Adult Swim Picks Up 'Pee Wee's Playhouse'(Turner Broadcasting Welcomes Back Pee-Wee Herman)

TV WEEK ^ | June 5, 2006 | By James Hibberd

[fight_truth_decay]

The Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block has picked former CBS series "Pee Wee's Playhouse," the channel said Monday.

The late-night network purchased the rights to all 45 episodes of Paul Reubens' quasi-children's show, which aired from 1986 to 1991. CBS cancelled the series after Mr. Reubens was arrested in an adult theater and charged with indecent exposure.

Since, reruns of the series have been rare. Adult Swim said many of the episodes have not been aired since their original run. Adult Swim will launch the series July 10.

[fight_truth_decay]

The Cartoon Network is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting. Promotions for Adult Swim are targeted towards the college age group (18-24), which make up the majority of their viewers.

Over a decade later in 2002, after being charged in 1991 on indecent exposure in a Sarasota adult theater, the child entertainer, Pee-Wee (Paul Reubens), was again arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. His lawyers determined that a tape seized in another case had been mistakenly included in the evidence against Reubens which they "believed was a mix-up in the LAPD evidence room", resulting in a plea bargain, whereas; the child pornography charge was dropped, with Reubens pleading guilty to a charge of "possessing obscene images of minors". As a result, in 2004, the child entertainer had to register his address with the sheriff's office and could not be in the company of minors for the next 3 years without their parents' permission.

In 2004, Reubens, gave his version in an interview with NBC's Dateline's Stone Phillips: “I probably have become more infamous from two misdemeanors than probably anyone I could think of.”

Phillips asked: “If you're secure in your belief that this was art, nothing illegal, why not let a jury look at the evidence? Why settle?”

Reubens responded: “Personally, I think we're living in a very scary time. Do we let the legal system decide in a courtroom what's obscene and what's not obscene? I didn't want be in a situation where there was a possibility I could got to jail for something that's that material. I mean, that just seemed insane to me.”

Reubens admitted to "possessing a massive collection of what he calls 'vintage erotica,' films and muscle magazines with titles like: "Boy Nudist" and "Shame Dame," as well as some photographic studies of teen nudes. But he says that what the city attorney's office views as pornography, he considers art".

Now, at age 53, Pee-Wee, is back with his "Playhouse" reruns set to air on the Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network-Adult Swim block, July 10.

[SamAdams76]

10 ounce mouse is about the best thing going on Adult Swim.

[Dog Gone]

He may be a pervert, but that was a FUNNY tv show. I watched it with my kid, but I watched it because it was hilarious.

[nmh]

Leave it to CBS to glorify a pervert and others to watch him thinking he's "talented" and "funny". Yeah, go ahead and $upport the pervert.

[nmh]

Leave it to CBS to glorify a pervert and others to watch him thinking he's "talented" and "funny". Yeah, go ahead and $upport the pervert.

[AuH2ORepublican]

I hope this doesn't cut into the Ultra Teen Hunger Force schedule.

[Clock King]

Man, what ever happened to Samuri Jack? Did CN and Gene Tarkowsky[sic] just have a falling out or what?

[Zeppo]

Haven't seen that one... Harvey Birdman is my favorite, with Aqua Teen near the top of the list, too...

[Xenalyte]

Oh, they best not mess with Sealab or the Venture Brothers!

[Moonmad27]

Thank goodness Samurai Jack is on DVD - it's a wonderful show! Interesting to see that series of cartoon commercials obviously done by Genndy in Sam Jack style, though.

[Richard Kimball]

A lot of people act like the PeeWee Herman character started with "Pee Wee's Big Adventure." Reubens started the character as part of a night club act. It was pretty risque. In one gag, PeeWee and a friend put on shoe mirrors to look up a girl's dress (the girl was an adult, but wearing a baby doll skirt and carrying a doll. As PeeWee tries to see her underwear, she says, "I'm not wearing any underwear." He gets disappointed and puts the shoe mirror away.

The whole show was heavy on sexual overtones, and part of the humor was that you couldn't figure out if this guy was real or not. One of the night club acts was shown as an HBO special, and is still floating around out there.

Tim Burton apparently made the decision to keep the bizarre aspects of the character, but tone down the sexual humor enough so that parents wouldn't mind taking their kids, and the fake night club kid's show host became a real one.

I kind of feel sorry for the guy. Michael Jackson is, IMHO, a lot more dangerous, and he still has fans clamoring for him.

[Clock King]

I like HB a lot! But they started showcasing the "Gay Agenda" in more recent shows, which kinda turned me off. My favorite episodes are with Mentak the Mind-Taker. Awesome script-writing!

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Ping-a-ling.

[Slings and Arrows]

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[ovrtaxt]

The best part of that show was the sexual double entendre between the girl with the 60s hairdo and the fireman, or the repairman, or the cowboy... she was a ho!

[bitt]

'In one gag, PeeWee and a friend put on shoe mirrors to look up a girl's dress (the girl was an adult, but wearing a baby doll skirt and carrying a doll. As PeeWee tries to see her underwear, she says, "I'm not wearing any underwear." He gets disappointed and puts the shoe mirror away.'

haHa!

[Shyla]

It's good to know that I'm not the only one. That show was a riot.

[DoctorMichael]

Man, what ever happened to Samuri Jack?

Yea! Wuzup wit dat? I LOVED that show!

[freepatriot32]

ping

[qam1]

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