Melissa Joan Hart returning to Nickelodeon for Clarissa Explains It All reboot
By Buckie Wells
Both Boy Meets World and That’s so Raven were able to find new audiences with their reboot. So, why can’t Nickelodeon try with Clarissa Explains It All?
We all know this is the age of reboots and revivals. In fact, we’re about one bad Terminator film away from James Cameron announcing a Titanic remake.
The next property to hit the reset button is Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All, which originally aired in 1991.
Similar to how Disney’s transformed That’s So Raven into Raven’s Home, Melissa Joan Hart would pivot from the teenager who broke the fourth wall and kept a ladder outside her window in Clarissa Explains It All to the mother of the household.
According to the original exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter, Nickelodeon’s decision to bring the show back stems from their need to hit an older demographic. Since they’re bringing back Blue’s Clues for preschoolers and younger children, apparently they decided to try again with Clarissa Explains It All, too.
Luckily, the creator of the series, Mitchell Kriegman, already has some solid footing to build on. In 2015, he released Things I Can’t Explain, a novel that served as a sequel to the original series. Plus, Hart clearly still holds some sort of fanbase, since Melissa & Joey aired for four seasons and more than 100 episodes.
Nostalgia appears to be the obvious play here, but what does Clarissa plan to explain next? If she’s an adult, her troubles would include things like taxes and 10-minute meals. Obviously, this doesn’t fit in with the Nickelodeon crowd. So, maybe they will take a page out of Disney’s book and make her child the only one who addresses the audience. Though, that doesn’t seem as fun. Actually, it would be interesting if they both break the fourth wall. That way, Nickelodeon can try its hand at presenting the two sides of every story.
As demonstrated yesterday during the student walkout, Viacom (which owns Nickelodeon) wants to stand in solidarity with the demographic it aims for. Perhaps Clarissa Explains It All is how they plan to keep the conversation going.
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The deal isn’t officially sealed, but new title ideas include: Clarissa Explains It All (Again), Clarissa Explains Some More, Clarissa Put It in the Email and Clarissa Won’t Say It Again.