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If you don't have kids, you might not be familiar with the Australian kids cartoon Bluey. I wasn't, but I was introduced to it by my daughter, who sat me down and forced me to watch a couple of episodes. (She's 25 years old.)
It's an absurdly simple show about a family of anthropomorphic dogs (Australian cattle dogs, to be precise), and specifically it focuses on the two kids: Bluey and her little sister Bingo. Mostly they're just playing various make-believe games and having fun. (This description does not do it justice.)
The family is an intact one, with a mother and a father who love each other and get along with their kids. Both parents are smart and engaged and devoted to the family. The kids are innocent, fun-loving, rambunctious, and respectful. There are no lessons about Important Issues Of Today. There is nothing edgy or subversive. Most importantly, the writing is clever and really funny, which is why the show has attracted plenty of grown-up fans.
It's on Disney+, and also appears frequently on the Disney Jr. channel. The episodes are about 8 minutes long. Go watch one and enjoy a smile.
Discussion (9)
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Until 2018 we lived next door to our daughter's family in a residential neighborhood of houses big enough to accommodate big families most of which were on a couple of acres. Our daughter got a blue heeler (Australian cattle dog) and we really liked that dog. He used to come over to our house to visit. Everyone in all generations of the family liked him, called him Zzz..., but there was a problem. If he was outside when a jogger went by he would go nip at their feet. He never really bit anyone that I know of but the joggers were scared, understandably. They finally got a rancher they were acquainted with to take him, place big enough not to have the problem and the dog probably got to work doing what he liked to do.
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My 23-year-old daughter loves this show. I have watched a couple of episodes and while it's fine, it doesn't quite capture my attention like it has hers. There is some appeal to the Gen Z or Zennials that Bluey has and I am not sure what it is. My 17-year-old son doesn't seem to care about it much though...so I wonder if its a gender thing (though my daughter considers herself agender and asexual so...perhaps that isn't a good measure either).
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Somewhere in the 90s (I think) a visiting researcher from Australia asked me why the U.S. has no comic cartoons that feature plants as characters. Y'know, the kind of plants that photosynthesize and stuff. He then showed me some examples.
Another question would be why Australians go for comics that feature plants as characters. Or do they still?
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My wife points out that Bluey is a parenting show that kids happen to also enjoy.
Remember it's produced with the "Australian Broadcast Corporation" and BBC. What exactly are they trying to teach with this episode? I personally love it.
-- kids will initially cry but being unfair is FINE.
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My personal favorite was an episode in which one of the kids was watching a group of workers install a backyard pond, focusing especially on the foreman. When the mother asked how things were going she was informed "He was on the phone yelling at someone about bricks. He called him that word you used when the dishwasher broke."
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