Something to watch tonight: Thursday 19 December
Bluey (Blumm, 2018-)
With the news that Bluey’s creator Joe Brumm is leaving the show, but not until he’s shepherded the clan into a feature film, I thought that I could share my Bluey piece from RNZ Digital back in July:
A family of anthropomorphic Australian cattle dogs navigates the vicissitudes of life with good humour and love.
I was at Te Papa on Wednesday for another job and while walking around the Bush City outdoor exhibition a pre-schooler ran past me yelling, "There's a bear after me!"
I'm reasonably confident that there was no actual bear, but it reminded me of the power of a child's imagination, and it is imaginative play that is the focus of Bluey's early episodes. Like improv, it suggests that parenting is a case of never declining a suggestion - it's always "Yes, and …"
In fact, I'm reasonably sure that Bluey is more about helping parents be better at their job than the development of pre-schoolers.
Animation: The look of Bluey is very flat with a limited colour palette and the backgrounds are not very detailed. That just keeps our focus on the characters and the animation uses champion timing to keep us all entertained.
Voices and music: Dang, if the Bluey theme isn't one of the catchiest ever. The show occasionally adds extra songs to the mix, too. Its Australian-ness isn't a problem for local audiences, and it evidently hasn't prevented it from achieving world domination either.
Commitment and bingeability: There are 154 episodes online on TVNZ+ and most are short at seven minutes or so, but the producers went longer for a story that carries a bit of extra emotional punch. In The Sign (Season 3) Bluey's family prepares to move to another city at the same time as wedding preparations for Uncle Radley and his girlfriend, Frisky, are headed off the rails.
Be prepared if your young viewer starts that 28-minute episode when you really need them to get dressed to go to school.
For grown-ups: Bluey works magic on so many levels, to the extent that I don't have any problem recommending it as a grown-up watch when you need a palate cleanser. The observations of adult behaviour are subtle but keen and ever-present.
That was from an article where I attempted to bring a film critic’s eye to some television to pre-schoolers. The RNZ editors wanted the sub-headings because readers evidently need to have everything signposted for them now.
The other shows I featured in that article were Frog & Toad (Apple TV+) and the kiwi smash hit Kiri & Lou (TVNZ+). As the school holidays are now here, you might find it useful.
Where to watch Bluey
Aotearoa: Streaming on TVNZ+ or Neon
Australia: Streaming on ABC iView
Canada and USA: Streaming on Disney+1
Ireland: Streaming on Disney+ or Sky
India: Streaming on Disney Hotstar
UK: Streaming on BBC iPlayer or Disney+
Further listening
Back in July, I spoke with Emile Donovan on RNZ Nights about Bluey, the movie Twisters and the Classic Albums series of documentaries.
Apparently due to their internal standards and practices for Disney Junior shows, Disney+ has altered or entirely skipped certain Bluey episodes because of the content within them.