--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Pee Wee's Playhouse image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29a635217424921a/69869f2e3bc999e0831a4e02/t100_tv_pee-wees-playhouse1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 12, 2014 # _Pee Wee's Playhouse_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Everett Paul Reubens’ sweet, surreal Saturday-morning show was a gift to all ages. Reubens’ hyperactive man-child lived in a house populated by living furniture, a French talking globe and a genie, and visited by jheri-curled Cowboy Curtis (a young Laurence Fishburne). Pee Wee knew what kids wanted: cartoons, craziness and a secret-word excuse to SCREAM REAL LOUD! With its camp, gender transgressiveness (Mrs. Steve?) and Miss Yvonne’s over-the-kids’-heads innuendoes, some parents found the show too adult, and when Reubens was arrested at an adult movie theater in 1991 for indecent exposure (kids’ entertainers can’t have sex drives!) it was over. But he left behind several seasons of a show that taught kids it was OK to be weird and different—even if real life didn’t return the favor to him. [Get This TV Series](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002IQB3A/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103698/pee-wees-playhouse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103698/pee-wees-playhouse/"},"headline":"Pee Wee's Playhouse","datePublished":"2014-08-12T15:03:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:01:37.115Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103698/pee-wees-playhouse/","keywords":["Children"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29a635217424921a/69869f2e3bc999e0831a4e02/t100_tv_pee-wees-playhouse1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29a635217424921a/69869f2e3bc999e0831a4e02/t100_tv_pee-wees-playhouse1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103698/pee-wees-playhouse/","name":"Pee Wee's Playhouse"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Pee Wee's Playhouse","description":"Pee Wee knew what kids wanted: cartoons, craziness and a secret-word excuse to SCREAM REAL LOUD!","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HeOE2t0G/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2007-09-04T22:30:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HeOE2t0G.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103698/pee-wees-playhouse/","duration":"PT32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103698/pee-wees-playhouse/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```