<dcljr@stat.tamu.edu>.
This is why ``Clarissa Explains It All for You,'' [sic] Nickelodeon's sitcom about just such a 14-year-old girl and her family, provides not only entertainment but a public service for a country full of Clarissas who must suffer the nightly indignity of setting the dinner table instead of club-hopping with Madonna. The show airs on Sundays at 12:30 and 6:30 P.M.
What makes ``Clarissa'' different is that the lead character, played by 15-year-old Melissa Joan Hart, breaks the rules of traditional sitcoms. She will turn to the camera, say, during one of her Mom's tirades, roll her eyes, and start her own commentary. And when her mother insists the family play charades, Clarissa is so embarrassed that she covers the camera to hide the bunch of losers she is forced to live with.
It comes as no surprise that Melissa is just as cool as Clarissa. At 15, she's a show-biz veteran, having shot her first commercial at age 4. She appeared with William Hurt in ``Beside Herself'' Off [sic] Broadway two years ago, and has performed on ``Saturday Night Live'' and ``The Equalizer.''
She arrives at the offices of Nickelodeon after a tutoring session for a Regents exam. Talking about school makes her weary. She would rather describe the Violet Femmes [sic] concert she'd been to the night before, though the part about being chaperoned is a bore.
It's a good thing she had one. Because Melissa is already grown-up beautiful, with big blue eyes and thick black brows a la Mariel Hemingway. And despite her funky patchwork dress and unmatched earrings, she's enough of a little girl -- or as the show's press releases unfortunately call her, a ``pre-woman'' -- to worry about [sic] at a heavy metal concert.
``I'm not as wild as Clarissa,'' she says. ``We dress similarly, but Clarissa is into manipulating her parents. I don't. I just talk mine into things.'' She lives in Manhattan with her three sisters and a brother, all of whom ``are in the business.'' She says her mother is ``a stage mother who manages all of us'' and her father is an ``entrepreneur in shellfish.''
Why does Melissa think her show is catching on? ``I always say its main point is `don't give in to peer pressure,' '' she says. `` `Live your own life.' Clarissa doesn't care what anyone else thinks, and kids like that. Her energy and openness are really appealing.'' She says that girls who come to audition at Nickelodeon now all dress like Clarissa. Doesn't that miss the point about individuality? She shrugs. ``You just shouldn't worry about what other people think,'' she repeats.
She seems to take her own advice. Her self-confidence is a definite anomaly among ``pre-women.'' Does she ever relate to Clarissa's persistent embarrassment? Yes, she says instantly, recalling a surprise birthday party given for her in April. Elizabeth Hess, who plays her mother, gave her a bustier. ``When I saw what it was, I shoved it back in the box. I mean, to get underwear in front of all those people!''
She also remembers a time at the Hard Rock Cafe ``when a girl got up on the next table and started to vogue and my mom got up on our table and started to dance, too.'' She covers her face. ``Oh, my God.''
You don't have to be Clarissa to see her point.
[The picture accompanying the article is from CEIA. It shows Clarissa sitting on the Darling's couch, talking and gesturing with her hand. The caption reads: Melissa Joan Hart as Clarissa on Nickelodeon -- ``Don't give in to peer pressure.'']