Here's Where You Can Watch Pee-Wee's Playhouse

In the opening of the 1986 Saturday morning children's show "Pee-wee's Playhouse," a stop-motion animated beaver casually chewed through a tree somewhere out in the middle of the woods. On the tree was an arrow pointing to the location of Pee-wee's Playhouse, located somewhere deep within the fauna-infested biome. The tree falls, and the arrow points up to the sky. Pee-wee's Playhouse is now symbolically located above. It is a state of mind. The camera pushes through the woods while Mark Mothersbaugh-composed music — evoking the Exotica-inflected strains of Martin Denny or Les Baxter — serenades the audience. The camera pans up a cliffside and there, like Shelley's Ozymandias, stands the Playhouse, a curious, multi-leveled edifice that escaped from the skull of a sugared-up five-year-old child, fully formed. The benevolent lord of this manor, Pee-Wee, appears briefly to chuckle — either wisely amused or fecklessly unconcerned — at the surreal wonders you are about to witness. A voice whispers. The world smiles.

Then chaos breaks out. The door to the Playhouse opens, Pee-wee enters, and the id is unleashed. A squeaky voice (Cyndi Lauper doing her best Mae Questel imitation) croons that this is a place for action, activity, and overstimulation. This is a place of madness. Beautiful, beautiful madness. The world crinkles and warps, sandpapering the brain. Our deity, Pee-wee, will bestow laws, secret words, magical wishes, and a childlike understanding of the universe. Thirty minutes later, one exits, unsure of what they witnessed, but knowing it was a taste of the Truth.

For five seasons, "Pee-wee's Playhouse" dominated Saturday morning. After it went off the air, screenings were rare. It wasn't until 1996 that the series finally hit VHS. 

In the age of streaming, the wonders of the Playhouse can now be found again. 

Ideally, one can find the old 1996 VHS box sets on the second-hand market. DVDs of the complete series are also readily available, and the Shout! Factory put out an excellent Blu-ray version. Incidentally, if one wants more of Paul Ruebens, Shout! also put out a Blu-ray of "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie." If one is more inclined toward advanced technology, however, then "Pee-wee's Playhouse" is available from the following services.

All five seasons are currently available through Hoopla, a streaming service that can be accessed using only your local library card and a valid e-mail address. The series is free.

If one is keener to purchase "Pee-wee's Playhouse" for download, however, multiple online stores also carry it. Apple TV is offering the "Pee-wee's Playhouse" Christmas Special for a mere $2.99. 

Fandango's online service Vudu is offering seasons 1 and 2 for $24.99 per season in standard definition, and $34.99 in HD. One can also purchase individual episodes for $1.99 each in SD or $2.99 each in HD. Seasons 4 and 5 are $17.99 in SD and $27.99 in HD. The truncated season 3 is not available.

For those who were really into Quibi and like watching TV on their phones, "Pee-wee's Playhouse" can also be found in the Google Play Store. Season 1 is $24.99, seasons 2, 4, and 5 are $15.99, and the only three episodes of the third season are $3.99. There are no HD options. 

Amazon also has all five seasons in a similar format to Vudu. Season 1 is $34.99 for HD and $22.49 for SD. Seasons 2 and 4 are $23.99 in HD and $15.99 in SD. Season 3 is $5.98 in HD and $3.98 in SD. Season 5 is $21.59 in HD and $15.99 in SD. 

Watch it!