Blue's Clues

File:Blues Clues.jpg

Blue's Clues is a daytime children's show which airs on Nickelodeon and now appears on several "On Demand" channels. It features live action superimposed upon paper-cutout animation similar to that of South Park. The seriesws a blue dog, named Blue, through her everyday life, providing small children educational entertainment.

The Show

From 1996 to 2002, Blue's owner was Steve, a non-animated character played by Steve 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 many other residents of the house, which are usually characters based on inanimate objects such as a side-table drawer, a salt shaker, 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?"

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

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. Several direct-to-video DVDs have since been made based around the Blue's Room concept.

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

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 smartly".

Blues Clues was created at Nickelodeon by a creative team led by Angela Santomero, who is currently creating similarly advanced children's programming with her partner, Samantha Freeman (also of Nickelodeon), at their new production company Out of the Blue Enterprises LLC.

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

Controversy

On February 11 2003, Nickelodeon aired an episode of Blue's Clues that was an obvious St. Valentine's Day special, yet was referring to the holiday as "Love Day". Nickelodeon was widely criticized for attempting to evade the Christian connotations concerning the Catholic St. Valentine.

Characters

Hosts

• Steve:

Up until 2002, was the host of show. Steve's motive for leaving was to attend college. A widely popular internet rumor stated that he had died of a heroin overdose. However these claims later proved false.

• Joe:

Joe is the younger brother of Steve.

Animated Characters

• Blue - a female, blue dog and namesake of the show. on the first episode of blues clues
• Side Table Drawer - talking furniture that holds the clue notebook; first interacted directly with Steve in "Steve Gets the Sniffles".
• Slippery Soap - a talking male bar of soap; first appeared in "What Does Blue Need?"
• Tickety - a talking clock; first interacted directly and talked with Steve in "What Time Is It for Blue?"
• Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper - The French 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 interacted directly with Steve in "Mailbox's Birthday".
• Magenta - Blue's best friend, a male 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 -A green dog with purple polka dots; first appeared in "Meet Polka Dots!"
• The Felt Friends - characters who live in a world of colored felt shapes; two recurring Felt Friends are Freddy and Fifi, who first appeared in "Blue's Favorite Song".
• Moona - A moon 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".

Episodes

Season 1

{{Episode list

#		Title	Written by	Directed by	Airdate
# Snack Time-September 8, 1996	# What Time Is It for Blue?-September 15, 1996	# Mailbox's Birthday-September 22, 1996	# Blue's Story Time-September 29, 1996	# What Does Blue Need?-November 3, 1996	# Blue's Favorite Song-November 10, 1996	# Adventures in Art-November 17, 1996	# Blue Goes to the Beach-November 24, 1996	# Pretend Time-December 1, 1996	# A Snowy Day-December 8, 1996	# The Trying Game-February 23, 1997	# Blue Wants to Play a Game-May 18, 1997	# The Grow Show-May 25, 1997	# Blue Wants to Play a Song Game!-June 1, 1997 Season 2 What Does Blue Want to Make? What Story Does Blue Want to Play? Tickety's Favorite Nursery Rhyme What Is Blue Afraid Of? Magenta Comes Over Blue's News! Steve Gets the Sniffles What Does Blue Want to Build? Blue's Senses! What Experiment Does Blue Want to Try? What Does Blue Want to Make out of Recycled Things? What Was Blue's Dream About? Blue's ABCs Math! Blue's Birthday What Does Blue Want to Do With Her Picture? What Does Blue Wanna Do on a Rainy Day? Blue's Surprise at Two O'Clock! The Lost Episode! Blue's Sad Day What Game Does Blue Want to Learn? What Did Blue See? Nurture! Blue Is Frustrated What Is Blue Trying to Do? Mechanics! Hide and Seek 7/19/1998 Season 3 Blue's Big Treasure Hunt 3/8/1999 Art Appreciation 4/26/1999 Weight and Balance 5/10/1999 What's That Sound? 6/7/1999 Animal Behavior! 6/21/1999 Blue's Big Pajama Party 10/10/1999 Draw Along With Blue 10/18/1999 Blue's Big Holiday 11/29/1999 Pool Party 4/3/2000 Anatomy 4/10/2000 Signs 4/25/2000 Nature 7/3/2000 Geography 7/10/2000 Musical Show 2000 Occupations 7/17/2000 Blue's Big Mystery 9/25/2000 Periwinkle Misses His Friend 10/2/2000 What's So Funny? 10/9/2000 Inventions 10/23/2000 Blue's Play 10/30/2000 Prehistoric Blue 11/6/2000 Opposites 11/13/2000 (aka The Wrong Shirt) Words 12/5/2000 Magenta Gets Glasses 2/19/2001 Blue's Collection 2/26/2001 Cafe Blue 3/5/2001 Shy 3/12/2001 Environments 3/19/2001 Stormy Weather 3/26/2001 Thankful Blue's Big Costume Party Season 4 The Anything Box 4/16/2001 Adventure! 4/19/2001 Superfriends! 4/23/2001 What's New, Blue? (1) 10/8/2001 Blue's New Place (2) 10/15/2001 Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper Day (3) 10/22/2001 The Baby's Here! (4) 10/29/2001 Making Changes (5) 11/5/2001 Bugs! 11/12/2001 ¡Un Día Con Plum! 11/19/2001 What's Inside? 11/26/2001 Blocks 12/3/2001 Blue's Backyard Ballgame Bonanza 2/15/2002 Puppets 2/25/2002 Rhyme Time 3/4/2002 Let's Plant! 3/29/2002 Imagine Nation Blue's Book Nook Let's Boogie! Season 5 Joe's First Day (1) 4/29/2002 Joe Gets a Clue (2) 4/29/2002 Steve becomes a rockstar (3) 4/29/2002 (this rockstar is not this episode) Can You Help? 4/30/2002 Colors Everywhere! 5/6/2002 The Snack Chart 5/13/2002 The Big Book About Us 5/20/2002 Playing Store 5/27/2002 Patience 6/3/2002 Blue's Clues 100th Episode Celebration! 6/10/2002 Joe's Birthday Party 8/5/2002 I'm So Happy! 9/2/2002 The Boat Float 9/9/2002 Bedtime Business 9/16/2002 Shape Searchers 9/23/2002 Blue's Checkup 9/30/2002 Contraptions! 10/7/2002 A Brand New Game 10/21/2002 A Surprise Guest 1/6/2003 The Dress-Up Day 1/13/2003 Blue's Big Band 2/17/2003 Up, Down, All Around! 3/3/2003 The Story Wall 4/28/2003 The Alphabet Train 5/5/2003 Numbers Everywhere! 5/12/2003 Blue's Predictions 5/19/2003 Our Neighborhood Festival 6/23/2003 Blue Takes You to School 8/11/2003 Meet Polka Dots! 9/15/2003 The Scavenger Hunt 9/16/2003 Let's Write! 9/17/2003 Magenta's Messages 9/18/2003 Body Language 9/19/2003 Blue's Big Car Trip 9/22/2003 Look Carefully... 9/23/2003 I Did That! 9/24/2003 Animals in Our House? 9/25/2003 Morning Music 9/29/2003 Blue's First Holiday 12/12/2003 Season 6 The Legend of the Blue Puppy 2/8/2004 Love Day 2/16/2004 Blue's Wishes 2/16/2004 Joe's Clues 2/23/2004 Skidoo Adventure 3/15/2004 Playdates 3/22/2004 The Fairy Tale Ball 4/5/2004 Soccer Practice 4/26/2004 Bluestock 5/10/2004 Season 7 Behind the Clues: 10 Years with Blue Meet Blue's Baby Brother 8/6/2006 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. Trivia A pink snail appears in each episode three times as an extra challenge for older kids. The "12" on the face of the clock Tickety changes each episode depending on the particular plot at that time. Parody In Fairly Odd Parents, there is an episode where Timmy is running through various television shows. One happens to be called "Clint's Hints", a reference to Blue's Clues. External links Blue's Clues on Nick Jr. site Blue's World (A Blue's Clues fan/information site) steveswebpage.com (Steve's Web Page, where he is now.) The Donovan Patton Fan Site (All about the talented young actor who plays Joe)