This is my attempt at a review of the first episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete. I've considered doing this for a few shows, and I'm test running it here. I don't expect it to be spectacular as this is my first review ever on this blog. We'll see how it goes. Let me know what you think.
The Adventures of Pete and Pete: Season 1: Episode 1: "King of the Road".
The first episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete showcases a lot of the elements that made it beloved by fans in the early 90's. The episode centers around the Wrigley family's road trip to the Hoover Dam. In the course of events, the family ends up facing off against another family on their way to the Dam who are a little bit better at doing the road trip and upstage Dad who likes to think of himself as the "King of the Road" or as his license plate declares "King O Frod".
The humor in Pete and Pete is kind of hard to explain. A lot of it is truly absurd or completely out there. A memorable moment of the episode is when Mom picks up the police radio on her head plate, the head plate thing being strange in of itself and never explained. This would be funny by itself, but it turns out what the police report is about is a man dealing with a haywire garage. Cut to young Pete messing around with a garage door opener.
The crazy antics of the show work though. In some shows, especially live action kids shows, they often find a hard time striking a balance between the crazy jokes that are completely out there and the story that is at the heart of the episode. More recent shows like Zoey 101 and iCarly come to mind (And don't judge me for having watched these shows). For Pete and Pete though, it works because the whole world that the show exists in is sort of bizarre. The creators of the show spend a fair amount of time early on making it clear that anything can happen in this world. That the crazy and surreal are every day phenomenon. Young Pete can inexplicably have a tattoo, and road kill bingo can be a family road trip pastime simply because anything goes in Wellsville.
The absurdness isn't the only thing going for the show, although it is part of its appeal. The show has an underlying sweetness to it. The Wrigley's commiserate with one another in the final act of the episode in order to defeat the rival family in a roof stacking competition. And although older Pete has complained the whole episode about how annoyed he is by the trip, he ultimately recognizes the importance of his family.
The episode is strung together from one strange act to the next through older Pete's narration, which feels very similar to Ron Howard's narration on Arrested Development, tying the show together. Much like Arrested Development, the show can have one disparate element after another because Pete is prepared to guide us through the strange world and storylines of the show. The narration is perhaps one of the saving graces for all the weird, albeit lovable, humor of the show.
As the Wrigley's car passes the under pass which Artie, the strongest man in the world, is hanging onto, older Pete comments, in a 'we're not in Kanasas anymore sort of sentiment', "we pass outside the superhero jurisdiction of Artie ... and there's no turning back". In deed there is not with The Adventures of Pete and Pete.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Kids These Days
I was recently watching the reunion of the members of the cast and crew of the cult television series The Adventures of Pete and Pete. The series was about the surreal and funny adventures of two brothers who happen to have the same name. Oddly enough it aired on Nickelodeon when Nick was in the prime of its programming. The reunited cast and crew reminisced about their experience with the show and answered questions about their time spent making it. The creators of the show, Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, mentioned how they believed that very few people were watching their show. During a test screening of it, the show only seemed to be drawing in one kid. The rest of the kids called it weird or strange. They said that they were totally fine writing the show for that type of kid who seemed to be in the minority. But I have to disagree with their conclusion. Kids have and will love the absurd, the crazy, and the weird. I know I did, and my friends did, and almost every single one of my peers adored the television programming on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
One might argue that a show like Spongebob's success is completely unique compared to its animated predecessors on Nickelodeon, but this overlooks the fact that Spongebob went on the air just around the time that Nick had finely become a really popular and profitable network. It had peaked. Kids loved nearly all the shows that Nick put on the air, but the shows didn't last, and were cut after just a couple seasons. Spongebob has continued to be on the air since its premiere in 1999. But if the continued popularity of these shows long after their time on television, including The Adventures of Pete and Pete, proves anything, it's that the network was honestly foolish in cutting these shows while they were in their prime. Don't believe their popularity? Just do a search on Facebook for 90's Nickelodeon. You will get an extensive list of groups and fan pages for 90's Nickelodeon programming.
And look at what the programming actually was Doug, Rugrats, CatDog, Ren and Stimpy, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Kablam!. CatDog is about a cat-dog hybrid. And this was in an era before the Human Centipede. Real Monsters is about an underground society of monsters taking classes on how to scare people. Kablam! features a variety of strange animated segments including Action League now, arguably its best segment, in which action figures try to save the house of their owner, in a bizarre Toy Story type scenario. Ren and Stimpy was extremely gross out and even at times raunchy to the point of being adult.
And look at Cartoon Network's programming: Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n' Eddy and Johnny Bravo. Cow and Chicken is about a brother and sister who are, you guessed it, a cow and a chicken. On top of that, their parents are feet, and the only really other reoccurring character is a devil creature that is inexplicably there. Courage the Cowardly Dog had some of the creepiest and most messed up programming I've ever seen: as attested by this clip. Ed, Edd, n' Eddy was a show about three weird kids all with the same name who try to scam their neighborhood kids in order to buy jaw breakers. The Power Puff Girls has little girls with super powers fighting some pretty strange monsters and villains.
But the things is that the crazy programming of yesteryear continues to this day with programming as surreal and wonderfully crazy as its predecessors. Nick now has The Fairly Oddparents, and Spongebob. And Cartoon Network has the Regular Show and Adventure Time. And may be it's just me, but I can go back and watch those shows and appreciate and enjoy them just as much as I did when I was a kid. And I can watch some of the newer stuff and like it a lot more than I should. May be it's the kid inside of me; 9 year old me crying out. But the thing is that when you're a kid everything is new and strange and wonderful, and I really do feel like these shows captured that very sort of spirit of what it means to be a kid and that is why we loved it when we were kids, and why kids continue to love it. Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, you sell yourself too short.
One might argue that a show like Spongebob's success is completely unique compared to its animated predecessors on Nickelodeon, but this overlooks the fact that Spongebob went on the air just around the time that Nick had finely become a really popular and profitable network. It had peaked. Kids loved nearly all the shows that Nick put on the air, but the shows didn't last, and were cut after just a couple seasons. Spongebob has continued to be on the air since its premiere in 1999. But if the continued popularity of these shows long after their time on television, including The Adventures of Pete and Pete, proves anything, it's that the network was honestly foolish in cutting these shows while they were in their prime. Don't believe their popularity? Just do a search on Facebook for 90's Nickelodeon. You will get an extensive list of groups and fan pages for 90's Nickelodeon programming.
And look at what the programming actually was Doug, Rugrats, CatDog, Ren and Stimpy, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Kablam!. CatDog is about a cat-dog hybrid. And this was in an era before the Human Centipede. Real Monsters is about an underground society of monsters taking classes on how to scare people. Kablam! features a variety of strange animated segments including Action League now, arguably its best segment, in which action figures try to save the house of their owner, in a bizarre Toy Story type scenario. Ren and Stimpy was extremely gross out and even at times raunchy to the point of being adult.
And look at Cartoon Network's programming: Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n' Eddy and Johnny Bravo. Cow and Chicken is about a brother and sister who are, you guessed it, a cow and a chicken. On top of that, their parents are feet, and the only really other reoccurring character is a devil creature that is inexplicably there. Courage the Cowardly Dog had some of the creepiest and most messed up programming I've ever seen: as attested by this clip. Ed, Edd, n' Eddy was a show about three weird kids all with the same name who try to scam their neighborhood kids in order to buy jaw breakers. The Power Puff Girls has little girls with super powers fighting some pretty strange monsters and villains.
But the things is that the crazy programming of yesteryear continues to this day with programming as surreal and wonderfully crazy as its predecessors. Nick now has The Fairly Oddparents, and Spongebob. And Cartoon Network has the Regular Show and Adventure Time. And may be it's just me, but I can go back and watch those shows and appreciate and enjoy them just as much as I did when I was a kid. And I can watch some of the newer stuff and like it a lot more than I should. May be it's the kid inside of me; 9 year old me crying out. But the thing is that when you're a kid everything is new and strange and wonderful, and I really do feel like these shows captured that very sort of spirit of what it means to be a kid and that is why we loved it when we were kids, and why kids continue to love it. Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, you sell yourself too short.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Nostalgia Sells
Everyone was really surprised when The Lion King was re-released at the box office. It raked in a whopping $93,883,136 worldwide. But what could explain this phenomenon? Well, actually, the only people who were surprised by this were studios and box office analyst who assumed that hand drawn animation and 3D are pretty much dead, which on some level holds some truth to it, but they were betting on The Lion King being lackluster at the box office for the wrong reasons. To tried and true fans of Disney films in general, and particularly golden age animated, hand drawn films, we were not the least bit surprised by The Lion King's massive turn at the box office. In fact, we lined up to buy our tickets for the opening weekend, excited to see the beloved animated film on the big screen.
People will buy into Disney movies, even if they are pretty terrible, and they often have been pretty terrible. Just look at G-Force or Old Dogs or Home on the Range. Disney as a brand sells ridiculously well even when it shouldn't. This is the studio that was able to manage to make Beverly Hills Chihuahua into a massive box office success. But what's even more potent than Disney is nostalgia. People were immensely surprised when Facebook groups cropped up in large numbers begging and petitioning for old Nickelodeon programming from the 90's to be played on television. When Nick created a time slot featuring old 90's shows, studios and analyst alike were amazed at just how large the viewership was. It was so successful that during its first night the 90's Nickelodeon block saw the ratings be 850 percent higher than it was previously for the midnight to 2am time slot on which it runs. I was one of many nostalgia fanatics sitting and watching with excitement and pleasure as I got my fix of 90's nostalgia from 12 to 2am. It didn't surprise me that it was a success, nor did it surprise any of the late teens and early 20's that eagerly watched it with.
The largest demographic who was watching that night and that continues to watch that 90's Nick time slot is people ages 18–34. The most sought after demographic is from the 18-44 age range. We are a viable and beloved consumer of the entertainment market, and yet we are consistently misunderstood. Why don't the studios understand that nostalgia, especially well handled nostalgia, sells extremely well?
Hot Tub Time Machine sold really well in part because it was a cornucopia of 80's nostalgia. And the 1980's have become largely recognized for the nostalgia factor with remakes of Red Dawn, Private Benjamin, Poltergeist, and Footloose in the works or ready for release. New installments are also in the works for Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters. So may be I've got it all wrong. Perhaps studios do understand that nostalgia sells. But may be they just don't seem to understand what the heck nostalgia is.
Because to anyone with half a brain, The Lion King was always going to be a juggernaut at the box office. It sold fantastically well in its own time, and bagged two Oscars. I don't want to see a remake of Red Dawn that's updated to work in the modern world. What makes Red Dawn so cool is that, although at times it's full of hokum, it's very much a movie of its time. It could really have only been made in the 1980's. Just a bunch of kids fighting the Soviets. That's awesome! And it could have only worked then and there. Nostalgia is recapturing that sense of wonder we believe to exist in the past, not recreating it. And there's a huge difference and fine distinction between the two.
One of the reasons I really love The Social Network is that it really captures a sort of feeling that's on the tip of our tongues. It's far more than a movie about the invention of Facebook, it's about what the modern world is doing to people and their relationships, and ultimately how that makes us feel. It makes us feel, at times, disconnected and dislocated. It makes the world seem at times very unforgiving. And that's scary. Especially when individualistic self-worth is being measured upon success, and gaining that success at any cost. And the film manages to capture the collective feeling amongst us and express it succinctly. It doesn't recreate the feeling amongst us, because that in of itself kind of sounds really stupid and probably impossible, but rather captures the essence of that feeling. And that's what nostalgia is, it's the essence of what something was like: the culture, the entertainment, the ideas floating around on the tip of are tongue that we just couldn't quite express, but most of us were all feeling. Nostalgia is how we imagine the past, not how the past actually was. The past should stay where it is, in the past. Remakes don't necessarily capture nostalgia, they just try to make money by making us think they have. Now, the re-release of a beloved film that people remember fondly, that's obviously a nostalgia gold mine. And it's the reason that Disney is re-releasing four more films in 3D in the near future, who no doubt will sell absurdly well. Now if only the studios understood what nostalgia was ... Perhaps a few more re-releases of some much loved films will do the trick. But then again, I doubt it.
People will buy into Disney movies, even if they are pretty terrible, and they often have been pretty terrible. Just look at G-Force or Old Dogs or Home on the Range. Disney as a brand sells ridiculously well even when it shouldn't. This is the studio that was able to manage to make Beverly Hills Chihuahua into a massive box office success. But what's even more potent than Disney is nostalgia. People were immensely surprised when Facebook groups cropped up in large numbers begging and petitioning for old Nickelodeon programming from the 90's to be played on television. When Nick created a time slot featuring old 90's shows, studios and analyst alike were amazed at just how large the viewership was. It was so successful that during its first night the 90's Nickelodeon block saw the ratings be 850 percent higher than it was previously for the midnight to 2am time slot on which it runs. I was one of many nostalgia fanatics sitting and watching with excitement and pleasure as I got my fix of 90's nostalgia from 12 to 2am. It didn't surprise me that it was a success, nor did it surprise any of the late teens and early 20's that eagerly watched it with.
The largest demographic who was watching that night and that continues to watch that 90's Nick time slot is people ages 18–34. The most sought after demographic is from the 18-44 age range. We are a viable and beloved consumer of the entertainment market, and yet we are consistently misunderstood. Why don't the studios understand that nostalgia, especially well handled nostalgia, sells extremely well?
Hot Tub Time Machine sold really well in part because it was a cornucopia of 80's nostalgia. And the 1980's have become largely recognized for the nostalgia factor with remakes of Red Dawn, Private Benjamin, Poltergeist, and Footloose in the works or ready for release. New installments are also in the works for Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters. So may be I've got it all wrong. Perhaps studios do understand that nostalgia sells. But may be they just don't seem to understand what the heck nostalgia is.
Because to anyone with half a brain, The Lion King was always going to be a juggernaut at the box office. It sold fantastically well in its own time, and bagged two Oscars. I don't want to see a remake of Red Dawn that's updated to work in the modern world. What makes Red Dawn so cool is that, although at times it's full of hokum, it's very much a movie of its time. It could really have only been made in the 1980's. Just a bunch of kids fighting the Soviets. That's awesome! And it could have only worked then and there. Nostalgia is recapturing that sense of wonder we believe to exist in the past, not recreating it. And there's a huge difference and fine distinction between the two.
One of the reasons I really love The Social Network is that it really captures a sort of feeling that's on the tip of our tongues. It's far more than a movie about the invention of Facebook, it's about what the modern world is doing to people and their relationships, and ultimately how that makes us feel. It makes us feel, at times, disconnected and dislocated. It makes the world seem at times very unforgiving. And that's scary. Especially when individualistic self-worth is being measured upon success, and gaining that success at any cost. And the film manages to capture the collective feeling amongst us and express it succinctly. It doesn't recreate the feeling amongst us, because that in of itself kind of sounds really stupid and probably impossible, but rather captures the essence of that feeling. And that's what nostalgia is, it's the essence of what something was like: the culture, the entertainment, the ideas floating around on the tip of are tongue that we just couldn't quite express, but most of us were all feeling. Nostalgia is how we imagine the past, not how the past actually was. The past should stay where it is, in the past. Remakes don't necessarily capture nostalgia, they just try to make money by making us think they have. Now, the re-release of a beloved film that people remember fondly, that's obviously a nostalgia gold mine. And it's the reason that Disney is re-releasing four more films in 3D in the near future, who no doubt will sell absurdly well. Now if only the studios understood what nostalgia was ... Perhaps a few more re-releases of some much loved films will do the trick. But then again, I doubt it.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
First Post !
I intend to use this blog for my musings on pop culture, whatever they may be. This may come in the form of movies, television series, music, literature, or pop culture more broadly. I don't draw upon any particular area of writing, either popular or academic, at least not intentionally. I will try to be as concise and organized as possible, although I make no guarantees. And I apologize in advance for my grammar. I kind of suck at that. This isn't about grammatical preciseness. I intend to use this blog merely as my musings on pop culture, drawing upon my personal beliefs and love for, or in some cases the dislike for, various pop culture works and phenomena.
Also, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below now and in the future. I love open and thoughtful discussion.
And so it begins.
Also, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below now and in the future. I love open and thoughtful discussion.
And so it begins.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)