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He, Pee-Wee
If you're the sort of insane person...a person like me in other words...who actually goes out and buys (with their hard earned dough!) television shows (of all things!!) on dvd, or tvd's as I call 'em...here comes another good reason for you to get your wallet out.*
Despite his recent legal troubles, Mr. Reubens still lives in a Pee-wee-centric universe: he is planning a museum show of the "Playhouse" sets and props, which he still owns. He is also pitching two new Pee-wee film scripts, one based on the CBS show and another that could be seen as a satire on Mr. Reubens's own predicament. ("It's about Pee-wee Herman becoming famous," he explained, "and fame, let's say, doesn't agree with him.") And on Nov. 16, all 45 episodes of "Pee-wee's Playhouse" will be released on DVD for the first time. (He is pitching television projects as well, including a half-hour comedy Western and what he described as a "combination variety-talk-Ernie Kovacs show.").
It is a great show, truly hilarious and genuinely fun for all ages. But "recent" legal troubles? I remember this rather embarrassing incident:
But the fantasy unraveled in July 1991, when Mr. Reubens was arrested for exposing himself in an adult theater in Sarasota, Fla. By coincidence, the five-year run of "Pee-wee's Playhouse" was ending that month, and many viewers assumed CBS had canceled the series. (In fact, the network pulled just two remaining reruns.)
I imagine that was frightfully embarrassing for the guy but, I ask again, "recent" legal troubles?
But he was arrested again in November 2002, after a 2001 police raid seized some 30,000 vintage erotic artworks from his Hollywood Hills home. Last March, he pleaded guilty to possessing obscene material and was fined $100 and sentenced to three years' informal probation.
Vintage erotic artworks indeed. Hustler magazines from the 1980's more like. Hmmm. Is that illegal?
Bofus.
Anyway.
Even before the movie's success, CBS approached Mr. Reubens about bringing Pee-wee Herman to the network's Saturday morning lineup in a cartoon show; instead, he gave them a live-action series more animated and colorful than anyone could have anticipated. On the air from 1986 to 1991, "Pee-wee's Playhouse" was a vibrant and relentlessly inventive half-hour that was equal parts dollies and Dali, whose every frame was crammed with pop art, vintage toys and talking furniture. In the spirit of "Captain Kangaroo" and "The Howdy Doody Show," Pee-wee and his entourage of humans and puppets spoke directly to the screen; each episode offered simple instructions - how to behave at the breakfast table, why stealing is wrong - tempered with a giddy anarchy that would never fly on "Sesame Street." "I tried to be responsible in teaching kids things I thought were good lessons," Mr. Reubens said, "all in the context of, 'It's O.K. to be wild and have a good time.' "
With a then-unheard-of budget of $425,000 per episode and no creative interference from CBS, "Pee-wee's Playhouse" soon attracted an audience beyond its target demographic, and its cast and crew got swept up in the show's spirit of make-believe. "I would go on commercial interviews and be labeled as a woman over 40," recalled Lynne Marie Stewart, the actress who played Pee-wee's perky neighbor, Miss Yvonne. "Then I would go to my day job, where I got to be a storybook princess."
Really, I kid you not, it is a really funny show. Joe Bob says check it out.
* Management is not responsible for the content of this sentence.
-posted by Charlie Eklund
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What is considered obscene in California? They make Playboy pornos there. I don't even want to imagine.
11/9/04 10:48 PM