History WesternAnimation / BluesClues

Set in a [[SugarBowl vibrant]], [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife candy-colored world]] of [[RogerRabbitEffect animated characters combined with a human host,]] the show features the escapades of Blue, a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin blue-colored dog]] (voiced by Traci Paige Johnson, one of the show's creators). OnceAnEpisode, Blue will want to do something--be it read a book, have a snack, or make some kind of craft. However, as Blue seems to be [[TalkingAnimal the only creature in her world who can't talk]], the only way she can communicate with her human owner is by playing ''Blue's Clues''- a game in which she will imprint 3 objects around the house (or backyard) with her blue pawprint, labeling them a "clue." Once performed, its up to her owner--along with the kids watching from home--to figure out what she wants to do by piecing together these clues.

-->'''Steve:''' How did blue get a paw...?

** "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?" has the intro become cloudy, and the viewer rings the doorbell. The sound of it distracts Steve a little bit before he finally opens the door.

* LimitedWardrobe: Steve wore nothing but green striped shirts and khaki pants. Though there were no changes to Steve or Joe in Season 1 or Season 6, his shirt became a vibrant shade of green in Season 2, grounded videos were made out of Steve in Season 3, Paramount Television became CBS Paramount Television in Season 4 and Joe stopped showing the viewers how to draw the clues in Season 5. All of Joe's shirts are different colors, but they have the same square pattern.

* LimitedWardrobe: Steve wore nothing but green striped shirts and khaki pants. All of Joe's shirts are different colors, but they have the same square pattern.

That's our second clue!\\

'Cuz they're ''whose'' clues?\\

* DubInducedPlotHole: The arc of Steve going to college wasn't kept in the UK adaptation, and Kevin Duala stayed the host. However, when the Joe episodes were adapted, they for some reason had Kevin wear Joe's shirts, and use his notebook. The shirt was at least {{Hand Wave}}d, as when this first happens in "Shape Searchers", Kevin says it's because squares are his new favorite shape. The new notebook, on the other hand, is given no mention or reasoning whatsoever.

* EndingTheme: At the end of each episode, they would sing "It's time for so long but we'll sing one more song. Thanks for doing your part, you sure are smart, y'know with me and you and my dog Blue[[note]]or "and our friend Blue" in Joe's earlier episodes[[/note]] we can do anything that we want to do."

* EpisodeTitleCard: Averted in the first four seasons which had no title cards at all. Played straight in the final two seasons where Mr. Salt holds up a pennant with the title on it and says its name at the end of the theme song.

-->'''Steve:''' This sounds like it'll be tough, so I'm really going to need your help today? Will you help? ... You will? Great!

* HalloweenEpisode: "What Is Blue Afraid Of?" in Season 1 & and "Blue's Big Costume Party" in Season 3.

* LampshadeHanging: In one episode, one of the clues was a ''cloud''. Right before drawing it down, Steve wonders how Blue could put her paw-print on it.

* ReTool: From the beginning, the ''Blue's Room'' spin-off never really caught on. So when they made it into a full series, they made several changes. The biggest was adding Blue's new baby brother Sprinkles as a regular member of the cast. Joe was also given a more prominent role and the sets were expanded. It still didn't work and the program ended once its episode order was up and has rarely been seen in repeats since.
* RhymingEpisode: "Tickety's Favorite Nursery Rhymes" in Season 1 & "Rhyme Time" in Season 4.

** "The Wrong Shirt" shows Steve wearing, well, the wrong shirt, signifying that something is a little off.

* VagueAge: The brothers, mostly Joe. Acted by men but they behave like boys but apparently live alone. Steven goes off to college so he's an adult, and likely Joe is, too.

The show was originally hosted by Steven Burns as "[[TheDanza Steve]]", but he left the show after six years. [[note]]A large number of rumors swirled about the reasons why, from death hoaxes to drug overdoses. The truth was a number of the show's original production staff had left, and he felt ready to move on. In addition he was [[PrematurelyBald losing his hair]] and was afraid of going bald on a kids show and seeming too "old" to the kids - and he has been successful in indie rock circles thanks to his connections with his friends, the Music/FlamingLips.[[/note]] His replacement was [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute "Joe"]] (Donovan Patton), his in-universe younger brother, who ran the show, and its spinoff ''Blue's Room,'' until 2007, when production came to a halt. Reruns aired on the Creator/NickJr channel until July 2019 (4 months before the reboot premiered), and [=DVDs=] still exist. Running from 1996 to 2006 (or 2007 if you count ''Blue's Room''), ''Blue's Clues'' was Nick Jr.'s longest-running series, up until ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' broke that record in 2007.

The show was originally hosted by Steven Burns as "[[TheDanza Steve]]", but he left the show after six years. [[note]]A large number of rumors swirled about the reasons why, from death hoaxes to drug overdoses. The truth was a number of the show's original production staff had left, and he felt ready to move on. In addition he was [[PrematurelyBald losing his hair]] and was afraid of going bald on a kids show and seeming too "old" to the kids - and he has been successful in indie rock circles thanks to his connections with his friends, the Music/FlamingLips.[[/note]] His replacement was [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute "Joe"]] (Donovan Patton), his in-universe younger brother, who ran the show, and its spinoff ''Blue's Room,'' until 2007, when production came to a halt. Reruns aired on the Creator/NickJr channel until July 2019 (4 months before the reboot premiered), and [=DVDs=] still exist. Running from 1996 to 2004 (or 2007 if you count ''Blue's Room''), ''Blue's Clues'' was Nick Jr.'s longest-running series, up until ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' broke that record in 2007.

* CuteLittleFangs: Green Puppy has fangs, being a dog, and she's cute due to being a puppy.

* CuteLittleFangs: Green Puppy has fangs, being a dog, and he's cute due to being a puppy.

The show was originally hosted by Steven Burns as "[[TheDanza Steve]]", but he left the show after six years. [[note]]A large number of rumors swirled about the reasons why, from death hoaxes to drug overdoses. The truth was a number of the show's original production staff had left, and he felt ready to move on. In addition he was [[PrematurelyBald losing his hair]] and was afraid of going bald on a kids show and seeming too "old" to the kids - and he has been successful in indie rock circles thanks to his connections with his friends, the Music/FlamingLips.[[/note]] His replacement was [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute "Joe"]] (Donovan Patton), his in-universe younger brother, who ran the show, and its spinoff ''Blue's Room,'' until 2007, when production came to a halt. Reruns aired on the Creator/NickJr channel until July 2019 (4 months before the reboot premiered), and [=DVDs=] still exist. Running for a full decade from 1996 to 2004 (or 2007 if you count ''Blue's Room''), ''Blue's Clues'' was Nick Jr.'s longest-running series, up until ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' broke that record in 2011.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: In Japan, Blue starred alongside Franchise/{{Hello Kitty}} on a live stage show called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II5YVJfVQXw "Blue's Clues Show"]]. The show ran between 2008 and 2009 at Creator/{{Sanrio}}'s indoor theme park Sanrio Puroland.

!!This show provides examples of:

* UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash: All the animated parts on the show were animated this way; thus, it is the first Nick show to use Flash. (At least on the whole network. ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' was the first show to use Adobe Flash on the regular Nick schedule)

* AnthropomorphicFood: Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, their children Paprika and Cinnamon, and numerous other characters.

%%* {{Adorkable}}: ''Steve.'' Also applies to the real-life Steve Burns.

Introduced in 1996, the show is notable for [[TropeCodifier pioneering]] the kid's show version of an InteractiveNarrator--one who talks "to" the camera, seemingly at the children watching. ''Blue's Clues'' was so successful, this went on to become the norm for most kid's show hosts today-- especially those directed at the "Under 6" age bracket. It also originally ran under the notion that children learn through repetition--so the same episode of the show would run for a full week. (The show later dropped this practice.) It was ''hugely'' successful, leading to several direct-to-video movies, a live show adaptation, an eventual SpinOff called ''Blue's Room'', and, of course, heaps and heaps of [[TheMerch merchandise.]]

* SlipperySoap: Literally, there is a character with this name. And he just happens to be a sentient bar of soap who slips around alot with the catchphrase "Woooaaah!"

On March 6, 2018, it was announced that a reboot using CGI animation was in production. On September 13, 2018, the reboot was [[https://deadline.com/2018/09/nickelodeons-blues-clues-reboot-gets-new-host-new-title-1202463576/ revealed]] to be titled ''WesternAnimation/BluesCluesAndYou'', with actor Joshua Dela Cruz as the new host. On August 26, 2019, a November 11 premiere was announced, and it was stated that the show would be a continuation of the original series.

* ExcitedKidsShowHost: Steve goes (very close to) BERSERK when he finds a clue for the first time.

The show was originally hosted by Steven Burns as "[[TheDanza Steve]]", but he left the show after six years. [[note]]A large number of rumors swirled about the reasons why, from death hoaxes to drug overdoses. The truth was a number of the show's original production staff had left, and he felt ready to move on. In addition he was [[PrematurelyBald losing his hair]] and was afraid of going bald on a kids show and seeming too "old" to the kids - and he has been successful in indie rock circles thanks to his connections with his friends, the Music/FlamingLips.[[/note]] His replacement was [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute "Joe"]] (Donovan Patton), his in-universe younger brother, who ran the show, and its spinoff ''Blue's Room,'' until 2007, when production came to a halt. Reruns aired on the Creator/NickJr channel until Summer 2019, and [=DVDs=] still exist. Running for a full decade from 1996 to 2004 (or 2007 if you count ''Blue's Room''), ''Blue's Clues'' was Nick Jr.'s longest-running series, up until ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' broke that record in 2011.

The show was originally hosted by Steven Burns as "[[TheDanza Steve]]", but he left the show after six years. [[note]]A large number of rumors swirled about the reasons why, from death hoaxes to drug overdoses. The truth was a number of the show's original production staff had left, and he felt ready to move on. In addition he was [[PrematurelyBald losing his hair]] and was afraid of going bald on a kids show and seeming too "old" to the kids - and he has been successful in indie rock circles thanks to his connections with his friends, the Music/FlamingLips.[[/note]] His replacement was [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute "Joe"]] (Donovan Patton), his in-universe younger brother, who ran the show, and its spinoff ''Blue's Room,'' until 2007, when production came to a halt. Reruns are now seen on the Creator/NickJr channel, and [=DVDs=] still exist. Running for a full decade from 1996 to 2004 (or 2007 if you count ''Blue's Room''), ''Blue's Clues'' was Nick Jr.'s longest-running series, up until ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' broke that record in 2011.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: In Japan, Blue starred alongside Franchise/{{Hello Kitty}} on a live stage show called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II5YVJfVQXw "Blue's Clues Show"]]. The show ran between 2008 and 2009 at Creator/{{Sanrio}}'s indoor theme park Sanrio Puroland.

* SpinOff: ''Blue's Room,'' which swaps out most of the main cast save Blue and Joe for puppets. Oh, and [[SuddenlySpeaking Blue can talk now.]]

* EvolvingCredits: The fifth season introduces a new upbeat vocal theme song and new sequence to go along with it, as well as [[EpisodeTitleCard Mr. Salt holding up a pennant with the episode's name on it]] at the end.

* SelectiveLocalisation: UK viewers of Blue's Clues might be puzzled to hear Steve mentioned constantly - this is because in the UK imported version of the show, a different actor known as "Kevin" was used on and interacted with the same animated backgrounds that were used in the United States version. Kevin and his stripy green shirt are just as fondly remembered in the UK as Steve is in the United States.