PEE-WEE HERMAN’S SILLIEST ADVENTURE

“Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” the only new live-action series to appear this fall on the networks’ Saturday morning children’s schedules, ought to be called “Pee-wee’s Madhouse.” The show is so manic that it makes MTV look soothing.

If you can stand the pace, and if you can stomach a grown man (Paul Rubens) acting like a daffy little kid, there is a lot to like about the series, which airs Saturdays at 10 a.m. on Channels 2 and 8. Sophisticated video techniques have been employed to transport Pee-wee Herman into animated sequences and old film footage, and there are some very clever segments featuring animated clay figures.

Whatever else you may feel about it, one thing is certain: Unlike most of the cartoons that surround it on Saturday mornings, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse isn’t bland.