Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 12

THE DETROIT NEWS SATURDAY, AUGUST 2Q, 1994 i McRobb and Viscardi get making Prtp X- Pete. "We feel reallv PETE cniimwJ from Page 1C "Most first shows have a lot of flaws in them and it takes a while to find a rhythm. But by taking the slow progression from 60-seconds to specials to series, we were able to really have the show in great shape by the time we hit the mark. the music that we liked a lot, lots of alternative acts, and it became kind of a staple of the show," says McRobb. "We just realized that there was a certain kind of music that captured the flavor of the show better than any other, and that happened to be indie rock, alternative rock, whatever you want to call it.

There's sort of a spontaneous, heartfelt feeling you get from songs that people are making in their basements that you can't get anywhere else." That goes double for the feeling fortunate in that this is the show that we were born to work on, and I don't think we could have ever pitched this show from the outside as a half-hour comedy and sold it," McRobb says. "We never really got a sense that we'd ever get to do another spot or special until they'd tell us that we could. In a lot of ways, we're two guys who haven't grown up completely, and this show just gives us an excuse not to deal with adulthood." Will McRobb likely to pop up in the Wrigley garage or on the front lawn, and the sounds of R.E.M., Ministry, Throwing Muses and other alternative groups filters through every episode. In addition, the show's unconventional list of guest stars has included R.E.M's Michael Stipe (as a brooding, nihilistic icecream man), the B-52's Kate Pier-son, Detroit native Marshall Crenshaw, Frank Gifford, Bebe Neu-wirth and Deborah Harry. "Gradually, we started putting in NATIONAL CLEARANCE WAREHOUSE V'fjj NATIONAL CLEARANCE WAREHOUSE NATIONAL CLEARANCE WAREHOUSE given a shot at making a half-hour special for Nickelodeon in 1991, "The St.

Valentine's Day Massacre," which found the boys trying to cover up for Big Pete accidentally killing their school mascot, Edna the Fighting Squid. It became Nickelodeon's highest-rated special that year. Four more specials and a pair of CableACE awards followed, and Pete Pete arrived as a weekly series last fall. The transition wasn't necessarily an easy one for all involved. "When we only had 60 seconds, we used to shoot four of them in a couple of days, do some weird stuff on the lawn, and that was it," recalls Maronna, the 16-year-old Big Pete.

"You'd look for us in between Looney Tunes. Now that we're in the half-hour sitcom, the plots have to come together, you have to have It used to be mostly about anarchy and nonsense, but now we have to have morals." Worth the wait Yet the long gestation period and the morals, for that matter have proved beneficial. "It took a very slow route, and in a way I think that probably helped the show," says McRobb, who also has written for Doug and The Ren Stimpy Show on Nickelodeon. "You know, most first shows THE AMERICAN EAGLE OUTLET 111 WONDERLAND MALL, LIUOUIA HAS JUST BEEN DESIGNATED TTpn fPl rNI fh i r') r- r- UualMeriTalidLWomen! clothing, from the 215 have a lot of flaws in them and it takes a while to find a rhythm. But by taking the slow progression from 60-seconds to specials to series, we were able to really have the show in great shape by the time we hit the mark." Viscardi adds, "The funny thing about it was when we did the 60-second spots, we tried to pack about a half-hour's worth of material into a minute," he says.

"Then when we got the chance to do the first special, we figured, 'Hey, we got a whole half-hour now; let's do a So the specials were really kind of thick and dense, and the people at Nickelodeon really didn't know what to make of it. "They were really afraid that kids weren't going to be able to understand the shows, that maybe they were too weird for Nickelodeon," says Viscardi. "But the kids have had absolutely no trouble with them at all. If anything, they'd like some of the shows to be weirder." That would take some doing. In next Saturday's season opener, "Grounded for Life," for example, Little Pete's decision to see what happens when a humidifier and a dehumidifier are turned on at the same instant results in a blast that threatens to keep him homebound over the Fourth of July weekend.

Previous episodes have seen the boys use a metal detector on a beach and unearth a 1978 Cutlass, and Little Pete exiled to a soundproof American Eame Mail -J-y-cy Jack into the playground (see relat-e(l story). Imagine TAe Wonder Years uti talvm and Hobbes as its stars iVm Peafe as its iocae and you might come close to capturing pe ambience of Pete Pete. mbining alternative rock music, We quirky stream-of narrative of urban folk tales to'a by rambling juveniles, and the considerable talents of young co-stars Michael Maronna (Big Pete) and Danny Tamberelli (Little te), the series has perfected the teen-viewer formula that bombed recent network efforts as BC's Eerie, Indiana and Fox's breat But why are both the show's namesakes aka the Wrigley Mothers christened Pete? "We're glad you asked that question," says Will McRobb, who created Pete Pete and serves as its writer and executive producer in Partnership with Chris Viscardi. We're happy to tell you that there's no answer, because one of the big things about the show is that there are various mysteries of childhood in it that will remain unexplained. There are rumors, and there's some speculation, but no one knows the real answer." In a 1993 interview, however, McRobb speculated that the boys were branded Pete and Pete because "their mother always wanted children with names that rhymed." Minute men McRobb, 33, and Viscardi, 32, knew each other in passing as graduate students at Syracuse University thought Chris was kind of a drimp," McRobb says jokingly).

But they didn't put their heads together creatively until both ended up in the promotions department at Nickelodeon. That association led to one of the strangest series developments in TV history for Pete Pete, which began in 1989 as a succession of 60-second "image" commercials for the network. "We would do promos for Mr. Ed, Lassie and Dennis the Menace, that was more or less our job," says McRobb. "But luckily, at Nickelodeon the spirit of kids is allowed to come through in other ways.

They wanted to do some image spots that were more about promoting an attitude than promoting shows, and I've always, wanted to tell stories the way kids tell stories kind of compressed, stream-of-consciousness, non se-quiturs that are only meaningful to the person telling the story. "They gave us a minute, and since we were used to doing 10-sec-ond, 30-second spots, to us a minute seemed like an hour. So given that opportunity, we basically just tried to tell as much of our childhood as we could in a minute. And just by the compression of it and the kids' voice, it ended up being really kind of weird and great." Which is not to suggest that McRobb and Viscardi are retelling stories from their own coming-of-age experiences with metal-plated moms, tattooed tykes or in one of Pete Pete's most popular elements geeky characters like next-door neighbor Artie, who proclaims himself "The Strongest Man in the World." "We both grew up in upstate New York, and we had pretty idyllic childhoods," McRobb says. "A lot of the story ideas aren't necessarily based on things that have happened in our lives, but come out of those sort of universal, suburban kid tall tales that we both used to hear about growing up.

For example, we didn't really know anybody who had a metal plate like Mom, but when we started talking about stories of our childhood, we realized we had both heard about kids who could pick up radio on their braces. There really is sort of this body of work, kid folklore, that we all connect to." After producing 18-minute shorts, McRobb and Viscardi were Stores ndlfiiitletsetos the country, has beenseni hereFIMtetEARANC Wonderland Mall Middlebelt Plymouth Rds. Livonia, Michigan at drastically redued pric SUPER SAVINGS MEN'S BONUS BARGAINS Flannel Shirts Fleece Sweatshirts Special AEO $999 $099 8" $1 AEO Denim Jeans JJ AEO Long Sleeve Shirts 7 College Fleece Sweatshirts Electives: 4 Fashion Colors $999 $2499 AEO Long Sleeve Shirts Twill Shorts Men's Basic, In Khaki, Olive, Navy, Black, Plaids Stripes Crew V-Neck Sweaters In a Collage of College Colors! Boots, Shoes, Casual Shoes and Hiking Boots Huge Selection Solid One Pocket T-Shirts Screen Printed T- Shirts $2999 51 099 A Up $99 99 $999 "burping room" as punishment for his incessant belching at the dinner table. Maronna, who narrates the stories with deadpan seriousness as Big Pete, actually possesses a wild and wicked sense of humor rarely evidenced on the series. He says Big Pete is "that ubiquitous, esoteric, generic character," and adds that "I didn't have to sleep with anyone" to get the part.

Sibling rivalry Asked about his relationship with 13-year-old Tamberelli (Little Pete), he cracks, "I wouldn't say it's strictly master-and-servant, but he knows who wears the glove on which foot. Actually, I kind of think of him as my father." In the hit movies Home Alone and Home Alone 2, Maronna Short Sleeve Polos Great Variety of Colors AEO ACCESSORY LINE $1 fioo Men's Socks 4pr 1U Men's Ladies' Shorts or Denim Jeans Stone-Washed or Bleached. $Q99 Relaxed or Loose-Fit From $099 AEORugbys $ft99 $1 A 99 of Sweaters 14 NOW TAKE AN ADDITIONAL 25 OFF LADIES' BONUS BARGAINS Hats Ties Backpacks appeared as the older brother of As Low As 99 Up $J499 $099 i Belts Buy One TVjrtlenecks Get One Free Macaulay Culkin you're such a What's Macaulay really like, Michael? "Short," Maronna replies. Then there's the groundbreaking saturation of alternative rock within the show that has seen Pete Pete profiled in such magazines as Billboard and Rolling Stone. Sometimes, the series seems to take on the appearance of a half-hour music video with cockeyed comedy.

The band Miracle Legion, which performs the show's theme song, is lift PHI Short Rayon Skirts Leggins As Low As Tops Clearance Priced As Low As Shorts Many Styles As Low As Broomstick Skirts Look great for back-to-school $2499 $599 $499 $999 $1499 $1499 DENIM DISCOUNTS Men's Ladies' Colored Denim Jeans A Scholarly Essential! CHAVIS $1499 '999 $: '499 $J999 $2999 Pi Denim Dresses Denim Mini Skirts Denim Bibbed Shorts Feel Good In Denim Chavis has cranked up the backbeat, spiked the rhetorical punchbowl and is turning the N-double-A into what Public Enemy calls a "party for your right to fight." Ladies' Vests The hottest fashion for campus Long Sleeve Knits Light Weight, Layered or Tone. Great Selection $099 Denim Jackets SPECIAL BUY Ladies Denim Jeans Denim Shorts Your Choice $1199 99 Twill Pants A Study in Style and Savings! $9 Up Continued from Page 1C Think about how men and women who ran against Chavis and his allies in caustic national and local NAACP elections are now being drummed up in yws stories as "reliable" source ir" points of view. Think of how these same men and women excoriate the media even black journalists for daring to assess black leadership in print, but now scamper quickly to pay-phones to call in the latest Chavis calumny. No, I don't at all mean to excuse bona fide acts of sexual harassment or financial wrongdoing. Neither, however, am I certain that Chavis is guilty of any such behavior.

What I do know is that Ben Chavifthas been on thefrontlines in black struggle, from before his days I 1 1T in American Bagle Wonderland Mall Plymoulh Road Premier 7001 056 123456789 VALUED FRIEND as one of the Wilmington 10 to the present. What I do know is that he is stepping, at a crucial time, into a breach in national civil-rights leadership, that he's cultivating a degree of coalition-building among black organizations that my mother's generation has been missing for years, that my generation has never even seen. What I do know is that he deserves support in these efforts. Others know this, to. Now, it's time to act like it.

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