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Pee-wee's Playhouse: Difference between revisions
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[[File:pee-wees_playhouse_2915.jpg|frame|The beginning of one of the wackiest title sequences ever.]]
In 1980, [[Paul Reubens]] created a stage show called "The Pee Wee Herman Show," parodying the children's live action TV shows of the 50s and 60s. After a successful [[HBO]] comedy special and years of performance, Reubens teamed with [[Tim Burton]] to create [[Pee Wee's Big Adventure|Pee Wees Big Adventure]], based on the title character. The surprise success of the movie got [[CBS]] interested in an animated version of the original stage show, with Reubens eventually negotiating for a [[Lighter and Softer]] live action version. Unusually, the show got a sitcom-level budget and creative control was left almost entirely to Reubens and his crew. Initially filmed in a converted New York loft for the first season, the show moved to a full-size set in Los Angeles for the second season onward (hence, why the playhouse in the first season looks so much smaller than in the second season and beyond).
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The show focuses on Pee-wee's life at his luxurious playhouse, where everything is alive and anything could happen. It featured a [[Loads and Loads of Characters|large cast of colorful characters]] including a talking chair, a robot, a magic computer screen, a talking globe, and all sorts of puppets. The show also featured plenty of stop-motion animation as well as Golden Age cartoons. Reubens was also able to cast several members of the [[The Groundlings]] who had worked with him on the original stage show including [[Phil Hartman]] and [[Laurence Fishburne]], as well as future stars [[Law and Order|S. Epatha Merkerson,]] and Natasha Lyonne.
In its first year, the show won six Emmy awards. The show gained a following of both children and adults thanks to its nostalgia and excellent writing, prompting CBS to show some episodes during prime time as well as Saturday mornings. While Reubens tried to have the episodes based around moral lessons, heavy use of [[Rule of Funny]] kept it from being heavy handed. The show ran on CBS from September 13, 1986 until November 10, 1990 and spanned five seasons, one of which (the third season) was comprised of only two episodes - three if you count the [[Christmas Special]] - due to being affected by the 1988 Writers Guild of America Strike.
In 2011, Reubens staged a new [[The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway|live show]] integrating elements from the original as well as the TV show.
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* [[Bow Ties Are Cool]]: Before there was Bill Nye; before there was the Eleventh Doctor, Pee-wee Herman did it first.
* [[Camp]]
* [[Christmas Special]]: And a very good one at that. It's unique in that ''all'' the major winter holidays (e.g. Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, etc.) are covered as well as the Nativity story.
* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: Literally in this case--whenever Jambi had to do something fairly difficult (such as restoring a magically-invisible Pee-Wee), he implored viewers to join in with his incantation.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Penny rambled a lot, didn't she?
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* [[Lighter and Softer]]: The TV show is a child-friendly adaptation of the adult-oriented stage show.
* [[Literal Genie]] / [[Jerkass Genie]]: Jambi, at times. In "Restaurant," for example, Pee-wee says, "I wish I knew what to wish for." Jambi grants him ''that'' wish, but not what he actually wished for. Cue a [[Big No]] from Pee-wee.
* [[Literal
{{quote|''"Boy, Chairry, I sure got a lot of pen pal letters!"''
''"Why don't you read one?"''
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