Blue's Clues

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Blue's Clues is a daytime children's show that airs on Nickelodeon (in the United States), and also via video on demand on some cable systems. It features live action superimposed on paper-cutout animation. The series follows a blue dog named Blue through her everyday life, providing small children with educational entertainment. The show currently airs on both Nick Jr. and Noggin. The show had aired on Nick Jr. on CBS until September 2006. Also, 14 sets of Blue's Clues Video CD, which they released starting on 2005, is available on some singapore stores like Toys 'R' Us and Popular

Contents 1 Format 2 Origin 3 Other versions 4 Blue's Room 5 Actors 5.1 Hosts 5.2 Other actors 6 Animated characters 7 The Movie 7.1 Steve's checklist 7.2 The clues 8 The Episodes 8.1 Season 1 8.2 Season 2 8.3 Season 3 8.4 Season 4 8.5 Season 5 8.6 Season 7 8.7 10th anniversary 8.8 Other Episodes 9 Trivia 10 Network 11 External links

[edit] Format

From 1996 to 2002, Blue's owner was Steve, a non-animated character played by Steven Burns. When Burns chose to leave the show, the character Steve went off to college and his younger brother Joe (played by Donovan Patton) moved in to take care of Blue.

The game of Blue's Clues begins near the beginning of the episode, when the host asks Blue some sort of question. Blue responds by jumping at the screen and marking it with a blue pawprint. The host, with the help of the audience (who are constantly spoken to and asked questions by the host), then searches the house for Blue's three clues. Along the way, the host speaks with other residents of the house, often characters based on inanimate objects such as a side-table drawer, a shaker of salt, and a mailbox. After all three have been found, the host sits in his "thinking chair" and puts the three clues together to form a central image. This image is the answer to the host's original question, which goes along the lines of "What does Blue want to do today?" Blue's Clues also has lots of songs about every event, like "We Just Got a Letter".

The hosts use a few American Sign Language signs during the show, signing words like smart, help, or adventure as they speak them. ASL is not used consistently enough to teach ASL to a child, but those who are already learning ASL may enjoy seeing a tiny modicum of sign in a mainstream program.

[edit] Origin

Blue's Clues was created by a creative team led by Todd Kessler -- who was at the time a writer-director -- and producer at Nickelodeon and researcher Angela Santomero. Kessler and Santomero hired cut-out animator Traci Paige Johnson to collaborate on the pilot. (Johnson would eventually provide Blue's voice. A child voice actor filled in for part of season 2.)

Kessler had previously worked on the PBS children's show Sesame Street, and both he and Santomero hoped to build on and improve that model of educational programming. "We wanted to learn from Sesame Street and take it one step further," said Santomero.^[1]

"I love Sesame Street," said Kessler. "But I always believed that kids didn't have short attention spans, that they could easily sit still for a half an hour."^[2] While Sesame Street was originally organized around short, commercial-like segments, each Blue's Clues show is a single extended narrative.

"There was...a theoretical perspective at the time, based in part on Piaget, that a preschool child couldn't follow an extended narrative," according to Daniel Anderson, who helped develop Blue's Clues for Nickelodeon. In the early 1980s, however, research suggestive that narrative was in fact a crucial way that small children organized their experiences.^[3]

The show also uses phrase repetition and a minimum of editing in an attempt to avoid confusing its young audience.[1]

Blue's Clues was extensively analyzed by Malcolm Gladwell in his bestselling book The Tipping Point. According to Gladwell, the show was carefully designed, using methods pioneered by Sesame Street, to encourage its educational messages to "stick" in a child's mind.

[edit] Other versions

A UK version of Blue's Clues also exists, with Kevin Duala as the host. The original show, dubbed in German, appears on German TV under the title Blau und Schlau, literally Blue and Clever. There are also Korean, Portuguese, and Latin American versions.[2]

Hidalgo Entertainment has released several PC/Mac games featuring Blue's Clues characters.

[edit] Blue's Room

In a 2004 Blue's Clues episode, "The Legend of the Blue Puppy", Blue talks as a puppet in a segment called "Blue's Room". "Blue's Room" has become a regular segment of the show, with several direct-to-video DVDs based around the concept. Some viewers have argued that Blue's speaking ability in "Blue's Room" negates the purpose of the "clues" she leaves to communicate in the regular show. Other viewers say that the pacing is much faster in this segment.

[edit] Actors

[edit] Hosts

• Steve (Steven Burns):

Up until 2002, was the host of show. The character Steve left in order to go to college when the actor Steven Burns decided to pursue a musical career.

• Joe (Donovan Patton):

Joe is Steve's younger brother on the show. He was phased in as the new host in 2002, with a number of shows featuring both Joe and Steve (sometimes only Steve's voice).

• Kevin (Kevin Duala):

Kevin is the host of the UK version.

• Duarte (Duarte Gomes):

Duarte is the host of the Portuguese version.

[edit] Other actors

• Courtney Taylor Burness: Steve's Friend
• Alex Hoffman: Journal
• Traci Paige Johnson: Blue
• Nick Balaban: Mr. Salt

[edit] Animated characters

• Blue - a female blue dog
• Side Table Drawer - talking furniture that holds the clue notebook; first interacted directly with the host in "Steve Gets the Sniffles"
• Slippery Soap - a talking male bar of soap; first appeared in "What Does Blue Need?"
• Tickety Tock - a talking alarm clock; first appeared in "What Time Is It for Blue?"
• Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper - salt and pepper shakers
• Paprika and Cinnamon - Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper's children. Paprika, a girl, first appeared "Blue's News"; Cinnamon, a boy, debuted in "The Baby's Here".
• Shovel and Pail - talking sandbox toys; first appeared in "Story Time"
• Mailbox - delivers the mail at mail time; first talked in "Mailbox's Birthday"
• Magenta - Blue's best friend, a female dog; first appeared in "Blue's Story Time"
• Periwinkle - the next-door neighbor, a talking male blue cat; first appeared in "Blue's Big Mystery"
• Miss Marigold - Blue's teacher; first appeared in "A Surprise Guest"
• Green Puppy - Blue's female friend and classmate; first appeared in "Blue's Sad Day"
• Orange Kitten - Blue's female friend and classmate; first appeared in "Blue's Sad Day"
• Purple Kangaroo - Blue's male friend and classmate; first appeared in "Blue's Sad Day"
• Turquoise - Blue's pet turtle; first appeared in "Blue's Birthday"
• Polka Dots - first appeared in "Meet Polka Dots!"
• The Felt Friends - characters who live in a world of colored felt shapes; two reoccuring Felt Friends are Freddy and Fifi, who first appeared in "Blue's Favorite Song"
• Moona - A fairy who tells what time it is. She has a crescent-shaped body and crescent-shaped pigtails
• Horace - Steve's stuffed anteater; first appeared in "Blue's Big Pajama Party"
• Boris - Joe's toy duck; first appeared in "Joe's First Day"
• Sprinkles - Blue's baby brother; first appeared in "Meet Blue's Baby Brother"

[edit] The Movie

In 2000, a Blue's Clues movie called Blue's Big Musical came out. In this movie, a music show is planned. Blue and Tickety want to sing a duet together, but Tickety loses her voice and decides to ring her bells instead. Blue needs another partner because a duet needs two singers. They play Blue's Clues to find Blue a new partner. Meanwhile, Periwinkle sees the show being prepared and mistakes it for a magic show, so he gets himself ready by practicing magic tricks.

[edit] Steve's checklist

Steve wrote a list of things to do.
A. Eat breakfast
B. Make costumes
C. Build a stage
D. Make snacks
E. Play Blue's clues
F. Make up a song (with a music lesson by Ray Charles as G-clef)

[edit] The clues

The clues are the Handy Dandy notebook, a knob, and a drawer. Throughout the movie, Steve keeps complaining that he never gets to find the clues by himself, and he eventually finds the third one without the viewers' help. In the end, Steve figures out that Blue wants to sing a duet with Side Table Drawer.

[edit] The Episodes

*Episode included on Blue's Clues Video CD Collection (14 Sets) released starting on 2005.

[edit] Season 1

1. Snack Time* (Included on Set 4) 9/8/1996
2. What Time Is It for Blue?* (Included on Set 1) 0/0/0
3. Mailbox's Birthday 0/0/0
4. Blue's Story Time 0/0/0
5. What Does Blue Need? 0/0/0
6. Blue's Favorite Song 0/0/0
7. Adventures in Art 0/0/0
8. Blue Goes to the Beach 1/1/2006
9. Pretend Time 0/0/0
10. A Snowy Day* (Included on Set 5) 0/0/0
11. The Trying Game 0/0/0
12. Blue Wants to Play a Game 0/0/0
13. The Grow Show 0/0/0
14. Blue Wants to Play a Song Game! 0/0/0
15. What Does Blue Want to Make? 1/1/2006
16. What Story Does Blue Want to Play? 1/1/2006
17. Tickety's Favorite Nursery Rhyme 0/0/0
18. What Is Blue Afraid Of? 0/0/0
19. Magenta Comes Over* (Included on Set 9) 0/0/0
20. Blue's News!* (Included on Set 14) 0/0/0

[edit] Season 2

1. Steve Gets the Sniffles 0/0/0
2. What Does Blue Want to Build? 0/0/0
3. Blue's Senses! 0/0/0
4. What Experiment Does Blue Want to Try?* (Included on Set 11) 0/0/0
5. What Does Blue Want to Make out of Recycled Things?* (Included on Set 11) 0/0/0
6. What Was Blue's Dream About? 0/0/0
7. Blue's ABCs 0/0/0
8. Math!* (included on Set 13) 0/0/0
9. Blue's Birthday 0/0/0
10. What Does Blue Want to Do With Her Picture?* (Included on Set 9) 0/0/0
11. What Does Blue Wanna Do on a Rainy Day? 0/0/0
12. Blue's Surprise at Two O'Clock!* (Included on Set 1) 0/0/0
13. The Lost Episode! 0/0/0
14. Blue's Sad Day 0/0/0
15. What Game Does Blue Want to Learn? 0/0/0
16. What Did Blue See?* (Included on Set 10) 0/0/0
17. Nurture! 0/0/0
18. Blue Is Frustrated 1/1/2006
19. What Is Blue Trying to Do? 1/1/2006
20. Mechanics! 0/0/0
21. Hide and Seek 7/19/1998

[edit] Season 3

1. Blue's Big Treasure Hunt* (Included on Set 14) 3/8/1999
2. Art Appreciation 4/26/1999
3. Weight and Balance 5/10/1999
4. What's That Sound?* (Included on Set 10) 6/7/1999
5. Animal Behavior!* (Included on Set 12) 6/21/1999
6. Blue's Big Pajama Party 10/10/1999
7. Draw Along With Blue 10/18/1999
8. Blue's Big Holiday* (Included on Set 5) 11/29/1999
9. Pool Party 4/3/2000
10. Anatomy 4/10/2000
11. Signs* (Included on Set 6) 4/25/2000
12. Nature* (Included on Set 12) 7/3/2000
13. Geography* (Included on Set 6) 7/10/2000
14. Occupations 7/17/2000
15. Blue's Big Mystery* (Included on Set 7) 9/25/2000
16. Periwinkle Misses His Friend* (Included on Set 7) 10/2/2000
17. What's So Funny? 10/9/2000
18. Inventions 10/23/2000
19. Blue's Play 10/30/2000
20. Prehistoric Blue 11/6/2000
21. Opposites 11/13/2000 (aka The Wrong Shirt)
22. Words* (Included on Set 8) 12/5/2000
23. Magenta Gets Glasses 2/19/2001
24. Blue's Collection 2/26/2001
25. Cafe Blue* (Included on Set 4) 3/5/2001
26. Shy 3/12/2001
27. Environments 3/19/2001
28. Stormy Weather 3/26/2001
29. Thankful 1/1/2006
30. Blue's Big Costume Party 0/0/0

[edit] Season 4

1. The Anything Box 4/16/2001
2. Adventure! 4/19/2001
3. Superfriends! 4/23/2001
4. What's New, Blue? (1)* (Included on Set 2) 10/8/2001
5. Blue's New Place (2)* (Included on Set 2) 10/15/2001
6. Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper Day (3)* (Included on Set 3) 10/22/2001
7. The Baby's Here! (4)* (Included on Set 3) 10/29/2001
8. Making Changes (5) 11/5/2001
9. Bugs! 11/12/2001
10. ¡Un Día Con Plum! 11/19/2001
11. What's Inside? 11/26/2001
12. Blocks 12/3/2001
13. Blue's Backyard Ballgame Bonanza 2/15/2002
14. Puppets 2/25/2002
15. Rhyme Time 3/4/2002
16. Let's Plant! 3/29/2002
17. Imagine Nation 0/0/0
18. Blue's Book Nook* (Included on Set 8) 0/0/0
19. Let's Boogie 0/0/0

[edit] Season 5

1. Joe's First Day (1) 4/29/2002
2. Joe Gets a Clue (2) 4/29/2002
3. Steve Goes to College (3) 4/29/2002
4. Can You Help? 4/30/2002
5. Colors Everywhere! 5/6/2002
6. The Snack Chart 5/13/2002
7. The Big Book About Us 5/20/2002
8. Playing Store 5/27/2002
9. Patience 6/3/2002
10. Blue's Clues 100 6/10/2002
11. Joe's Surprise Party 8/5/2002
12. I'm So Happy! 9/2/2002
13. The Boat Float 9/9/2002
14. Bedtime Business 9/16/2002
15. Shape Searchers 9/23/2002
16. Blue Goes to the Doctor 9/30/2002
17. Contraptions! 10/7/2002
18. A Brand New Game 10/21/2002
19. A Surprise Guest 1/6/2003
20. Dress Up Day 1/13/2003
21. Blue's Big Band 2/17/2003
22. Up, Down, All Around! 3/3/2003
23. Story Wall 4/28/2003
24. The Alphabet Train 5/5/2003
25. Numbers Everywhere! 5/12/2003
26. Blue's Predictions 5/19/2003
27. Our Neighborhood Festival 6/23/2003
28. Blue Takes You to School 8/11/2003
29. Meet Polka Dots! 9/15/2003
30. The Scavenger Hunt 9/16/2003
31. Let's Write! 9/17/2003
32. Magenta's Messages 9/18/2003
33. Body Language 9/19/2003
34. Blue's Big Car Trip 9/22/2003
35. Look Carefully... 9/23/2003
36. I Did That! 9/24/2003
37. Animals in Our House? 9/25/2003
38. Morning Music 9/29/2003
39. Blue's First Holiday 12/12/2003
40. Monsters 0/0/0
41. Blue 0/0/0

[edit] Season 7

1. Behind the Clues: 10 Years with Blue
2. Meet Blue's Baby Brother 8/6/2006

[edit] 10th anniversary

To celebrate the 10th anniversary (2006) of Blue's Clues, a "Meet Blue's Baby Brother" primetime special premiered on August 6, 2006, where her brother was revealed to be a multi-colored puppy named Sprinkles. Nickelodeon also created a 12-minute documentary going behind the scenes of Blue's Clues.

[edit] Other Episodes

In addition of 27 of 28 episodes of 14 sets of Blue's Clues Video CD Collection, other episode called "Pre-Reading" is also included on Set 13.

[edit] Trivia

• A pink snail appears in each episode three times as an extra challenge for older kids.
• The first episode shares its name with a common segment on Pee-wee's Playhouse. Also, when Steve sings the word "mail" in "Here's the Mail", his voice almost copies that of Pee-wee Herman.

[edit] Network

• TV3, TV9[3] and Astro(Nick Jr.)
• RETV
• GMA7ABC 5, 3ABN, Nick Jr.
• Treehouse TV, Nick Jr., Global
• MoonTV
• TF1
• 7 & Nick Jr.
• TV2
• Jetix
• TRT
• SuperRTL
• Nick Jr.
• TVM
• Italia 1
• Antena 3
• Hop!
• Nick Jr.
• RTP
• 7 & Nick Jr.
• zimtv kids
• itv Scotland
• S4C's Planed Plant (in Welsh)
• Nick Jr., Kids Central, Blue's Clues Video CD 14 Sets Collection (Available in some stores like Toys 'R' Us and Popular Bookstore)

[edit] External links

• Blue's Clues on Nick Jr. site
• Blue's Clues on Noggin site
• Blue's Clues at the Internet Movie Database
• Blue's Clues web page at TreeHouseTV.com
• An episode guide