Flashback Friday: Revisit Nickelodeon Hit 'Clarissa Explains It All' 20 Years Later

Back in the wild world of the ’90s, before Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers were tending to the questions of growing minds, kids turned to television to get advice. And one of the greatest TV sages was Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Darling.

The fast-talking, free-spirited, self-dressing tween dispensed sassy knowledge to viewers on Clarissa Explains It All, taking on every subject from dating to how to deal with annoying little brothers. Played by Melissa Joan Hart, Clarissa has developed a nostalgic following as ’90s kids grow up and fondly think back to the simpler times of landlines and neighbors who entered through the window.

The show, which started in March 1991, went off the air 20 years ago this week, but it hasn’t left the memories of Clarissa’s fans. To celebrate the hold Clarissa Explains It All still has on today’s adults, Mental Floss talked to the creator of the show, Mitchell Kriegman, to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Nick classic.

Check out the raddest facts and confessions from Kriegman’s interview about the girl who had an answer for everything.

1. Clarissa was almost played by a different actress

Kriegman told Mental Floss, “It was a choice between Melissa and this girl. She was a little more Claire Danes-like, honestly.

He ended up choosing Hart, because her energy made it easy to turn Clarissa into the quirky character we know today.

2. The show was filled with writers who went on to work on other great things

Clarissa’s most recognizable writer alum is probably Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games franchise, but the show also had scribes who went on to write for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends, The West Wing, The Colbert Report and more.

3. Network executives thought Clarissa was a brat

Kriegman said network executives initially complained that Clarissa was too rude and sarcastic.

“That’s usually the initial response to my girl characters,” he told Mental Floss. “And I always say the same thing: ‘If a boy were saying this thing, and doing this thing, would you be complaining that they are being too rude, or they’re being too sarcastic or jokey with their parents?’ The answer’s no.”

4. Sam’s ladder was a literal shortcut

Clarissa’s boy BFF usually entered her room through a ladder in the window, but he didn’t have far to climb. The ladder used on set was only three rungs tall, so Sean O’Neal, the actor who played Sam, had to lie on the ground and wait for his cue before putting the ladder up and clambering into the room.

5. James Van Der Beek was Hart’s first on-screen kiss

The Dawson’s Creek star appeared on the show before he made it big as a boy named Paulie. In his episode, Paulie and Clarissa meet at a party, where Clarissa is pretending to be a punk chick named Joan, and share a smooch.

6. Kriegman allowed no purple on set

The creator says he had nothing against purple, he just wanted to make an arbitrary rule for his first big show.

7. And he won’t confess to where the name Clarissa comes from

Kriegman swears he will take that secret to the grave, and will only confess that he chose a name that he knew his heroine would hate.