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Another ``hot'' issue on the list also concerns a change: the new opening titles sequence, the first appearance of which coincided with the debut of ``Snick'' on Aug 15, 1992 -- episode: ``Total TV'' (#126). Nickelodeon quickly replaced the original opening sequence on all the shows produced up to this point. Apparently, the last time the original opening was broadcast was when Nick had a surprise (i.e., unannounced) showing of ``Haunted House'' (#106) on Oct 31, 1992.
Oh yeah, and SNICK debuts, too, with Clarissa batting leadoff. On the whole ``Total Television'' was clever, and the new opening credits have a certain... appeal. But it was a pretty conservative episode, sticking close to the tried'n'true Ferg-fighting and sad-state-of-TV themes. I wonder if future episodes will continue to cast Ms. Hart as a junior-highschooler, though, as it's clear she's moving from tween to teen.
'Tween to teen.' I'd tend to agree. I think I prefer the old credits to the new, probably.
New Title Sequence.I like the new sequence, but I like the original one more. It flows better.
I think the reason why Clarissa seems taller than she should in relation to Fergus is because she's wearing boots with heels.
MJH is wearing too much make up in the sequence.
There seems to be what I think are techical errors in the new sequence. When Clarissa finally spells Clarissa, it doesn't match the ``Clarissa'' after they flip the title around. Also the line weight is too thin. Moreover, the actors names don't show up when they run the sequence backwards at the end. Last, Jason Zimbler's name, the actor who plays Fergus has his name rendered differently than the other actors names. For lines after the first, the names seem upshifted, but they didn't do this for Zimbler. Enough nitpicking.
Sounds much like my impressions. Have the Clarissa credits always prominently shown the actors names during the first credit roll? And the character actors show and actor names during the ending crawl? Also, one thing of interest that I saw was that during the new intro I was looking to see what changes in the 3 kids I could notice - and none were obvious. Yet, during the show, there was at least one scene where 'Ferg' was almost as tall as Clarissa - and that is a pretty big growth spurt if I remember correctly. I don't think it was as obvious in the intro ...
I still don't like the New Opening (both the technical rough spots and the Kelly Bundy Jr. concept) -- with the exception of Jason Zimbler moving up in the billings; he's done a consistently good job with a Very One-Dimensional role.
I'm pretty sure that, like last week's, this was an older script -- the ``secret admirer'' tag showed up in the local Ersatz TV Guide several months ago. But I think this was also _shot_ some time ago, at least if the How Deep is Sam's Voice test is any indication. Not to mention the Back to the Past closing credits...
Also, why does she wear such a sleazy outfit in the introduction? She looks kind of strange wearing those megaheels! The old intro was a little tamer. I keep wondering to whom Nick is trying to sell this show...
DON'T get me started on the new intro. The old intro was a pretty good summary of the show -- I don't think they followed up on the basketball player bit, but otherwise most of the major threads are there. I can appreciate Ms. Hart's... development as much as the next fellow, but that's not what the show is about.It wasn't encouraging that they slapped the new intro on last week's ``Spring Fever'' rerun.
They _DID_?!
The writers have made some adjustments as the kids get older -- I can think of two early plot bits centering around Clarissa not filling out yet, and obviously after the New Intro _that_ idea's not going to reappear...
Nick sneaked in some Clarissa on Saturday after all. That ``Orange-a-peel'' with Clarissa ran around 12 noon (MST), and at 1230 MST, they showed ``Aunt Mafalda'', apparently as part of a Halloweenish afternoon block. Original opening and all!
As much as I generally don't like the New Opening, Ms. Hart has some pretty good ``expression'' shots in the first few moments before the they pull back into the ``car'' zooming by. She has quite a good wistful-look one early on. After that (except for perhaps the Emma Peel-like bit with Ferg before she conjures him away) forget it.
Lately the New Opening seems to have been touched up. The skin tones were very red, particularly with Joe O'Connor -- he looked positively lobster-like. Recently he has an almost human skin tone.
See Alternate episode titles for help with an unofficial title or other episode reference you don't recognize.
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