IS CLERKS BEING CONSIGNED TO THE ROUND FILING BASKET?

Fans of controversial filmmaker Kevin Smith are once again rallying to hissupport, following ABC’s decision to postpone the debut of his animatedsitcom Clerks until May 31st. On Smith’s “The View Askew” fan site on theInternet, an unsigned article charges that the decision followed a recenttest screening of the show for Disney Studios executives. “The suits decidedthey didn’t understand its humor,” the article says, “and so they pushed itback to a summer release day. This almost ensures the show’s failure.” Thearticle then goes on to urge Smith’s fans to rally around Clerks. “Don’tgive Disney what they want,” it concludes. “When this show airs, watch it ifonly to spite the Mouse.”

“Kevin Smith Disses Disney”

Director Kevin Smith seems to enjoy taking on the big guys. First it was God, and now he’s stepping up to Mickey Mouse. Is anything sacred?

The creator of Chasing Amy and the controversial religious flick Dogma continues to slam Disneyfied ABC over its decision to postpone the debut of the animated sitcom version of Clerks until May 31. His rabid Internet fan base promptly joined in, rallying support to make sure his new cartoon doesn’t get canned.

Smith took to the pages of his production company Website to bash the Alphabet Network and Disney execs, saying the stuffed suits don’t understand the movie spinoff’s humor and have sentenced the show to a qui! ! ck death–the beginning of summer.

“May 31 pretty much ensures the show’s failure, in my book,” he says, pointing out that the summer months are typically a TV-ratings wasteland.

Smith’s project is a cel-based comedy chronicling the misadventures of characters introduced in his 1994 indie classic. Slacker faves Dante, Randal and the now-notorious duo Jay and Silent Bob (Smith’s apparently polar-opposite alter ego) all show up in the boob-tube version.

Smith initially hoped the Miramax TV-produced show would air before April, with the rest of the midseason shows. But ABC has stood by the decision to debut Clerks in May, saying it would do better outside the din of the network’s regular season. The network had previously expressed its commitment to the show.

But the filmmaker says it won’t get a fair shot. “Very seldom does a show launched during the summer get picked up. I can’t believe we got fucked hard by the mouse twice in the span of a year.

“Fucking suits, man. I don’t know why I bother.”

Smith’s other high-profile run-in with Mickey and Company came during last year’s flap over Dogma. The Bible tale with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon was condemned by some conservative Catholics as sacrilegious, despite being called pro-faith by Smith. The film was pulled from Miramax’s roster and passed to Lions Gate Films last April over fears it might draw too much flak to parent company Disney.

Since Smith’s original Clerks posting, fan sites have continued the tongue-lashing. When one lengthy posting was critical of Smith’s production, it was quickly dismissed as a diatribe penned by some pissed-off ex-animator. All the while, Clerks fans are backing Smith up, saying they won’t let the show die–no matter when it airs.

“If Walt Disney were alive today, he would not have let this happen,” one replied. “I’m sure he’s rolling over in his grave right now. I have my fingers and toes crossed that things w! ! ork out.”

Smith believed the higher-ups didn’t get the new cartoon’s youth-targeted humor, and instead launched it into oblivion to make room for more milquetoast sitcoms–not to mention more episodes of ratings juggernaut Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

“No offense to Regis, but how long do they think that show’s going to be a hit if they keep airing the hell out of it?” Smith’s posting says. “I guess it doesn’t matter in short-sighted thinking…Which means that Millionaire will pretty much be on ABC every time you turn your television on.”

It’s not that way already?

Sore ‘Clerks’

When ABC announced that Kevin Smith’s “midseason” animated sitcom based on his feature, Clerks, wouldn’t debut until May 31, the filmmaker didn’t play Silent Bob — he took out his frustration on his The View Askewniverse website. (See: “How we got f—ed by ABC. Hard”) Now Smith tells EW that he regrets taking ABC’s six-episode commitment: “it just burns my ass because we had other places we could have gone. UPN offered us 13 episodes on the air.” ABC defends the shuffle, pointing to the summer success of Millionaire, but Smith isn’t satisfied. “I’ve discussed [with Clerks’ production company Miramax] the possibility of buying it back and releasing it as a feature,” he says. “The idea of taking a movie and turning it into a cartoon that never airs on TV but instead [becomes a] movie — that’d be trippy.”