YMMV / The Adventures of Pete & Pete

• Awesome Music: The soundtrack of independent college rock has given otherwise-forgotten bands a cult following they rightly deserve. And let's not forget about Mark Mulcahy and his band (made exclusively for the series soundtrack), Polaris.
• Cult Classic: It was only moderately successful when it aired but has developed a strong following due to its unique sense of humor and quirkiness. Its original audience aging enough to get all the jokes and cameos may also help.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: If you remember this show, there is one character that always stuck out in the back of your mind. That guy? ARTIE! THE STRONGEST MAAAAAN. IN THE WOOOOOORLD!!
  • Mr. Tastee is also pretty popular despite only starring in one episode, however said episode is one of the most beloved of the series. He is known for his genuine friendliness towards the kids, sad background, and bittersweet speech about summer not lasting forever. Then of course that amazing outfit he never takes off, even when travelling the world.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: The Pete brothers' entire relationship is this, knowing that Mike Maronna (Big Pete) and Danny Tamberelli (Little Pete) are still good friends to this very day and even have a podcast together. Danny has said in interviews that Mike is essentially his big brother in real life too.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Would you have guessed that Danny Tamberelli (Little Pete) would later start a band and sing by boot? His biggest motivation and inspiration was, indeed "Hard Day's Pete" (that happens to be his favorite episode because it completely changed his life) and when the prop master of the series also gave him his first bass guitar. Well, it's also the music influence the show had, that even regular-guest-star, Iggy Pop taught him how to play bass. And even when he got out of acting, his most major degree focus in College was something related to it.
• Memetic Badass: Artie gets this for his super strength. He doesn't claim to be the Strongest Man in the World for nothing.
• Narm: Very, very rare, but there's at least one memorable incident—in "Yellow Fever", after Big Pete takes the blame for the actions of a put-upon classmate, Endless Mike (who's spent the episode attempting to corrupt Pete) shouts angrily, "You're out of my gang!" On the commentary, those involved spend the next two minutes laughing and go on to claim that Rick Gomez to this day shoehorns it into conversations. Can count as Narm Charm, given it's the kind of thing that fits right in with the surreal nature of the series anyway.
• Nightmare Fuel: It has its own sub-page.
• Quirky Work: The show's odd characters, surreal elements, and blending of fantasy and reality are what have helped it stand out.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Little Pete would later join the cast of All That, voice Arnold Perlstein, and most recently played the lazy stoner son of a criminal in witness-protection.
  • Artie would voice Cotton, Khan and Joe Jack and be Michael Myers' final victim.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: Mr. Markle
• Tear Jerker: The end of "Farewell, My Little Viking".
• Too Good to Last: While the shorts proved to have the enough success to lead to specials, and finally a TV Series in the process of 4 years... the show just had 3 seasons. The creators have acknowledged various times (from the DVD commentaries bits, the reunions, and even old interviews) that while it was critical acclaimed, it had relatively poor ratings compared to other shows of the time such as The Ren & Stimpy Show or The Secret World of Alex Mack. Then again, Nickelodeon screwed with the schedules of the third season episodes (that took more than one year to finish airing), there was also some executive shuffling in the middle... it didn't quite mesh so much with the kids demography and it finally killed the show. However, noting that the protagonists were getting older (Michael Maronna was almost college age by the end of the series), and that the focus of the third season changed so abruptly to little Pete, maybe, it was for the best?
• Unintentional Period Piece: The show never addressed any current events or sociopolitical issues of the time, but the blatantly '90s fashions and soundtracks make the time period very obvious.
• The Woobie: Yes, Stu is both a Chew Toy and a Woobie. You can laugh and still sympathize.

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