randall Graves") had reportedly both auditioned for parts, both were rejected, with the series instead opting for an entirely new cast and only off-hand mentions of the film's characters to connect the two projects.
-After seeing the result, both actors agreed they were happy with not getting the part. By all accounts, the pilot was a failed attempt to turn the movie into a network-friendly sitcom, with disastrous results.
+==Availability==
+By all accounts, the pilot was a failure and faded into obscurity, the only proof of it ever existing being Kevin Smith's own insistence that it was "complete crap," until an anonymous vid.me user uploaded the full pilot on January 25th, 2015.
-On January 25th of 2015, an anonymous vid.me user uploaded the full pilot.<ref>[https://vid.me/Kcqp/clerks-pilot The full pilot of "Clerks"] Last retrieved 25 Jan 2015</ref>
+Due to the fact that vid.me shut down in December of 2017, the full pilot was mirrored and uploaded to YouTube by the user [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4VscIG5tPQD9Z9FEYRypyQ Cactus Jack] on April 6th, 2015. The YouTube mirror of the original vid.me upload can be viewed below.
+==Gallery==
+{{Video|perrow  =1
+  |service1     =youtube
+  |id1          =wR8COL2GGTw
+  |description1 =The full pilot of ''Clerks'', mirrored from the original upload to the now-defunct video service vid.me.
+}}
+==External Link==
+*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352045/ IMDb's page on the pilot.] Retrieved 03 Nov '18
 ==References==
-<references/>
+{{reflist}}
 [[Category:Found media]]
+[[Category:Found TV]]