[HN Gopher] 'Bluey's World': How a Cute Aussie Puppy Became a Ju...
___________________________________________________________________
'Bluey's World': How a Cute Aussie Puppy Became a Juggernaut
Author : adrian_mrd
Score : 330 points
Date : 2025-03-19 12:14 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
| resource_waste wrote:
| >"The parents were so relatable and mirrored the parent I wanted
| to be,"
|
| 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.
|
| 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?
|
| Remember that these children's characters are corporate mascots,
| not friends.
| Centigonal wrote:
| how is Bill Nye any less of a character than Bluey's parents?
| 01100011 wrote:
| Let your kids watch Bill Nye and then next thing you know
| they'll be into speedwalking and designing burger guns in the
| basement. IYKYK.
| jjulius wrote:
| God bless Almost Live!
| hylaride wrote:
| Sir, it's a show for toddlers that adults can watch and relate
| to. Watch the repetitiveness of Daniel Tiger or the brain
| destroying Cocomelon (which should be banned) then get back to
| me.
| bitwize wrote:
| I was rewatching Max Headroom recently and my favorite
| episode stood out to me. It's about an addictive game show
| called "Whacketts" which is so mind-numbingly insipid that
| even the punk operator of the pirate TV station that runs the
| show wonders why it's so popular. Turns out that the
| Whacketts broadcast is interlaced with a signal that looks
| like rapidly changing hexadecimal numbers and functions as a
| "drug" that induces euphoria in anyone who is visually
| exposed to it.
|
| When I was a kid I thought this was somewhat dodgy science
| fiction. As an adult in the age of Cocomelon and Skibidi
| Toilet, I'm not so sure.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| Yeah, we imagined brainwashing would involve rapidly
| flashing hidden messages. In reality, it involves a head
| sticking out of a toilet.
|
| Hearing some of the things my elder daughter hears from
| other kids in the kindergarten, I sometimes wonder if we
| haven't jumped into some bizarro alternate universe.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Are they all using tablets?
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| No, but some kids have slightly older siblings in primary
| school, and learn all kinds of crap from them.
| fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
| Bluey considered harmful? I won't hear of it. Get his ass.
| prawn wrote:
| I have a morbid fascination with trying to predict the most
| down-voted comment theme for any given HN thread. I was quite
| excited to find out how someone would inevitably manage to
| enrage people in a Bluey thread, but someone managed!
| Braxton1980 wrote:
| I didn't see any comments about her being blue
| jasonjayr wrote:
| "I'm not going to take advice from a cartoon dog" - is exactly
| one of the lines in the show.
|
| There are shows geared to teach science in appropriate ways to
| kids in this same demographic. But that's not the point of
| Bluey -- it's modeling an ideal family, in a way that's
| understandable to young children, while being relatable for
| their parents to watch and appreciate along side with them.
| They represent a loving, functional family, that likes to have
| fun, and sometimes has hard issues to deal with, that children
| get to see. For some families it's an unattainable ideal, and
| for others it's a mirror of a modern 20-30yo parents raising
| young kids, complete with modern situations.
|
| It's hard to stress out just how perfectly they nail a show
| that both kids + parents can watch, that they both find
| enjoyable, in this demographic, without pandering, or being
| annoying about it, because it's such a rare find.
|
| The praise this franchise receives is extremely well deserved.
| jjulius wrote:
| >... but if my kids are going to watch TV, why not Bill Nye the
| Science Guy or similar?
|
| This comparison almost makes me wonder if you have kids.
| jamiek88 wrote:
| Right? Completely different shows, ages, approach, intentions
| etc.
|
| Might as well have said 'watch masterchef instead'.
| stuaxo wrote:
| (Or have watched much Bluey).
| mikeocool wrote:
| Somebody doesn't have kids
| resource_waste wrote:
| I have 5.
| audunw wrote:
| And do they only watch science shows teaching STEM
| subjects? Or do they get to watch shows that have some
| emotional lessons as well? If so, what shows?
|
| I think people are reacting because Bill Nye is not even
| remotely in the same category. It has a different kind of
| value, and frankly it's not as important as the kind of
| value kids get from Bluey.
|
| It's very nice if kids learn science. Great even. But the
| most important things kid can get from TV shows (if
| anything, it's okay to watch things for fun as well) is to
| learn social skills. Bluey has a lot of that, and it does
| it without being annoying about it like Daniel Tiger. It's
| a good balance
| infecto wrote:
| It also feels like a show for kids graduating out of
| Bluey.
| skinkestek wrote:
| Hi another person with 5 kids :-)
| sanderjd wrote:
| lol, funniest comment I've read on here in a long time.
| kentonv wrote:
| Fiction gives us a channel to explore problems we wouldn't
| otherwise regularly see in our day-to-day lives, and learn
| about the right ways to answer them, so that when we are
| confronted with them for real, we have a better framework for
| dealing with them than our basic instincts provide.
|
| Real-world ethical problems tend to be much more complex than
| those presented in fiction, but that's exactly why we need
| fiction to provide us with the building blocks via easier-to-
| understand case studies.
| mcphage wrote:
| > but if my kids are going to watch TV, why not Bill Nye the
| Science Guy or similar?
|
| "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are
| dreamt of in your philosophy."
| infecto wrote:
| Because Bluey is for 3-6 year olds or around that range and the
| most important thing for them to learn at this age is social
| skills. There is plenty of time after for Bill Nye.
| light_triad wrote:
| Nietzsche and Plato were some of the best fiction writers ever
| produced.
|
| Storytelling, allegory, dramatic dialogue, compelling
| narratives, and 'myth making' can have different goals -
| sometimes it's to teach the glory of science. Other times it's
| about social relationships and how to be a functional human.
|
| Bluey works so well because the combination of kids'
| entertainment with adult themes and storylines portraying
| positive role models feels unforced - some folks may not enjoy
| it, that's fine.
| Vaskivo wrote:
| There's an episode where the father is trying to teach Bluey to
| play chess. It is implied by the mother that he's only doing
| that because "all smart kids play chess, therefore she should
| learn chess."
|
| The teaching fails, not because she doesn't understand but
| because she and Bingo end up making up the fantasy of the game.
| (To the point that sacrificing a piece is a shock and
| abhorrent).
|
| It ends up with the mother intervening, beating the dad at the
| game and saying "Work on the heads later, for now, just
| hearts."
|
| So to you, I say: Bill Nye, yes. Bluey, yes too. Each in their
| own time... If the kids feel like it.
| squigz wrote:
| Storytelling has been integral to humanity's progression
| through the ages since day 0.
| Verdex wrote:
| 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.
| owenfi wrote:
| 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").
| slothtrop wrote:
| 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.
| wijwp wrote:
| > 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.
| Cyph0n wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| dralley wrote:
| That's every classic Pixar movie
| IshKebab wrote:
| 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.)
| sanderjd wrote:
| Oh I disagree, my kids like Blue a lot more than Blippi.
| But they like better-but-still-dross like "Spidey and His
| Amazing Friends" about the same as they like Bluey,
| whereas their parents like Bluey about an order of
| magnitude more :)
| hylaride wrote:
| 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.
| ip26 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| "I miss my sister, and the fridge doesn't like me"
|
| Sooooooo cute.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| There's _another_ Bingo-focused episode, called "BBQ",
| that's absolute favorite of my little Bingo's. My younger
| daughter (3.5yo now) definitely sees herself in the Bingo
| character.
| skrebbel wrote:
| > 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.
| grepfru_it wrote:
| 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..
| hnlmorg wrote:
| 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.
| simonsquiff wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Yeah, this. I love love love Bluey, but I also often think,
| "get a job, Bandit!" :)
| shadowgovt wrote:
| I'm fairly certain we only see the family during the
| slices of time mom and/or dad have the to interact with
| the kids. "Rug Island" alludes to the notion that when
| Bandit goes to work, he may as well be going to a foreign
| country as far as the kids know.
| bombcar wrote:
| He goes on a work trip at least once, and the episode
| implies it's not an abnormal situation.
|
| At least twice he's trying to get to work, so he doesn't
| just work from home.
| throwaway6734 wrote:
| > 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
| michaelbuckbee wrote:
| To be clear, Bluey was actually the most streamed show in 2024.
| sanderjd wrote:
| 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.
| dlachausse wrote:
| 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.
| doh wrote:
| Hear hear
| bombcar wrote:
| 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.
| zeroonetwothree wrote:
| One of the best episodes of any show I've ever seen.
| op00to wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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
| op00to wrote:
| I think it sets a high bar, which is ok because they also
| show the parents at low points without making them look
| pitiful or less worthy of love.
| AuryGlenz wrote:
| They also show them busy cleaning a lot, which is like
| half of parenthood at that age.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| Yup. Makes me think of that episode where they were
| racing and Bandit just blatantly cheated to win. A low
| point for him, but only makes him more relatable.
| bag_boy wrote:
| Absolutely.
|
| Bandit is a fantastic role model and I have learned a lot
| from this pretend dog dad lol.
|
| My father is deceased. I feel like a lot of the advice he
| would have given me, I picked up from watching Bluey.
| jamesliudotcc wrote:
| In the Flatpak episode, he rolls his eyes and states,
| "I'm not taking advice from a cartoon dog!" The episode
| is mostly about how Bluey takes after the parents in a
| game where she's raising Bingo through adulthood while
| they also go from fishes through dinosaurs to modern
| humans, er, dogs.
|
| This show is so good on so many levels.
| autoexec wrote:
| The writing in that episode is insane when you consider
| how much they managed to pack into such a short run time.
| The entire evolution of life and the building of society
| complete with religion, the story a parent raising Bingo
| before seeing her head off as an adult and then dying,
| and also two parents fighting over cheap furniture
| assembly and then making up. It all happens in just a few
| minutes and much of the story will certainly go over the
| heads of many young children watching the episode, but it
| ends up being perfectly enjoyable to everyone anyway.
| mcphage wrote:
| > He also normalizes farting in your kids' faces.
|
| ALLEGABLY!
| HenryBemis wrote:
| How on earth does this gets downvoted???? That (too) was
| an amazing episode!!!
| mcphage wrote:
| It was really great... it's so dumb that Disney waited to
| air it. My family still uses "On the morning of This
| morning"
| sklargh wrote:
| Took me a year or two to realize I was benchmarking Bandit as
| an optimal dad of two kids. It is a powerful influence.
| shadowgovt wrote:
| 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.
| lukan wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| josephg wrote:
| I hear & see a bunch of my friends who have an only child
| struggling with this. My sister has four kids now (which
| is crazy). She says that in many ways it's easier with
| more kids, because they play with each other. She barely
| ever plays with them at all (which is a bit sad). But
| because they have each other, she gets to spend all her
| time being the adult in the room. It seems to be working
| out - her kids are doing great.
|
| She said it also really helps that they're a bit older
| now. A 2 and a 4 year old have a much bigger age gap than
| a 6 and 8 year old.
|
| All that said, she still doesn't get much time pursuing
| her hobbies. She says it's the after school activities
| that do her in now.
| bombcar wrote:
| Her hobby is raising kids, she just might not realize it.
|
| And yes, after a certain point more becomes easier -
| after all, one teacher can handle a class of 20+
| students.
|
| The hardest is when the oldest are too young to help with
| the youngest.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Yeah I realized that a while go that some people just
| like raising kids. Can't compete with those. One kid is
| well enough for me.
| Tade0 wrote:
| 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.
| bombcar wrote:
| 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.
| lukan wrote:
| Oh, I didn't mean to imply he never says no and I like
| his elaborate educational games, they are truly
| inspiring. Just that quite often I get the feeling, I
| would just say no and that's it. I love playing with my
| kids, but not always. And I also don't like to fight with
| them sonthey accept it, but bandit often seems to avoid
| the fight by saying yes.
| neal_jones wrote:
| Never before has a dog made me feel so lacking as a father /s
| markus_zhang wrote:
| It's just doggies singing songs, mate.
| patch_cable wrote:
| It's not. And the fact that you think they sing songs makes
| me think you've never watched it.
| IanCal wrote:
| I'm pretty certain that's a quote from Bandit.
| patch_cable wrote:
| Ah fair enough.
| salicideblock wrote:
| The post you replied to is a reference to Bandit saying
| "it's just monkeys singing songs, mate", when he goes to
| the movies with Bluey.
| patch_cable wrote:
| Ah I missed that. Fair enough then.
| eru wrote:
| The misunderstanding here shows that we need to be
| careful with in-jokes and references in an asynchronous
| medium. Even among people who have consumed the media in
| question. It's even worse with the general public (or
| even just general HN public).
| patch_cable wrote:
| Sorry, I didn't get the reference. I'm a moron. My bad.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Don't worry, just for fun.
| autoexec wrote:
| I've seen parents complain that it sets an unrealistic
| expectation for parents. That nobody could spend all their
| time entertaining their kids whims and games the way Bandit
| does and how you don't often see the parents really putting
| their foot down or even having to work. I think some of the
| push back is guilt/regret that it can't always be like that.
| It's better to see it as something to aspire to when possible
| than an expectation that things will be like that all the
| time. The show is also careful to show the parents struggling
| at times too and tries to encourage parents.
| bombcar wrote:
| It's not unrealistic!
|
| I also can entertain my kids for 8 minutes a day!
| silisili wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| _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.
| danielvaughn wrote:
| 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.
| yellowstuff wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Yeah fair, and there's actually some I can think of from
| the 90's, like Family Matters and Full House.
| eru wrote:
| > 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.
| spectralglitch wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| "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 wrote:
| 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.
| Boogie_Man wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| This is a great point - behind the TV persona as the Tool
| Man, Tim's character was a pretty competent and genuine
| father
| ip26 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| rubiquity wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| On the other hand, Bandit is a TERRIBLE employee.
| closewith wrote:
| A lesson for us all, TBH.
| bombcar wrote:
| I'm not even sure what his job is. I think he's an
| accountant.
| bdash wrote:
| Doctor Bandit Heeler is an archeologist.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiv_V7QOy3A
| sylens wrote:
| 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.
| grokkedit wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| relaxing wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| yesthisiswes wrote:
| The cricket episode is so good! It gets me everytime.
| disillusioned wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Personally, i find all episodes with flash forwards choke me
| up. However, i mostly agree, cricket is a particularly good
| one.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Bluey is the best kids show we found.
|
| Or, maybe it's the best show for the parents. I'm literally
| watching it by myself after my kid goes to bed.
|
| 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.
| bombcar wrote:
| I think "FaceyTime" might be one of the best examples of where
| they COULD have gone standard and instead, went gold.
|
| It COULD have ended with a timeout and then Muffin being sulky
| and then cheering up, but it didn't.
|
| It COULD have ended with "Mom's right, Dad's wrong," but it
| didn't.
|
| It ended with gold.
|
| (The use of the cousins to display other child activities is
| also brilliant, they can have "bratty Muffin" without forcing
| Bingo or Bluey to be "overly bratty".)
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Yeah there was really a lot of thoughts going into that
| episode.
|
| They don't have to show the ukulele but showing it confirms
| Muffin's characteristics.
|
| They don't have to show Bandit stretching himself at the
| beginning of the episode, either.
|
| Also the multi window camera is a bit unique but fun. I'm
| surprised how they managed to pull that out without making a
| whole mess when Muffin starts running.
| bombcar wrote:
| As the family tech guy, I felt it when the screen started
| going bonkers as Muffin ran through the various wifi areas.
|
| And that final sad flip and dive ... pocketbooks not yet
| BORN felt that one.
| RALaBarge wrote:
| I and my kids like Daniel Tiger, but admittedly I watched a lot
| of Mr. Rogers
| legitster wrote:
| I'd also like to nominate the Mickey Mouse shorts by Paul
| Rudish.
|
| They flew under a lot of people's radar, but was quietly one of
| the most brilliant set of modern animations. They are well
| made, packed with jokes, weird, are a love letter to Chuck
| Jones era cartoons, and managed to bring back personalities to
| all of these corporate characters.
| paxys wrote:
| 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.
| OccamsMirror wrote:
| I think Joe Brumm stepping down is a signal that the magic is
| gone and the suits at Disney have taken over. Oh well, at least
| a handful of people got to become really really rich.
| sanderjd wrote:
| This makes me sad :(
|
| But there are already so many great episodes!
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Technically it's an Australian production
| johng wrote:
| I loved the Hank the cowdog books when I was a kid. Anyone else?
| gallamine wrote:
| All my kids listen to those audiobooks on repeat. Narrated (and
| sung!) buy the author.
| paradox460 wrote:
| Yup. They've become somewhat difficult to acquire through
| legitimate means, unfortunately
| jboggan wrote:
| 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.
| phillmv wrote:
| oh wow we watched this episode a few days ago; i missed the
| Holst connection, and yes I also felt tears in my eyes at the
| denouement. definitely hugged my kids harder after that one.
| danielvaughn wrote:
| I've seen the episode a few times with my infant daughter,
| and honestly it might be my favorite tv episode of any show,
| ever.
| simonsquiff wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| Same here. After watching it and then looping the "Boldly
| in the Pretend" (official song to "Rain" music), my
| attitude to parenting and many specific behaviors changed
| pretty much overnight.
|
| (For one, I realized we're both too harsh about kiddos
| getting dirty and making a mess. The other big thing was,
| it made me decide to make playground after kindergarten a
| priority _more important than work_.)
|
| Beyond parenting, that story and song connected me with
| _my own inner child_ , and had me realize I might be
| taking this "adulting" thing _way_ too seriously. Work,
| play, it 's still the same game - we're still just
| "racing those boats down the road to the end".
|
| Can't think of anything else in my life that managed to
| break me down and put back together differently so
| quickly.
| amarcheschi wrote:
| There was a similar cartoon about ~2 decades ago, that had
| classical pieces. Little Einsteins. I loved that
| jvanderbot wrote:
| 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.
| sklargh wrote:
| "Sleepytime" is right up there with BSG's "33", Veep's
| "Testimony" or The American's "S.T.A.R.T" - it's truly
| excellent television.
| myko wrote:
| Can I add Bojack Horseman's "Fish Out of Water" to this list?
| stronglikedan wrote:
| Damn I wish I slept as good as any of them did! I can totally
| relate to the milling around the house in the middle of the
| night part.
| bombcar wrote:
| I appreciate that the subtitles, at least on the DVDs we have,
| often tell you the name of the music.
| NotYourLawyer wrote:
| They don't on streaming. I'm always having to google it.
| xattt wrote:
| Chili's line is perfectly delivered. It sums up a parent's love
| so concisely.
|
| I make sure my kids hear it every so often, knowing that one
| day it will click on an emotional level and they realize what I
| truly mean.
| Paul_Clayton wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| atonse wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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
| _pastel wrote:
| Bike is the one that gets me - when the full Ode to Joy hits I
| tear up every time.
| ToucanLoucan wrote:
| "Sometimes, special people come into our lives, stay for a
| bit, and then they have to go"
|
| As a kid who grew up poor and moved around a lot as mom tried
| to make ends meet, this episode fucking obliterated me.
| Goddamn 36 year old watching a neighbor's kids having to
| explain that I'm fine, don't worry, to a couple of very
| confused littles.
| jsmeaton wrote:
| The "hello Bluey" at the end gets me every time.
| ToucanLoucan wrote:
| God my eyes are hot just thinking about it!
| lproven wrote:
| It's lovely, isn't it?
|
| My daughter's amazement that I can translate the French
| bits of dialogue from Jean-Luc were a joy, too. :-) But
| that made me appreciate the scriptwriting more -- because
| almost everything Jean-Luc says, Bluey _also_ says,
| independently, so it works if -- like my wife and kid --
| you don't know a word of French.
| SkittlesNTwix wrote:
| You're a survivor. I hope things are easier and more stable
| for you these days.
| SkittlesNTwix wrote:
| It's a beautiful and special show. As a parent, this one will
| always resonate with me.
|
| I Know a Place (The Creek Song)
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2zfr21Yumo
| base698 wrote:
| Thanks for the recommendation. Watched that before bedtime with
| my 3 year old. Somehow we had not seen that one.
|
| Love the music in Beach and Fruit Bat as well.
| billti wrote:
| The sound designer goes over their use of this type of music in
| this excellent podcast. You'd really enjoy it. (Available Apple
| Podcasts, which is where I listened to it, but linking directly
| here).
|
| The next one about the voices is excellent too, so linking
| both. The care they put into both the show and the people
| involved is almost as touching as the show itself.
|
| https://www.20k.org/episodes/thesoundofbluey
| https://www.20k.org/episodes/thevoicesofbluey
| eru wrote:
| > 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)
| prismatic wrote:
| Love this comment. Had never thought about Bluey and Oulipo
| in the same sentence before, but you're definitely on to
| something.
| eru wrote:
| 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.
| disillusioned wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Thanks!
| worthless-trash wrote:
| From YT:
|
| ---
|
| Video unavailable
|
| The uploader has not made this video available in your
| country.
|
| --
|
| Wow, bluey team, not available. IN AUSTRALIA. Thanks.
| eru wrote:
| 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.
| worthless-trash wrote:
| Oh for sure, but this is a behind the scenes.. from what
| I was lead to believe, I don't think ive seen this
| locally anywhere else.
| knolan wrote:
| This reminded me. There was an episode of Modern Family made
| entirely on Apple devices.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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?
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| The major thing was realizing my wife and I care _way_
| too much about kids getting dirty in play. This came
| mostly from being overwhelmed by laundry and cleaning up
| (and sand, _sand f-in everywhere_ ).
|
| The other big thing was, I grew so fixated about my own
| job and various adult stuff, that I actually kind of
| hated the playground, and often felt impatient when
| playing (wanting to get back to million unfinished adult
| things). I got stuck in a self-centered and rather sad
| mode of thinking, and with my wife going through her own
| hardships, we found it too easy to just let the kids do
| jigsaws or play with bricks, rather than playing with
| them or taking them somewhere.
|
| The song broke me down, and broke me out of my various
| mental loops, long enough to realize how deeply
| unsatisfied I am with how I act as a parent. Not just in
| the usual, system-2 "I realize my performance is
| suboptimal, I vow to improve it" way. I actually _felt_
| the weight of everything, of how much we, how much growth
| and happiness _I_ am denying our girls, and it flipped
| something in me permanently that night. Adult problems
| were still there, but I suddenly felt I really _want_ to
| play more, and I absolutely _want_ to take them to
| playground, which became priority more important than
| work, and generally made me stress a little less about
| everything. And so I did stay on the playground the next
| day, and I loved it, and things really got better and
| happier for everyone from that day on.
|
| Specific things: we stopped minding the sand that much -
| which meant we started going to the _other_ playground
| nearby, that 's mostly built inside a big sandbox. Kids
| love it. And I started to engage with some of the more
| absurd imaginary stories my older daughter comes up with,
| to her great delight. And ever since, there was no more
| "can't do X/Y/Z, daddy needs to finish something for
| work" - I decided that, in Muffin's words, "this is
| unacceptable!"[0].
|
| It's hard to put into words. It probably all sounds
| mundane from the outside, but inside of me, the change
| was as profound as it was unexpected. Switches flipped,
| priorities realigned, emotions purged.
|
| This was a big thing for me. But there's a lot of smaller
| things I took away from Bluey, too, that I feel makes me
| a better parent. It's truly a special show.
|
| --
|
| [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqAlhCUgAVI
| kbrownlees wrote:
| Amazing write up thank you. If you haven't already tried
| you may enjoy the how other dad's dad podcast by Hamish
| Blake. It definitely has some things in it which may
| change your perspective.
| sandworm101 wrote:
| 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.
| ksynwa wrote:
| Their original musical is top notch too. I am not an expert on
| music but I was watching the music video for Rain and it hit
| home how much talent and effort they put in it.
| rasjani wrote:
| Twenty Thousand Hertz (sound design podcast) had episode about
| Bluey with its sound designer Dan Brumm last year.
|
| https://www.20k.org/episodes/thesoundofbluey
| dvsfish wrote:
| 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.
| iab wrote:
| Sleepytime is the best episode of any show I've ever seen
| TravisPeacock wrote:
| Just a little Easter egg: The guy that does the music for Bluey
| plays the musician.
| montroser wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Sleepytime is a beautiful episode!
| sandworm101 wrote:
| The first episode I ever sat down to watch caught my attention
| because it used 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' throughout.
| That isnt typical of kids entertainment.
| codeduck wrote:
| Bluey learning to ride her bike to the slow building of the Ode
| to Joy was a moment of profound and innocent joy for me.
| bitwize wrote:
| 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.
|
| 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.
| alberth wrote:
| Bluey is like Seinfeld.
|
| It's timeless, everyone gets a laugh (including parents) and is a
| "show about nothing" (just the daily lives of family dynamics).
|
| As a parent, I really appreciate the show and no other show can
| compare.
|
| (For those who haven't seen it, it's more akin to a family sitcom
| than a traditional kids show/cartoon)
| hnlmorg wrote:
| > For those who haven't seen it, it's more akin to a family
| sitcom than a traditional kids show/cartoon
|
| That's a really good way of describing it.
|
| It really does have that kind of vibe to it.
| WorldMaker wrote:
| Some of this comes from watching Bluey in a literal fever binge
| and believing I wrote a PhD dissertation on the show because it
| touched so many half-forgotten things from my Masters Degree's
| "individual studies": I think an interesting thing to Bluey is
| that it is not just a "show about nothing". It's not just the
| daily lives and family dynamics, it actually has a central
| point embedded in even the studio name (Ludo Studios), which is
| the importance of _play_ and _games_ (Ludo relates to the latin
| for _play_ from which we also get modern fancy terms like
| ludology, the study of games, and ludonarrative dissonance, the
| difference between what a game 's story is trying to tell and
| what its mechanics and play style is telling), not just for
| _fun_ (but also for fun), but in learning good conflict
| resolution and safely exploring your identity and your
| relationships with others and things you might want to be or
| grow up to do and understanding complex systems by analyzing
| their rulesets and playstyles and more.
|
| There's always at least one game in every episode. It hit me
| early in my fever dream of a binge watch: _even_ the intro is
| itself a game. One of the many simple "freeze"/"simon
| says"/"red light/green light"/"musical chairs" variants (the
| show calls it "statues" in one episode), dance while the music
| plays and freeze when the music stops and if you move while you
| are supposed to be frozen you lose. (I cheered loudly at the
| first episode where Bluey doesn't win the intro game. It was a
| lovely reward for never skipping the intro.)
|
| There's so many good lessons about games as a lifelong tool
| scattered across nearly every episode, as a part of what makes
| the family dynamics so bright and exciting.
| ksynwa wrote:
| Ludo is also the name of a very popular board game
| ip26 wrote:
| It might just be their daily lives, but every single story has
| a memorable point, which is significant and distinct.
| "Shadowland" is a clear & more obvious example.
| quercusa wrote:
| So, better than Caillou?
| manmal wrote:
| For parents, most definitely. I have a hard time sitting
| through a Caillou episode. Bluey is also way more authentic, in
| that interactions could really happen exactly like that in real
| life. Compared directly, Caillou seems synthetic.
| Gothmog69 wrote:
| is it nicer to lick a cupcake than satan's asshole?
| mandalorianer wrote:
| I don't why Bluey is so popular whereas almost nobody knows "Pete
| the cat" which has a way better message to kids, families,
| siblings.
| Cyph0n wrote:
| +1. I think Bluey is great for parents, but I can think of many
| shows that are better for children. Better in the sense that
| they teach children how to deal with challenges at their age
| and how to navigate the world around them.
| mcphage wrote:
| What are some that you enjoy?
| Cyph0n wrote:
| It depends on age, but almost anything by PBS Kids is
| excellent. Prime and Netflix have a few good ones too.
|
| Some good shows I found for my son:
|
| * Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood - spiritual spinoff from Mr.
| Rogers' Neighborhood
|
| * Elinor Wonders Why
|
| * Word World
|
| * Peg + Cat
|
| * Numberblocks and Alphablocks for learning about numbers
| and words
|
| * Guess How Much I Love You
|
| * Trash Truck
|
| * Hero Elementary
|
| * Mecha Builders
|
| * Stillwater
|
| * Sid the Science Kid
| relaxing wrote:
| Numberblocks goes hard in the later seasons, but sadly
| Netflix no longer has those.
|
| I really enjoyed the adaptation of El Deafo on AppleTV.
| Its brilliant use of audio effects to explain the
| evolving technology of the little girl's hearing aids had
| me in tears.
| youainti wrote:
| Colourblocks is another great one from the BBC. The two
| things I really like about CB and NB is that
|
| 1. they are designed to be part of a curriculum and so
| they build across episodes. 2. Every so often the
| songwriters decide to remind you that they are capable
| and not just ripping off old songs like other shows do.
| mcphage wrote:
| I do like the Stillwater show, but I am still
| disappointed that they replaced the Zen and eastern
| stories from the books with more generic western tales.
| DavidPeiffer wrote:
| Pete the Cat is also great, however the 7 minute Bluey episodes
| (and ~3 minute "minisodes") is very nice. Pete the Cat runs 23
| minutes.
|
| All that said, I have been known to adjust the playback speed
| on YouTube to get the total play length of Bluey to a
| convenient length for a given situation.
| sanderjd wrote:
| Pete the Cat is fine, but it just doesn't hold a candle to
| Bluey, sorry!
| dustbunny wrote:
| My favorite episodes are Army, Sleepy Time
| mmmlinux wrote:
| 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.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Wait until some VC or other funds jump on the wagon.
| bombcar wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| sanderjd wrote:
| Ha good point. If there was any justice in the world, Bluey
| would be worth about as much as Amazon.
| youainti wrote:
| $2B across approximately 40 hours of content. That puts each 7
| minute episode at value of about $5.8 million.
| john2x wrote:
| A couple of other great kid/parent shows:
|
| - 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
| elsonrodriguez wrote:
| Same here, it's been so difficult to find good shows after
| Bluey and Avatar. The gap between those two shows and
| everything else is almost breathtaking.
| prawn wrote:
| Maybe review for appropriateness for your kids, but my kids and
| I like watching these little animal shorts.
|
| https://www.naturalhabitatshorts.com/shorts
|
| We quote this one especially all the time.
| https://www.naturalhabitatshorts.com/shorts?pgid=ku471zfv-b9...
| "Gerald... That's not a proper hello." "Jason, get in
| there."
| sanderjd wrote:
| Yes! We also love Hilda. It's not great in the relatable way
| Bluey is, but it's just good art, in a way that is also
| appealing to kids.
| donatj wrote:
| Hilda is absolutely fantastic! I enjoy it and my daughter is
| enthralled by it.
|
| Steven Universe is a similar and fantastic show. Maybe a little
| more mature, particularly in later seasons, but I'm more than
| happy to let my young kids watch it. I didn't particularly
| enjoy the follow up Steven University Future however.
|
| For Younger kids, Puffin Rock is unbeatable in my book.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| Seconding Puffin Rock. It's like the opposite of all the
| other kids shows - where they tend to stimulate kids to
| larger or smaller degree, Puffin Rock is so _calming_ that
| just listening to it in the background makes _me_ relaxed.
| bag_boy wrote:
| 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!
| fma wrote:
| 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.
| clickitongue wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| legitster wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| How many times have you posted this comment in this thread,
| overall?
| paradox460 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| tinco wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| harry8 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| kristianp wrote:
| Regular YouTube has shorts though, which has kids watching
| bizarre and totally inappropriate stuff.
| fma wrote:
| Yes! I use Brave Browser on their ipad. There's a setting to
| remove Youtube shorts (and avoid commercials).
|
| I've also periodically open their ipad and p;lay educational
| videos to get them on their homepage. Youtube will still
| stick videos of 40 year old adults acting 14 and doing weird
| stuff. I still need to be near them whoever they use
| Youotube.
| ksynwa wrote:
| There are psychedelic edits of cocomelon songs for developing
| brains to trip on. It is truly an abhorrent platform.
| vharuck wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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=PL
| SmWeUDtr9fATQqT2c0am...
|
| Murmiland: https://www.youtube.com/@Murmiland
| tylerdurden91 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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]
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39214461
| doctorpangloss wrote:
| From the article:
|
| > "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."
|
| > "I'd never seen a children's show talk about real life like
| that," says Kay. "I thought, 'This is charming, funny and real.'"
|
| From https://theonion.com/next-episode-of-girls-to-feature-
| lena-d... Next Episode Of 'Girls' To Feature Lena Dunham Shitting
| Herself During Gyno Exam While Eating A Burrito
|
| > "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."
| croisillon wrote:
| Related: A look at the creative process behind Bluey and
| Cocomelon (9 days ago - 216 comments)
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43339206
| Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
| I first heard a bunch about Bluey from TheOdd1sOut, a fun
| YouTuber featuring humorous and relatable slice-of-life content.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEQHiJVH79o
|
| 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, _directly addresses the parents_ , 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.
| legitster wrote:
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
| paradox460 wrote:
| Beverly Cleary was a staple of my early reading, heavily pushed
| on me as a grade schooler because she lived in Los Alamos,
| where I grew up. I still remember Ralph the motorcycle riding
| mouse, as well as more mature books like tiger blood.
|
| I've got a few copies stashed away for when my kids are a bit
| older, and I'm glad I do, as the kids sections of the local b&n
| is dire
| ip26 wrote:
| It was amazing how riveting my kids found Henry Huggins. In
| those pages, for them, saving money to buy a football became as
| compelling as anything.
| tomhoward wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| naikrovek wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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
| defrost wrote:
| Or the _King Stingray_ cover of _Coldplay_ 's 'Yellow'
| werrett wrote:
| Here ya go:
|
| King Stingray does Coldplays's 'Yellow'
| https://youtu.be/sr3iI8gg2fo
|
| Denzel Curry does Rage against the Machine's 'Bulls on
| Parade' https://youtu.be/ZY4ywyFXdik
| Tade0 wrote:
| > 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.
| autoexec wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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!
| tomhoward wrote:
| Well, Triple Z is an independent/community station, not
| ABC!
|
| I know that song/line well and remember mentions of
| Custard being "banned" by Triple Z in the band's early
| days, but I can't find any details. Do you know why that
| banned/smashed their music?
| goatforce5 wrote:
| 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.
| hackbuildroam wrote:
| 20k hertz did some interviews with the Bluey creators,
|
| https://www.20k.org/episodes/thesoundofbluey
|
| Neet to see something start from a idea and grown to be so big
| and still manage to keep humble.
| _spduchamp wrote:
| 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.
| h0l0cube wrote:
| You'd like this book
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obstacle_Is_the_Way
| robotnikman wrote:
| Seconding this book, this is one I go back to every once in a
| while.
| Tyr42 wrote:
| Thanks, bought it.
|
| Turns out it's on sale now too:
| https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=tOzwEAAAQBAJ
| SkittlesNTwix wrote:
| > "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
|
| https://lexundria.com/m_aur_med/5.20/lg
| harry8 wrote:
| 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.
| king_magic wrote:
| Bluey has made be a better father and partner. Unicorse was ZERO
| help as usual though.
| october8140 wrote:
| Bluey is a show for everyone. Even if you don't have kids it's
| worth watching.
| grahar64 wrote:
| 1. Cricket
|
| 2. The sign
|
| 3. Sleepytime
|
| 4. Old ladies
| sanderjd wrote:
| hahaha love Old Ladies.
| naikrovek wrote:
| 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.
|
| Zero entertainment executives in the USA would ever allow a show
| to be made without their own shitty changes stapled on.
| shirro wrote:
| 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.
| keepamovin wrote:
| OMG everyone is so gushing over this. I have to see this! How
| have i never seen this? where can I see it?
| tobyhinloopen wrote:
| Disney+ for me, but it might differ per country
| waltbosz wrote:
| 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
| donatj wrote:
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| It's a minor gripe but I really find the staccato melodica theme
| song full of awkward pauses to be quite grating.
|
| 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.
| jhrmnn wrote:
| May be down to parenting style indeed.
|
| > kind of annoying, needy and of out of control. [...] The
| parents feed into it and treat the behavior like it's ok.
|
| Not how I would characterize it.
| shadowgovt wrote:
| The behavior is ok. What is acceptable varies from household to
| household.
| jbd28 wrote:
| either you've seen the wrong episodes over and over, or you're
| just not approaching it with any sort of an open mind. even in
| the opening song you don't like the "staccato melodica" theme
| song, its just a small snippet of a longer song their musical
| director composed that the creator decided to snip down and
| turn into a game of musical statues...its just supposed to be
| fun!
|
| and there are episodes like Cricket where it is nothing but
| kids behaving ideally and overcoming real challenges
| donatj wrote:
| So I pulled up Cricket just now and watched through it, as
| I'd seen it mentioned a few times in here. I can see why
| someone would enjoy that particular episode. It's
| lighthearted and sappy.
|
| However, a sizable portion of the episodes short runtime is
| Rusty smashing a cricket ball against the side of his parents
| house, _visibly damaging the siding_ , with zero on-screen
| repercussions. That's exactly the sort of thing I don't want
| my child emulating, and the show makes it seem like it's an
| ok behavior.
|
| Children copy things they see. If you're going to show a
| child doing something they shouldn't it needs to be at the
| very least shown in a negative light.
|
| All the show needed to do was have the final couple seconds
| of the episode be his mom standing next to the damage yelling
| "Rusty!", it would have made for a good comedic closer and
| shown kids that it's a problem.
| shadowgovt wrote:
| What should Rusty be doing instead? The point is that he
| needed that siding because he didn't have a partner to hit
| the ball back, and his parents know this, and they support
| his dream. Rusty's mom isn't yelling at him for whacking
| the ball off the siding because he's allowed.
|
| Houses are meant to be lived in. Sometimes we spend from
| them to achieve other goals.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Maybe you are just unfamiliar with Australian customs and
| mores
| closewith wrote:
| > 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.
|
| ...
|
| > 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.
|
| Based on these comments, is it possible your friends are trying
| to give you a subtle hint about your own parenting?
| froggertoaster wrote:
| https://archive.is/U9zh6
| lproven wrote:
| Nobody seems to have mentioned it, so I thought it deserved
| credit...
|
| I am fairly sure that the episode "Handstand":
|
| https://www.bluey.tv/watch/season-2/handstand/
|
| ... 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.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUVs7vXNZiw
|
| 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.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Pavlova is also homage to some NZ band I think. Bandit is
| basically speaking the same lines.
| nomilk wrote:
| 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: <a>episodes
| that made me want to cry </a>
| sota_pop wrote:
| 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.
| blobbers wrote:
| Bluey is the type of show that you're not afraid to let your kids
| watch because the lessons it teaches are helpful.
|
| It also has enough silliness to keep them engaged without being
| didactic! And enough inside jokes that parents can have a laugh
| as well.
|
| It may very well be the best family show for small kids.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-03-22 23:01 UTC)