Clerks: The Animated Series

Clerks: The Animated Series
Title card featuring the four main characters. Top from the left: Dante Hicks, Randal Graves, bottom from the left: Jay, and Silent Bob.
Also known as	Clerks
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Kevin Smith
Based on	Clerks by Kevin Smith
Developed by	David Mandel Scott Mosier Kevin Smith
Voices of	Jeff Anderson Jason Mewes Brian O'Halloran Kevin Smith
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein David Mandel Scott Mosier Kevin Smith
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Miramax Television View Askew Productions Woltz International Pictures Touchstone Television Walt Disney Television Animation (uncredited)
Distributor	Buena Vista Television
Release
Original network	ABC Comedy Central (episodes 1, 3 & 5-6)
Picture format	4:3 SDTV
Original release	May 31, 2000 – December 14, 2002

Clerks (retronym: Clerks: The Animated Series) is an American animated sitcom that was first broadcast in 2000 that was based on Kevin Smith's 1994 comedy of the same name. It was developed for television by Smith, Smith's producing partner Scott Mosier and former Seinfeld writer David Mandel with character designs by Stephen Silver. It is the first (and so far only) television show to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse

Only two episodes were broadcast on ABC in the year 2000 before the series was canceled. Several factors contributed to the cancellation, including low ratings, the show's not fitting in with ABC's other programming, unsuccessful test-screening to older audiences, and ABC's decision to air the shows out of order. ABC aired the fourth episode first, as opposed to the intended first episode, and then aired the second episode despite the fact that the second episode is the 'flashback' episode, and derives much of its humor from the fact that it flashes back to the first episode. Additionally, the second episode aired without the scene from "Flintstone's List", the fictional RST Video rental that spoofed Schindler's List.

All six episodes were released on DVD in 2001, marking one of the first occasions in which a short-lived TV series found success in this format. The DVD commentary features cast and crew who frequently cite their disagreements with the network over the show's development. The entire series was eventually aired on Comedy Central, with the unaired episodes airing for the first time on television on December 14, 2002. In 2006, digital freeview channel ITV 4 in the UK, began broadcasting episodes late on Monday nights. Starting November 14, 2008, Adult Swim aired the series on Friday nights.