http://movies.yahoo.com/news/e...1109/110004840000.html
I think I might pick up the DVDs. I used to love that show.
Is the world ready for another big adventure from bow-tied wonder Pee-wee Herman?
Paul Reubens certainly thinks so. And he's willing to bet his shiny red bike on it.
On the eve of the DVD release of Pee-wee's Playhouse, Pee-wee's alter ego is primed to put the rouge back on again for the first time since his embarrassing arrest in an adult movie theater in Florida on an indecent exposure charge in 1991.
While plugging the two new box sets of his Emmy-winning CBS Saturday morning kids' show (the first comprises seasons 1-2, the second, seasons 3-5), Reubens revealed he's working on two new screenplays.
The first movie, which he hopes to start filming by next summer, is a satire on the pitfalls of celebritydom that Reubens is all too familiar with.
"It's about Pee-wee Herman becoming famous, and fame, let's say, doesn't agree with him," Reuben told the New York Times.
The second flick, which doesn't have a timetable for production, is going to be a big-screen version of Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Reubens created the ersatz man-child character as a member of the Los Angeles improv group the Groundlings, playing him for well over a decade, from HBO's The Pee-wee Herman Show in 1981 to 1985's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and 1988's Big Top Pee-wee to his CBS kids show. But Reubens put his Pee-wee persona on ice after his arrest.
"CBS was ready to sign on for two more years, but I was sick of the character. I was certainly burned out, and I took a break at that time," Reubens told USA Today. "That break got extended, shall we say, when I got arrested in Florida. And that wasn't quite a big inducement to run back to my work, so my break turned into a longer break than anticipated."
Humiliated by the scandal, the comedian decided to lay low, with the exception of a notable appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Reubens instead opted for smaller parts in several big Hollywood productions, including Batman Returns, which reunited him with his Big Adventure director Tim Burton, Doctor Dolittle and Mystery Men. He also had a recurring role on TV's Murphy Brown.
Reubens last memorable non-Pee-wee turn was playing a flamboyant hair dresser opposite Johnny Depp in Ted Demme's 2001 drug caper, Blow. That same year, Reubens also hosted ABC's short-lived You Don't Know Jack! game show, based on the popular computer game.
The 52-year-old's career seemed in full rebound mode until he was booked in November 2002 on a misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography.
Reubens eventually copped to a misdemeanor obscenity charge and the porn count was dropped. However, as part of the plea deal, he was fined $100 and put on three years' informal probation with the proviso that as long as he behaved, his record would be wiped clean.
Now that his legal woes are behind him, and after a 13-year Pee-wee abstinence, Reubens is ready to bring the helium-voiced weirdo with the ill-fitting suit out of mothballs.
"I'm really proud of both the Pee-wee movies and the television series, and now I'm thinking of taking Pee-wee into the future," Reubens told USA Today. "The first movie will be 25 years old next year, which is freaky. It seems like yesterday."
The actor is hoping that the release of Pee-wee's Playhouse on DVD will introduce Pee-wee to a new generation of fans and show that there's still an audience--big and small--out there clamoring to see the further adventures of the beloved children's icon.
"Pee-wee's a bit of a hard act to follow," Reubens added. "I doubt if I could ever come up with someone that has that kind of appeal."
The two box sets distributed by Image Entertainment contain all 45 episodes of Pee-wee's Playhouse and retail for $50 each. A special collector's edition is in the works for 2005.
I think I might pick up the DVDs. I used to love that show.
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