One thing I really appreciate about the show is the music - so many of the best episodes are extended musical variations on great themes from classical music, and done so skillfully that you don't realize you're listening to Mozart's "Rondo Alla Turca" or Saint-Saens' "Organ Symphony" until you're at the emotional climax of the episode when the entire piece is restated, which has been priming you for a big theme or breakthrough in the story.<p>This is strongest in the "Sleepytime" episode which is based on the "Jupiter" movement of Holst's "The Planets" . . . honestly I have to skip this episode when it comes up because it makes me tear up so much, and most parents I know who also watch the show have similar reactions. "Sleepytime" is really art.
What I really appreciate about Bluey is that it’s one of the few children’s shows with a really great and relatable Dad character. The Dad in most children’s shows is either barely present or a total idiot that nobody respects.
Bluey was funded by the Australian ABC and British BBC. Both public broadcasters with a strong commitment to quality children's programming. It wasn't created to sell Hasbro toys or Disney merchandise or increase children's Youtube watch time. The merch and Disney streaming came later because the show is obviously brilliant.<p>Bluey isn't just good family programming. It is a snapshot of Australian culture and family values which would likely never be made in a world controlled by huge multinationals.
As a kids show bluey is adequate. However, I suspect its secret is that it's really a show for parents with young children that just happens to hold the attention of kids.<p>My daughters like bluey (ages 3-8). But they also enjoy many things on TV and bluey doesn't stick out that much.<p>On the other hand, I happened to be in the room for an episode where blueys dad is having a hard time making some sort of cake and bluey cleans up something to help him out without being prompted. I most definitely felt heard watching that episode.
For those not aware…<p>The voice actor for Bandit, Dave McCormack, was not previously known as an actor or voice artist, but he has been known in Australia since the early 90s as an indie rock band frontman.<p>The band he fronted, Custard, started getting airplay on Australia’s national youth radio station, Triple J, in about 1993, and they became a staple of the live music scene - especially uni student bars, live rock pubs and summer festivals - for all the 90s. They quit in 2000 but reformed in 2009 and are still recording albums and playing gigs.<p>They’re worth checking out [1] if you were into quirky 90s bands like Ween, Dino Jr, Flaming Lips, Ben Folds Five, etc. Full of grungy chords and riffs but mostly major key, happy/fun/funny compositions and lyrics. Very high energy and entertaining. Some nice slower jangly country ballads thrown in there too.<p>I think they’re the only band I ever stage-dived to, so I guess technically I’ve been “on stage with Bluey’s dad”.<p>Most music lovers in Australia now in their 40s knew of them, and I’m sure it was a factor in the casting to tap into the nostalgia of the people who are now parents of the kids Bluey is aimed at.<p>[1] It’s all on Spotify/Apple Music etc. Wisenheimer and Wahooti Fandango are their peak albums and Apartment, Lucky Star, Pack Yr Suitcase and Singlette are the songs that best convey their vibe.
Bluey helped me out immensely at my research job. I was watching it with my daughter and in the episode, the father says, "Obstacles don't block the path. They are the path." It was a big ah-ha! moment that completely changed my attitude about the frustration I was having in my research. Then looking at my journal notes, it was all about obstacles and how to work through and around them, and that shift in perspective really accelerated my work.
Different Bluey episodes resonate with different people for different reasons, but the Cricket episode from Season 3 is just about as perfect an episode of a kid's show as I've ever seen. In about 7 minutes it manages to tackle how being passionate about one of your interests or hobbies and sticking with it even when you experience setbacks pays off.
In Aus, among the most traditional and emotionally hardest of hard men includes the cricket community. It involves physical pain “suck it up!” And psychological warfare and abuse.<p>Bluey reduced most of them to tears in episode 47 of season 3. Directed right at them and if you’re not a cricketer it will be tough to see why it’s extraordinary. Just a huge wow of a piece of writing for those of us who grew up with the game and its associated culture.<p>In Bluey, it’s all great, all of it. But the writing is something beyond that.
Can we get a discussion going on where other parents are finding high quality media for kids to consume? YouTube Kids is a definite no. YT Kids feels like it's intentionally made to brainwash your child and having unsuspecting parents let their guard down with the "Kids" in the app name. From my experimentation it is far worse than regular YouTube.<p>YouTube, need to watch them carefully and catch the YT algorithm trying to insert bad videos.<p>I have been mainly relying on Epic & PBS Kids - but feel an expansion is needed.
Am I the only one that thinks it's crazy that an extremely popular children's show, with all kinds of merch and what not. is <i>only</i> worth 2B. When websites are getting sold in the 10s of B range.
I became a better parent from watching the show.<p>I take role playing with my daughter more seriously now.<p>I used to feel a little uncomfortable being really silly (hard after a stressful day).<p>Now I try to embrace how silly she is and try to play along. It takes A LOT more concentration.<p>What a wonderful show. Contrast this with Cocomelon, which is basically screen crack for kids.<p>I hate that my daughter watched one second of Cocomelon!
I and especially my sister grew up on Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and a near endless supply of low-key foreign animation shown through that primordial Nickelodeon show, Pinwheel. (The Magic Roundabout, Paddington Bear, that sort of thing.) The difference in quality between children's programming then and more recently was such that when my nephew was little, my sister outright banned him from watching certain "age-appropriate" shows and even entire networks like Nickelodeon.<p>It's refreshing to see shows like Bluey that are thoroughly modern, but produced with old-school values: respect kids' intelligence, show positive role models, be realistic about feelings and conflict, and keep everything low-key and don't amp the kids up.
Bluey is like Seinfeld.<p>It's timeless, everyone gets a laugh (including parents) and is a "show about nothing" (just the daily lives of family dynamics).<p>As a parent, I really appreciate the show and no other show can compare.<p>(For those who haven't seen it, it's more akin to a family sitcom than a traditional kids show/cartoon)
A couple of other great kid/parent shows:<p>- Hilda on Netflix - more appropriate for 9+ year olds but my 5 year old loves it. Has some genuinely scary moments though especially the later seasons
- The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Snail and the Whale, etc - based on the books
- Avatar the Last Airbender - for older kids but has one of the best character arcs
Bluey is the best kids show we found.<p>Or, maybe it's the best show for the parents. I'm literally watching it by myself after my kid goes to bed.<p>I really appreciate that the show doesn't hesitate to include some ordinary parenting interactions like Muffin took Stripe's phone and he chased her through the whole house, and Bandit making shenanigans.
For a road trip we put on the Ramona Quimby audiobooks and I was shocked at how much better they were than I remembered, and how similar of a feeling they gave me to Bluey.<p>It comes from the minutiae and details of childhood psychology. To a small child, a pair of new red boots is so much more than a pair of red boots.<p>It's not only relatable to kids, but the magic is that it reminds me what it's like to be a kid, and helps me relate to them.
I found this thread really interesting because of the variety of peoples' favorite episodes and particularly which episodes evoked an emotional response. Some episodes named don't resonate with me at all, which just goes to show how we all have such different life experiences.<p>"Rain" is my favorite. The shots, the story, the music, the lack of dialog. "The Sign" was my biggest tearjerker.<p>Also, I came across this musician who makes great EDM remixes of Bluey songs, I recommend checking him out:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@MicJaiy/search?query=bluey" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/@MicJaiy/search?query=bluey</a>
I first heard a bunch about Bluey from TheOdd1sOut, a fun YouTuber featuring humorous and relatable slice-of-life content.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEQHiJVH79o" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEQHiJVH79o</a><p>One of the things he talks about is something other commenters have mentioned - It's just as much a show for the parents, and in some cases, <i>directly addresses the parents</i>, but not in a fourth-wall-breaking way. They're not really talking to the parent, but it's one character talking to another, but it's drawn so that the character is looking at the viewer.
Related: A look at the creative process behind Bluey and Cocomelon (9 days ago - 216 comments) <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43339206">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43339206</a>
That this show came from Australia is telling, to me. TV execs in the US would never greenlight a show like this for production, and if they did, they would not be as hands-off as this show appears to be. This show is created 100% by creative people, and they are doing a bang-up job.<p>Zero entertainment executives in the USA would ever allow a show to be made without their own shitty changes stapled on.
We are big fans of bluey. Also interesting to note that, it’s my understanding that it was a conscious choice to keep the identities of Bluey and Bingo secret in an effort to shield them from any ill effects of fame at such a young age. You don’t hear that very commonly for other shows.
Interestingly, the 'episodes that made me want to cry' link (second paragraph) seems to be missing a src attribute, so it behaves like a link but when clicked doesn't go anywhere. I hadn't encountered that before:<p><pre><code> <a>episodes that made me want to cry </a></code></pre>
Bluey is the type of show that you're not afraid to let your kids watch because the lessons it teaches are helpful.<p>It also has enough silliness to keep them engaged without being didactic! And enough inside jokes that parents can have a laugh as well.<p>It may very well be the best family show for small kids.
20k hertz did some interviews with the Bluey creators,<p><a href="https://www.20k.org/episodes/thesoundofbluey" rel="nofollow">https://www.20k.org/episodes/thesoundofbluey</a><p>Neet to see something start from a idea and grown to be so big and still manage to keep humble.
Nobody seems to have mentioned it, so I thought it deserved credit...<p>I am fairly sure that the episode "Handstand":<p><a href="https://www.bluey.tv/watch/season-2/handstand/" rel="nofollow">https://www.bluey.tv/watch/season-2/handstand/</a><p>... in which Nana can't actively help with the party, and nobody will take the time to watch Bingo's handstand, is an intentional homage to an (at the time) award-winning Ariston TV advert from 1970s.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUVs7vXNZiw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUVs7vXNZiw</a><p>Its video-game themed music, and ground-breaking video editing, looping a clip while adding more and more characters and action each repetition, was mind-blowing ~40 years ago.
My family loves Bluey, but considering we're at the stage where an entertainment publication is describing it as a "$2B juggernaut", I'm afraid American capitalism is well on its way to ruining another good thing.
We have two young kids, and have friends and family who are enamored with Bluey. Every time we're over they put it on because they need us to like it too. I've seen so many episodes because everyone puts it on when we're over and I just... don't... get it. My children's attention isn't captured by it, and neither my wife nor I enjoy it.<p>The kids in the show are just kind of annoying, needy and of out of control. Things I don't want my kids to emulate. The parents feed into it and treat the behavior like it's ok. I also don't feel like the stories have particularly great takeaways for kids most of the time.<p>It's a minor gripe but I really find the staccato melodica theme song full of awkward pauses to be quite grating.<p>Everyone is free to like what they like. You are free to love Bluey. I just wish people would stop trying to make us like it, and stop making us watch it.
From the article:<p>> “How you going, Bingo? I can feel my sausages burning,” Bandit implores. Bingo replies, “I started just doing a wee, and now it turned into poo.”<p>> “I’d never seen a children’s show talk about real life like that,” says Kay. “I thought, ‘This is charming, funny and real.’”<p>From <a href="https://theonion.com/next-episode-of-girls-to-feature-lena-dunham-shitting-h-1819574677/" rel="nofollow">https://theonion.com/next-episode-of-girls-to-feature-lena-d...</a> Next Episode Of 'Girls' To Feature Lena Dunham Shitting Herself During Gyno Exam While Eating A Burrito<p>> “When a naked Hannah dribbled hot sauce all over herself in front of the doctor, shit in every corner of the office, cried, became angry with the doctor, had sex with the doctor, finished her burrito, had sex with the doctor again, shit herself again, and then realized who she was really angry at and sexually attracted to was Adam, I just closed my eyes and said, ‘Thank you.’ These are real girls with real bodies doing things that real girls do.”
>“The parents were so relatable and mirrored the parent I wanted to be,”<p>Ooof fiction teaching Idealism. From Nietzsche to Plato, its agreed, fiction corrupts. One day the floury idealism will be seen not to work, and the damage will have already been done.<p>I've seen Bluey, it was funny, it taught some general concepts... but if my kids are going to watch TV, why not Bill Nye the Science Guy or similar?<p>Remember that these children's characters are corporate mascots, not friends.