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These are the results of a poll I conducted on the ``clarissa'' mailing list, 28 Apr - 17 May 96.
Thanks to Noel Alfonso, Lars H., and Eric Wilkinson for helping to create the poll. Their assistance was invaluable both in question selection and in matters of wording. Some things came down to an ``executive decision'' on my part. More on this below.
(Note: Each question number is linked to the summary of responses for that particular question.)
1. What is your age?
2. What is your gender?
a) male
b) female
3. In what state (or country, if outside U.S.) do you live?
4. What is your occupation? If a student, what is your major (or ``subject'' or ``academic area of interest'')?
Occupation:
Major:
5. How many of the 65 episodes of Clarissa Explains It All (CEIA) have you seen? (If unsure, just take your best guess.)
a) none
b) a few of them (say, less than 10)
c) some of them (10-39)
d) most of them (40-59)
e) almost all of them (60-64)
f) all of them
If you answered ``a) none'', skip to question 12.
6. On the average, how many episodes of CEIA do you watch per week?
a) none
b) less than one (for example, one every two weeks)
c) one to three
d) four to six
e) more than six
7. In general, do you prefer the earlier, middle, or later episodes of CEIA? (Please choose one.)
a) earlier (i.e., first season)
b) middle (i.e., second and third season)
c) later (i.e., last season)
8. What do you like about CEIA and what don't you like about it? (Please list no more than 3 likes and 3 dislikes.)
9. Which are your five favorite episodes of CEIA? (If you don't know the titles, just give brief descriptions. You don't have to rank your choices.)
10. Which are your three least favorite episodes of CEIA?
11. Are you taping (or have you taped) the episodes of CEIA to keep?
a) no, I'm not taping them to keep
b) yes, I have some episodes on tape
c) yes, I have most episodes on tape
d) yes, I have all episodes on tape
12. What are your five favorite TV shows of all time? (You need not rank them.)
13. Are you a bigger fan of CEIA or Melissa Joan Hart?
14. Who are your three favorite actresses? (Please rank them based on whatever criterion you choose to use, 1 = most favorite.)
1)
2)
3)
15. How and when were you introduced to Melissa Joan Hart? (Examples for ``how'': on CEIA; on Touched By An Angel; browsing the web; a friend told you about her; etc. Give your best guess as to when.)
How:
When:
16.
How were you introduced to the ``clarissa'' mailing list and when did
you first subscribe?
(Examples for ``how'': alt.tv.nickelodeon or
other newsgroup; browsing the web; a friend; etc.)
How:
When:
17. Do you have access to the World Wide Web?
a) no
b) yes
c) don't know
If you answered ``a) no'' or ``c) don't know'', skip to question 19.
18. Which web-browser do you use (most often)?
a) Netscape
b) Mosaic
c) browser provided by on-line service (which?)
d) other (what?)
19. If there are any other comments you would like to make for inclusion in the summary of responses, please put them here. (Your identity will not be given, of course.)
We start with a little general information about the responses and some information about the list membership as a whole.
There were 40 responses to the poll. To determine the response rate, we need to know the total number of list members.
List membership decreased over the three-week period during which the poll was conducted (28 Apr - 17 May 96). The numbers of list members recorded during this period were:
Note that this doesn't take into account
that some people are subscribed under more than one name.
(For example, they may have an edu address for school
and a net or com address for home.)
This makes it difficult to determine the actual number of people
on the list.
Anyway, using the average (mean and median) of the numbers above as the total list membership, the response rate was 40/144 = 27.8%.
Compare this with past polls:
It may be of interest to see when people actually responded to the poll, which was posted to the list three times:
A reminder was also posted on 9:40am on 14 May 96. Responses were accepted until 17 May 96.
The number of responses in each week was as follows:
21 (52.5%) 28 Apr - 6 May 10 (25.0%) 7 May - 11 May 9 (22.5%) 12 May - 18 May
Since I was running the poll,
I had the luxury of waiting until the 18th to respond. :-)
The chart (or table or whatever) below gives the actual day each response was received. The letters correspond to days of the week: sUn, Mon, Tue, Wed, thuR, Fri, sAt; the numbers represent weeks.
1 | U U U U U U U U U M M M M M M M T W W R A 2 | M T W R R F F F F A A 3 | U T T T T W R F A
For example, 9 responses came on that first day, Sun, 28 Apr; the last three responses arrived on Thu, Fri and Sat of the third week. (Well, actually the last response didn't arrive -- I just typed it up at home.)
To get an idea of the composition of the list as a whole (not just the 40 poll respondents), we may examine the domains of the e-mail addresses which constitute the actual ``mailing list''. (Remember that this does not correspond to distinct human beings, just e-mail addresses.)
Below is a breakdown of the top-level domains (and lower-level domains when this is informative) using the 6 May list of subscribers.
U.S. domains (123/144 = 85.4%)
67 (46.5%) com -- company or commercial organization
27 aol 2 compuserve 24 miscellaneous others
6 netcom 2 delphi
4 msn 2 prodigy [Note: 'msn' = Microsoft Network]
40 (27.8%) edu -- educational
11 ( 7.6%) net -- gateway or administrative host for network
2 ( 1.4%) org -- private or non-profit organization
1 ( 0.7%) gov -- government
1 ( 0.7%) mil -- military
1 ( 0.7%) us -- other U.S.
Non-U.S. domains (21/144 = 14.6%)
13 ( 9.0%) uk -- United Kingdom
8 ac (academic) 5 co (commercial)
2 ( 1.4%) br -- Brazil
2 ( 1.4%) es -- Spain
1 ( 0.7%) au -- Australia
1 ( 0.7%) ca -- Canada
1 ( 0.7%) nz -- New Zealand
1 ( 0.7%) se -- Sweden
Now we begin examining the responses to the poll questions. I've included a few little statistics lessons along the way for those unfamiliar with certain ways of summarizing data.
Some summary statistics:
min: 13
max: 48
mean: 25.1 (what is usually meant by 'average')
median: 22.5 (50% are greater than this age, 50% less)
The complete set of ages:
1 | 3 1 | 5 7 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 2 | 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 2 | 5 6 6 8 8 8 9 3 | 0 1 2 3 | 5 7 8 9 4 | 4 | 5 8
This is what's known in statistics circles as a ``stem & leaf display''. The numbers in the left column (``stems'') correspond to the tens place in the ages. The numbers on the right (``leaves'') represent the ones place. So, for example, the first three ages are 13, 15 and 17. The last three are 39, 45 and 48.
There are two stems for each decade (10's, 20's, etc.) to make the display more informative (ignoring the numbers, you can see it as a bar-chart or a histogram on its side). The leaves 0-4 go on the upper stems, the leaves 5-9 on the lower.
37 (92.5%) male 3 ( 7.5%) female
I think this is straightforward enough. :-)
1 non-response
Note: When there are non-responses, percentages are computed out of the number of actual responses.
33 (84.6%) U.S.
1 AZ 1 IL 1 MD 2 NY 2 WA
3 CA 1 KS 1 ME 1 OH 1 WV
1 CO 1 KY 2 NC 1 PA
2 FL 1 LA 1 ND 1 TN
1 GA 2 MA 1 NJ 4 TX
4 (10.3%) U.K.
1 ( 2.6%) Canada
1 ( 2.6%) Australia
1 ( 2.6%) New Zealand
Note, BTW, how well this reflects the overall membership of the list (i.e., the balance of U.S. and U.K. responses).
21 respondents listed an occupation; 25 gave a major; 6 gave both.
2 electrical engineers 2 looking for job and... (1 each) aerospace engineer buy aircraft parts for a commuter airline clerk college mathematics instructor computer programmer consultant / computer programmer-analyst electronics technician mechanical designer network physical layer specialist sales associate [electronics store] security at power plant / race car driver self-employed systems software engineer system administrator U.S. Army - microwave systems operater / repair unemployed / taking time out from studies work at a printing company
6 computer science 2 physics and... (1 each) anthropology / sociology art biochemistry business chemical engineering / material sciences drama / fine arts economics English film / media medical technician movies or business music education mechanical engineering philosophy statistics undecided zoology
1 ( 2.5%) none 0 ( 0.0%) a few of them (say, less than 10) 3 ( 7.5%) some of them (10-39) 9 (22.5%) most of them (40-59) 7 (17.5%) almost all of them (60-64) 20 (50.0%) all of them
One must always keep in mind in reading these results that this counts only people who responded to the poll. The people who didn't respond may differ from the respondents in certain ways, so you can't always extend what you see here to the list as a whole. For example, to say that 50% of the entire list membership has seen all 65 episodes of CEIA would be pretty risky. The majority of the list who didn't respond may not be as ``into'' CEIA as the ones who did. So it's likely that far less than half of the 144 or so list members have seen all the episodes. By the way, this phenomenon is called ``nonresponse bias'' -- getting misleading or misrepresentative results because those who didn't respond differ from those who did in important ways. It's especially problematic in polls or surveys such as this one, where response is voluntary.
2 non-responses 4 (10.5%) none 7 (18.4%) less than one (for example, one every two weeks) 15 (39.5%) one to three 11 (29.0%) four to six 1 ( 2.6%) more than six
Some people pointed out that they don't watch as much as they'd like to.
Some said that their viewing habits vary a lot.
I, for example, would have answered ``(d) four to six''
back in Jan & Feb, but now [late May]
I can only manage an episode every 2 or 3 weeks. :-(
5 non-responses 6 (17.1%) earlier (i.e., first season) 21 (60.0%) middle (i.e., second and third season) 8 (22.9%) later (i.e., last season)
This question was my idea. There seemed to be a lot of interest on the list about this early-vs.-late-episodes thing. So now we know -- it's pretty evenly divided. BTW, I lumped the second and third seasons together just because I personally don't see a big difference between them.
This question was difficult to effectively summarize. Since people phrased their answers in all different ways, I just grouped related comments together and left them as given by the respondents -- although I usually edited them down to the ``important stuff'' (and also often changed the capitalization).
Note: The categories are by no means mutually exclusive, but I had to put each comment in one and only one group. Also, the ordering of the groups, and of the comments within each group, is largely arbitrary -- but not completely random.
3 non-responses
everything
MJH MJH MJH of course MJCH Melissa MELISSA, MELISSA, MELISSA Melissa Joan Hart Melissa Joan Hart Melissa Joan Hart! Melissa Joan Hart / Need I say more??? I love Melissa Joan Hart the star of the show
MJH's acting acting style and attitude of Melissa way in which MJH portrays the character (her acting) Melissa's unique portrayal of the character Clarissa engaging actress, i.e., MJH incredibly talented Melissa Joan Hart! Melissa's role in the series
Clarissa's character Clarissa Darling the character Clarissa
Clarissa (MJH) MJH/Clarissa
Clarissa's bold, spunky, non-conforming, idealistic, innocent character
(first season mainly)
Clarissa was a character whom I had fell in love with because of her
personality, looks, styles, and hobbies
Clarissa thinks the way I do. Like, when I first started watching CEIA,
I often found that Clarissa said exactly what I was thinking.
Clarissa is darned cute
I love all Clarissa's facial expressions and looks
1. colorful / 2. clarissa / 3. chicanery
Sam Sam Sam was also cool Hillary is darned cute Ferguson played an annoying little brother quite well Marshall's character (he's hilarious!) cool parents (yeah, I know..) family whole chemistry of the Darlings worked well with Sam characters interaction between actors/characters good supporting cast, particularly Joe O'Connor good cast
cute and intelligent girl (guess who };->) original perspective of a strong female character from a teenage girl's POV focus on independent female lead
viewer/Clarissa link Clarissa talking to us Clarissa talking to the TV - creates a sense of intimatcy MJH talking to the audience "fourth wall" format, i.e. the "explaining it all" audience interaction ala Dobie Gillis first person format interface in general
the writing
clever writing
the writing for the show was a hand above most of the other sitcom
pabulum we're usually feed
generally high quality of the scripts
most scripts
mostly believable real life story lines
focus on the Darling family, and how their situations correspond with
other major issues
subjects or themes (plots)
problems Clarissa deals with in the show
classic real life behaviors
its humor I like the humor my favorite kind of humor comedy it was also funny
originality
originality
something differant
it is different and unique
interesting
at the time CEIA debuted on Nickelodeon, CEIA presented itself to be a
fresh and new show that was much more interesting than the other
shows offered on Nickelodeon
nice friendly look and feel (ie.: atmosphere not something Sid would
write poems about)
lighthearted tone
its freshness and vitality
whole way the show is presented to the viewers
its non-condescending nature
surreal(that's not the right adjective, but I can't think of a better one)
atmosphere (ie: sound affects, graphics, puffy letters, alliterative
names, colorful set, etc.)
I liked how CEIA was unrealistic(certain situations) yet also realistic
at the same time in the way(i.e. older sister vs younger brother of
which I could relate)
implied coolness from just being slightly eclectically normal (how's that
for an oxymoron)
not afraid to skewer "cultural icons" (correct term?) such as TV
it is strictly for entertainment and does not try to teach a moral lesson it's nearly total lack of controversial subjects the show is entertaining it makes me feel good
good staying power (still very entertaining, even after repeated viewings) very re-watchable, episodes still good after multiple viewings
video games and Clarissa Updates "take-offs" of other shows and movies
Clarissa's outfit's I love the clothes Clarissa wears her awsome clothes
3 non-responses
no dislikes none
not enough episodes
not enough episodes
wasn't on long enough
it had too short of a run
series did NOT last long enough
could have used 1 or 2 more "wrap-up" episodes
I would have liked to have a few more episodes but nothing lasts forever
(Clarissa has to grow up sometime)
I did not like the final episode of CEIA. In a way it was too abrupt an
ending.
it was cancelled it's no longer in production it's now only reruns! ;-( it's no longer in production there are no new shows of CEIA
time slot it's in no longer on Saturdays
her and Ferg's relationship put to the extreme of disliking each other!
Clarissa's contempt for the nerdy kids at school; I guess we all need
someone to look down on!
changes made after the first season to Clarissa's character - becomes a
"role model"; tries to do the "right thing"; mimics lost, unsure
teenager struggling through adolesence; loses a lot of her spirit,
edge
Olivia
Olivia (she got on my nerves)
Olivia's character
way they suddenly introduced Olivia
didn't care for Olivia too much, wish there could of been more
interaction with her other friends
Clarissa's friends(not including Sam). They changed over the seasons
but in my opinion NOT for the better. Knowing Clarissa the way we
do, I am often left wondering WHAT she saw in her friends or HOW
they even became friends.
Ferguson
FUGERSON!
Sam
Marshall's hair
Janet Darling
character and portrayal of Janet
The character of Sam. While the ideas and actions were portrayed in an
excellent manner, I've always felt that a different actor could have
brought more out of the character.
most other characters (including the other Darlings) are often one-
dimensional
bad acting
fuzzy areas that could have been explained in more detail, such as the
characters ages, where they lived, and WHY Clarissa was in Jr. High
one moment and Sr. High the next
too many inconsistencies throughout the series that could have been
avoided with more careful planning (house address, schooling, ages,
etc.)
later episodes not quite as good
a little cheesey (sorry, but it's kinda for kids) a little too unrealistic at times, especially in the first season
that annoying laugh track! laughing track
the theme song sorry, but I don't like the theme music! some of the iccendental music can be annoying
uninspired camera work and direction, lacks some 'oomph' there small budget sometimes got in the way sets could have been better
too much tofu some of the computer stuff
I didn't even knew it existed before December 95
they never had me as a special guest star
the few brief scenes w/o Melissa
didn't care for the "motorcycles are bad" message in the episode where
she,at first, wanted a bike real bad
each episode is separate to itself (a probelm arises is solved in 25
mins, how about a 2 or 3 episode type thing ?)
it's only 30 minutes long
The episode titles given here are as provided by ``urien'' on the list. For those who don't know the episodes by these titles, see my CEIA episode guide (for example) and/or my Alternate episode titles page. (Or follow the link given for the episode to see my ``episode page'' for it.)
9 non-responses (includes "all of them" and "don't have any favorites") 9 "Ferguson Explains It All" (#161) 7 "Revenge" (#101) 7 "Sick Days" (#113) 7 "Life of Crime" (#137) 6 "School Picture" (#102) 6 "Parents Who Say No" (#111) 6 "The Final Episode" (#165) 5 "Cool Dad" (#112) 5 "Punch the Clocks" (#131) 5 "A Little Romance" (#147) 5 "Alter Ego" (#157) 4 "President Ferguson" (#117) 4 "Misguidance Counselor" (#123) 4 "Don't I Know You" (#150) 3 "No T.V." (#103) 3 "Total TV" (#126) 3 "The Darling Wars" (#128) 3 "Sam's Swan Song" (#130) 3 "Piper Comes to Visit" (#156) 3 "Janet & Clarissa, Inc." (#160) 2 "Urge to Drive" (#104) 2 "Bully" (#107) 2 "New Addition" (#108) 2 "Bake a Cake" (#110) 2 "The Great Debate" (#119) 2 "Poetic Justice" (#129) 2 "Marshall's Mid-Life Crisis" (#135) 2 "Football Fever" (#136) 2 "Blind Date" (#139) 2 "The Flu" (#140) 2 "Babysitting" (#151) 2 "The Firm" (#159) 2 "Clarissa Gets Arrested" (#164) 1 "Haunted House" (#106) 1 "Brain Drain" (#109) 1 "Crush" (#114) 1 "The Understudy" (#121) 1 "Sam In Love" (#124) 1 "Involunteering" (#133) 1 "Take My Advice...Please" (#134) 1 "Commitment" (#142) 1 "The Bicycle Thief" (#144) 1 "Boy Thoughts" (#145) 1 "The Zone" (#148) 1 "A New Mom" (#154) 1 "Sam's Dad" (#158) 1 "UFO" (#163)
Summary:
cited total % epis. % tot. votes
season epis. epis. cited votes votes per epi.
------ ----- ----- ------- ----- ------ --------
1 12 13 92% 44 32% 3.7
2 10 17 59% 24 17% 2.4
3 16 24 67% 38 28% 2.4
4 9 11 82% 32 23% 3.6
------ ----- ----- ------- ----- ------ --------
all 47 65 72% 138 100% 2.9
Notes:
cited epis. = number of episodes cited (voted for) from season total epis. = total number of episodes in season % epis. cited = cited epis. / total epis. votes = total number of votes for season's episodes % tot. votes = votes / 138 votes per epi. = votes / cited epis.
I believe that this basically shows that the 1st-season episodes are most-liked overall (among those who responded), followed by the 4th-season episodes. But the difference is quite small.
Note that these results are exactly the opposite of those for question 7, which indicated that the middle seasons (2nd and 3rd) were preferred over the 1st and 4th. Weird!
Note: When necessary, official episode titles are given in square-brackets.
#110 ``Bake a Cake'': Clarissa at her perkiest and bubbliest!
#111 ``Parents Who Say No'': ``Melancholia'' puts this one in the top five.
#117 ``President Ferguson'': Jason Zimbler's best performance; Ferguson at his most conniving.
#126 ``Total TV'': Good biting of the hand that feeds them (comments on TV), also the bit with Clarissa trapped inside her TV
#144 ``The Bicycle Thief'': Clarissa at her loveliest (IMHO)DAMN YOU
....YOU CAN'T MAKE ME PICK ONLY 5...THAT WOULD BE TOO HARD!!!!!!
[...]
Graduation (the finale episode [``The Final Episode'' (#165)], although too short and no ceremony for grad.)The episode where Ferguson plays Football [``Football Fever'' (#117)]. The line ``he's twice your body weight and shaves with a brick,'' cracks me up everytime.
15 non-responses (includes "no least favorites" and "I can't remember" 10 "ESP R US" (#141) 5 "Ferguson Explains It All" (#161) 7 "Tale of Two Moms" (#149) 3 "Sam's Swan Song" (#130) 3 "A New Mom" (#154) 3 "The Final Episode" (#165) 2 "Brain Drain" (#109) 2 "Crush" (#114) 2 "President Ferguson" (#117) 2 "Misguidance Counselor" (#123) 2 "Janet's Boyfriend" (#127) 2 "Boy Thoughts" (#145) 2 "Piper Comes to Visit" (#156) 2 "Alter Ego" (#157) 2 "UFO" (#163) 1 "CNN" (#105) 1 "Haunted House" (#106) 1 "Parents Who Say No" (#111) 1 "She Drives Me Crazy" (#115) 1 "Total TV" (#126) 1 "Poetic Justice" (#129) 1 "The Silent Treatment" (#132) 1 "Hero Worship" (#146) 1 "A Little Romance" (#147) 1 "Don't I know You" (#150) 1 "Educating Janet" (#152) 1 "The Cycle" (#153) 1 "Sam's Dad" (#158) 1 "Dear Clarissa" (#162) 1 "Clarissa Gets Arrested" (#164)
Summary:
cited total % epis. % tot. votes
season epis. epis. cited votes votes per epi.
------ ----- ----- ------- ----- ------ --------
1 4 13 31% 5 8% 1.3
2 8 17 47% 14 22% 1.8
3 10 24 42% 28 43% 2.8
4 8 11 73% 17 26% 2.1
------ ----- ----- ------- ----- ------ --------
all 30 65 46% 64 100% 2.1
Again, it appears that the 1st season fares best -- this time (IMO) followed by the 2nd season. The other two seasons are less clear-cut: the 4th has more least-favorite episodes (proportionally), but there is more agreement as to which 3rd-season episodes are less-liked (greater votes per episode).
Note: When necessary, official episode titles are given in square-brackets.
A Friendly Relationship [``A Little Romance'' (#147)] (my live is mirroring
that episode too closely right now)[After citing ``CNN'' (#105), ``ESP R US'' (#141) and ``Don't I Know You'' (#150):]
(as you can see, 2 of the 3 have Olivia in them...I can't STAND that character.#149 ``Tale of Two Moms'': Sam's mom is just way overdone!
#154 ``A New Mom'': Scraping the bottom of the barrel for something to say
#161 ``Ferguson Explains it All'': Too different from the other episodes;
unsuccessful foray into unknown territory.The psychic link episode [``ESP R US'' (#141)]...Olivia's in it.
When Clarissa gets the internship to the New York post [``The Final Episode'' (#165)], Only because I know that is the last CIEA episode!
Note: First number is times chosen as favorite / second is least favorite.
9/5 "Ferguson Explains It All" (#161) 6/1 "Parents Who Say No" (#111) 6/3 "The Final Episode" (#165) 5/1 "A Little Romance" (#147) 5/2 "Alter Ego" (#157) 4/1 "Don't I Know You" (#150) 4/2 "President Ferguson" (#117) 4/2 "Misguidance Counselor" (#123) 3/1 "Total TV" (#126) 3/2 "Piper Comes to Visit" (#156) 3/3 "Sam's Swan Song" (#130) 2/1 "Poetic Justice" (#129) 2/1 "Clarissa Gets Arrested" (#164) 1/1 "Haunted House" (#106) 1/1 "Sam's Dad" (#158) 1/2 "Brain Drain" (#109) 1/2 "Crush" (#114) 1/2 "Boy Thoughts" (#145) 1/2 "UFO" (#163) 1/3 "A New Mom" (#154)
7 "Revenge" (#101) 7 "Sick Days" (#113) 7 "Life of Crime" (#137) 6 "School Picture" (#102) 5 "Cool Dad" (#112) 5 "Punch the Clocks" (#131) 3 "No T.V." (#103) 3 "The Darling Wars" (#128) 3 "Janet & Clarissa, Inc." (#160) 2 "Urge to Drive" (#104) 2 "Bully" (#107) 2 "New Addition" (#108) 2 "Bake a Cake" (#110) 2 "The Great Debate" (#119) 2 "Marshall's Mid-Life Crisis" (#135) 2 "Football Fever" (#136) 2 "Blind Date" (#139) 2 "The Flu" (#140) 2 "Babysitting" (#151) 2 "The Firm" (#159) 1 "The Understudy" (#121) 1 "Sam In Love" (#124) 1 "Involunteering" (#133) 1 "Take My Advice...Please" (#134) 1 "Commitment" (#142) 1 "The Bicycle Thief" (#144) 1 "The Zone" (#148)
10 "ESP R US" (#141) 7 "Tale of Two Moms" (#149) 2 "Janet's Boyfriend" (#127) 1 "CNN" (#105) 1 "She Drives Me Crazy" (#115) 1 "The Silent Treatment" (#132) 1 "Hero Worship" (#146) 1 "Educating Janet" (#152) 1 "The Cycle" (#153) 1 "Dear Clarissa" (#162)
"Sam.....Darling" (#116) "The Return of Mafalda" (#118) "ME 101" (#120) "Can't Buy Love" (#122) "A New Look" (#125) "Marshall's Parents Visit" (#138) "Road Trip" (#143) "Editor-In-Chief" (#155)
1 non-response 4 (10.3%) no, I'm not taping them to keep 13 (33.3%) yes, I have some episodes on tape 12 (30.8%) yes, I have most episodes on tape 10 (25.6%) yes, I have all episodes on tape
Another question I was personally interested in, seeing as how I now have two copies of most of the episodes! These results surprised me, even keeping in mind the problem of non-response bias I talked about above. A lot of people are taping the episodes to keep!
Okay. Blame me for this one! We (Noel Alfonso, Lars H., Eric Wilkinson, and I) were discussing including some sort of ``favorite TV shows'' or ``what other TV shows do you watch?'' type of question. There were suggestions that we limit it to Nickelodeon shows, or to ``daytime'' Nick shows (i.e., not ``Nick at Nite''), or to shows currently in production, or to shows from the last 10 years, or etc., etc...
Basically, we just couldn't decide the best way to do it, so I ended up asking this ``five favorite TV shows of all time'' monstrosity. As I suspected, the results are all over the map! Oh, well...
Some people didn't understand that I meant including CEIA. In other words, a couple of people gave five and then said something like, ``and of course, CEIA''. I followed-up on those people and made them choose five! Same thing happened with the ``favorite actresses'' question.
Note: Each show is linked to its entry in the Ultimate TV Show List, if there is one. If there's no entry at Ultimate TV, but there is one at the Internet Movie Database, then it's linked to that, instead.
1 non-response 30 Clarissa Explains It All 7 Seinfeld 6 X-Files 5 Cheers 5 My So-Called Life 4 Home Improvement 4 Married... With Children 4 Monty Python's Flying Circus 4 Secret World of Alex Mack 4 Star Trek: The Next Generation 4 Wonder Years 3 Adventures of Pete & Pete 3 Blackadder 3 Dr. Who 3 Friends 3 Moonlighting 3 Simpsons 3 Star Trek 2 Cops 2 Days and Nights of Molly Dodd 2 Prisoner 2 Quantum Leap 2 Roseanne 2 Sailor Moon 2 Star Trek: Voyager 2 You Can't Do That on Television one vote each... Aeon Flux All In The Family America's Most Wanted Are You Being Served? Avengers Babylon 5 Beverly Hills 90210 Connections Criss Cross Dr. Katz Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman Doogie Howser, M.D. Doug Drop the Dead Donkey Eerie Indiana Ellen E.R. E Street Facts of Life Family Ties Fawlty Towers Flash Forward Frasier Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Frontline (Australian comedy) Full House Furniture to Go Get Smart Grand Highlander: The Series Hill Street Blues Home and Away Hometime Hunter (1984) I Spy In Living Color Land of the Lost Little House On The Prairie MacGyver Mad About You M.A.S.K. Midnight Caller Misfits of Sceince Murphy Brown Nanny Neighbours New Lassie Party of Five Patty Duke Show Phenom Police Squad! Red Dwarf Remington Steele Ren & Stimpy Show Saved by the Bell seaQuest DSV Second Noah Silk Stalkings Slap Maxwell Story Sliders Soap Step by Step STINGRAY That Girl 3rd Rock From the Sun TV Nation V (the miniseries) Walker, Texas Ranger What's Happening!! XUXA and finally... anything where Rachel Sweet has a guest spot :-)
3 non-responses 18 (48.6%) CEIA 19 (51.4%) MJH
Right down the middle! This question was Eric Wilkinson's idea -- and a great idea it was, too!
I'd say CEIA at this point, though I look forward to seeing MJH in many different roles in the future.Melissa (don't tell anyone I said this) seems kinda like the typical teen starlet (kinda ``out there'', shallow and superficial, and not the type of person I like in ``real life''. She is cute though. I admit, I follow her work anyway. I could be wrong about her.
MJH!!! (She looks good all grown up!)!
Partial to CEIA, But MJH is what made that show work, but the show brought her strong points out. (Confused Yet?)
For me, this was one of the hardest questions to answer. I started out by going through an index of actors and actresses in a video guide, which resulted in over 120 ``favorite actresses''! Then I weeded it down, after much pain and protest, to 30 favorites. Finally, I picked out the top three based on how much I would want to get to know them personally (that was my criterion). The results, if anyone's interested, were:
I decided to limit this to identifiable real people, so ``the girl in that porno i saw the other night'' and ``Marge Simpson'' didn't make it into the summary. (Some people!) The person who said ``Marge Simpson'' put her as #2, so I moved their #3 up to #2.
One person put ``Melissa Joan Hart'' in all three places,
which I interpreted as a single vote for MJH as #1 favorite.
Finally, someone said, ``Miss Hart is #4'' --
which didn't count for much in this summary. :-)
One person said they didn't know if I meant including MJH or besides MJH. I meant including MJH.
In the table below, ``Score'' is a weighted score based on the number of votes at different positions:
Score = (#1's)*3 + (#2's)*2 + (#3's)*1Each name is linked to the appropriate entry in the Internet Movie Database.
Actress Votes #1's #2's #3's Score -------------------- ----- ---- ---- ---- ----- Melissa Joan Hart 29 22 3 4 76 Alicia Silverstone 9 3 4 2 19 Sandra Bullock 6 2 2 2 12 Winona Ryder 4 1 3 9 Claire Danes 3 1 2 7 Helen Hunt 2 1 1 5 Jewel Staite 2 1 1 4 Jennifer Connelly 2 2 4 Katharine Hepburn 2 2 4 Jodie Foster 2 1 1 3 Larisa Oleynik 2 1 1 3 Christina Ricci 2 1 1 3 Doris Day 1 1 3 Sally Field 1 1 3 Bridget Fonda 1 1 3 Heather Graham 1 1 3 Audrey Hepburn 1 1 3 Molly Ringwald 1 1 3 Jane Seymour 1 1 3 Fay Wray 1 1 3 Xuxa 1 1 3 Gillian Anderson 1 1 2 Ingrid Bergman 1 1 2 Thora Birch 1 1 2 Wendy Cox 1 1 2 Fran Drescher 1 1 2 Mia Farrow 1 1 2 Megan Follows 1 1 2 Nicole Kidman 1 1 2 Myrna Loy 1 1 2 Kellie Martin 1 1 2 Rosie O'Donnell 1 1 2 Marlo Thomas 1 1 2 Lea Thompson 1 1 2 Uma Thurman 1 1 2 Tamlyn Tomita 1 1 2 Jenna Von Oy 1 1 2 Rachel Blanchard 1 1 1 Anna Chlumsky 1 1 1 Christie Clark 1 1 1 Jeanne Crain 1 1 1 Ellen DeGeneres 1 1 1 Kirsten Dunst 1 1 1 Isla Fisher 1 1 1 Teri Garr 1 1 1 Ashley Johnson 1 1 1 Diane Keaton 1 1 1 Moira Kelly 1 1 1 Christine Lakin 1 1 1 Shari Lewis 1 1 1 Penelope Ann Miller 1 1 1 Demi Moore 1 1 1 Jada Pinkett 1 1 1 Julia Roberts 1 1 1 Natanya Ross 1 1 1 Cybill Shepherd 1 1 1 Emma Thompson 1 1 1 Michelle Trachtenberg 1 1 1 Ming-Na Wen 1 1 1
7 Melissa Joan Hart and Alicia Silverstone
4 Melissa Joan Hart and Sandra Bullock
4 Alicia Silverstone and Sandra Bullock
2 Melissa Joan Hart and Winona Ryder
2 Melissa Joan Hart and Claire Danes
2 Melissa Joan Hart and Jennifer Connelly
2 Melissa Joan Hart and Jodie Foster
2 Melissa Joan Hart and Christina Ricci
(all others 1 or 0)
4 Melissa Joan Hart, Alicia Silverstone, Sandra Bullock
2 Jewel Staite
2 Katharine Hepburn
2 Winona Ryder
(all others 1 each)
36 (90.0%) CEIA
episodes cited: "Revenge" (#101)
"Haunted House" (#106)
"Bully" (#107)
"Cool Dad" (#112)
"The Great Debate" (#119)
and... (1 each)
promos for CEIA before series debuted
NBA show on NBC ["Clarissa Darling Basketball Association"]
"Live and Kicking" interview
browsing the web
3 non-responses 14 (37.8%) 1991 6 (16.2%) 1992 7 (18.9%) 1993 6 (16.2%) 1994 4 (10.8%) 1995 1 ( 2.7%) 1996
By accident, waiting for Pete & Pete's Valentine Day Massacre special to come on. CEIA was the show before.Channel surfing during break in Discovery channel production. I would have clicked off; but I had dropped my channel changer. I heard her talk before I could change channels. I said this is no blonde bimbo show!!! I said this no JAB (Just Another Blonde)
flipping channels in 91 found about episode 10-12 of Clarissa on Nick. took a few shows to really start liking. Just thought she was kinda cute and smart at first, but show was dumb.
Stumbled on the first Aunt Mafalda episode on its first airing. Watched a few minutes. Didn't tune in again for some months, but stayed then.
the first ever showing of CEIA. They had a picture of Clarissa on the cover of the TV listings book of the newspaper (which I still have!) announcing the new show's premiere.
The first time I notice Melissa as Clarissa was on a NBA show on NBC. It was a while ago, I believe I was still a freshman in high school at the time. She was in the show for about a minute, and I believe she shot some hoops. I believe she was wearing the same basketball jersey as the one she wore in the original opening sequence of CEIA. It must have been at least four years ago, it was then that I heard her mention about herself playing Clarissa on Nickelodeon. From then, I just knew that I had to check her show out. I guess it was her looks that attracted me to check out her show, but then it was because of the show itself that may me become a loyal fan.
19 (47.5%) browsing the web / someone's homepage 4 (10.0%) "Internet Yellow Pages" 4 (10.0%) 'alt.tv.nickelodeon' newsgroup 2 ( 5.0%) saw in Usenet list of mailing lists and... (1 each) searching Mailing Lists on AOL Nickelodeon's AOL folder Infoseek search on "Melissa Joan Hart" search for a Clarissa mailing list [where not specified] found out about when I joined the '90210' and 'jpop' lists 'alicia-fans@kypris' list 'alt.tv.fifteen' newsgroup 'rec.arts.tv' newsgroup college info lists told by a friend don't remember
1 non-response Further breakdown for 1996: 2 ( 5.1%) 1992 3 in Jan 96 2 ( 5.1%) 1993 4 in Feb 96 4 (10.3%) 1994 1 in Mar 96 16 (41.0%) 1995 2 in Apr 96 15 (38.5%) 1996 4 in May 96
40 (100.0%) yes
1 non-response 32 (82.1%) Netscape 4 (10.3%) AOL's web-browser 3 ( 7.7%) Lynx
Some people said they used Mosaic or Lynx in addition to Netscape. But since I said ``most often'', they had to go with Netscape. The ``non-response'' in this case was someone who said ``Web-Crawler'', which is a search engine, not a web-browser.
Note:
I've resisted the urge to edit some of these. [;-)]
They're in alphabetical order, in case you're wondering.
Attn J. Fields, just remember: 'In the end there can only be one'......CEIA is good in that it provides a strong role model for girls. Miss Hart shows girls that they can be strong and independent, that they can think for themselves.
Clarissa just makes you smile. After a long hard day, an episode can really cheer you up. I really miss the anticipation of waiting for a new episode to come on, VCR remote in hand. That show just had a certain campy appeal for kids and adults. I'm really surprised how many technical people are watching the show and subscribing to the list... engineering, physics, computers, statistics, etc. It's just a great show... but I don't need to tell you that!
Donald, I really appreciate all of the work you've put into your Clarissa/Melissa Web Site.
I first watched CEIA because I saw Melissa in an interview, I watched an episode and loved it. I can just watch and enjoy it, it taught me, about being able to analyise or not analyise while watching something. I love anything with voice-overs and when people speak to the camera/ audience. I love it, what more can I say
I hope I gave you the answers you need. This list always comes up with things about MJH I never knew, and always keeps me informed of new acting apperances. Keep up the good work!!
I think this list is a great source for information on Melissa and CEIA. It seems everyone is friendly here unlike some other mailing list I have been on.
I thought Arnie Anders was by far the best ``extra'' character.
I wish the list were as respectful toward MJH as it used to be.
It seems everyone talks more about Melissa Joan Hart than CEIA.
Just one, what about doing a MJH poll ?, ie What is it you like about Melissa ?, what programs have you seen 'Sa in ?, What ones do you like ?, what ones do you dislike ?, What type of film would you like to see her in ?
my friend mentioned that Melissa was in a Wonder bread commerical when she was younger. The commercial was the one with the girl(Melissa) making little balls out of the bread. If Im not mistaken, I think Melissa's line in the commercial was something to the effect of ``Look Grandpa!(as she was making the little balls out of the bread) This commercial I actually remember heh so actually this might of been the first time that I saw Melissa on TV =D I wonder how many of the others on the list may remember that Wonderbread commerical she had done. Come to think of it, I believe she even did a Jello pudding pop commercial with Bill Cosby as well too.
Poor ELVIS!!! after getting the boot at the beginning of the second season, Clarissa should of gotten a new and unusual pet!
The CEIA shows have a particular magic to them in that they seem to brighten the day and prod fond memories.
The list should be renamed the Melissa Joan Hart Mailing List.
There is just a magic in CEIA and Melissa's acting attitude and presentation in it - it amazes me.
This is the ONLY mailing list I like enough to belong to. (I know that sentence is not grammatically correct, I don't care <G>). I DO find it hard to gain respect on here. I feel ppl ignore my postings sometimes because I'm not one of the ``big, known posters'' like yourself (no offense to you, I'm not jealous or anything };-> ) I am not trying to become a big-shot or show-off. I just hope ppl get something out of my few posts. I put them up only if I have a thought to share. I don't do it for my health <G>.
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