‘Bluey’s World’: How a Cute Aussie Puppy Became a Juggernaut
297 comments
·March 19, 2025jboggan
eru
> One thing I really appreciate about the show is the music [...]
The music is great but many shows have great music. What makes Bluey stand out for me is their commitment to 'avant-garde' formal constraints.
Some examples:
- In the episode 'Faceytalk' they never once break from the perspective of the iPad.
- In 'Rain' there's not a single word of audible dialog.
- In 'Turtle Boy' there's lots of sign language. Remember, characters in Bluey only have four fingers. The people making the show rose to the challenge of creating proper dialogue using only signs you can make with four fingers. I imagine that's about equivalent to writing English text without the latter 'e'. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Void)
disillusioned
The behind the scenes of Rain shows just how many effects shots they animated, and just how laborious the process was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GYwru8RdGQ
They also break the 4th wall specifically by showing the animator's point of view in a really fun sequence at the end of Puppets, and it's just... such a treat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvVl0CW670
eru
Thanks!
TeMPOraL
Can't mention 'Rain' without linking to the official song composed to the music from that episode - "Boldly in the Pretend": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhXgxriJPY.
I broke down in tears the first time I listened to it and paid attention to lyrics.
(Then I put it on a loop when everyone was asleep, and cried a couple times more. This episode combined with the song caused a major adjustment in my attitude to parenting pretty much overnight; it hit a nerve running that deep.)
noman-land
This is a really sweet story. Thanks for sharing it. Out of curiosity, what was the adjustment you made in your parenting? Being more playful or something?
prismatic
Love this comment. Had never thought about Bluey and Oulipo in the same sentence before, but you're definitely on to something.
eru
I only noticed the brilliance of Faceytalk when I looked over the shoulder of my daughter watching a recreation of the episode someone had done with merch dolls and put up on YouTube Kids.
The recreation sadly broke the strict rule of 'singe take / no cuts, iPad view only', but that drove home to me how great the original was.
knolan
This reminded me. There was an episode of Modern Family made entirely on Apple devices.
sandworm101
The no-dialogue thing is an industry trick. It can allow for animation to start prior to the vocals being recorded and therefore provide some wiggle room in the production process. Simpsons did something similar with the couch gags which were detached from the plot and so could be worked on regardless of vocal progress. More recently, Bojack Horseman also had a no-dialogue episode.
eru
That's an interesting aspect! Creativity thrives on constraints.
For the 'industry trick' part you can get most of the benefit from going 'most of the way'. Ie you get almost the same wiggle room, if 90% of your scenes are without dialogue, and 10% are voiced.
For the artistic effect, there's a big difference between 90% and 100%. (Sparse dialogue is also a perfectly valid artistic choice, but it's doesn't make much sense to analyse it as '90% of a no-dialogue' piece.)
I've mostly come to appreciate 'pantomime' in web comics. Many comics go overboard with text, be that speech bubbles, thought bubble or narration boxes. It's always interesting to me to see an author work out how use the medium to its full advantage, instead of writing a novel.
worthless-trash
From YT:
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Video unavailable
The uploader has not made this video available in your country.
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Wow, bluey team, not available. IN AUSTRALIA. Thanks.
eru
If anything, I would expect Bluey to be less available on YouTube in Australia than in some other random country, because they are more likely to have special local arrangements there with the rights holders.
YouTube is convenient, but it's not the only place where people might want to put their content.
montroser
Yes, "Sleepytime" is one of the greatest few minutes of television the world has ever seen. It exhibits such deep empathy and understanding of what it is to be a parent of small children, what it is to be a child, a sibling, a member of a family, to dream, to tire, to need. And "The Planets", a beautiful work of art in its own right, fits so well it must be itself an inspiration for the story on the screen.
SecretDreams
Sleepytime is a beautiful episode!
atonse
This is what stuck out to me when I first watched it. Sleepytime is a masterpiece not only for the music but the whole episode. Everything about it is perfect. The pacing, the feelings, the moments, even the humor (Jupiter's giant spot).
It gets me every single time.
Many bluey episodes are like this. But Sleepytime especially stands out.
prismatic
Agreed. My three-year-old's favorite episode, by far. Realizing how artistically ambitious and just plain good Bluey is has been an interesting lesson in how kids actually do have good taste/interesting preferences as long as you don't bombard them with the Cocomelons of the world.
My daughter likes to say "that makes me happy... and sad!" at the end of a particularly artistic episode, like Sleepytime, the wordless one where it rains, or the final episode ("The Sign" - the Citizen Kane of children's television).
peanutz454
Rain and Rainbow... the best music ever, even among all of Bluey episodes. That episodes takes me back to my childhood. Just listen to these:
Rain - https://youtu.be/U7Pvxqe2JvM
Rainbow - https://youtu.be/j1E8C_qLjbk
jvanderbot
Sleepy time is amazing television. Kudos for the callout and I hope people don't pass Bluey on their way to the brainrot. It's amazing stuff.
simonsquiff
Oh yes the music is amazing. ‘Rain’ is a particularly lovely original composition. The soundtracks are on Spotify etc and well worth a listen
thefreeman
rain is my favorite episode. it so perfectly encapsulates the curiosity and innocence of childhood and the music is incredible. so much emotion for an episode with basically no dialogue.
NoNotTheDuo
I'm particularly fond of 'Sleepytime', but 'Rain' is probably the episode that I've thought of more often than any other. Because of that 7 minute cartoon episode, I have found myself _actively_ changing my behavior/decisions with my kiddo - letting them do something that will be a bit more work for me later on (extra laundry or whatever), but something that sparks their curiosity or gives them a new experience or similar.
dvsfish
I remember one of the bluey episodes (something to do with monkey bars?) used ode to joy a few times throughout, and in the credits simply had "music by Ludwig". A very cute nod.
rasjani
Twenty Thousand Hertz (sound design podcast) had episode about Bluey with its sound designer Dan Brumm last year.
Paul_Clayton
For some reason — I am musically incompetent — "The Beach" really felt like the soundtrack was very emotive in a way that fit the story.
The stately feel in "Sleepytime" may have fit the solar system motif and provided contrast to the earthy elements of the story.
I liked "Sleepytime" in part from the expression of letting go while being faithful. Bingo's letting her rabbit go did not mean a complete separation but an expansion (as a few additional rabbits came to help later) similar to a parent allowing a child to grow up and leave while affirming that the child is loved.
Bluey also has some similarity to Calvin and Hobbes in that some fantastic elements are not explained. E.g., in "Sleepytime", do Bluey and Bingo have a psychic connection such that they shared part of the dream or is there imagination/unreliable narration or some third option?
danielvaughn
The music really is top-notch. I’m no aficionado, but I remember watching a video breakdown of Stayin Alive by The Bee Gees. If I had guessed, I would’ve said that there were maybe 3-4 instruments in that song. But actually there are like 15 things going on simultaneously. The video showed how critical each one was, and how the mixing produced that distinct sound.
Now I can hear things a bit better, and Bluey’s music makes me think of that video every time. There’s so much going on melodically and yet they blend it so well that you don’t really notice. It’s amazing.
dlachausse
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.
bombcar
Bluey may have done more for fathers (and families) than anything in recent history. So many are dealing with fatherhood without having a role model themselves, and everything on TV being "fat dumb lovable idiot" sitcom-types.
The episode "The Sign" is an incredibly deep story from multiple angles.
lukan
I like bandit, but for a role model he spoils his children a bit too much I think. He allmost always does what the kid wants and not what he actually wanted to do. Well, he is also good at integrating it, like when he is doing exercises with the kids instead of weights.
But sometimes he is literally fleeing the kids, to not have to play with them, instead of saying no.
(But from the avaiable alternatives, he is indeed the best role model that comes to mind)
conductr
Speaking for myself, that's exactly what makes it relatable. My kid consumes all my time if I let him. And, I often have to remind myself, this age is special and very short - my hobbies and 'rest' will be available again soon. I think the hard job of being a mom is well understood, documented, portrayed in media, etc. But, as a dad, I'm expected (by my kid) to be a tireless playmate matching his energy levels, playing his games, being imaginative and creative in my play, etc. and I don't think that type of parenting is well portrayed in media. My wife and I have spoken about it several time as we've fallen into pretty traditional gender roles and she's "cool with cooking and cleaning every evening, because [she] can't play the way [I] do" and it's equally exhausting after a long day of work/life/adulting.
bombcar
Watch carefully. There are many times he says no and the kids just listen - often outright. But many times he gets his way with a distraction - the “game” the episode is named after.
It’s also somewhat told from Bandit’s perspective (understandable given the author).
The episode “Burger Shop” is a good example of him not getting his way at the same time he does, even though he ends up admitting his experiment was a failure.
Tade0
He's still more real than the parental figure puppet in Bing! (no relation to the MS product), who has no wants or needs and has infinite patience.
In any case I don't think either of those shows tries to portray the average - more of an ideal we should strive for on good days.
op00to
He also normalizes farting in your kids’ faces. More seriously, Bluey is so enjoyable because the characters have dimensions and seem way more real than just about anything else on TV.. at least that you’d watch with kids.
grepfru_it
The dad is who you want to aspire to be when you see his relationship with his kids. Definitely sighup’d my idea of parenting after watching a few episodes
mcphage
> He also normalizes farting in your kids’ faces.
ALLEGABLY!
sklargh
Took me a year or two to realize I was benchmarking Bandit as an optimal dad of two kids. It is a powerful influence.
zeroonetwothree
One of the best episodes of any show I’ve ever seen.
shadowgovt
Spent a bunch of time in a hospital looking after a relative recently. It has a big maternity ward.
The number of young men I saw come in and out of the lobby wearing Bluey t-shirts...
The kids are gonna be alright.
danielvaughn
Yeah that stood out to me as well. There’s a kind of reverse-bechdel test where you can ask yourself to find any portrayal of a husband that doesn’t include mockery of some kind. And you can actually go back pretty far with it - it seems like that general trend began in the 70’s. Like you have I Love Lucy, which was a bit of a sexist show in its own right of course, but the husband wasn’t portrayed as incompetent. I can’t think of a more recent example, aside from Bluey.
Boogie_Man
I think Tim Allen's character from Home Improvement was unique in that he was a father who frequently made comedic mistakes, but that they resulted from over ambition or carelessness rather than standard stupidity, and his "pig headed machismo" was often a bit of an act rather than who the character really "was" as evidenced by his ability to be thoughtful and sensitive after he learned lessons.
sylens
This is a great point - behind the TV persona as the Tool Man, Tim’s character was a pretty competent and genuine father
eru
> There’s a kind of reverse-bechdel test where you can ask yourself to find any portrayal of a husband that doesn’t include mockery of some kind.
Are you restricting yourself to family sit-coms?
If not, there's plenty of characters in all kinds of media that just happen to be fathers and/or husbands and are treated normally.
But I agree with your general sentiment. That's one of the reasons I hate Peppa pig with a passion.
You might (or might not) like the treatment of Hilda's dad in the third season of the animated series.
yellowstuff
I believe that Happy Days started the trend in the 70s, with Mr. Cunningham being portrayed more realistically than earlier TV fathers. Allegedly (I can't find a source) an executive said "He doesn't look like a father. He looks like my father."
https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Bumbling_Dad
However, in the 80s there were still examples of mostly competent fathers, like The Cosby Show and Family Ties.
danielvaughn
Yeah fair, and there’s actually some I can think of from the 90’s, like Family Matters and Full House.
spectralglitch
Hal from Malcom holds up pretty well, quirky and flawed of course, but all in all a great father and husband. though it’s admittedly been a while since I went through it.
majormajor
"Any portrayal of a husband" on TV?
Comedies often have some mockery built in, and comedies aimed at kids in particular like to take shots at authority, but there are a lot of examples I can think of in just the general-TV-millenial-vibe-y things I've watched over the past couple of decades. More than the "bumbling dad" type, I'd say, from things I've seen in the zeitgeist (I guess one recent super typical example is Rick and Morty, though everyone sucks there):
* Arrested Development: Michael is the most competent of the bunch. His father was also quite competent, if an asshole and eventual criminal. But, you know, that put the "sit" in sitcom...
* Luke from Gilmore Girls is pretty consistently more sane than Lorelai, turns out to be a good dad too IIRC; other fathers include a loser and a number of very successful businessmen, teachers, etc.
* King of the Hill: doing his best, often the most sane of the bunch
* Bob's Burgers: haven't watched a ton of this but from what I've seen Bob is a goofball but respectable and wholesome, kinda a Hank Hill. Not a lazy Homer
* Parks and Rec: Ben Wyatt is a pretty positive character
* Brooklyn 99: Terry is practically a superman of competence and seems to hold is own with his wife and kids. Holt is a supremely competent husband. Boyle is a goofball generally and in dating, but that does not really extend to his eventual marriage and child, where he seems to be doing quite well.
* Schitt's Creek: Johnny is the competent center of the family surrounded by comically exaggerated crazy wife + kids
Dramas seem even further away. Where do Breaking Bad or the Sopranos land?
mikepurvis
Add Keith from Veronica Mars to the list— he’s an absolute rock for her and manages well the balance between being protective while also letting her go her own way.
silisili
I like it for that reason. It's one of the few shows that we can watch as a family with the kid laughing at the kids and me paying more attention to the parents.
I'm always impressed by TV or movies that can pull that off, usually one or the other of us finds the content uninteresting.
ashton314
I am NOT taking advice from a cartoon dog! —Bandit Heeler, episode “Flatpack” I think
Bandit is the dad all of us dads wish we could be.
rubiquity
I remember reading somewhere that one of the motives for Bluey was to encourage Australian fathers to be more involved with their children. As a father myself, I recall many times watching the show and being like “damn that’s a good dad.”
ohthehugemanate
On the other hand, Bandit is a TERRIBLE employee.
closewith
A lesson for us all, TBH.
bombcar
I’m not even sure what his job is. I think he’s an accountant.
bdash
Doctor Bandit Heeler is an archeologist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiv_V7QOy3A
ip26
Perhaps the reason it works is because the dad character isn’t an overplayed masculine ideal, and therefore fresh.
I personally suspect one reason for the “bumbling dad” trope is the “classically ideal dad” is everywhere in stories, and thus becomes boring.
Subverting the conventional power figure is also played for laughs a lot, while Bluey doesn’t ask us to laugh at anyone.
johnnyanmac
True, even back in my day the closest thing to a father figure would have been Steve from Blues Clues. But he was always coded more as an uncle/big brother instead.
shirro
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.
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.
bolognafairy
Bluey is unusually good even for the ABC, but the floor on children’s programming is just so much lower in the US. Sure, America’s obsession with Bluey stems in part from its on-again off-again fetishisation of Australia. But, Christ, I’m Australian and recently spent a few weeks in the US, and, fuck me, American TV just sucks so much.
Verdex
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.
My daughters like bluey (ages 3-8). But they also enjoy many things on TV and bluey doesn't stick out that much.
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.
simonsquiff
It’s undoubtly a brilliant show for parents - in fact I’d describe it as a show about parenting. But it’s much more than an adequate kids show, it’s certainly top tier for my kids. My 4 year old has been enormously influenced by Bluey, in a positive way. She’s very playful, and Bluey is all about fun and silly games. She wants to play all the Bluey games, and will riff off them too, it’s been a huge source of inspiration for lots of fun together. She loves the show, it’s definitely right up there for many kids too.
I also fully agree with the other posters saying how it’s an excellent model of top-tier fathering. It’s definitely helped me up my game, I’ve leaned much more into daddy-fun silly games, partly because Bluey gives you a bunch of games that you can copy (and your kids will understand), but also because it helps encourage spontaneity and improv. I think my best advice for dads with 3+ year olds is ‘watch Bluey’
RobinL
I agree. Bluey is a great show. As a dad it can either make you feel inadequate or motivate you to to better. You just have to accept no dad can be Bandit all the time, but try to be Bandit as much as possible.
sanderjd
Yeah, this. I love love love Bluey, but I also often think, "get a job, Bandit!" :)
throwaway6734
> She’s very playful, and Bluey is all about fun and silly games. She wants to play all the Bluey games, and will riff off them too, it’s been a huge source of inspiration for lots of fun together.
Our daughter is the same. Pizza girls and tickle crab are two of her favorite
wijwp
> 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.
That's how a lot of successful children's movies/shows work in a way.
Have you ever rewatched older kids movies as an adult and realized how many adult-level jokes they slipped in that you never noticed as a child?
If you're asking parents to spend 1.5 hours at a movie theater, you better throw in some adult humor in there as well.
ip26
Bluey isn’t just aware parents are watching, though. It’s not just cameos and a little sneaky grown up humor. It’s more like two stories, both compelling, are being told at the same time, depending on which character you identify most with.
sanderjd
Especially since having a second child start growing up, I've realized it's actualy four stories, often all compelling at once. There's Bluey's story, and there is the dad's and mom's story, but there is also Bingo's story, about being the younger child. My younger kid loves the episode called "Bingo", which is specifically about Bingo.
Cyph0n
I don’t think inserting innuendo is necessary. In fact, I personally find it distasteful and nothing more than an easy way out.
I think the proper way to do it is to include themes and/or characters that adults would relate with too. Ghibli movies are one example where this is done well (most of the time).
sanderjd
Bluey doesn't do it as innuendo either. I like Bluey and Ghibli the most of all children's media I'm familiar with, for exactly this reason.
hylaride
Sesame Street is this way. Watch versions from your youth and you'll see references to pop culture everywhere. From the specific 1970s rock bands, Star Wars, Monsterpiece Theater, etc. It's so obvious when I see it now, but a lot of it went over my head at the time.
dralley
That's every classic Pixar movie
IshKebab
Yeah Pixar does it a lot, and Bluey, and Peppa Pig a little. But it's really uncommon in kids TV shows. 99% of them are straight up dross just for kids with no accomodation for parents.
That's why Bluey is so popular. It's the only good TV program for adults that kids will also watch. (And I agree it's only super popular for adults, kids are way more into trash like Blippi.)
skrebbel
> But they also enjoy many things on TV and bluey doesn't stick out that much.
Fwiw my kids (9 - 12) watched every episode at least 4 times already by now. Especially my youngest thinks it's 10x better than anything else on offer. In terms of categories, there's basically Bluey, and everything else. Just to say, tastes differ.
I agree it's a great show for parents too but the idea that it doesn't stick out much for the kids doesn't resonate with me. There's so many details, so many layers, so much to discover.
hnlmorg
My kids love Bluey too.
When they were little they loved it because there were cartoon animals laughing and playing.
When they were slightly older they loved it because the jokes were funny.
And when they got a little older still, they loved it because the silly things the parents did in the show reminded them of the silly things us parents do. So they’ll often call out “that’s what you do daddy!” during the episodes.
The show is a work of genius because it feels like a slice of real life but packaged in a way that is entertaining for kids. So I do completely agree that it has a lot of appeal for adults too, and that definitely helps.
grepfru_it
Wait until your kids have kids and say “hey kids I used to watch this show bluey” and will turn it on and ..then they will understand..
sanderjd
No way man. My kids love Bluey. You're right that they don't understand why (or that) we love Bluey way more than the other shows they also love (which mostly suck) but what's so brilliant about it is that it's top-tier for them, while simultaneously being #1 (by a lot) for us.
michaelbuckbee
To be clear, Bluey was actually the most streamed show in 2024.
slothtrop
I think that's it. They've found a balance in "family" entertainment that is sophisticated enough to please adults, much the way Pixar and 90s Disney films had. The Simpsons at outset was also sort of like this for older kids. There was moral panic at the time, but it didn't prevent the show from being an incredible phenomenon, heavily merchandised the way Bluey is now. I must have been obsessed with the Simpsons since 7-8 years old.
owenfi
Agree, except I think you missed the beginning of that episode.
Like there are no overnight successes, there are many prompts and maybe not the best strategies (such as “I’ll give you a dollar if you clean up”).
tomhoward
For those not aware…
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
[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.
drekipus
I told my father-in-law about this, he didn't know anything about custard, but he pulled out a CD that he had of "Dave McCormack and the Polaroids"
Sure enough same guy, played at a pub down the road from us last year or so.
Very musically talented guy. It's so strange being a younger Australian and realising that we don't have to import fame/stardom from America. We got talent right here.
Tade0
> We got talent right here.
Indeed you do. A random stab at TripleJ Unearthed is enough to find an artist/band that's well above the world average.
I don't know if it's the remoteness or dangerous animals that is the reason for this, but Australians sure know how to make music.
naikrovek
I’m American and I lived in Sydney for two years from 2001-2003.
> we got talent right here
You have no idea how right you are. Or maybe you do… There are writers and musicians and … every kind of talent on par with anything anyone else in any country has ever done.
It was extremely eye opening for me to listen to TripleJ or whatever station I would tune to after hearing some American pop junk, and hear music I’ve never heard, before or since, by bands I never heard before or since, play some of the best music I have ever heard, every single day I was there. And, that music was unlike a lot of other stuff on the radio, which was so refreshing. So new! So good! And so much!
My girlfriend (who was Australian and is why I moved there) pulled out her CDs and I was lost in them for weeks.
I was roommates with a guy, and worked with him, for six months before he texted me and told me to turn on the radio. Three minutes later I heard his voice followed by 45 minutes of the best DJ mixing set I have ever heard. He composed the best music I have ever heard, live, by ear, and it was something he did every damn week.
Australia is fucking amazing.
lmpdev
NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts gets all these rave reviews for its production quality
But tbh Triple J’s Like a Version blows it out of the water
Especially giving artists the leeway to try genre switching
Like Denzel Curry covering Rage Against the Machine for instance
goatforce5
I came here to say this. Dave McCormack and Custard were in a popular indie band in Oz in the 90s. A couple of years ago he performed a couple of songs with The Wiggles, and came out on stage saying "Hello everyone, it's me! I'm from the 90s!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEeEjEdTqqk
He uses his normal speaking voice for Bandit, and you can very clearly hear the same voice when he's signing most of the Custard stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP_LSm7FjRI
Wisenheimer and Wahooti Fandango are still both great albums (...and then I moved overseas and drifted out of the Custard orbit). For anyone with kids firmly in the Bluey demographic, I bet you could really confuse them by playing Custard at them.
I'm surprised they (i.e. record companies) haven't been trying to push Custard more, given there's a large fan based just waiting to be tapped. It would be fun to see Bandit do karaoke of a Custard song, or sing a few lines when he was in the shower, or just doing chores, etc.
autoexec
I don't know how many Bandits they went through to find him, but they got lucky. Voice acting isn't easy and he does such a great job!
tomhoward
I suspect they had him in mind right from the start and even developed the character for him.
Custard/McCormack are Brisbane-based and Bluey has been produced from a Brisbane studio since the very beginning. The writers/producers would have known and liked his music and voice, and probably someone there already knew him personally. Bluey is shown on ABC in Australia and Custard has always had lots of airplay on ABC TV and radio stations.
LeonB
Lots of airplay, apart from that time they went into the 4ZZZ studios and found a bunch of custard cds and tapes were all smashed up… leading to the song “fantastic plastic” off Wahooto, “I wish that triple zed would play us…”
Love Custard with my heart and soul. Thanks for bringing them up Tom Howard!
_spduchamp
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.
SkittlesNTwix
> "Obstacles don't block the path. They are the path."
This is a modern translation of what Marcus Aurelius said in "Meditations", his private diary. This particular paraphrasing and interpretation is by Ryan Holiday, a modern stoic with many books on the topic to his name. You would enjoy them.
The original quote:
"In one respect man is the nearest thing to me, so far as I must do good to men and endure them. But so far as some men make themselves obstacles to my proper acts, man becomes to me one of the things which are indifferent, no less than the sun or wind or a wild beast. Now it is true that these may impede my action, but they are no impediments to my affects and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally and changing: for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road."
Meditations, 5.20 Marcus Aurelius
h0l0cube
You'd like this book
Tyr42
Thanks, bought it.
Turns out it's on sale now too: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=tOzwEAAAQBAJ
robotnikman
Seconding this book, this is one I go back to every once in a while.
sylens
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.
disillusioned
Cricket is, bar none, the best episode of children's television ever produced. (Chess is also _fantastic_.) It's so good, I've made adults watch it without a child in the room. It's a perfect short story: the backstory character development, the heartstring-pulling deployed father, the overcoming challenges and stepping into them, the letting his sister have a win, the adults recognizing that's what he's done, and then the coup de grace, the flash forward to Rusty as a professional cricket player. "_That's_ what cricket's about, kid."
It's brilliant at every level. Such a perfect piece of television, told in this flawless 7 minutes.
sota_pop
Personally, i find all episodes with flash forwards choke me up. However, i mostly agree, cricket is a particularly good one.
grokkedit
my god cricket is the best episode, and it’s crazy that no information about any character is even remotely needed to appreciate it
the authors created a great character in rusty
yannyu
Fun fact, Rusty was originally going to be the main character. And if you put Bluey next to Rusty, you'll see they're the same shape, just colored differently.
And yeah, absolutely amazing episode.
whatusername
I'll echo this for anyone else in the comments -- You can watch the cricket episode with 0 knowledge of the show and 0 knowledge of cricket. If you haven't ever seen Bluey - it's a great example as to why so many speak so highly of it. If you haven't seen bluey but want to see what the fuss is (and especially if you have any interest in sports) -- it's only 7 minutes long and absolutely worth watching.
yesthisiswes
The cricket episode is so good! It gets me everytime.
relaxing
The way they leave it up to the viewer to infer the reason Rusty practiced cricket on so many different surfaces was because his dad was stationed in Iraq in the Australian Army and therefore wasn’t around to pick him up after school is heart-wrenching, perfect writing.
sylens
But even if you remove that element - something I think all of us can relate to is loving a sport or a hobby so much as a kid that you use every free moment you have doing it, practicing it, getting better at it. I felt a similar way about basketball as a kid; and even though I didn't play much past high school, I saw a bit of my younger self in Rusty.
null
harry8
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.
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.
In Bluey, it’s all great, all of it. But the writing is something beyond that.
fma
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.
YouTube, need to watch them carefully and catch the YT algorithm trying to insert bad videos.
I have been mainly relying on Epic & PBS Kids - but feel an expansion is needed.
paradox460
I set up a Plex user for my kids, and loaded it full of things that are kid appropriate. Old PBS kids shows from my childhood, bluey, a smattering of the newer kids shows my wife was familiar with from raising her siblings, etc.
We don't give the kids much TV time at all, maybe an hour a week, but it's nice knowing they can just pick something themselves, and we don't have to worry that it's decent
ip26
Some of the new shows, e.g. Bluey, do feel head and shoulders above the good shows from my childhood. I’ve abandoned using age of the content as any signal of quality.
legitster
YouTube Kids is legitimately awful. And the content filters are a joke.
We've been using the Dude Perfect app lately. It's got ads, but it only features a select few YouTubers that focus on kid friendly content. And everything is screened by a real person. So it lets our kids watch YouTube without the "endless trash" content feed.
ziml77
I've heard about videos being marked as kids content automatically simply because it's animated. It not only sucks for people who expect YT Kids to be kid-friendly but it also sucks for the creators who don't want their adult-oriented content being shown to kids and who get less ad revenue due to less valuable ads being show against their video.
It would be better for everyone if Google would turn YT Kids into a manually curated service. I think that even Google would benefit from getting more people trusting YT Kids. But unfortunately having humans in the loop is not the Google way, so it will never happen.
tylerdurden91
You should try out Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps we've tried here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try. Good thing about PBS or Kidzovo is that they dont have me looking over my shoulder like Youtube or Youtube Kids does.
theoreticalmal
How many times have you posted this comment in this thread, overall?
tinco
I don't know about YT kids, but Ms Rachel on YouTube is a really good show for babies / toddlers. On Netflix there's Kit & Sam that's a really cool series, it's apparently from the same makers as octonauts which I don't think is as good, but my daughter actually prefers (probably more age appropriate). Gigantosaur is a really cool one on Netflix as well.
We mostly use YouTube for Ms Rachel and watching music video clips (from the Sing movies and Disney movies). I don't know how it is in the US but here in the NL Netflix has licensed a whole bunch of great kids shows and we don't really use any other apps because of that.
tylerdurden91
I also liked Ms Rachel, but read a really good article about video deficit. This one: https://parentingtranslator.substack.com/p/can-babies-learn-....
I have since tried using only interactive apps that would encourage kids to participate actively rather than just passively watching. When I'm around, I'll do that anyways, but it helps if the content is itself interactive.
I really like Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps mentioned here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try.
clickitongue
I'd like to put a good word in for Trash Truck. We all love it. I guess it can't quite compete with Bluey in the life lessons department - they're more simple, maybe better for younger kids. But it's definitely lovely and friendly and fun.
wisemang
It’s very calm, which I really appreciate about it compared to the wild energy in other shows. Sadly my toddler is more drawn to the intense colours and action of Paw Patrol.
Which is a whole other thing in this age of streaming.. when they know you could just pick something else, they will immediately complain and ask for that instead of just needing to accept what is being shown.
vharuck
My 3 year old loves YouTube kids, and I'll admit he gets a good amount of it. We make sure we're watching it with him, and we control the remote. Some channels/topics we all like:
- Aty and Ui, two pet otters in Japan. Their owner has made tons of videos showing what they eat, how they play, and the different rivers they visit. All dialogue is in Japanese and English subtitles. My kid now loves otters, I explain different things about animals or Japan to give context, and I get to practice reading Japanese.
- MIKAN, a channel with videos of "marbles" animated using a basic physics engine. There's no dialogue. There are races, factories, battles, and even a tower defense match. It helped him learn colors. Nowadays, he gets up and practically dances while cheering for his favorite colors. Indoor exercise isn't so bad. Some of the videos that aren't on YT Kids can be a little scary for toddlers (like alien abductions, not the dreaded shock schlock that pops up on YT).
- 5MadMovieMakers, a channel with marble runs and Hot Wheels tracks. No dialogue, just short clips of creative tracks with background music. My kid now loves coming up with his own marble and Hot Wheels tracks now (though he's still not good at planning out the whole thing to actually work).
I understand the concerns about using YT Kids as a babysitter. When he gets a tablet at my parents' and decides what to watch, it's things like cars driving over paint-filed balloons or the typical group of bros overreacting to a different stupid thing each week.
tylerdurden91
You should try out Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps we've tried here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try. Good thing about PBS or Kidzovo is that they dont have me looking over my shoulder like Youtube or Youtube Kids does.
waltbosz
https://www.youtube.com/@TheBlackCatGear is another good marble animation channel.
For some good real world marble runs
Jelle's Marble Runs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSmWeUDtr9fATQqT2c0am...
Murmiland: https://www.youtube.com/@Murmiland
tylerdurden91
You should try out Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps we've tried here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try. Good thing about PBS or Kidzovo is that they dont have me looking over my shoulder like Youtube or Youtube Kids does.
enumjorge
Self promotion is fine, but you've plugged the company you work for four times on this thread already. It's also appreciated when you add a disclaimer like you've done in the past [0]
harry8
Never trust a suggestion algorithm. Exponentially mistrust it with a developing mind.
You watch and approve everything in advance or don’t let them watch at all.
Alphablocks, numberblocks aren’t bad. Hey Douggie is ok.
There is decent stuff on YouTube havfunlearning or similar but you’ve got to play projectionist.
jedimastert
Amazon kids was really good for a while but recently they started getting vlogs and garbage from YouTube. Somehow my daughter found among us let's plays and unboxing videos and I'm deeply displeased about it.
waltbosz
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.
"Rain" is my favorite. The shots, the story, the music, the lack of dialog. "The Sign" was my biggest tearjerker.
Also, I came across this musician who makes great EDM remixes of Bluey songs, I recommend checking him out: https://www.youtube.com/@MicJaiy/search?query=bluey
bag_boy
I became a better parent from watching the show.
I take role playing with my daughter more seriously now.
I used to feel a little uncomfortable being really silly (hard after a stressful day).
Now I try to embrace how silly she is and try to play along. It takes A LOT more concentration.
What a wonderful show. Contrast this with Cocomelon, which is basically screen crack for kids.
I hate that my daughter watched one second of Cocomelon!
mmmlinux
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 only worth 2B. When websites are getting sold in the 10s of B range.
sanderjd
Ha good point. If there was any justice in the world, Bluey would be worth about as much as Amazon.
bombcar
Media like TV shows, etc, is easy to exactly work out how much "it'll make" - in merchandising, movie deals, etc. Especially when established.
Websites and businesses are much harder to predict. You might have the next Google, or you might have the next Pets dot com.
geodel
You may be only one. Because businesses that deal in pure software/vaporware have been priced much higher for long time compare to businesses that deal with lot of people / physical products.
youainti
$2B across approximately 40 hours of content. That puts each 7 minute episode at value of about $5.8 million.
markus_zhang
Wait until some VC or other funds jump on the wagon.
manduz
[dead]
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.
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.