The show is good TV. I will gladly say that Season 5 of the show beats the tar out of Book 5 of the series because you don't have to sit there mired in a completely useless set of characters. Primer would have been an interes... No. It never would have been. Primer is a perfect example of a bad script, bad editing, bad cinematography, bad directing and bad sound that fanbois all gleefully ignore because there's a bunch of fast-talking powerpoint bullshit that makes them feel smart. But I'll gladly go back to a bunch of neckbeards celebrating the wet-fart triumph that is Primer if we can stop at Iron Man II and be done with superheroes forever.
Apt. Worthy of note, however, is that Clerks was shot back whem you had a dollar a second of celluloid ripping through the shutter, audio was on magnetic tape and edits were done with razor blades. It took a lot more effort to make a mediocre film like Clerks than a mediocre film like Primer, which is a FCP extravaganza.
Kevin Smith came up with that whole fuckin' thing at 24. As a paean to being a useless 24-year-old burnout it's a great little piece. The problem is nobody remains a 24-year-old burnout forever. Clerks is a viable first film. Chasing Amy is a reasonably good (if dated and no longer PC) film. The problem with Kevin Smith is he surrounded himself with people who told him he was a genius. M. Night Shamalyan has the same issue - if you think you're brilliant by default you never strive to be better.