Well, even without the unfortunate connection between the Adventures of Pete & Pete theme song and the once-in-several-lifetimes hurricane that caused so much damage and heartache, the redhead brothers from Wellsville would still be dominating this late October-early November stretch. First, there was “Halloweenie” and, now, we’re once again ready to jump back through the Time Tunnel. Truly, one of our nation’s greatest holidays, and one of our country’s all-time great television shows.
As always, be sure to stock up on your riboflavin. And be safe out there.
We think it’s fair to say that Hurricane Sandy was deranged (happily deranged? that’s debatable), and while we regret the target that she chose – one so close to home – we’re happy that the worst is over and we’re now into the recovery and rebuilding process. It’s not entirely fair to blame the theme song to The Adventures of Pete & Pete for all this death and destruction and general disturbance but Polaris always seemed kind of bizarre, and “Hey Sandy” always seemed kinda mysterious, something about it that we couldn’t trust. With that in mind, we have today’s A Newsroom A Day, and with it, hopefully, we say “Later, Sandy.”
Hey Sandy, you may be a storm to beat all storms, a monster of meteorological proportions, and you may be a theme song whose words are difficult to understand, but you will never, ever, stop Little Pete from celebrating Halloween. Nothing ever will.
Was there a show more ahead of its time, more under-appreciated, than Nickelodeon’s Adventures of Pete & Pete? Freaks and Geeks, you say? Okay, maybe. But Pete & Pete is surely up there, and growing from a string of one-minute shorts aired on Nickelodeon during commercial breaks into a full-fledged 22-min series, it featured some of the most unique, quirky characters and stories on TV (back when being “quirky” was still a good thing). Even though it aired on Nickelodeon, and followed a set of young redheaded brothers, it was far beyond the traditional kiddie fare, attracting guest stars like Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo, Chris Elliott and Bebe Neuwirth, and could be viewed as one of the first single camera, laugh track-free comedies. Perhaps you could even say that Pete & Pete paved the way for shows like Arrested Development. But, let’s not get off to topic, that’s a discussion for another day. Right now it’s all about Christmas.
Pete & Pete often traded in holiday-themed episodes, including Valentine’s Day, Halloween and New Year’s Eve (my favorite would be “Time Tunnel,” set during the Autumnal Equinox, which is not technically a holiday but worth including because of the Pete’s commitment to time travel, something that really hit home with me (make sure you consume plenty of riboflavin!)). Surprisingly, it took them until the third season to tackle Christmas, presenting us with “O Christmas Pete,” in which Little Pete (Danny Tamberelli, before he lost his boyish charm and went on to join All That), in typical Little Pete fashion, attempts to keep Christmas going year-round and battles the evil garbageman, a typical Pete & Pete villain (they loved to utilize their civil servants).
Sidenote: About 7 years ago, after a Yankee game, I swear that I saw Danny Tamberelli outside the stadium. I yelled “Little Pete,” but he did not acknowledge me in the slightest. As a result, I’m positive it was him.
Seriously though, Pete & Pete is probably the best thing ever to air on Nickelodeon (and that’s no small feat (see: Rocko’s Modern Life, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Clarissa Explains It All, Roundhouse, to name a few)) and probably deserved to be on network TV. And you can quote me on that (seriously, please quote me, I could use the traffic).
Was there a show more ahead of its time, more under-appreciated, than Nickelodeon’s Adventures of Pete & Pete? 
Jumped The Snark 