How The Adventures of Pete & Pete Broke the Rules of Kids Shows

Summary

• Nickelodeon’s
  The Adventures of Pete & Pete
  was a quirky, artistic masterpiece that broke all the rules of typical kids’ shows.
• The show’s music featured ’90s alternative rock bands and cameos from legendary musicians like Iggy Pop.
• Despite lasting only three seasons,
  Pete & Pete
  gained a cult following, leading to a reunion podcast in 2012.

The Nickelodeon network saw its heyday in the 1990s when it shifted its focus from game shows and variety programs to original series with a young target audience. During this period, the network aired a new set of coming-of-age shows, including Salute Your Shorts, Clarissa Explains It All, and The Secret World of Alex Mack. One of Nickelodeon’s shows, however, stood head and shoulders above the rest: The Adventures of Pete & Pete.

After producing a few successful shorts, the series began in earnest in 1991 with a set of specials. It told the story of two wise-beyond-their-years, red-headed brothers, “Big” Pete Wrigley (Michael Maronna) and “Little” Pete Wrigley (Danny Tamberelli), who bicker and battle their way through growing pains. Maronna served as the show’s narrator, a nod to other family shows of the era like The Wonder Years, but Pete & Pete was a much quirkier and more artistic program at a time when Nickelodeon was a bastion of experimentation. In creating an innovative, autonomous arena for show creators Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi to spitball their zany premises, Pete & Pete was able to break every pre-supposed rule of kids shows.

Pete & Pete Broke Down Walls of Convention for Nickelodeon

Before Nickelodeon developed Pete & Pete into a full-blown series, it was originally developed as minute-long shorts that ran as interstitials between the network’s other programs starting in 1989. Thanks to a cadre of fan mail calling for more content about the two characters, the popular shorts were expanded into a series in 1991.

“Big” Pete is the straight-man character of the duo, acting as the voice of reason, while his younger brother is the show’s principal disruptor. “Little” Pete resents his older brother’s adolescent pursuit of the opposite sex, inexplicably bears a forearm tattoo named Petunia (who is, naturally, credited at the beginning of the show), and generally causes mischief, ranging from selling their parents’ house to picking fights with the town bullies.

The supporting cast gets many of the series’ biggest laughs, from the Petes’ mom, Joyce (and the signature metal plate lodged inside her head), to their dad, Don, who is often as immature as the boys themselves. Some of the ’90s standout comics, like Chris Elliot and Janeane Garafolo, made regular appearances, and the humor always seemed a bit too mature for the show’s target audience – though that worked out perfectly.

The Show Included Incredible Actors and Musician Cameos

Another peculiarity of Pete & Pete was the show’s music, which was at the height of the ’90s alternative rock boom. Innovative bands like The Magnetic Fields and Luscious Jackson soundtrack the episodes despite being more popular among the era’s college radio fans than the show’s young audience. Add to that a Who’s-Who of pioneering musicians acting on the show, including punk trailblazers Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop and seminal Hip-Hop artist LL Cool J (in an early acting role before he rose to NCIS ubiquity). Even a tween-aged Alicia Keys made an early acting appearance on the show.

Maybe the most beloved character among fans, though, is Artie, the Strongest Man in the World, played brilliantly by Toby Huss. The name is, of course, a complete misnomer, and his “superpowers” are really nothing of the sort. Nonetheless, Artie is “Little” Pete’s hero, often accompanying him on his many dubious quests. A recent appearance by Huss in the film Cop Shop as the criminally insane villain Anthony Lamb was a reminder of the actor’s unparalleled ability to play crazy.

A Pete & Pete Movie Never Materialized, But a Reunion and Podcast Did

Despite the show’s cult following, it only lasted three seasons. What made Pete & Pete so great – so rule-breaking – may have been precisely what led to its downfall. Speaking about the show’s abrupt cancelation in 2012, co-creator Will McRobb told the LA Times, “We felt like the show was going to get canceled every week, so we put everything we had into every show.” A brief lunch meeting between McRobb and Viscardi and Nickelodeon executives in 1996 brought down the guillotine on one of the network’s greatest ’90s products. While a movie was long rumored, it never materialized. McRobb and Viscardi wrote a script, revolving around the Petes going on a quest after school is canceled for a snow day, but that was eventually converted into the Chevy Chase film Snow Day.

A mid-2000s DVD release saw a revival of the show’s cult popularity, and thanks to demand, an eventual 2012 reunion happened via the comedy website Funny or Die, but the show’s leading actors, Tamberelli and Maronna, essentially faded into obscurity for years. Maronna became an ordinary crew member on film sets, working as an on-set electrician, and Danny Tamberelli did some spare acting roles and voice work while pursuing a career in music.

Luckily for fans of the show, the two actors remain best friends and started a podcast in 2013, The Adventures of Danny & Mike, which still runs today. The show was a flash in the pan, but despite Nickelodeon’s four decades of existence, it remains one of the network’s most beloved products – a unique window into ’90s American culture and a show that broke all the rules. The Adventures of Pete & Pete shorts are available to buy on Prime Video.