'Clerks: The Animated Series' Might Return In 2013

Clerks: The Animated Series might be edging towards a return in 2013. The series was a very short network primetime show, which many agree was ahead of its time. The series did the same style totally random-funny pop culture-filled jokes that were credited for Family Guy's later success. I highly recommend any one who hasn't seen the show to go check it out, especially if you liked shows like Clone High or Family Guy.

While the series was born out of Kevin Smith's 1994 independent film Clerks, the series was a lot more broad and expansive in scope. I remember one episode brilliantly combined the plots of The Last Starfighter, the Bad News Bears and Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom. The second episode of the series involved the characters getting locked in the freezer of the Quick Stop, remembering some of the great moments in their lives in old-school clip show-style flashbacks to scenes from previous episodes — except the scenes were from episodes that never happened, the one previous episode or the second episode itself (Community later did a gag like this). The ending from Episode 4 was the favorite of many fans of the series:

Only two episodes were aired by ABC in 2000 before the show was canceled. The six-produced episodes were released on DVD and became a cult hit. Enough so that Harvey Weinstein wanted to produce an animated direct-to-video film titled Clerks: Sell Out based on the series. The movie was to have involved Dante and Randal making a movie about their lives at the Quick Stop.

But when Weinstein left Miramax, the rights to the Clerks Animated characters was left in the hands of the Disney Corporation, which had no interest in pursuing any future projects based on the property. However, Miramax was sold in 2011, allowing for a return.

Kevin Smith announced on Twitter yesterday that "Miramax 2.0 and I are hoping to give you new eps weekly next year." So we might see new episodes of Clerks: The Animated Series in 2013 — but in what form? On Television? On Home Video? Or more likely — distributed digitally (Netflix, web, hulu...etc).

via: MTV