My 11yo daughter is back home from a week at Aunt Harriet’s, so we decided to sit down together and watch one of her favorite shows, starring an actor arrested for indecent exposure, a famous dramatic actor soon to be in Fences at the Pasadena Playhouse, and a long-term star of NBC’s Law and Order.
That’s right: We sat down to watch Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, which is back as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.
Those who know me know that I love classic Children’s Television. I’m too young for the early shows, but I did grow up with Sheriff John and Hobo Kelly. After those programs died, I remembered watching attempts to bring live local action back to children’s television, shows such as Dusty’s Treehouse or That’s Cat. One of the last attempts at the genre was Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. In fact, “Pee-Wee” himself acknowledges the homage:
” ‘Mickey Mouse Club,’ ‘Howdy Doody, ‘Captain Kangaroo’ — I was obsessed with those shows. I can remember sitting on our living room floor watching the last episode of ‘Howdy Doody,’ when they were saying goodbye forever, and just bawling my head off and thinking, what kind of world is this? How could society be so screwed up as to let ‘Howdy Doody’ go off the air?”
Watching it, in hindsight, it is easy to see Reuben’s genius. The show is written on two levels: there are jokes that adults and older kids will get (“It’s time to go, Pee-Wee”), and there are things that appeal to the younger kid. It encourages creativity.
Shows such as this just don’t exist these days. It’s a loss. I do take heart in the fact that Reuben’s plans to resurrect the character–there are two Pee-Wee scripts reportedly finished.
Perhaps these shows still continue to charm because they had such simple goals — goes that predate “educational” television. John Rovack put it best:
and the world will laugh with you
When people see you smiling
they can’t help smiling too
When you look out the window
to a dark and gloomy day
Break out a smile
and in a while
the gloom will go away
So laugh and be happy
with a merry melody
A song will make a hat rack
look like a Christmas tree
Get rid of worry
in a hurry,
chase the blues away
Just laugh and be happy
all the live…. long….. day..