X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

05/15/2005: Clarissa Explains Most Of It.

Sorry for the incredible lack of updates lately. I feel like I say this too much. But you understand, because you have no choice but to understand. Not understanding will only make your hands and feet explode. The good news: Brian is getting prettttty close to being done with the new design which, aesthetic improvements aside, ushers in two new sections to X-E that’ll allow for nice, quick updates at a way more frequent rate. I’ll give one away now — more Kool-Aid reviews. As in, every Kool-Aid flavor you could possibly remember. I’ve somehow managed to get my hands on all but a very small few (Rainbow Punch still eludes me, sniff), but the collection of vintage fun mixes is immense, and it just felt like a nice summery project to do. I don’t want to spoil what’s coming in the other new section, but it’s far more grandiose and the result of collecting materials for the past year or so. You will be most excited.

One of my more recent projects at work was writing/producing a commercial for Clarissa Explains It All on DVD. A friend of mine did the spot for The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Looks like they’ve seen the trends and are reacting accordingly — both shows’ first seasons are coming out this week, and as fate would have it, I’ve snagged a couple of box sets on each to give away right here, right now in the efforts of good PR.

So, if you’re interested in winning a Clarissa Explains It All DVD box set, use this link to e-mail me. If you’re more of a Pete & Pete kinda guy, use this link. I’ll draw a name at random in about a week, and since I’m only pushing this on the blog, you’ve all got a fairly decent shot at winning. (Note: You must be at least thirteen-years-old to enter. If you’re twelve, you’re fucked.)

By the way, I was never much of a Clarissa fan during the show’s original run, but having to watch the first season a couple of hundred times has pushed me into the realm of quasi-fan. I think it’s the episode where Clarissa’s dad and ladder-crawling neighbor boy do a Vanilla Ice-style dance about architecture that sealed the deal.

Clarissa is cooler hands down because she had a pet alligator(crocodile?) named Elvis…she probably had to mail order him.

Ah, Clarissa Explains It All. Good ol’ fashioned 90s TV. I loved that show! I still think of it whenever Sabrina is on.

Do you think that maybe this laid the groundwork for Scrubs (+ others) in terms of wacky dream sequences, leading to its commercial/critical success?
Shyeah right!

Matt- although a long time X-E reader, I think this is the first time I’ve read something about your job - VERY nice.
Also, I’m sure the new design will be worth it

Oh, and Pete & Pete was great too. Classic Nick’ ’twas simply the best.
DA. BEST.

I think the overlooked show here is definately "Legends of the Hidden Temple". I don’t care if it was a game show, it still kicked ass.

Oh i’ve been waiting for this day. I loved each show, now I just countdown till they do the first run of All That and Kenan and Kel.

The younger brother from Pete and Pete comes into the store I work at to buy bass strings.

I only recently realized that Artie from P&P is none other than Stumpy from Carnivale…bonus.

This has nothing to do with anything written above, which I didn’t read actually… so who know’s it might, but it’s pretty unlikely. But anyways, it’s just a suggestion for an article that’d be fun to read; I’d like to see X-Entertainment cover those plastic drinking cups that kicked so much ass that gas stations used to give away way back when, when you used to fill up with gas. You should drop some coverage on these similair to the crayola crayon box article, only gathering and collecting as many of these awesome platic cups as you can find and than taking pictures for display and writing out reviews to determine the best ones. I remember whenever I’d go to a friends house and it was time for lunch we used to get into serious fights over who got to drink our milk from the Hulk Hogan or Slimer Ghostbusters or Donatello cup, etc. It usually ended with one of us not being invited to the other’s future birthday party and than we’d sit at the opposite end of the table eating our Kraft Dinners in silence. These are fond memories of my youth I shall never forget, and I’d like to see X-E honour them by doing a write-up on possibly the greatest lunchware accessories ever created… the free plastic gas station cups! Oh and perhaps you can also throw in a bit about the decline of their franchise probing and exploring possible theories on why they no longer adorn the windows of Esso stations anymore and what bastard revolutionary causes brought about their plight. I’m honestly curious, every time I fill up at a service-station and the guy comes up to my window to take my money I scorn and secretly curse the system, remembering the day when it was my lawful right to a free cartoon character cup. I feel like we are all being ripped off in this sense today. Anyways, please do an article and if you like, you can dedicate it to me. That would bring about a sense of closure I feel and give us all a proper tribute to the decadence of the gas station giveaways and the glory days when every young boy and girl drank their juice from a free cup.

Toby "Artie" Hoss has a recurring character on Reno 911, and I still fondly remember him as Elaine’s boyfriend who portrayed The Wiz in that one episode of Seinfeld.

If you got two emails from the same person, I wasn’t trying to stuff the ballads, it said the first one didn’t send after it said it was successful.

Legends of the Hidden Temple was/is the best. They still show it on their Nick GAS channel. Gotta love these classic Nick shows.

I didn’t see "Clarissa" until well into its original run, but I did enjoy what little I saw (oh, could I relate to her her Ferguson problems - my sisters were twice as bad…and there are two of them).

Man, I loved Clarissa. She was such a great computer programmer. In any case, when does "Are you Afriad of the Dark?" come out on DVD?

I used to love watching Pete and Pete. That Arty character was the geekest person on television during the early 90’s. Nonetheless, he still made me laugh. I am a big fan of classic Nickelodeon shows. It seems that Nick had some of the best shows in back in the day compared to now. The only one I can think of that is any good is that show with the two boys Drake and Josh. All That has went down the crapper since the cast was completely changed over in 2000 or 2001. I have noticed that in recent shows that some of their material has gotten better, but it is still lame compared to the days of when Kenan and Kel were on the show. A person can only take one to many sketches of hyperactive kids eating sugar and drinking coffee. I could watch my cousins do that!!! Anyways, some other good ideas for classic Nick shows:Are You Afraid of the Dark(there were many times I would flip on Snick on Saturday night and watch this show in the dark),Roundhouse(A sketch comedy series that started in early 90’s and ended in mid-90’s with the launch of All-That), You Can’t Do That On Television (This was a sketch comedy series back in the hay-day of Nickelodeon when the network was first taking off and was successful enough to stay on the network until 89 or 90. It was also one of Alanis Morisette’s first acting careers.), and Kenan and Kel. Due to being half-asleep while typing, there might be one or two I may have left out. There’s other dvds I would like to see out as well from the 1980’s that will probably never make it: Mr. Belvidere (A good ole family show from the 80’s with a British butler in charge of keeping up the house. (This show hasn’t been on television since 91 and was never picked up through syndication on TVLand), and Perfect Strangers (A show on ABC which was about a foreign guy who has a cousin in Chicago and is invited to stay with him. This show made the famous line "Don’t be Rediculous!" popular and was the show that spun off the show Family Matters which ran for about 8 or 9 years). I would like to just bring back the days of the big orange couch and sit down with a bag of popcorn and watch the shows I loved growing up on Nickelodeon. P.S. I wonder what ever happened to that big orange couch? Maybe somebody sold it on Ebay or its locked up in a vault at Universal Studios?

I’m so happy to see Pete & Pete finally getting released on DVD.. now if we could just get Are You Afraid of the Dark? out!

I was wondering the same thing that "Joe in OH" is. Are they ever going the release Rocko’s Modern Life on DVD? I heard that Viacom was considering to release it, but I never heard anything more.

oh HELL YEAH. Clarris truly does explain it all, of life, universe and everything. if I don’t win I am going to buy it yea!

Oh and the best Nick show hands down that noone can argue with is " You can’t do that on television."

For a pre-teen, this was about as epic as it got. Fantastic. Too bad it didn’t end properly - like so many other great shows, especially Dungeaons and Dragons.

you should figure out what happened to that roundhouse show. i only have vague memories of it. it first aired when i was in college, so my memories are all "hazy." i remember it cracked me up to no end, but can’t tell you why.

Nice to know you were actually involved with the DVDs, that’s great. Just sent my entry. Can’t wait to see what Brian has been cooking up in the secret lab.

Man, screw CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL! I remember tuning in to the episode where she steals lingerie, hoping to catch some Joan Hart skin, but noooooo she kept her fucking trenchcoat on the whole show! We need the OLD SCHOOL NICK! Shows like :You Cant Do That On Television, Roundhouse, What Would You Do?, Are You Afraid Of The Dark,Don’t Just Sit There,The Third Eye, And Old School DOUG!

I always wish that Nick would put Hey Dude or Salute Your Shorts back on TV or On Demand. When I was little I wanted to be Brad and ride horses on a ranch.

Nick really needs to make a boxset of the Tomorrow People. That show was freakin great.

"Legends of the Hidden Temple" comes on here in Korea at like 1 AM! Yes! And man, old school Nick rocked….Salute Your Shorts, GUTS, Pete & Pete, Hey Dude, old All That, etc. Good times. I watch a LOT of Nickelodeon here, since its one of my few English channels, and it just doesn’t have the quality it used to.

what’s great about having roughly 14 nick stations on my (extremely overpriced) cable is that they still run pete and pete from time to time. And I have to say that it still holds up as one of the most original and creative ‘kid sitcoms’ ever. To the point that I think it is better than most of the drek on tv.
And yes I have entered and hope to win…after all kids (even those of us close to 30) love getting mail!

Thats freakin cool, Mars, but a little on the expensive side. Perhaps I’ll ask for it for my birthday.

matt - can we enter both contests? i really can’t decide, but right now i’m leaning towards pete&pete.

If you are sick of Britney Spears, please link the phrase "white trash" to http://www.britneyspears.com anywhere you can

Hey Dude was shown on one of those Nick "side channels" about a year ago and it was at that time that I realized how lame it is looking back on that show. Not to crush anyone’s dreams and what-not. Salute Your Shorts, on the other hand, is still pretty cool. How could someone hate a show where the kids got away with nicknaming their camp counselor "Ug Lee?" I just remember when Donkey Lips and Sponge were trying to slim down/beef up for the wrestling tournament so that they could get their greasy little camper paws on some friggin’ lobster. Priceless! Or when Budnick and Dina dated? Gross! I was just anticipating the release of the Pete & Pete DVDs when you posted this and had recently seen the commercial. I’m just psyched about the opening theme song (Hey Sandy) and being able to see Polaris play that again. Man, I love that song. Believe me, it’s on the iPod (a.k.a. life force)! I really loved the episode where Little Pete dedicated a radio show to playing the song he heard them sing and subsequently recreated with a guitar that he purchased and promptly learned how to play. And I’ve always wanted a woman named Petunia tattooed on my arm, as well. Characters like "Open Face" and "Endless Mike." Or when Iggy Pop played Nona’s dad!

im from the uk, and ordered my copy a few months ago. It arrived the 2nd of may, then i found out it was suppsed to be out till yesterday in the states!!!! And yes it is the same. Its not coming out in England Region 2 so it wasnt released in the uk before.

Oh man, I’m watching the Britney show now, and it’s bad. Bad bad bad.
I’ve gotten ahold of the first seasons of Pete and Pete (and Rocko) secondhand but I’ll be buying them immeadiately, unless I win of course. I can’t believe I had such good taste in TV as a kid and now am watching the Britney reality show.
Toby Huss rules on Reno 911! but I really love him on King of the Hill.
Matt, if you ever get the chance, check out a few minutes of Carnivale on HBO Latino, where they dub Spanish voice actors in…the "we got pie" exchange knows no language, and they get what sounds like a 300 pound dude to dub the voice for Samson. Pure hilarity.

i’d also like to know if we can enter both contests. i wouldn’t want to win both dvds myself- let’s be fair.

but i would find some consolation in knowing that if i didnt win clarissa, i might have a chance at getting pete and pete…

You never know Denise, as much stuff as there is available on Ebay all the time, a former winner of the aggro crag might put one up for bid one day. Speaking off stuff on Ebay, there’s many sellers out there who also sell dvds of commercials of the 80’s. Some of which Matt already has on his site and some he doesn’t. I was thinking about buying a copy on there, but I’m not sure of how good the quality of the audio and video would be.

Did anyone also know that Artie is the voice of Dale Gribble and Rusty Shackleford on King of the Hill?

Hell yes! i congrats on da clarissa blurb gig. i will try mayboe to enter. Matt, would you still like that Alden’s 1976 xmas catalog? i still got it fer ya if ya want it.
pls lemme kno, eh.

tomorrow people - note that the DVD linked is of the original Tomorrow People show from the 70s, NOT the one broadcast on Nick in the early 90s… just a heads up.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 15th, 2005 at 10:29 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.