The new Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series, an eight-disc Blu-ray set from Shout! Factory, a label specializing in thoughtful reissues, collects all 45 original episodes of the series as well as a primetime Christmas special that aired in 1988.
It was the hippest square show on television, even as it has since largely receded from view. Reubens went from making fun of kids’ TV to legitimately making it, using wild imagery and a manic pace to impart timeless lessons. What began, staged under the name The Pee-wee Herman Show, as a chance for midnight audiences to watch members of L.A.’s famed Groundlings troupe parody the children’s programming of their youth with, their strong values and lessons in good behavior became a sterling modern example of the same for the next generation. The rare instance of a work improving by being softened for a wider audience, Pee-wee’s Playhouse had a strange evolution from stage to television. The show ran for five seasons, earning both popularity and acclaim in the process.
The show surrounded him with puppets, animation of all sorts, and colorful characters like the flirtatious, bouffant-bedecked Miss Yvonne (Lynne Stewart) and the Jheri-curled Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne). An overgrown child in a too-small suit, Pee-wee took the place of past kids’ show hosts like Captain Kangaroo and Uncle Al. A refinement of Reubens’s popular early-’80s stage show, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse was at once traditional and innovative.
In 1986, Pee-wee’s Playhouse landed like a candy-colored bombshell in the middle of CBS’ Saturday-morning line-up, shaking up a landscape of children’s programming usually defined by merchandise line extensions, like The Smurfs and Adventures Of The Gummi Bears. But surely Pee-wee’s Playhouse, the most creative and endearing kids’ show of its era, deserves a better fate. Pufnstuf while one born just a few years later would never have heard of the show. A child born in 1967 probably grew up watching H.R. With a few long-lived exceptions like Sesame Street and SpongeBob SquarePants, kids’ shows tend to be generational, with strata existing even within generations. But, Goyal noted, “they have heard of it,” adding, “We were doing a bit of education.” Many of his guests were younger than Goyal, however, and did not grow up with Pee-wee’s Playhouse. At 39, Goyal grew up with Pee-wee’s Playhouse, the Saturday-morning kids’ show starring Paul Reubens, creator of the Pee-wee Herman character. At the suggestion of founder Maneesh Goyal, the company went with a Pee-wee Herman theme. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal published an article about MKG, a Manhattan-based “experiential marketing, social media and branding agency” that’s become known for its lavish, company-wide summer parties.
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