Pee-wee's Playhouse
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Pee-wee's Playhouse was a half-hour CBS USA TV Saturday morning "children's show" starring Pee-wee Herman (played by Paul Reubens) that aired from September 13, 1986 until 1991 and was enormously popular with both children and adults. On August 15, 1998, the show returned to television in reruns on Fox Family Channel. The show has since gone off the air once again, but all 45 episodes (plus the Christmas Special) were released on DVD from Image Entertainment in 2004.
The Pee-wee Herman character was created by comedian Paul Reubens. One commentator described the character as combining "a transgressive sexuality, unabashed materialism, obsessive neatness and a sly anti-authoritarian pose, dressed up in a distinctive costume of white shoes, white socks, red bowtie, tight plaid suit, rouge and lipstick".
Pee-wee first appeared as a cameo character in a revue that was staged while Reubens was a member of the Los Angeles-based comedy troupe The Groundlings. The character first appeared on film in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie. Reubens then developed a live stage show starring Pee-wee. When it became successful he sold it to TV, where it was filmed as an (adult) comedy special. He then teamed with young director Tim Burton in 1985 and they made the comedy film Pee-wee's Big Adventure. It became one of the year's surprise hits. It was hugely profitable -- costing a relatively modest US $6 million to make, but taking in US $45 million at the box office.
Thanks to the movie's runaway success, in 1986 CBS offered Reubens a Saturday-morning TV timeslot, total creative control and a huge budget of US $325,000 per episode (a figure usually reserved for prime-time sitcoms). The result was one of the most original children's shows ever made, combining live action, video effects, animation, puppetry and vintage cartoons.
The show was notorious for its campy undertones and double entendre.
As soon as it first aired, Pee-wee's Playhouse fascinated media theorists and commentators, many of whom championed the show as a postmodernist hodgepodge of queer characters and situations which appeared to soar in the face of domineering racist, sexist, and heterosexist presumptions. In its first season, the show won six Emmys as well as other awards.
"I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different -- not that it's good, not that it's bad, but that it's all right. I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things," Reubens told an interviewer in Rolling Stone.
Many now well-known TV and film actors received their major breaks on the show, including Phil Hartman, as Captain Carl; Laurence Fishburne, as Cowboy Curtis; Jimmy Smits, as "Your authorized Conky repairman"; Lynne Stewart as "the most beautiful woman in Puppetland," Miss Yvonne; S. Epatha Merkerson, as Reba the Mail Lady; Natasha Lyonne as one of the children, Opal; and Sandra Bernhard as Rhonda the Picturephone Operator.
The music for the show was provided by artists including Mark Mothersbaugh, Todd Rundgren, Danny Elfman, Mitchell Froom, Van Dyke Parks, George Clinton and Dweezil Zappa.
The opening prelude theme is an interpolation of Martin Denny's "Quiet Village". Although credited to "Ellen Shaw", the show's jaunty theme song was in fact performed by Cyndi Lauper.
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Recurring Gags, Themes, and Devices
Some recurring gags, themes, and plot devices were used in the show.
- At the beginning of each show, viewers were told the day's "secret word" and were instructed to "scream real loud" every time a character on the show said the word, which was given to Pee-wee by his robot friend, Conky. Just before departing the playhouse or during some other situation, he always "accidentally" says the secret word and everyone screams. The second instance is always responded with a confused or angry "What's with all the screaming?" by several characters.
- Pee-wee often claims everything in the Playhouse to be his (usually because it actually was), including the Playhouse itself, and he often played the role of an authority figure to prove his point -- exaggerating the role to an extreme scale (a judge, a boss, and a librarian, to name a few). During these games, he gives everyone else "inferior" positions in each game.
- One children's joke that became a running gag in the series involved Pee-wee or another character saying that he or she loved something, to which Pee-wee replies, "Then why don't you marry me/him/her/it?". The tide was turned in the "Sleepover" episode, where Pee-Wee "marries" a bowl of fruit salad. After this episode, however, the gag was never used again.
- Every time he was given a gift, he never gives someone time to explain what the gift is upon showing him the box or bag, often telling them to "fork it over", clearly indicating his infantile behavior.
- When Pee-wee eats or tastes something, he often exclaims enjoyment by saying, "Mmm, (object)-y!" and laughs. For example, he would say "Mmm, lemony!" when tasting something with a lemon flavor. This gag was later used on The Simpsons by Homer.
The Picturephone
The Picturephone was a prominent feature on the show. It was a videophone. A large photo booth-like area in the shape of a woman's head was the exterior. The lips served as the saloon doors that could be opened and closed at will. Inside was a TV monitor, a tin can handset, and several levers and other controls that Pee-wee and other characters pulled, pressed and twisted, as well as lights to brighten the inside. Also, a pull-down drape was often seen; it parodied a lot of modern-day artwork, such as American Gothic (as seen in the episode "Miss Yvonne's Visit"). On some occasions, Pee-wee wore a goofy hat that matched the pull-down drape's theme. The phone's "ringing" would be accompanied by a flash of shapes and patterns on the monitor as well. In the first season, Pee-wee was the only person that could use the Picturephone, but in later seasons, characters such as Miss Yvonne, Mrs. Renee, and Cowboy Curtis used it. The interior only had one seat, but three people could get inside it, as seen on the episode "Store". Also, it seems that there's more than one Picturephone, as Pee-wee gets called by various people including a puppet-like game show host, Miss Yvonne, Roger's mom, Cowboy Curtis, Mrs. Renee, an alien named Zyzzybalubah, and a seductive Picturephone operator named Rhonda.
The "conversations" were actually pre-recorded video films of any character that Pee-wee "called".
Times where Pee-wee wanted silence
There were, however, several times where someone would say the secret word, people would scream, and Pee-wee demanded absolute quiet and silence, from both the characters, and perhaps the viewers watching the show.
- The first was in the episode "Pee-wee Catches a Cold". Magic Screen said the word "out", which, as usual, caused everyone to scream. Pee-wee shouted, "STOP ALL THAT SCREAMING! CAN'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE A LITTLE CONSIDERATION?!" in which everyone fell silent. Miss Yvonne cringed in fear at the anger.
- The second time was in "Love That Story" in which the gang was playing library, and Pee-wee was the librarian. Miss Yvonne played one of the persons reading/studying. When the Playhouse characters, minus Pee-wee and Miss Yvonne, were screaming after Miss Yvonne said the word "End", Pee-wee got so mad that he shouted "SILENCE!!" and made everyone fall quiet.
Trivia
- In the episode "Fire in the Playhouse", Pterri incorrectly says Jambi's name as "Zombie". Later, in "Front Page Pee-wee," Pterri says Jambi's name correctly.
- In the unaired episode "Stolen Apples", the flashing word on the screen and the bell sounds fizzle out when Pee-wee "screams" in exasperation over not getting any pen pal letters, a clear indication of his infantile behavior.
- The show was referenced in an episode of the Teen Titans series. However, the secret word was called the "sloppy mess word" instead.
- In the episode "The Gang's All Here", Pee-wee slowly gets really annoyed at having the Playhouse Gang around, and scolds them for being bad. After the filming of this episode, the actors were fired for unacceptable behavior on the set, and were replaced by new child actors.
- Pee-Wee Herman was referenced in the 1987 movie Overboard.
- In the Family Guy episode "Father, Husband, Brother?" Peter Griffin buys the set to Pee-wee's Playhouse, renaming it "Peter's Playhouse."
- Pee-Wee and his playhouse have been referenced a number of times on the series "Full House", usually because the child character Joey loved the program.
- John Travolta imitated Pee-wee in Look Who's Talking Too.