For those of us who hated "Saved by the Bell"

Fans of early '90s Nickelodeon programming are easy to spot. At Rilo Kiley shows they're the ones yelling "Pinsky!" at Blake Soper, while arguing with friends over who would win a Clarissa vs. Sabrina cage match. And starting today, they're raving about the DVD release of the Adventures of Pete & Pete's first season. During its three-year existence, Pete & Pete proved itself too weird to really be popular. It magnified suburban surrealism with two brothers named Pete, a mom with a metal plate in her head, and a local superhero who looked suspiciously like a grown man in little boy's pajamas. The show overflowed with cool cameos: Michael Stipe as an ice cream man, LL Cool J as the school principal, Iggy Pop and Steve Buscemi as strange but affable dads. Its eclectic indie soundtrack included the Magnetic Fields, Apples in Stereo, and Poi Dog Pondering. Creators Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi didn't seem concerned with raking in the typical Nick viewers (how many kids recognized Marshall Crenshaw and Syd Straw in Little Pete's garage band?) and later took their quirky charm to the grown-up audience of Ed. They also acquired a cult of obsessive, episode-quoting fans. Ask them what they think of the new DVD and they'll probably say, "Pipe!" (That means it's good.)