Because Steve Buscemi is best known for his prestigious HBO drama “Boardwalk Empire” and his work with acclaimed director duo Joel and Ethan Coen, it’s easy to forget that he once played a role in the weird and wonderful Nickelodeon series “The Adventures of Pete & Pete.” The hit ’90s sitcom is set in a vaguely surreal suburb and follows two brothers who share the same name: Pete Wrigley. Michael Maronna stars as Big Pete, with Danny Tamberelli playing Little Pete. Big Pete is best friends with a girl named Ellen Hickle (Alison Fanelli), whose father also happens to be the guidance counselor at his high school.
That’s where Buscemi came in: He was in three episodes as Ellen’s dad, Phil Hickle. That isn’t a lot of time to make an impact, but Buscemi stood out whenever he appeared, and one of his episodes (Season 1’s “Apocalypse Pete”) is considered to be among the show’s best. His presence also helped attract big-name guest stars such as Iggy Pop according to co-creator Chris Viscardi. “I think because we had [Michael] Stipe and Kate Pierson and Steve Buscemi and various others in the first season, it started to get a little bit easier for us to at least have the talent folks at Nickelodeon get calls back from the people who represented these rock’n’rollers,” Viscardi told AV Club.
The Adventures of Pete & Pete helped kickstart a golden age at Nickelodeon
Many of the best Nickelodeon shows of all time aired during the 1990s, which is considered to be a golden age for the kids network, especially where live-action shows are concerned. The likes of “Clarissa Explains It All,” “The Secret World of Alex Mack,” “Kenan & Kel,” and the horror anthology series “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” proved that TV for younger viewers didn’t have to placate them. Nickelodeon began to understand that touching on tricky themes and exploring complex emotions wouldn’t alienate kids, but attract them, and “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” (which began in 1989 as a series of shorts before being turned into a half-hour show) helped lay the foundations for this new era.
According to co-creator Will McRobb, the goal was never to spearhead a Nickelodeon revolution. They just wanted to make a show for kids on the cusp between childhood and their teens. “There was such intense emotional connection, because someone was speaking for them and to them and experiencing all that emotion and confusion and happiness and sadness,” McRobb told HuffPost. “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” would ultimately inspire the next generation of kids television, with the creators of hit shows like “Gravity Falls,” “Adventure Time,” and “Regular Show” all citing the Nickelodeon classic as an influence.
