The Adventures of Pete and Pete: Difference between revisions

The two titular brothers are named Pete Wrigley for reasons that are never explained within the series proper;<ref>the shorts mention their mom wanted their names to rhyme</ref> co-creator Will McRobb once noted that, should you feel the need to ask, you're probably watching the wrong show. This is, after all, the same show where underpants inspectors are guardian angels, a metal detector can find an entire car (still in good condition) buried at the beach, you can run to the Canadian border in four hours (or use a riding mower), and a mentally challenged man who speaks incoherent sentences and runs around in spandex pajamas is the personal superhero of the younger Pete Wrigley. Why two brothers have the same name should be the least of your issues.

This is ''The Adventures of Pete and Pete''. And [[The Adventures of Pete and Pete/Recap|this]] is its recap page.

* [[The Cameo]]: One of the great joys of the show was the plethora of guest stars such as Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garafolo, Adam West, LL Cool J, and Bebe Neuwirth.

** The show was also crawling with cameos from alternative rock musicians including Iggy Pop (who had a recurring role as Nona's <s>dad</s> pop), Kate Pierson of the B-52's, Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes, Marshall Crenshaw, Syd Straw, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., David Johansen of the New York Dolls, the rock band Luscious Jackson and Richard Edson (the original drummer for Sonic Youth)

* [[Can't Get Away with Nuthin']]

* [[Catch Phrase]]: "I am Artie! The strongest man...''in the world''!"

* [[Enemy Mine]]: In "Last Laugh", {{spoiler|Pit Stain}} and Little Pete team up against {{spoiler|Schwinger}}.

* [[Escalating War]] Ellen's father and the Petes' father got into a huge prank war in the episode "Apocalypse Pete".

:::[[The Hero]] - Little Pete

:::[[The Lancer]] - Clem

:::[[The Chick]] - Nona

:::[[Sixth Ranger]] - Wayne, though he was also [[The Chick]]

* [[Foot Focus]]: Happens in an episode in which Big Pete is trying to date Ellen. He calls her on the phone while she's barefoot and asks her random questions and asks her "try writing something with your foot." She holds the pencil with her toes and does just that, in close-up.

* [[Funny Background Event]]: You can see Bus Driver Stu beating the <s>crap</s> straw out of a scarecrow through the bus window while Mike is talking Big Pete into pranking Bill on the bus in "Yellow Fever".

{{quote|'''Della:''' It's hard for me to go with everyone thinking about me!

'''Bus Driver Stu:''' Nobody think about Della! {to random student} You! You're thinking about her. You disgust me! }}

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: ''Tons'' of recognizable cameos, including Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, Bebe Neuwirth and Chris Elliot.

* [[Indecipherable Lyrics]]: The theme song, "Hey Sandy", is made of this, the most commonly misinterpreted lyric was "Don't you talk back" as "Does your dog bite?". The lyrics have since been published, except for the third line, which according to the DVD commentary will remain a mystery but according to the DVD subtitles is "Can you settle to shoot me?".

* [[Interactive Narrator]]: Big Pete, who tells the story after the fact. Early on, the show was supposed to mimic the sort of long, rambling stories small children have a tendency to tell, but this angle on the narration was dropped during the series proper when Big Pete became too old for this to work.

* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: Season 3's been on it's way since 2006. Don't hold your breath. (See [[Screwed by the Network]] below.)

* [[Large Ham]]: Every guest star. And Artie, of course.

** Little Pete's favorite song from one episode is "Summerbaby" (performed by Polaris, who also did the opening theme) which includes lines like "When I'm alone I do things nobody knows" and "Every drop of sex and every little mess I make".

*** Though the version sung in the episode was altered to "Every time I guess and every little mess I make".

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Many of the bullies, such as Open Face (who loved his open-faced sammiches) and Papercut (who had an obsession with dealing out...well, paper cuts - and he ''always'' threw Paper during Rock-Paper-Scissors).

** And, of course, Pit Stain, whose problem happened to be glandular...and Little Pete's problem happened to be his fist.

** Those are all Meaningful [[Only Known by Their Nickname|Nicknames]]; Mike's surname "Hellstrom", however, is quite a [[Meaningful Name]].

* [[Metaphorgotten]]: "The Day Of The Dot"

* [[Noodle Incident]]: Little Pete has the ability to find out about these and unnerve people by making passing mention of them.

** Little Pete has these too. He had a hand in causing a lake to dry and partly responsible for the collapse of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

* [[Orphaned Punchline]]: We don't hear Bill's entire joke that causes Teddy to explode milk from his nose, other than the punchline of "So I'll put it OVER HERE!"

* [[Parent Trap Plot]]: "Apocalypse Pete" to the extreme.

* [[Platonic Life Partners]]: Played straight and with. By the writers' own admission on the [[DVD Commentary]], they were unfamiliar with [[Character Development|character arcs]], so every episode was written enitrely self-contained, meaning Pete and Ellen's friendship was sometimes bent to fit the plot at hand. Most episodes played the trope straight, but several have one pining for the other, most notably "Day of the Dot", "The Big Quiet", "Time Tunnel", and "Crisis in the Love Zone". See also Relationship Reset Button below.

* [[The Power of Rock]]: Younger Pete, in an attempt to fish out an [[Ear Worm]], starts up a band and experiments with various chords, one of which has a disruptive effect on Artie.

** Also, surprisingly, ''[[Scrubs]]''. Several longtime members of ''Pete & Pete's'' production crew ended up working on the show, including ''P&P'''s director of photography Michael Spillman, who would direct over a dozen ''Scrubs'' episodes. The actor who played Teddy on ''P&P'' also had a couple of bit roles sprinkled throughout and when you consider how much of the show's style is eerily reminiscent of ''P&P'' (first-person narration with ending realization, absurdist humor and characters emphasis on music, etc.), it's almost an adult [[Spiritual Successor]].

* [[Put on a Bus]]: Poor, poor Artie. (In retrospect, all Toby Huss can remember of his reasons for leaving is that he did it "of his own accord", according to his commentary on the DVD.)

** Perhaps lampshaded, as Little Pete thereafter kept regular company with Bus Driver Stu.

* [[Rock-Paper-Scissors]]: Papercut, who always threw [[Captain Obvious|paper]].

* [[Running Gag]]: "Sally left me. ''Again''. Over '''''nothing!'''''"

** That, and just about everything else on the show - family trips, the school marching band, bedtimes, shop class, bowling balls, school tests, dodgeball, favorite songs, baseball, awkward silence, Daylight Saving Time, Halloween, underwear inspecting, fishing, field trips, good-luck charms, pool piss, pool hierarchy, spring fever, Varsity sports...and this troper may have forgotten a few.

* [[She Is Not My Girlfriend]]: See the page quote.

*** The night still ended well for them (by TV-Y standards anyway)

* [[Ship Tease]]: Going hand-in-hand with the above trope. 2/3rds of the show played Pete and Ellen straight as [[Platonic Life Partners]]. The other third falls hard in this.