Clarissa Explains It All is an American
situation comedy television series from
Nickelodeon starring
Melissa Joan Hart. It was created by
Mitchell Kriegman, it encompassed 65 episodes shown during five seasons. The
teen sitcom ran from March 23, 1991,
to October 1, 1994,
and then went into reruns. In the series, Clarissa Darling, a
teen girl,
breaks the fourth wall and describes the things that are happening in her life (dealing with typical
preadolescent concerns such as
school,
boys,
pimples and an annoying little brother) to her television audience.
Clarissa Explains it All was the first television series to identify the "preteen" audience and the first to feature a female lead who appealed equally to both audience genders. It created a format that was followed by many teen sitcoms to come.
Plot and background
The main characters in the show are Clarissa Darling, her family (consisting of her father Marshall, her mother Janet and her little brother Ferguson) and her best friend Sam. Clarissa and Sam's relationship was a novelty on television at the time, due to few television series allowing a girl and a boy to be merely friends without romance blossoming. (One episode featured the idea of their having a romance, but ultimately ended without their getting together.) Clarissa also had a pet baby Caiman (Alligatoidae) named Elvis which she kept in a kiddie-sandbox in the left corner of her room. Elvis lasted only the first few episodes of the first season.
The show was credited with becoming the first Nickelodeon series to feature a female lead, which led the network to create other shows such as
The Secret World of Alex Mack,
The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo,
The Amanda Show,
Taina, and more recently
Unfabulous,
Zoey 101,
iCarly, and
True Jackson, VP.
