15 TV shows you forgot about (and some you wish you could)

Clarissa Explains It All

If you were a middle school girl in the early ’90s, you probably loved this show. Melissa Joan Hart, long before she was Sabrina the Teenage Witch, was the confident, self-assured role model that we all wanted to be.

Clarissa really did have all the answers. With sarcasm and wit, she sat on her bed in the bedroom she had in her parents’ house and gave it to us straight. She took on all sorts of adolescent struggles, and I remember thinking she was the smartest, wittiest girl in the whole world. I’ll admit I had a handful of vests and scrunchies inspired by her wardrobe.

Clarissa was part of the SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) shows, and it was the perfect weekend companion for a girl who didn’t have much else going on (me). It was smart, funny, irreverent, and didn’t take itself as seriously as some of the other shows in the same category.

Clarissa Explains It All was a Nickelodeon show and began airing in 1991. In 1994 the show was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program. The show had such a lasting effect that it’s made it’s way permanently into the popular culture, working its way into music, memes, and literature.