Clueless is an American teen sitcom based on the 1995 film of the same name (which was inspired by Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma). It originally premiered on ABC on September 20, 1996, as a part of the TGIF lineup during its first season. The series then spent its last two seasons on UPN ending on May 25, 1999. Alicia Silverstone had a development deal with Columbia-TriStar at this time, and did not reprise her role from the film.
Premise
Clueless is a teen comedy that follows the adventures of Cher Horowitz, a California girl who attends Bronson Alcott High School. Cher and her friends navigate the ups and downs of high school life as they face struggles with relationships, school, and social status.
Seasons
Episodes
Cast
Main
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Recurring
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The main characters of Clueless, (from left to right), Amber, Sean, Dionne, Murray, and Cher.
Production
Conception
Though the television program is based on the film, director Amy Heckerling intended it to be a TV show for Fox. It eventually was picked up by Paramount as a film, which then led to the television series. Rachel Blanchard played the role of Cher that was originated by Alicia Silverstone in the film. Stacey Dash (Dionne), Donald Adeosun Faison (Murray), Elisa Donovan (Amber), Wallace Shawn (Mr. Hall), and Twink Caplan (Ms. Geist) all reprised their film roles for the television series. Sean Holland, who appeared as Lawrence in the film, portrayed the new character Sean Holiday in the TV series. The program aired on ABC from 1996 to 1997 and with a network change to UPN from 1997 to 1999. The theme song for the TV series, "Ordinary Girl," was written by Charlotte Caffey (of The Go-Go's) and Anna Waronker, and was performed by China Forbes.
Network change
After the series was canceled by ABC, the reruns of the episodes on their Friday night TGIF line-up proved to be ratings winners for ABC. However, it was too late for ABC to get the series back, and they prevented UPN from broadcasting the series until their contract ran out in late September. Clueless finished #46 in the ratings with 13.3 million viewers. Only Sabrina the Teenage Witch (a show on which Elisa Donovan, Donald Faison and David Lascher would eventually become regulars) had higher ratings for Friday. Reportedly, the star of Sabrina, Melissa Joan Hart, was considered for the part of Cher on the Clueless TV series.
UPN cancelled the show after the third season (1998–1999), reportedly because of sharply declining viewership. By the final season, the show had retained only 30% of its original 1996 viewing audience.
Trivia
- This is the first piece of Clueless media to be a tv show.
- This series was meant to happen before the film.
- Alicia Silverstone turned down the offer to appear on this show, preferring to continue with her film career.
- Stacey Dash, Donald Adeosun Faison, Elisa Donovan, Twink Caplan and Wallace Shawn are the only regular cast members who also appeared in the 1995 theatrical film version.
- Paul Rudd, Breckin Meyer and Brittany Murphy made guest appearances as different characters.
- Amy Heckerling was romantically involved with actor Bronson (Alcott) Pinchot. She named the high school after him.
- The character of Coach Graham Bullock, played by Bill Kirchenbauer is actually an homage to television series Growing Pains (1985) and Just the Ten of Us (1987) as in both of those shows the same actor played Coach Graham Lubbock. Same named character but with the L and the B switched in the last name.
- Elisa Donovan and David Lascher later starred together on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch which is another series that debut on the same night as this series.
Gallery
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Videos
See Also
External links
References
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| 1996 series | |
| 2022 series | |