Cartoon Network reanimates Pee-wee Herman
OK, boys and girls. Today’s secret word is “comeback,” and you know what to do every time you read it: That’s right – scream real loud! Let’s try it.
Who ever thought that a goofy man-child in an undersized gray suit and a red clip-on bow tie could make a comeback? Or that the star of a children’s TV show arrested for indecent exposure could make a comeback?
Let’s just call Pee-wee Herman, the character created by actor Paul Reubens, the comeback kid.
Not that Pee-wee ever went away. He’s been around on VHS and DVD for a few years, but he has returned to the spotlight in a big way with Cartoon Network airing reruns of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” the groundbreaking Saturday morning kids’ show from the ’80s, as part of its late-night Adult Swim lineup. It coincides with the 20th anniversary of the show’s September 1986 premiere, which came some eight years after Reubens created the character as part of an improv troupe. (A DVD of the subsequent 1981 live stage show is set for release this week.)
In its original run, “Playhouse” spanned five years and 45 episodes, garnering 22 Emmys. It served as a way station in the young careers of actors Laurence Fishburne, Jimmy Smits and Phil Hartman, as well as a 7-year-old Natasha Lyonne. Musical contributors included such big names as Danny Elfman, Dweezil Zappa, George Clinton and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. Cyndi Lauper of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” fame sang the theme song. The production staff included Rob Zombie.
Pee-wee, a timeline
1978: Paul Reubens creates Pee-wee Herman as a member of L.A. comedy troupe The Groundlings.
1980: Pee-wee makes his big-screen debut in “Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie.”
1981: Reubens parlays the character into a sold-out L.A. stage show and an HBO special, both quite adult-oriented.
1984: A 22-city tour includes a date at Carnegie Hall.
1985: The movie “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” directed by Tim Burton, grosses more than $40 million in the U.S.
1986: “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” premieres on CBS with a budget of $325,000 per episode – unprecedented for a Saturday-morning show.
1988: Reubens’ second film, “Big Top Pee-wee,” comes out, but earns only $14 million.
1991: “Playhouse” is canceled. Shortly after the last episode airs, Reubens is arrested in Sarasota, Fla., for indecent exposure. The incident immediately becomes a dirty-joke punch line. In September, he appears as Pee-wee for the last time at the MTV Video Music Awards, getting a wild ovation for his opening line: “Heard any good jokes lately?”
1992-present: Reubens stays active, appearing in movies like “Batman Returns,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and TV shows “Murphy Brown,” “Ally McBeal” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.” But Pee-wee stays in retirement.
1998: Fox Family Channel airs “Playhouse” reruns on Saturday mornings for a year.
2004: All 45 episodes of “Playhouse,” including eight unaired, are released on DVD by Image Entertainment.
2006: The Cartoon Network adds “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” (celebrating its 20th anniversary this year) to its Adult Swim lineup.
Clearly, the show was a campy, clever pop-culture phenomenon.
More importantly, for a certain generation, you would be hard-pressed to find a more iconic representation of childhood. That generation is the core of Adult Swim’s audience – ages 18 to 34 – with whom the network occasionally beats even Leno and Letterman.
Of course, some quick math will tell you that the younger end of that demographic didn’t grow up with the show. But then again, the show spanned generations even when it began airing on CBS. Although billed as a Saturday-morning kids show, the anarchical spirit and frequent double entendres were aimed squarely at the kids’ parents, many of them baby boomers.
“We think ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ is timeless,” said network Vice President James Anderson. “It’s brilliant graphically, it’s brilliantly written, it’s very funny.”
Anderson says the decision to air the episodes during Adult Swim, as opposed to kid-friendlier hours, was made without hesitation.
“(Program director Mike Lazzo) and his whole programming staff have been huge fans of the show, and there was never a question of where it would go. They talked to Paul about it, and fortunately Paul was a big fan of Adult Swim as well,” Anderson said.
“Playhouse” won’t be the first foray into live action for Adult Swim. In April, programmers briefly experimented with “Saved By the Bell,” running its “eight best episodes of all time.”
Nor is the network a stranger to canceled shows. In 2003, it started airing reruns of “Family Guy,” canned by Fox a year earlier. That show’s success on cable was part of why Fox picked it up again in 2005 – an unprecedented comeback. Adult Swim still runs “Family Guy,” as well as Matt Groening’s “Futurama,” canceled in 2003.
Still, Pee-wee might be the most unlikely candidate for an Adult Swim comeback. After all, the character took a major publicity hit in 1991, when Reubens was arrested at an adult theater in his hometown of Sarasota, Fla., for indecent exposure. By that time, Reubens and CBS had mutually decided to end the show’s production, but the arrest cast a pall over his career and created the misconception that it was the cause of the show’s cancellation.
Maybe time has softened the effects of the arrest. Maybe the folks at the Cartoon Network realize the wisdom of marketing the show to adults. Whatever the reason, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” seems ready for a … well, you know … and Reubens is excited about the prospect.
“I never dared to dream ‘The Playhouse’ would join Adult Swim’s amazing lineup of cool shows,” he said in a press release. “Well, maybe I did dream of it a couple of times. OK, it’s a dream come true!”
That’s great, but will Adult Swim’s fiercely loyal fans buy into a 20-year-old kids’ show? Anderson is confident they will.
“We think they’re going to be very receptive to it.”