Part of the fun of being invested in geeky fandoms is the excitement from “winning over” someone about any particular interest. Day 20 of the Geek Out Challenge is all about what you would recommend to anyone at all. Right off the bat I’m going to pat myself on the back for coming up with something other than a video game answer…a 90’s show! Didn’t see that coming, huh? 😉
What series would you recommend to anyone? – The Adventures of Pete and Pete
The Adventures of Pete and Pete first appeared as short sketches on Nickelodeon in 1989 before finally airing as a 30 minute tv show in 1993. The show follows the lives of two redhead brothers who, as the title indicates, are both named Pete Wrigley. Pete and Pete live in the fictional town of Wellsville with their parents. Their dad is stubborn, competitive, and obsessive over the state of the family lawn, while their mom stays busy making sure everyone goes to sleep on time and off to school the next morning, all with the ability to pick up radio frequencies with the metal plate in her head.
The show itself carries a surreal strangeness to it, as both Petes deal with everyday youthful dilemmas like summer jobs, neighborhood bullies, and road trips with the family. In many ways, The Adventures of Pete and Pete can be viewed in somewhat the same vein as the 1999 NBC show Freaks and Geeks – an adolescent sitcom with a quirky sense of humor that reached cult status after ending way too soon, especially so with the latter show. Pete and Pete is a tv show that I would point to as being as quintessentially 90’s in look and tone, having received much praise for the clever writing.
One of my favorite episodes is “King of the Road” in which the family must endure each other for long enough to reach the peak of human engineering – The Hoover Dam. The trip is jeopardized by the family’s inability to get along and father Wrigley’s insistence on not stopping for anything for fear of not “making good time”; jealousy also rears its ugly head as he soon notices another family in a newer station wagon having luggage more neatly packed all while having a license plate reading – KingofRoad. As mentioned earlier, it’s an odd show with a very unique charm about it. The Adventures of Pete and Pete is a show that I have been telling just about everyone about as I struggle to find too many people around me that remember the show. The show still oozes the grungy, flannel-y 90’s vibe and I still love watching it!
We’re entering the final 10 days of the Geek Out Challenge! Another shout out goes to Megan at A Geeky Gal for initiating the challenge and compiling all the questions, it’s been a blast! Until tomorrow….goodnight, Petunia.
Gaming Omnivore 